A tale of grand courses
Nothing comes close to the Mission Hills group's golf courses when it comes to scale
The scale is staggering. There’s a popular liquor sales line that says, “It’s your life, make it large.” These folks take that piece of advice seriously. They live by it. “Large” is their mantra.
The Mission Hills mineral springs and spa in Haikou, for instance. There’s 176,284 sq. m of it. Guinness, not the beer but the endorser of world records, say this is the largest spa resort on the planet. You could bathe, steam and massage a whole township at one shot. The volcanic mineral springs section taps into an aquifer 800m below the surface and this water is said to possess therapeutic benefits.
Now before you heal and preen yourself, there’s plenty of opportunity here to work up a lather. The Mission Hills group has not one, two or a dozen, but 20 golf courses. Guinness vouches that Mission Hills is the world’s largest golf club. Nothing comes close.
Often similarities are drawn between China and India as economic powerhouses, with growing populations itching to spend money, as nations of the future. If infrastructure and building for times ahead is anything to go by, there is little in common. Their airports, road network, public transportation system are all geared to cater to an emerging people. For us, these vitals are an afterthought. Leisurely pursuits being no different.
A couple of decades ago there was barely a hint of golf in China. Today, almost every golf course designer or player worth the name has put his or her stamp there, most of them at Mission Hills.
Hong Kong-based David Chu was one of the early birds to invest in mainland China in the 1970s. He built a corrugated paper conglomerate and then set up Mission Hills Shenzhen in 1992 for sports, leisure and high-end residences. Chu saw that there were going to be a lot of people looking to spend lots of money in times to come from within his own country. So he pieced together 40 sq. km (yes, that’s right) in Shenzhen and nearby Dongguan, about an hour’s drive from Hong Kong, and put 10 golf courses on it. Not just any courses. The ones in Shenzhen carry the names of Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Zhang Lianwei and Jumbo Ozaki. The Dongguan site has Greg Norman, David Leadbetter, Annika Sorenstam, Justin Rose-Ian Poulter and Jose Maria Olazabal. Chu then looked north to the former volcanic and now pleasantly tropical island of Hainan and had American designer Brian Curley make him another 10 courses on the outskirts of Haikou, all very visually dramatic with outcrops of volcanic rocks and sand belts.
These courses have hosted the World Cup, World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions, the Dynasty Cup, among many big-ticket events. Mission Hills has also conducted the World Celebrity Pro-Am. The two mammoth clubhouses in Shenzhen and Dongguan are adorned with pictures and handprints of just about every singer, actor, sportsperson and celebrity who can swing a golf club.
After planting Mission Hills on the world golfing map, Chu died in 2011, leaving his sons Ken and Tenniel in charge. The young men have inherited their father’s enthusiasm for business and building, and golf.
They recently had Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy go one-on-one at the Blackstone course, the flagship layout in Haikou, and I happened to be among the 20,000-odd very excited Chinese who witnessed that friendly bout.
On the sidelines, I got to play some of Mission Hills’ offerings. The Nicklaus track, also known as the World Cup course, had villas with huge glass fronts along some of the fairways. Living dangerously, I’d say. The standout for me was Zhou, the caddie. She knew her job, and her English was good. It gets better. Zhou had a sense of humour. She would put on a perplexed look and go, “Are you kidding me!” every time I missed a short putt.
Lava Fields in Haikou was a new experience. Littered with red sand bunkers, lava rocks and a few ponds. The course was packed on a wet weekday. The small thatched clubhouse was a welcome change from the surrounding opulence. Like his iron play, the Olazabal course was special. Every one of those 18 golf holes was outstanding. Hikers screaming at each other in the surrounding forest, construction noise, background music did nothing to take away from the experience of a lifetime. I played like s...t. Gave away lots of golf balls to the jungle and water, and came away smiling. How often does that happen?
Prabhdev Singh is the founding editor of Golf Digest India and a part-time golfer.
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Business NewsOpinionA tale of grand courses
First Published:22 Jan 2014, 09:22 PM IST
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