This year also marks the 10-year anniversary of China’s ban on the construction of golf courses. Yes, you read that correctly. New golf courses are technically illegal in China. And yet, since Beijing issued its official moratorium on construction in 2004, no country on the planet has built more golf courses than China. In fact, for a good chunk of that time China has propped up the entire global golf course construction industry, in serious decline in most other parts of the world. From 2005 to 2010, the number of Chinese courses tripled to more than 600. If you weren’t working in China, those in the business often said, you probably weren’t working at all. So construction professionals reluctantly grew accustomed to building courses while looking over their shoulders for the “Beijing golf police”. During crackdowns on construction, which occur with some regularity, workers might look up to see a government helicopter looming overhead, but rarely would they talk to a reporter about it on the record.