Students have been able to take a degree in golf course architecture at Heriot-Watt university in Edinburgh since last September. From next year they will also be able to qualify in golf tourism at the University of Abertay in Dundee.
Academics see the course as a magnet for overseas students.
Sixteen Chinese students are thought to have registered already. However, the merits of golf as a subject for academic study were questioned by Chris Woodhead, the former Chief Inspector of Schools. A degree which used to involve serious academic study in an established discipline is now trying to meet the needs of industry, any industry, even golf tourism, whatever that might be.