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    Golf Digest Logo Best in Every Country

    The best golf courses in China

    By Stephen Hennessey and Paul Detre
    December 06, 2024
    /content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/course-photos-for-places-to-play/7 Sheshan Hole 16 Hole 17.jpg

    Sheshan International, the former site of a PGA Tour event in China, ranks 97th on our list of the World's 100 Greatest Courses.

    Courtesy of the club

    The golf boom in the United States post-covid—with an estimated two million people taking up the game—might pale in comparison to how golf exploded in China in recent decades. Mao Zedong, the Marxist leader of China, banned golf when he took over in 1949. Prior to 1980, there weren’t any golf courses built under Communist rule. When Mao died, golf took off.

    From 1983 to 2001, more than 100 courses were built—with stars like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo flocking to mainland China to design courses and promote the game. Experts approximate that 600 courses likely exist, though it’s impossible to get a true count with government officials sometimes closing courses or taking land from owners. Extravagant development, including China’s Mission Hills facility, which doubles as a resort and a private club and boasts 12 courses with 4,000 caddies, boasts the “largest golf club in the world.” It’s tough to argue with the marketing. Golf has helped China boast its economic growth. “Whereas golf was once a forbidden pastime, it is now a virtual requirement for any Chinese town hoping to assert its economic viability,” a former golf pro told Golf Digest in 2001.

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    Below is the ranking published by our affiliate partner Golf Digest China, minus the No. 1 course on this list, which is Shanqin Bay, which our own panelists named the 62nd best course outside the U.S. in our most recent ranking of the World’s 100 Greatest Courses. Sheshan International is ranked 97th on our list.

    We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and expanded reviews. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.

    Editor's Note: Our Best Courses in China ranking is part of Golf Digest's rollout of the Best Courses in Every Country. Check back over the next few weeks for more of our rankings of the best golf around the world.

