CADDIES' ROLE:For a nation that by its sheer numbers should now be making more of an impression in the game, China still has a long way to go, writes COLIN BYRNE

IT WAS the European Tour’s second trip to China this year, but experience or preparation does nothing to combat the disorientation of a long trip east. From around the globe we trickled into the Lake Malaren golf club north of Shanghai for the second event to be held there, but the first officially on the European Tour.

It is the time of year when there is an overlap in events and Malaysia was hosting a joint venture between the USPGA Tour and the Asian Tour also last week. The result was that there were 14 Chinese players and the remaining 64 players were from the European Tour.

Apart from the traditional warm Chinese welcome to us foreigners, the Swedes in the field were made feel particularly at home with the village in the Lake Malaren complex being designed in a typical Swedish architectural model. Such is the prolific new tree-planting that accompanies these developments it is hard to see the buildings, but if you peer through the dense foliage you can catch a glimpse of the Scandinavian style as you make your way towards the golf course.

As ever, a trip to a golf tournament in China is always a very different experience. In its embryonic stage, golf in China always has a newer and more extravagant club ready to host a major international event. To build a course in China is to venture down an unknown avenue of risk. Officially there are only about 30 or 40 golf clubs that are fully licensed. There are, however over 500 courses in the country.

‘Official’ doesn’t seem to work that well here, it is the darker unofficial side that presents better financial opportunities. Therefore less than ten per cent of the courses are legal.

Talking to a course designer for the Nicklaus design company in Lake Malaren indicates just how risky it is building courses over here. You can have three complexes under construction and the chances are that maybe one of them will come to fruition. You are at the whim of the authorities who ultimately decide what goes.

As a golfer in China the conditions seem equally as precarious. There are under 200 male and about 100 females professionals in the country. They are tied into the China Golf Association. I have heard of South American sponsors taking advantage of the talent of young aspiring golf pros, but this seems to have been taken to a new level in China with the CGA taking 45 per cent of the professional’s earnings. They must be putting in a huge amount of support at a fundamental level for such a return.

There are effectively three main avenues to pursue in developing your golfing career as a Chinese; through the CGA, the University system or play abroad. We played with a 17-year-old professional called Li Hao Tong from Beijing. He is a tall, thin man who had his physical trainer caddying for him – the latter was working on beefing him up for a broader future in golf.

Li was told to turn professional by the CGA when he was 16, an age when you should be hanging out with your school mates. The national team seems to have endless funds from high-end sponsors who realise the importance of early brand awareness and therefore pump plenty of yuan into the game. The problem is it appears to be going in through the wrong channel. Whatever is left over after the association gets its hands on it is given to those who really need it, the players.

There is a big amateur circuit in China fuelled by local corporate sponsors who see more value in promoting through the amateur game than the lacklustre professional arena. People who golf in China prefer to play and not watch those who play for a living. Therefore there is no value for sponsors putting money into the local professional events.

Those golfers from an affluent background, of which there are many, have adopted Orlando in Florida as their refuge. There are about 100 wealthy Chinese kids who have been set up in the sunshine state to learn how to play golf. The trouble is that many of them are forced into the game and by the time they reach the age of maturity and are able to make their own decisions they want to start to discover life off the fairways. Andy Zhang, the 14-year-old who played in the US Open this year is in this elitist camp.

The University system is the third way of breaking into this new capitalist sport in China. The 2014 World Championship will be held in Crans Montana, where the European Tour event is held annually and a Swiss coach from Crans has been invited to come to China to coach the university team who will represent China in Switzerland.

With 14 Chinese players competing in the BMW Masters last week, it might appear Chinese golf is on the march. The reality is many were simply gaining experience of what they need to aspire to. Ashun Wu was one of the 14 Chinese competing last week. He is something of a maverick in the Chinese game. He started playing in a rice field in the eastern province of Fu Jing. He was introduced to golf by a Christian group who supported him and gave him the platform on which to build his game. He had a disagreement with the CGA in his early years and found it difficult to get into Chinese events as a result.

Wu got a card to play on the Japanese Tour and moved up the world rankings to just over 200th position having won there back in September.

He is Chinas best hope for the immediate future due to his talent but more importantly his drive. The more established Liang Wen-Chong is still the best golfer in the country.

Despite the growing number of players in the exponentially growing game of golf in China, the system does not seem mature enough to anticipate it being a serious force in global golf.

With the advent of golf in the Olympics there will be an obvious new interest in the game.

But until the system changes, with the golfer at the heart of the development process, it looks like a missed opportunity for a nation that by its sheer numbers should be making more of an impression on the world stage.