by the numbers Counting Courses

Here are some random facts about golf development all over the planet:

-- Citing statistics provided by the China Golf Association, the Independent says that China has 3 million golfers, a number that’s expected to increase to 20 million by 2020. (Now you know why some Chinese call golf the “green opium.”) The newspaper also says that China has 300 golf courses, enough to rank it fifth in the world and second in Asia.

-- In the mid 1970s, Vietnam had two golf courses. Today it has 13 to 18, according to various sources, and it’s expected to have 89 by 2010. The New York Times says the nation has 5,000 golfers.

-- Brazil has 107 golf courses, and GT Golfe says that 91 others will be built over the next 15 years.

-- A Vietnamese news service says that Thailand has more than 400 golf courses (nearly half of them in metropolitan Bangkok), while Hong Kong has 17 and Singapore has 15. The tally in Indonesia is 32.

-- Callaway Golf reports that India has roughly 250 golf courses, up from 80 or so in the mid 2000s.

-- The British introduced golf to Nigeria in the early 20th century, and today, according to the Daily Trust, Nigeria has 50 golf courses.

-- The Daily News Egypt reports that Egypt has 18 golf courses, 15 of which have been built in since 1997 as part of real estate or “tourist developments.” The number of rounds played on the nation’s courses in 2008 approached 200,000, about half of them played by tourists.

-- The Czech Golf Association, which has more than 41,000 members from 131 clubs, says that the Republic has 78 “standard” golf courses, whatever that means.