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    10. Topwin Golf and Country Club
    Private
    10. Topwin Golf and Country Club
    Huairou, Beijing, China
    Located in the heavily forested and mountainous region of Huairou is the exclusive Topwin Golf and Country Club, designed by Ian Woosnam in 2009. The course is known for its tight tree-lined fairways, sprawling water hazards and gently undulating fairways and greens. The front nine is known for the 250-yard par-3 second, played entirely over water to a narrow green protected by deep bunkers. The back nine features the intimidating par-5 18th with a tight snaking fairway and a small creek protecting the right side of the green, making the decision to reach in two extremely difficult. The private parkland-style course enjoys an aura of tranquility as the property sits near the foot of the Great Wall and is surrounded by dense thickets of fruit, pine and chestnut trees, along with other native plants and wildlife. The serenity of Topwin Golf and Country Club is truly extraordinary given that the course sits just an hour outside of Beijing.
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    9. Shanghai Links Golf Community & Country Club
    Private
    9. Shanghai Links Golf Community & Country Club
    Pudong, Shanghai, China
    Shanghai Links Golf Community and Country Club is located along the coast of the East China Sea, less than one hour from Shanghai. The club commissioned Jack Nicklaus in 1999 to design a links-style course on the surprisingly flat ground where the Yangtze River meets the ocean. Nicklaus constructed the course along the perimeter of the 410-acre housing development, ensuring that players experience unobstructed views of the sea. The course features meandering waste areas dotted with native bushes, wide fairways, slick windswept greens and five par 4s playing over 450 yards. The two signature holes are the intimidating par-3 fourth, played over a lake to a two-tiered green on the edge of the water, as well as the long par-4 13th with a hazard that juts into the fairway and shrinks the landing area short of the green.
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    8. Reignwood Pine Valley Golf Club (Nicklaus)
    Private
    8. Reignwood Pine Valley Golf Club (Nicklaus)
    Changyang, Beijing, China
    Reignwood Pine Valley Golf Club, located to the south of the Great Wall of China in Badaling, opened in 1998 as the first invite-only golf club in China. The club is home to 54 holes designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son, Jack Nicklaus II, situated on over 1,100 acres of land near the Yan Mountains. After designing the Golden Bear course in 1998, Nicklaus returned with his son in 2006 to design a corresponding 27-hole course. Named after its designers, the Nicklaus course features snaking waste areas and long forced carries off the tee, making scoring difficult. While the course can be penal, the modern clubhouse, state-of-the-art facilities and immaculate conditions at Reignwood offer a hiatus into tranquility, luxury and exclusivity.
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    7. Lanhai International Golf Club (Yangtze Dunes)
    Private
    7. Lanhai International Golf Club (Yangtze Dunes)
    Chongming, Shanghai, China
    Constructed along reclaimed land in the estuary of the Yangtze River is Yangtze Dunes at Lanhai International Golf Club. The club commissioned the firm of Ogilvy, Clayton, Cocking and Mead to oversee a massive renovation in 2018, re-doing all 18 greens with the goal of adding a greater emphasis on the links characteristics of the golf course. The course features undulating greens, all sitting low and blending better with the natural surrounds than before the renovation. The finale at Yangtze Dunes packs a punch: Holes 13 through 18 feature the most dramatic waste bunkers, intimidating sightlines and penal green complexes. Located just across the river from Shanghai, Yangtze Dunes provides an authentic links experience in mainland China.
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    6. Hidden Grace Golf Club (A Course)
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    6. Hidden Grace Golf Club (A Course)
    Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
    Built on a former botanical garden just outside of Shenzhen in 2005, Hidden Grace Golf Club (formerly Genzon Golf Club) underwent significant changes after new ecological guidelines were imposed. The club hired Neil Haworth to make the tweaks, and in so doing, decided to expand the original course into a 36-hole complex. The A course is constructed around Dragon Lake and thus boasts dramatic lakeside holes. The front nine begins inland from the lake and is highlighted by tight, meandering tree-lined fairways. The back nine is positioned directly along the lake shores and features six stunning holes with intimidating hazards and incredible views, the best of them being the par-5 17th with a split fairway dissected by water and a peninsula green shielded by bunkers and standalone trees. The club is also home to the five-star Shenzhen Castle Hotel overlooking the property.
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    5. Mission Hills Haikou (Blackstone)
    Public
    5. Mission Hills Haikou (Blackstone)
    Daping, Donuggan, Guangdong, China
    Set on top of an ancient lava field, Brian Curley routed the Blackstone course at Mission Hills Haikou through dense jungle and open wetlands dotted with lychee trees. The layout blends with the natural environment, as bunkers seamlessly transition into lava rock-filled waste areas and fairways without rough transform into tickets of native trees. The course is one of 10 Mission Hills golf properties and debuted in 2011 featuring tumbling fairways and dramatic elevation changes. The front nine is routed through dense forest and features the par-3 fifth, playing over a lava field to a tiered green surrounded by waste area. The back nine climbs to higher elevation offering panoramic views of the property, and features back-to-back par 5s, the easier 12th and the brutal 681-yard 13th. Located 45 minutes south of Haikou, the Blackstone course promises one of the most spectacular experiences in the country.
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    4. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Lake)
    Public
    4. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Lake)
    Yiliang, Yunnan, China
    This Robert Trent Jones Jr. design on the shoreline of Yang Zong Hai Lake (as gorgeous as Lake Tahoe) opened a year after the club's Mountain Course, a Jack Nicklaus design. Holes on the Lake Course are benched along a tumbling slope leading down to the lake. The opening and closing holes sit at the highest location, and a spectacular trio lead down on the water's edge: the par-3 eighth, plunging 100 feet down to a peninsula green, the par-5 ninth with a lake hard against the right edge, and the par-3 10th, over a lake cove to a clifftop green.
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    3. The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula (East)
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    3. The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula (East)
    Wanning, Hainan, China
    Located on the dunes of China’s Hainan Island are two Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith-designed courses aptly named the Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula. The courses were built on a former watermelon plantation with the East course debuting in 2012 as a complement to the already acclaimed West course, which opened in 2010. The links-style track offers unique bunkering, towering sand dunes and strategically utilized natural contours. The standout hole on the front nine is the long par-4 second with a drive over a sprawling marsh wetland and an approach to a well-guarded green. The back nine features the signature hole on the East, the par-5 16th, played on a tiered fairway overlooking the South China Sea and playing to a green seemingly falling into the water below. Caddies and carts are required although walking is permitted at this unique golf experience.
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    2. Sheshan International Golf Club
    Courtesy of the club
    Private
    2. Sheshan International Golf Club
    Songjiang, Shanghai, China
    Sheshan International, at the base of Sheshan Mountain, is considered by some to be the Augusta National of China because of its opulent conditioning. The stylistic design, by Canadian Neil Haworth and his late partner Robin Nelson, incorporates a small forest, a canal, several manmade ponds and a small, deep stone quarry, over which both the drivable par-4 16th and long par-3 17th play. Sheshan hosted 14 of the 15 annual World Golf Championship's HSBC Champions events between 2005 and 2019.
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    1. Shanqin Bay Golf Club
    Courtesy of Shanqin Bay G.C.
    Private
    1. Shanqin Bay Golf Club
    Wanning, Hainan, China
    It has wide corridors flanked by jungle gunch, big intricate greens and eye-catching ragged-edge bunkering, yet Shanqin Bay is perhaps the most controversial design the highly regarded firm of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw has ever built. Partly because it was created on a site far more rugged than the duo normally tackle (until they dove into Cabot Saint Lucia)—land that housed a World War II Army barracks, complete with stone tunnels. Coore's routing manages to traverse the mountainous property, but only with the help of some blind shots, two holes around an artificial irrigation pond and a very unusual finish with two drivable par 4s among the last three holes. All its quirks are worth it, for its proximity along the South China Sea is outstanding.
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    Complete rankings:

    1. Shanqin Bay G.C.

    2. Sheshan International G.C.

    3. The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula (East)

    4. Spring City G. & Lake Resort (Lake)

    5. Mission Hills Haikou (Blackstone)

    6. Hidden Grace Golf Club (A)

    7. Lanhai International Golf Club (Yangtze Dunes)

    8. Reignwood Pine Valley Golf Club (Nicklaus)

    9. Shanghai Links Golf Community and Country Club

    10. Topwin Golf and Country Club

    11. Suning Zhongshan International Golf Club (AB)

    12. Wind Valley Golf Club (Member)

    13. Shadow Creek Golf Club

    14. Dongzhuang Beach Golf Club (Linksland)

    15. West Lake International Golf and Country Club

    16. Sanya Haitang Bay

    17. Enhance Anting Golf Club

    18. Nicklaus Club Beijing

    19. Kingswan Country Club

    20. Suzhou Jinji Lake International Golf Club (Wetlands/Links)

    21. Spring City G. & Lake Resort (Mountain)

    22. Foison Golf Club (Neil Haworth)

    23. Shanghai Qizhong Garden Golf Club

    24. Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club

    25. Kunming Sunshine Golf Club

    26. Lake Malaren Golf Club Shanghai (Masters)

    27. Beijing CBD International Golf Club

    28. Heshan Golf Club

    29. Weihai Point Hotel & Golf Resort

    30. Wind Valley Golf Club (Public)

    Nos. 2-30 from Golf Digest China’s rankings. No. 1 Shanqin Bay is ranked 62nd in the world on our rankings.

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