No. Of Course   

Course Designer

Old Course - Walking Course
New Course - Electric Golf Carts

Opened for play in 1984, the Palmer course at Chung Shan Hot Spring GC is China's first modern day course. (Apprently there were a few around Shanghai in the 1930s frequented by the Brits, but these were quickly got rid of by the gloriously efficient communists after the war).

The Palmer is still considered one of China's best courses which is remarkable given the difficulty in actually building the place. No large machinery was used. Instead, thousands of local men and women had to shift tonnes and tonnes of soil around the site which took an awful lot of time (and effort - poor locals). Anyway, all this hard work paid off and the result is a very tradtional course that feels very much like some of the layouts you find in the English Home Counties.

Later, in 1993, a certain Jack Nicklaus came over and officially opened his design - the imaginatively titled Nicklaus course - to wide acclaim. Unlike the Palmer, the Nicklaus course is both long and wide and features oceans of water and hundreds of bunkers. It obviously proved too tough for the Golden Bear as he shot a pretty miserable 75 on the opening day.

Nowadays, the club has a flourising membership and is still one of Guangdong's more popular places to play. The facilities in the clubhouse are looking a bit tired (if you compare them with some of the new golfing palaces that have opened) but overall this is a proper golfers club and as such, things like etiquette and gentlemanly conduct are strcitly adhered to - jolly good thing too! Finally, the caddies, who are all recruited locally and have an average age of about 80, are the most professional in China.

If you are travelling from Hong Kong use the JiuZhou (Zhuhai) Terminal as it is closer to the club than Zhongshan. The taxi ride is about 35 - 40 minutes and cost about 100 or less.

You will notice there are many differences between this club and newer establishments the moment you step inside - primarily because everything looks a bit old nowadays except for the realatively new massage/spa area. This, however, doesn't make it inferior.  On the contrary, I found the food, the service and the nice locker rooms (with Hot Spring bath) excellent. My only real gripe was with the poorly stocked Pro Shop which came as a bit of a surprise given the club's heritage. Those of you who detest the smell of tobacco will be glad to learn that smoking is forbidden in the clubhouse.

The practice facilities are very good. The Palmer course has a lake driving range while the Nicklaus has an all-turf range and three practice holes for warming up.

With the exception of the incredibly long par 4, 1st, the Palmer is short by today's standards and the emphasis is on hitting the ball straight rather than being able to whack it 300 yards. It's an excellent mix of holes: dogelg lefts, dogleg rights, straightaway holes, short par 4s, long par 3s, reachable par 5s all set in the clean air of the Zhuhai countryside. (Zhuhai is pretty much devoid of heavy industry). It's not an incredibly demanding layout; the bunkers are few are far between, the terrain is undulating rather than mountainous, but there are a number of holes that can jump up and bite in a flash. The 1st is probably the most difficult but the 3rd is the most famous. This medium length par 4 doglegs to the left and the drive has to be arrow straight (hookers of the ball have a big advantage) and the approach must be played over a canal. The fairways on the Palmer have a reputation for being narrow but they're not exactly US Open width.

By far the biggest surprise on the Palmer is the Bentgrass greens. For those of you who are not au fait with agronomy, Bentgrass is suited to cool and dry conditions which hardly describes Guangdong. (Bermudagrass is the grass of choice pretty much everywhere else, including the Nicklaus course). Anyway, the Bentgrass is a fine blade variety of grass and can be cut extremely short. As a result, the greens on the Palmercan be extremely quick but also extremely smooth to putt on. Without doubt the best time to enjoy these quality greens is during the winter (Nov-Jan) when it's a bit cooler. During the summer the grass doesn't look so good and are much slower - they're still not bad to putt on. Why they chose to have Bentgrass greens is a mystery considering the difficulty in maintaining them but come winter time these are without doubt the best greens in the province.

September 2005:

Not at all bad. The greens don't look good but they putt fine and are a lot quicker than you might expect. Fairways are in generally good shape. Neither outstanding or poor. Can't wait until November/December time for those Bentgrass greens.

This is a soft-spikes only course.

I think I have played enough rounds here to say that the knowledge of the caddies here is the best in China. Unlike other courses, most of the caddies are from Guangdong and have been at the club for a long time. I have also heard that they get to play the course during off-peak hours so they're also pretty handy players. While they are undoubtedly very professional (they're also pretty old) they're perhaps not as 'fun' as the younger caddies at other courses. Perhaps Chung Shan caddies just don't get my jokes.

Very good course, excellent service, super caddies, plus the history factor combine to make this an easy Eagle. When the Bentgrass greens are in better shape this will be an Ace.

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