The sport is experiencing massive growth thanks to public courses opening, making once-costly pastime more accessible
Once it was a sport for middle-aged, well-off and mostly expatriate businessmen. But since the dawn of what might be called the 'Tiger Woods era', golf has taken off phenomenally in Hong Kong, bringing far more employment opportunities than any other sport.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council now ranks retail sales of golf equipment, clothing and accessories among the highest growth areas in the sporting industry, averaging 14 per cent.
Golf is enjoying unprecedented popularity largely as a result of the opening of Hong Kong's only public course at Kau Sai Chau, an island off the coast of Sai Kung, in 1995.
The course was developed by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for a cost of HK$500million. Until then, golfing options were confined to private clubs: the Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling; Shek O Country Club; Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club; Discovery Bay Golf Club; and the Deepwater Bay Golf Club. But they were, and largely remain, exclusive to privileged members.
Attracting a staggering 120,000 rounds played a year, the Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course is by far Hong Kong's busiest course - and is now about to get much bigger.
With the south and north courses already in place, a third east course, designed around the island's hilltops and representing another HK$300million worth of investment, is scheduled to open early next month.
