| Address | Sanxiang Commune, Zhongshan City, Guangdong |
|---|---|
| Contacts | Tel: (760) 669 0055 Fax: (760) 668 3990 Website: http://www.cshsgc.com.cn/ |
| 007 booking hotline | +852 2187 3146 or book-on-line |
| Club Type | Private Club |
| No. Of Course | 2 x 18 holes |
| Par / Back Tee | Old – 71 / 5,929 , New – 72 / 6,396 meters |
| Course Designer | Old Course – Arnold Palmer / New Course – Jack Nicklaus |
| Course Transport | Old Course – Walking Course New Course – Electric Golf Carts |
| Transportation | China H.K City Ferry Terminal / Shun Tak Center Terminal – JiuZhou Harbour (Approx. 1′ 10″) JiuZhou Harbour – Club Approx. 35 ” by taxi (RMB 100 each way) China H.K. City Ferry Terminal / Shun Tak Center Terminal – Zhongshan Harbour (Approx. 1′ 10″ – 30″ depending on ferry. ) Zhongshan Harbour – Club (Approx.. 55″ by car) |
Scorecard (Old) / Course Layout (Old) / Scorecard (New) / Course Layout (New)
Introduction
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.
Club Facilities & Service
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.
Fairway & Green maintenance(Old Course)
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.
Caddy Service & knowledge
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.
Course Design
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.
Photos(Old Course)
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#1, par 4, gold tee 411 meters, blue 397, white 383, red 365, index for men & ladies 3.
Uphill, long par 4. Tough start so make sure you get warmed up before hand.
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#2, par 3, gold tee 157 meters, blue 157, white 132, red 119, index for men & ladies 17.
Messed up on the 1st hole? Don’t worry, should get your par here on this easier short par 3.
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#3, par 4, gold & blue 368 meters, white 344, red 277, index men 5, ladies 7.
Famous hole that sweeps to the left. Accurate drive is required to find the fairway. Approach needs to carry the canal and greenside bunker.
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#4, par 5, gold & blue tee 480 meters, white 447, red 432, index for men & ladies 1.
This fairway is divided into pieces by narrow waterways, consult your caddie for correct yardage.
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#5, par 4, gold tee 291 meters, blue 279, white 271, red 241, index men & ladies 13.
A short uphill par 4 that doglegs sharply to the right. Green slopes from back to front.
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#6, par 5, gold tee 500 meters, blue 492, white 482, red 422, index men 7, ladies 5.
This is downhill all the way. Longer hitters reach be able to reach the green in two.
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#7, par 4, gold & blue 315 meters, white 284, red 242, index for men & ladies 9.Slightly uphill, short par 4. One of the weaker holes on the course.
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#8, par 3, gold tee 193 meters, blue 185, white 148, red 102, index for men & ladies 15.
A long downhill par 3.
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#9, par 4, gold tee 372 meters, blue 341, white 331, red 300, index men & ladies 11.
Great hole this. Water right of the green can’t be seen clearly on the second shot. Aim left and the countours on the green should feed the ball back towards the middle.
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#10, par 4, gold tee 345 meters, blue 300, white 253, red 226, index man 6, ladies 14.
This is a small dogleg right with water on the right. Accuracy with the tee shot is important.
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#11, par 3, gold tee, 183 meters, blue 179, white 165, red 154, index men 14, ladies 12.
This is a long downhill par 3.
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#12, par 4, gold tee, 382 meters, blue 382, white 350, red 271, index man 4, ladies 6.
This is a tough one requiring the tee shot to carry water and then a long iron approach.
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#13, par 3, gold & blue 180 meters, white 165, red 154, index man 16, ladies 16.
A long par 3 with water on the left.
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# 14, par 5, gold tee, 478 meters, blue 437, white 403, red 340 index man 2, women 2.
Main trouble here is the narrowness of the fairway. If found, it’s very reachable in two.
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# 15, par 4, gold tee 334 meters, blue 334, white 309, red 285, index men 12, ladies 8.
Fairly straightforward hole. Good birdie chance.
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#16, par 4, gold tee 328 meters, blue 328, white 288, red 254.
