Why China's Ban on Golf Is Par for the Course

Of the most abused (and, at times, inaccurate) sports cliches, the one extolling the unifying power of competition has to be near the top of the list. Never mind parental brawls at Little League games or the 1969 "Football War" between El Salvador and Honduras, do sports not bring us together? Cynicism aside, the bouncing ball does occasionally lead to pivotal geopolitical moments. One of the shining examples of sports bridging a gap between countries came in the early 1970s, when international table tennis tours facilitated a thaw in relations between China and the United States. During Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the United States in early April, another sport played with a little white ball moved to the fore. When he met with U.S. President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, it was hard to ignore the legacy of sporting diplomacy between the two countries. However, beyond...