June 30 was a deadline set by China's top economic planner in July 2014 for sorting out illegally-built golf courses nationwide.
A spate of bans on developing golf courses handed down in the past 10 years has failed to arrest their growth across the country.
Meanwhile, China's disciplinary watchdog, the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), has mentioned golf-related corruption 61 times on its official website this year.
Public doubts as to whether the latest push to eliminate illegal golf courses can have a substantial effect may have been reduced after officials involved in "the rich man's game" have been dragged into the limelight during the ongoing anti-graft campaign.
Long-ignored ban
Golf courses, introduced to China in the 1980s, have provoked controversies in the populous country for taking up arable land or forests, contaminating soil and groundwater with herbicides and wasting water.
The central government called a halt to the review and approval of new golf course projects in early 2004. In 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) forbade the use of land for villas, golf courses and race courses.
In 2009 and 2010, the central government asked local governments to enforce the ban on illegal golf courses. In a circular issued in 2011, the NDRC, the MLR and nine other government departments urged local governments to bring all golf courses in line with regulations before June 30, 2011.
However, the bans were blatantly ignored between 2004 and 2014, and the number of golf courses in China increased from 100 to some 600.
The latest circular, similar to the 2011 document, was released in July 2014, imposing Tuesday as the deadline.
On March 30, the NDRC and the MLR announced the closure of 66 golf courses in 23 provinces and municipalities. Those in eastern coastal areas and economically developed cities in Central China bore the brunt of the renewed clampdown.
East China's Shandong Province saw eight of its golf courses closed down, the most out of any of the 23 affected provinces, and six golf courses in South China's Guangdong Province were shut down.
Although the authorities did not explain the reasons behind the closure, most of the shut-down courses are believed to have not been in line with China's "general land use plan," were built on arable land or illegally occupied land.
Out of bounds
Insiders say there might be some 120 golf courses closed down in this round of crackdowns. "As the central government has pledged firm support for the anti-corruption drive after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the latest ban is unlikely to be a dead letter," an insider said.
After President Xi Jinping first chaired the CPC Central Committee in late 2012, he introduced the "eight-point rules" to curb extravagance among officials and cut down on red tape.
The Beijing-based newspaper Economic Information pointed out in October 2014 that the large number of golfers, including many officials, contributed to the rampant development of golf courses. An increasing number of State-owned enterprises (SOEs) purchased expensive golf VIP cards at public expense for their senior executives.
The latest feedback issued by one inspection team of the CCDI on June 19 showed that a number of executives in the State-run China Minmetals Corporation - whose core businesses engage in mining mineral resources - and Chinese chemicals giant Sinochem Group still play golf at public expense, despite the strengthened efforts to combat graft.
The State-owned multi-business group China Resources Holding Co was found by the National Audit Office to have paid green fees of 2.11 million yuan ($339,921) in 2012 alone, the Beijing Times reported in June 2014.
The Sky Pearl Club, a frequent-flier program of State-run China Southern Airlines, organized over 30 golf competitions to maintain close ties with high-end customers between 2013 and 2014, with several executives and employees of the airliner also taking part in the competition, the CCDI revealed in April.
In addition, some officials and senior executives of SOEs were also discovered to be allowing others to pay for them to play golf, breaking rules on officials receiving gifts.
Si Xinliang, formerly vice chairman of the Zhejiang provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was expelled from the CPC in June for taking advantage of his post to seek profits for others and accepting bribes, the Xinhua News Agency reported. He was found to have played golf while others paid the bill.
In February, unnamed leaders of China Unicom, the country's second-largest telecom operator, had their travel and golfing paid for by the company's suppliers, the CCDI said.
An employee at a golf club in North China boasted that several retired officials were appointed as honorary chairpersons or vice chairpersons, adding that the club will be closed to other members when incumbent officials who occupy critical positions come to play golf, given the increasingly tense situation, the Economic Information reported.
Declaring war
In response to the unscrupulous corruption found on golf courses, local disciplinary watchdogs have declared war on the forbidden game.
The Guangdong provincial discipline inspection commission issued a regulation on January 1, prohibiting government officials and Party members from golf-related activities that may involve corruption, including assuming posts at golf courses or clubs, accepting gifts like VIP cards, membership cards and golf equipment, and allowing others to pay for them or their relatives to play golf.
The local disciplinary department in Sanya, Hainan Province, a popular tourist destination which has 15 golf courses within an 1.5-hour drive, urged in February all local governmental agencies to collect statistics about officials' participation in the game - the total number of officials who are members of golf clubs and the total number of times they have played golf at public expense or have been invited to play prior to and after the release of the eight-point rules, among other details.
