[Matt Day]

As well as Kai Sai Chau, we visited Mission Hills in Shenzhen and two of the best private courses in HK in Clearwater Bay and Hong Kong GC. These are some pictures of each course to show what's on offer.

Mission Hills was interesting, its a massive set up with 3,000 plus caddies and probably the same number of golf carts. Its spread over three properties, each having their own clubhouses, pro shops etc. Once checked in your golf bag is taken to each property for the next days golf.

We played the Els (Shenzhen), Norman and Olazabel (Dongguan), Faldo (mid valley) and World cup courses (Shenzhen). Els certainly got the worst land to build on, the back nine in particular was unremarkable and I didn't take any pictures

The Norman Course was absolutley brutal, I liked the Olazabel course even with a lot of bunkering, the Faldo was okay and the World Cup so so. The greens were in poor condition apart from the World Cup, which had hosted a senior tour event two days earlier. Those greens were among the best I've ever putted on.

Els Course
tee shot on par 5 4th



view to the green



Norman Course
short par 3 4th



tee shot on the 8th



tee shot on the driveable 10th, the back nine was very, very tight of the tee



par 3 11th



one of the most elevated tee I've ever played off 354 yard 15th



the view from the black tees on the 588 yard 18th

[Matt Day]

The advertising blurb states that Olazabal was fantastic out of bunkers and thus he built a course with a lot of them

1st - 423 yard



9th - 550 yards



Tee shot on the well known par 5 15th



second shot, I blocked a 3 wood to where the last caddie in red is standing on the right. This was a hole i really enjoyed



18th - 457 yards, a really toght landing area with water left and road right



The Faldo course was on the mid valley land along with the Pete Dye course. It was enjoyable apart from the use of a form of creeping jasmine (?) on the side of a lot of fairway bunkers. Almost impossible if it went in their

3rd - short par 4 with safe line left and aggresive line right of bunkers



10th - 525 yards

 

an example of the creeping stuff that was prevalent, it was hard work to get it of that



16th - 142 yards and the signature hole  



Didn't take many photos of the world cup course, it didn't really grab me.

4th - 398 yards



some of the best putting surfaces I've played on





More creeping stuff



3rd shot to the 16th green

[Scott Warren]

Pretty bloody dramatic land. A couple of those elevated tees are amazing.

These are all in the south of China, right?

Missus wants to go to the Great Wall, see the Terracotta Warriors, Shanghai etc but am I understanding corrently that none of these golfing areas are anywhere near those attractions?

[Matt Day]

Pretty bloody dramatic land. A couple of those elevated tees are amazing.

These are all in the south of China, right?

Missus wants to go to the Great Wall, see the Terracotta Warriors, Shanghai etc but am I understanding corrently that none of these golfing areas are anywhere near those attractions?

Scott
Mission Hills is in Shenzhen which is around an hour from Hong Kong airport by car. If you want to see the great wall then you have to get up to Beijing which was a three hour flight from Shenzhen. I was lucky enough to go to the China Golf Show and got the opportunity to see the great wall

Beijing has I believe around 60-70 golf courses, their playing season from what we were told is sort of late Feb/early March through to October.

[Matt Day]

As well as seeing Kai Sai Chau, we were also priviliged to be allowed to play at Clearwater Bay and Hong Kong GC as guests of the club. The hospitality shown by everyone in Hong Kong was superb, and highlights that one of the best things about working in golf is the friendship and willingness to assist others in the industry

Clearwater Bay and Hong Kong GC are both high end, exclusive private clubs with significant joining fees and long waiting lists. Hong Kong GC has 54 holes and a nine hole facility, Clearwater has 18 plus an par 3 track

Clearwater Bay starts with three tough holes, even from the blues

1st - 221 yard par 3
this played into the wind and 2 iron to the front corner was a big relief, right of the green is dead



2nd - 561 yard par 5

tough tee shot, I thought that the two inside fwy bunkers were excessive and didn't reward a drive down the brave line



the second is a totally blind lay up, leaving around 120 yards







3rd - 389 yard par 4
one of the best holes we played, with eight tee locations the hole can play many ways. We played from the back left hand tee and managed to hit the fairway 

[Andrew Lewis]

Matt -

Fantastic pictures; many thanks for sharing!

