Sanya, Hainan Island, China: Golf course owners and officials in China are bracing themselves for a renewed crackdown on golf clubs around the country by government authorities.

Rumours are circulating that a wave of course closures around the country is imminent, including Yalong Bay Golf Club, one of the eldest golfing venues in Hainan Island.

“It’s estimated that more than 50 courses in China will be in trouble within the next six months,” predicted one senior figure connected with the country’s golf industry.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr and opened for play in 1997, Yalong Bay, located in the Yalong Bay National Tourism Resort Area, has been one of China’s most prolific tournament venues.

As well as staging the Asian Tour’s Sanya Open in 2003, 2004 and 2006, Yalong Bay hosted the Volkswagen Masters (China) in 2006 and the European Tour’s TCL Golf Classic for three consecutive years (2005 to 2007).

It also staged the Sanya Ladies Open – a co-sanction event between the China LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour – for eight consecutive years from 2010 to 2017.

Among the notable players to have won at Yalong Bay are South African Retief Goosen and Celine Boutier of France, both Major champions, and European Ryder Cup stalwart Paul Casey of England.

Located on the southernmost tip of mainland China, Hainan Island has more than 30 golf courses, predominantly in Haikou in the north and Sanya in the south. According to reports, all the courses in Sanya were called into a meeting last week.

One source said: “It’s been whispered for three months or so that Yalong Bay was going to close, but it was only confirmed this week.

“It’s not just Yalong Bay. Sun Valley, next door to Yalong Bay, has been ordered to close in the near future. Nobody exactly knows the full extent of this thing (course closures). But it’s a major push.”

Both Yalong Bay and Sun Valley are set within the National Tourism Resort Area.

The closure of these courses is especially significant because the Chinese Government previously designated the tropical island a special tourism zone with the aim of competing against the likes of Bali and Phuket. Hainan Island was the only part of China supposed to be exempt from the golf course clampdown.

“Another thing is that international visitors (for golf) in China is about one-tenth of what it used to be. There’s no Japanese or Koreans going. Everybody flies to Thailand or Vietnam now. It’s too expensive in China,” added the source.

A major crackdown on golf courses in China was launched in 2011. At the time, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said 111 of the country’s 683 golf courses nationwide were ordered shut. Operators voluntarily closed an additional 11, it added.

An Agence France Presse report said that courses were taken to task for illegally using arable land or nature reserves, extracting groundwater in prohibited areas, and other violations.