Zakaria Polash
On a pleasant winter morning at a golf course, the player normally gets all the attention. One person admires the swing, another discusses the score, and someone inevitably explains how one missed putt ruined an otherwise perfect round.
But look beyond the golfer, and the picture becomes much larger. A caddie reads the wind, a ball boy gathers practice balls, greenkeepers prepare the course, and coaches, mechanics, caterers, drivers and event workers keep the game moving. The golfer may be the star of the photograph, but a whole workforce stands just outside the frame.
This is the part of golf we rarely discuss. Golf is not only a sport or a leisure activity. Properly developed, it can become a small but diverse employment industry for Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, the most familiar golf-related occupations are probably those of caddies and ball boys. Yet even these jobs are often misunderstood.
Bangladesh has already shown how this work can become a pathway to greater opportunity. Siddikur Rahman began as a caddie before becoming an Asian Tour winner and the first Bangladeshi athlete to qualify directly for the Olympic Games. Mohammad Sajib Ali also started by carrying bags at Kurmitola Golf Course at the age of 11 or 12, gradually learned the sport, and later competed in around 20 countries. Such journeys should inspire structured talent development, not romanticise child labour. Any modern pathway must protect education, respect legal working ages, and provide formal training.
The story of Mohammad Asu Mia reveals the other side of the picture. He joined Kurmitola Golf Club at the age of 21 and was still working there at 73, having served as a caddie and helped maintain the course. His concern was not about trophies, but whether ageing caddies would receive support when they could no longer work.
Together, these stories capture both the promise and the weakness of golf employment in Bangladesh: it can create social mobility and lifelong work, but without training, welfare and formal protection, it may not provide lasting security.
Bangladesh has courses, but not yet a golf employment industry
The Bangladesh Golf Federation currently lists 17 affiliated golf clubs, spread across locations including Dhaka, Savar, Bhatiary, Cumilla, Bogura, Jashore, Rangpur, Cox's Bazar and several other areas. What Bangladesh does not appear to have is a comprehensive national account showing how many people earn directly or indirectly from golf.
Golf entrepreneur Khabir Uddin Ahmed estimates that an individual player may generate work for three or four support personnel, while a foreign golfer can require a much larger service team. His Arunima Golf Course employs around 80 permanent workers, with staffing levels rising during international events. He also sees potential in training Bangladeshi golf-service professionals for overseas courses: "All we need is to upskill and engage dedicated people in this area."
We know that clubs employ caddies, ball boys, grounds workers, office staff and hospitality personnel. We know tournaments create temporary work. We also know that professional golfers, coaches, sponsors and equipment businesses are active. But we do not yet count this activity as a connected economic sector.
The contrast is striking. A study supported by the R&A found that the UK golf industry supports nearly 64,000 full-time equivalent jobs, while the broader US golf economy supports more than 1.65 million jobs. These include not only club employees, but also workers in tourism, accommodation, retail, manufacturing, events, media and technology.
The point is not to compare scale, but perspective: mature markets treat golf as an industry; Bangladesh still largely treats it as a pastime, a sport played in clubs.
That difference matters.
The objective should not be to produce only another Siddikur Rahman. Bangladesh needs a career ladder through which a ball boy may become a certified caddie, a caddie may become an assistant coach, and a grounds worker may become a trained greenkeeper or turf specialist. Golf’s real value lies in combining accessible entry-level work with skilled, long-term careers.
Economists might describe golf as potentially job-elastic, meaning that an increase in participation, facilities or events can create a relatively large increase in employment.
We must remember that a golf course is a living landscape. It needs turf specialists, irrigation technicians, horticulture workers, tree-care teams, equipment mechanics, water-management personnel and environmental officers. These can become skilled, year-round occupations rather than occasional manual jobs. The objective is not merely to employ someone to cut grass, but to train a turf-management professional.
Golfers rarely arrive, play and immediately disappear. They eat, drink, attend meetings and organise events. Hence, a busy, public-facing club can function like a small hospitality establishment.
A tournament needs far more than golfers. It needs referees, scorers, registration staff, camera crews, photographers, graphic designers, commentators, social media teams, transport coordinators, medical support and hospitality workers.
Digital golf can create another layer of jobs through tee-time booking, membership systems, course maps, live scoring, swing analysis, content production and club-management software.
Last but not least, golf is part of the broader ecosystem of golf tourism, where golfers typically spend money beyond the course. They need hotels, restaurants, transport, guides and travel planning. Just imagine the employment potential such spending can generate.
In this context, it is worth noting that the London School of International Business (LSIB) offers specialised programmes in this field. These include the Advanced Certificate in Golf Tourism Management and the Undergraduate Certificate in Golf Tourism and Hospitality Management. These self-paced programmes focus on golf operations, event planning and sustainable tourism.
Disclaimer!
Golf will never employ as many people in Bangladesh as the garments, agriculture or construction sectors. That is not the point.
Its value lies in creating a diverse ecosystem of service, technical, tourism and sporting occupations. Together, they can provide both immediate income and long-term career opportunities.
So, the next time somebody says golf is simply a rich person's game of walking after a little white ball, perhaps offer them another cup of tea and tell them, with a smile, that the ball may be small, but the business around it does not have to be.
Zakaria Polash is an author and researcher. He is the CEO of Winnex Consulting Ltd and General Secretary of the South Asia Foundation.