I notice that in many of the pictures, some areas of both fairway and rough appear a bit browned out.  This includes HKGC and Clearwater, so I assume it can't all be an issue of maintenance cost.  I thus am curious on whether it was a function of the season, dormant grass, or something else.  Any insight you (or others) have would be appreciated.

Best, Andrew

[Matt Day]

Matt -

Fantastic pictures; many thanks for sharing!

I notice that in many of the pictures, some areas of both fairway and rough appear a bit browned out.  This includes HKGC and Clearwater, so I assume it can't all be an issue of maintenance cost.  I thus am curious on whether it was a function of the season, dormant grass, or something else.  Any insight you (or others) have would be appreciated.

Best, Andrew

Andrew
We were told that it was the the grass coming out of dormancy, at Clearwater they have zoyzia fairways with Tiff Eagle greens. It seems that the HK "growing season" is March through to around October.

[Matt Day]

4th - 154 yards to a three tiered green



5th - 538 yards par 5, right off the tee is dead





7th - 302 yards, drivable par 4. I took the chicken line and hit 2 iron off the tee to a really wide fairway



view from the 7th tee down the second fairway, I almost teed up to go down that hole and someone in the hong kong amatuer actually did...nice playing partners. Would make a good par 4 from their with a good drive carrying the crest of the hill

[Matt Day]

10th - 443 yards
plenty of room right off the tee, but brings the right hand greenside bunker into play with a long iron second







11th - 161 yards



3 tiered green, although the front tier plays like a false front



12th - 432 yards, really need to take driver as the second is daunting with a long iron.



210 yards to the green





13th - 420 yards, tough driving hole with a narrow landing area, the green protected by a deepish bunker on the left

[Matt Day]

14th - 152 yards



17th - 366 yards, the middle fairway bunker takes away from this hole and I believe its going, the second plays up hill to a skyline green









18th - 515 yards par 5. Real risk and reward tee shot as the more of the canyon you take on the closer you are to the green. From the tees we played it was a 290 carry to clear the fairway bunker, which played downhill and downwind







as well as the 18 hole course they have a little par 3 teaching and kids course, it looked like a lot of fun







view from the clubhouse across the front nine

[Matt Day]

Hong Kong GC is the most exclusive of the private clubs in Hong Kong, with 54 holes and a nine hole facility at another property. We played the new course which is a parkland course, totally different in character to Clearwater Bay.

view down the finishing hole for the Hong Kong Open



1st hole



view from the 6th fairway, the 7th tee is near the trees on the left and plays across the 6th fairway



the course hosted the equestrian competitions for the Beijing Olympics



tee shot on the 11th which is straight across the 10th green



tee shot on the 12th - 456 yards par 4





tee shot to 13 A, 13 B is right of this green



tee shot to 17A, 17B is going soon to allow the extension of the practice range

[David Kelly]

Do you ever see the sun in China?

[Matt Day]

Do you ever see the sun in China?

David
in five day at Mission Hills and five days in Beijing I think we honestly didn't see the sun for more than one day in total. The smog in both places was significant, and there was also a big sandstorm in Beijing that turned the sky orange for the day.

[David Kelly]

Do you ever see the sun in China?

David
in five day at Mission Hills and five days in Beijing I think we honestly didn't see the sun for more than one day in total. The smog in both places was significant, and there was also a big sandstorm in Beijing that turned the sky orange for the day.

That is what I have heard and just about any time someone posts course pics from China it looks dreary.  When I watched Mickelson beat Woods and Els in the HSBC Open a few years ago on TV it looked the same.

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