It takes one and half hours from Hong Kong by a club car. The car is
better and more comfortable than a bus because you can shorten the time
through immigration.
I played with a single-handicap member from the black tees or tournament
tees, which should be possible to play on weekdays. It seems that playing
from the black tees is not allowed on Saturdays and Sundays. The black tees
actually had no tees on the grounds, so we played from the sides of the
yardage makers. Playing from the black tees, it is a very demanding and
difficult course. When advanced players play from the blue tees of 6100
yards, 900 yards shorter, they are not only misled into thinking that the
course is easy but also tend to become bored because the hazards in proper
positions such as bunkers or lakes don’t come into play. There are yellow
tees between black and blues tees, so the medium & advanced players
understand the course better if they use at least the yellow tees.
This club immediately became famous because the World Cup was held at
the World Cup Course in 1995. The Dynasty Cup, a Ryder Cup-style shootout
between Asia and Japan, was also held at the World Cup Course in 2004.
The adjacent hotel was very comfortable and its Chinese restaurant was
very testy.
One year ago, at the end of 2003, the old fairway turf was replaced,
so the fairway condition was relatively good.
Mission Hills GC is the world’s biggest golf complex with 10 courses
or 180 holes as of 2004, overtaking the huge Pinehurst resort in North
Carolina, which has eight 18-hole courses. The picture shows the 10 designers
who are all world-famous players or a teaching pro. The 10 courses are
designed by Jack
Nicklaus, Vijay
Singh, Nick
Faldo, Jumbo Ozaki, Ernie
Els, Annika
Sorenstam, Rose & Poulter, Jose
Maria Olazabal, David
Leadbetter and Greg
Norman. The two couses were added in 2007, Pete Dye Course and Zhang
Lian Wei Couse (Par 3s course), so the club currently holds 12 curses
or 207 holes.
Jambo Ozaki designed the other courses: Templer
Park CC in Malaysia, Tsu CC, Takahiko Three Country, J Classic GC,
which are famous in Japan.
Co-designers, Lee Schmidt & Brian Curley are the principal architects
behind the 8 of the 10 courses. They designed the other courses in Asia,
Muang Kaew GC (remodeled),
Chiang Mai Highlands G&SR, Amata Spring CC in Thailand, Grande Hamanako
GC in Japan and Agile
(雅居楽長江) G&CC - B Course in China.
Their joint designs with Jack Nicklaus in Asia are Spring
City (春城) G&LR - Mountain Course, Chung
Shan Hot Spring (中山温泉) GC - Jack Nicklaus Course
in China, Ishioka GC, Rokkou Kokusai GC (remodeled), The Tradition GC,
President GC, Sanyo GC (remodeled), New Capital GG, Sun Belgravia GC,
Bear Paws Japan GC in Japan, Sungai Long CC in Malaysia, and Springfield
Royal CC in Thailand.
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2nd green