Let me add some cultural notes to this most intersting thread.
The biggest influence (culturally and economically) in China is not US or European countries but Japan (and in part Korea). Most of the fashion/music/cultural fads get first started in Japan (which import a lot from western countries) gets filtered through Korea and Hong Kong and spread throughout China.
As such, there is a good chance that golf boom will sweep the mainland China since Japan and Korea are both golf crazy (at least among the well-to-do). And since land is severely limited in both Japan and Korea, it is not unreasonable to assume that China can develop some golf courses just to attract Japanese and Korean golfers (which is what is happening right now).
The actual Chinese golfing population is quite small, but that should slowly change as China's middle and upper class grows larger and larger. I suspect that over next 50 years, the number of golfers in China would equal or surpass the number of golfers in Japan and Korea combined.
The question of volume and quality of golf courses in China will really depend on two things: agricultural advancements and population control.
Like others have mentioned, fertile land in comparison to the population is quite limited. But production from that land should increase as better farming technics are introduced. If China is successful with its population control methods combined with increase agricultural production would result in more arable land available for recreational use. I suspect that that is pretty likely.