Opinion | Beijing-style gagging order to stop Wentworth Golf Club members speaking out backfires on Chinese owners

The thwack of driver on ball at the exclusive Wentworth Golf Club has been replaced by the crack of the whip by its Chinese owners, who have moved to silence its rebellious members.

In what has been dubbed a “golf club with Chinese characteristics”, the members of the prestigious home of the Ryder Club and PGA European Tour HQ have been banned from airing their views on the club and its billionaire Chinese-Thai owner, Chanchai Ruayrungruang.

The sweeping changes to the 91-year-old Wentworth’s rule book mean members now face instant ejection for making public any negative comments about the owner and his vision.

The attempt to quell dissent follows the ferocious and vocal opposition to Beijing-based Reignwood Investments’ plans 18 months ago to turn the already pricey establishment into a bespoke, eye-watering expensive country club for the international super-rich.

That rebellion not only saw Reignwood, a leisure and soft drinks conglomerate headed by Ruayrungruang, publically dragged through the mud after attracting international headlines but also forced concessions; plans to reduce the 4,000-strong membership by more than three-quarters, a one-off levy fee of £100,000 (HK$988,400) and a 75-per-cent fee increase for an adult member to £13,500 a year were abandoned.

Reignwood, which bought the club for £135 million from UK property tycoon Richard Caring in 2014, defended the price increases, saying at the time it had invested heavily in facilities, refurbishing one of the three courses at a cost of £5 million and planned to restore the “tired and crumbling” clubhouse.