A GOLF-RELATED economy is booming in Shenzhen with more than 10,000 Hong Kong golfers regularly crossing the border to play at weekends, media reported Monday. These golfers are spending more than 20 million yuan (US$2.42m) each weekend taking into account shopping and dining.Despite the hot weather these days, golfers were seen lined up in their cars at Huanggang Checkpoint Sunday morning, waiting to cross to Shenzhen.

　　“I have been playing here for three years and always need to place an order two weeks ahead,” said a Mr. Wang who took up the game seven years ago. Cheaper prices and better courses in Shenzhen are the reasons for the cross-border golfing spree. There are more than 50 golf courses around Guangdong Province, quite a few with 32-hole courses. The course at Guanlan Golf Club alone can accommodate 5,000 players a day. With convenient transport, a growing number of Hong Kong golfers are willing to spend weekends in mainland cities such as Shenzhen.Of the 80,000 golfers in Hong Kong, 30,000 come to the Pearl River Delta Area every weekend, with more than one third playing in Shenzhen, according to Ruan Wenqiang, manager of a Hong Kong-based golf service company. While there are 20 golf courses in Shenzhen, four more are under construction in Bao’an and Yantian districts. The cross-border golfing spree has also given rise to a number of service companies in Hong Kong, which reserve courses, book hotel rooms and arrange meals and transport. There are now more than 100 of these service companies in Hong Kong, insiders say.