Kosher China Golf Course Still Demolished In Anti-Golf Crusade

The course in question--Orient Shanghai--had been approved for creation, passed the Songjang EPA tests and even hosted the LPGA Tour.

Yet as a reminder that golf is symbolic pinata for the Chinese government, the course was demolished in dramatic fashion last week.

From an unbylined Golf Industry report:

Orient Shanghai, the long-time host venue of the Shanghai Classic on the China LPGA Tour, was constructed adjacent to the upper Huangpu river off the Dagang exit of the Shanghai-Hangzhou highway. Previously, temporary fish farms occupied the site that was prone to flooding in the rainy season.

While club officials declined to talk about the matter, the reason for its closing is that the Huangpu is Shanghai’s source of drinking water and golf is seen as a pollutant. The government wants to see farming on the land that the course occupied.

Even though it's been polluted by the Royal and Ancient?

But according to an environmental study conducted by the club, local farmers use 20 to 30 times more fertilizers and pesticides than Orient Shanghai in its course maintenance. The irony of the club’s closure is that it went through the full Environmental Protection Agency permitting process and passed every test required by the Songjiang district EPA. 

Golf in China...it sounded so good on paper, too.