Palmer Course at Chung Shan Hot Spring Golf Club

About the club

When Arnold Palmer designed this course in 1984, it was the only one built in post-revolutionary China. Construction was financed by businessman Henry Fok, then one of the world's richest people, at a time when the Chinese knew very little about the game. The course itself is superb, done up in the style of the famous heath and heather layouts in the south of Britain, though the scenic Laoshanwei peaks remind players that they are in another world. The Palmer, unlike many recent courses in China, which favor masses of water and sand, is a study in subtlety; the challenge comes in the form of fairways fringed with trees and tight, nicely contoured greens. Despite the warm climate, the effort has been made to go with bent grass over Bermuda on the greens, and this choice makes for an incredibly even putting surface in the cooler season.