Tiger Woods knows a thing or two about Chinese golfing etiquette, or the lack thereof. As the since-disgraced former world No 1 fluffed his shots around Shanghai's Sheshan International Golf Club last year, the endless camera-phone flashes must have seemed like a personal blitzkrieg on his senses.

In two attempts at the Shanghai-hosted World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions, Woods has finished joint sixth. Before it became a WGC-sanctioned event in 2009, he finished runner-up twice, but he just could not get his head around those over-zealous photo-hungry fans.

But then again, as one of his minders whispered to me after one particularly poor tee shot last year, when Woods went from looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights to looking like Mike Tyson during a domestic dispute, "Tiger is very sensitive to light".

What he is not overly sensitive to, apparently, is bit of exposed female flesh - especially if the lady in question is blonde, does not share the same surname as him, and has her leg draped over his at a nightclub. As such, Woods would no doubt welcome the recent attempt to jazz up China's female golf fraternity with sexy sartorial advice, post-tournament bikini shows and an award for "best-looking player".

Are these overtures seriously supposed to help the credibility of the women's game, or am I taking crazy pills? Even boxing, the least reputable of all sports, keeps its female fighters in baggy shorts and has ring-card girls to satisfy the libidos of lusty punters. This misguided advice by domestic golf authorities must rank as the biggest backwards step for the game.

It is especially insulting in a country where women are granted equal rights, and are said to "hold up half the sky". Presumably the Chinese Golf Association interpreted Chairman Mao's comment as referring to the half where the sun usually shines, hence the decision to introduce bikini-themed after-parties.

So what's next on the cards? Maybe the CGA can invite Wills and Kate over for next season's Orient Pearl Challenge to referee a mud-wrestling contest in between rounds, or have the players do part-time at Hooters at night to further glam-up their staid image. I mean, there's nothing sexier than having a cheeseburger chipped at you across the room from 18 feet.

In England, golf is closely tied to values such as integrity, fair play and self-discipline, which is what Christopher Davies, the deputy CEO of HSBC China, talks about on today's edition of Culture Matters. It is about being a gentleman, conducting yourself with dignity, and not cheating when you know that you probably can.

As such, Wang Liwei, the vice-president of the CGA, may want to recalibrate his priorities. Instead of advocating the go-sexy approach, which he did in March, several days after a handful of China's women golfers were photographed wearing bikinis at a hotel swimming pool during the CLGPA's Beijing Renji Challenge, how about sending figureheads such as Ye Liling to give talks at schools across the nation?

The focus should really be drumming up grassroots support for the game, improving fans' golfing etiquette and building more public golf courses.

On a more promising note, golf philanthropy seems to be on the rise in China, as tournament sponsors like HSBC fund programs to get more kids interested in the sport. As the executive editor of Golf Digest China says on today's show, "Nobody wants to play golf with someone cheating on the course". There is an important message here about striving to excel, but not winning at all costs. Maybe this is something that Chinese children need reminding of from time to time, as the pressure to ace (and perhaps cheat at) their college entrance exam becomes unbearably high.

Kids need good role models - as do businessmen and entrepreneurs, so it seems - and demeaning women golfers hardly seems like a blueprint for the kind of society China is trying to build.

Culture Matters is a cross-cultural bilingual talk show on International Channel Shanghai (ICS), airing Sundays from 7 to 8 pm. The program can be viewed online at www.smgbb.cn.Culture Matters.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/24/2011 page15)