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Li, the club manager, said his company will focus more on middle-class players since anti-graft measures have been enhanced.

"The healthy sport of golf has been distorted by businesspeople using it to bribe officials," he said.

"It's time to restore the sport to its natural state."

Guo, the Beijing Links Golf Club worker, said the public should not be biased against golf, since more ordinary people are playing.

"It's cheap exercise," he said.

"The cost depends on how many balls a player uses. A ball is less than 1 yuan, which most people can afford."

He was speaking of a course that has become popular among ordinary residents.

Some professional players prefer the course that costs about 700 yuan each time, he said.

"I heard someone say golf is a corrupted sport. I don't think so," he said.

"The corruption is officials' individual actions. We can't blame the sport."

Liu, the horse club owner, said many of his peers have shifted from selling expensive horses to providing training courses for children.

"Many families, such as those of white-collar workers and company managers, would pay about 12,000 yuan a year for a kid to learn to ride to cultivate the child's hobby," he said.

Li, the golf club manager, said it has become a trend for high-end clubs like golf associations to attract middle-class players.

"Many tourism agencies have promoted golf travel routes to take players to Hainan and Yunnan provinces, where there are many courses and the air is clean," he said.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn and caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn.