Calls for punishment

Fan said it isn't the first time the golf industry has come under official scrutiny and a ban has been imposed on construction, but "I think this time it's stricter than before".

Some government bodies, including the NDRC, have been studying the industry since 2011 in an attempt to understand its bottom line. In May, the NDRC posted details on its website of five courses it claims were constructed without permission on illegally held land.

The commission called for a number of businesses to be punished for blatantly ignoring the 2011 building ban, and said several local governments that either turned a blind eye or even colluded with illegal course building should also face censure.

"The previous inspections weren't as rigorous, so problems still remained at some clubs, and we cannot exclude the possibility that graft was involved in the granting of construction permits and other paperwork for some of them," Fan said.

Zhang Xiaochun, president of Shenzhen University's College of Golf, agreed that the industry needs to be regulated, but he called on the authorities to adopt a hands-on approach and provide detailed plans for land use in the wake of club closures.

"The inspections are intended to make our golf courses more environmentally friendly, but many club owners are waiting for detailed measures explaining what will be required of them, and how they are expected to adapt these illegally occupied lands," Zhang said. "Until those plans are published, it will be very hard to implement any changes."

The rub of the green

1. A number of employees of a company called Laohewan in Beijing were removed from their posts in March, after the company refused to stop illegal construction of a golf course. An inspection found that the course had been built on almost 60 hectares of farmland the company did not own.

2. Agile, a company in Tengchong, Yunnan province, was punished in May after it illegally converted an ecological resort town into a golf course occupying 53 hectares of local land.

3. May also saw an investment company called Hong Li in Tengchong, Yunnan province, punished for the same offense as Tengchong, and for using 43.8 hectares of land illegally.

4. Qian Hu, a sports company in Shenyang, Liaoning, was fined more than $1.5 million in July 2013, after it built a golf course under the guise of a sports garden.

5. A company called World Muslim city in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region was fined more than $2.7 million in August 2013 after it built a golf course without obtaining construction permission.