Index for men 10, ladies 12.
Another short par 4 and another good birdie opportunity.
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#17, par 3, gold tee 130 meters, blue 114, white 101, red 76, index men 18 ladies 18.
Pretty little par 3.
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#18, par 5, gold tee 479 meters, blue 479, white 430, red 386, index men 8, ladies 4.
This is one good looking par 5. Longish carry to clear the water but overall it’s another good birdie chance.
New Course Review
This New course is surely one of the harder golf course I have played, it’s 6,084 meters from the Blue or 6,396 meters off the Gold and quite of few of them are uphill too, making them twice as hard as they appear on the scorecard, there are also plenty of fairways bunkers and around the greens, good length off the tee and accurate approach shots are paramount here.
Good knowledge and management of the course are also important as you really have to navigate some of the tight dogleg fairways.
One of the interesting feature on the course – you’ll need to use an elevator to take you up from # 15 to the 16th tee.
Photos (New Course)
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#1, par 4, gold 340 meters, blue 329, white 309, yellow 285, red 263, index men 17, women 13.
See the bunkers? There are more to come. This is ranked as 17 (for men) …just image what the hard ones will be like.
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#2, par 5, gold tee 477 meters, blue 469, white 456, yellow 446, red 402, index men 6, women 8.
A upslope fairway with water running all the way to the green with more bunkers….this is going to be a long day.
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#3, par 3, gold tee 189 meters, blue 169, white 154, yellow 146, red 129, index men 13, women 17.
Want to practice bunkers shots …. you have come to the right place.
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#4, par 4, gold tee 410 meters, blue 394, white 377, yellow 341, red 328, index men 1, women 3.This could well be the toughest hole I have played.
A tight dogleg left, LONG & STRAIGHT is the only shot.
These green side bunkers are deep, you’ll need a lot of luck …..and skill to get out.
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#5, par 4, gold tee 358 meters, blue 333, white 312, yellow 301, red 276, index men 11, women 9.
This is a downhill, the tough one is land the second to the green.
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#6, par 3, gold tee 143 meters, blue 131, white 121, yellow 109, red 93, index men & women 15.
This hole looks intimating but ‘should’ be quite easy due to its short distance, relax and should get a par.
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#7, par 4, gold tee 411 meters, blue 397, white 382, yellow 374, red 336, index men 3, women 1.
If have done very well if you can bogey this one as this is long uphill fairway with big bunkers guarding the green.
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#8, par 4, gold tee 351, blue 331, white 313, yellow 283, red 244, index men 7, women 11
331 meters with more uphill? I should have played the white tee.
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# 9, par 5, gold tee 526 meters, blue 508, white 485, yellow 467, red 410, index men 5, women 7.
Here we go, another uphill fairway … expected to get six here but ended up with a par as I chipped in from the green side rough! This made my day.
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#10, par 4, gold tee 379 meters, blue 360, white 339, yellow 308, red 262, index men 10, women 18.
This long dogleg left par 4 going up hill is very difficult indeed.
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#11, par 5, gold tee 486 meters, blue 469, white 462, yellow 450, red 397, index men 12, women 10.
The first & second shot is easier on this hole but the approach will have a few green side bunkers to deal with.
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#12 , par 4, gold 395 meters, blue 373, white & yellow 342, red 319, index men 4, women 4.
Lots of fairway & green side bunkers to catch you.
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#13, par 3, gold tee 159 meters, blue & 141, yellow 128, red 113, index men 16, women 14.The bunker on the right of the green is both big & deep, avoid it at all cost.
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#14, par 4, gold tee 335 meter, blue 318, white & yellow 302, red 273, index men 18, women 16.
This downhill dogleg left is supposed to be a easy hole?
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#15, par 5, gold & blue tee 457, white 428, yellow 402, red 369, index men 6, women 8.
I am beginning to think they brought the beach on this course as those big bunkers are positioned to catch your every shots.
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#16, par 4, gold tee 386 meters, blue 367, white 351, yellow 328, red 305, index men 8, women 6.
This one is easier as the tee shot is down slope making the distance shorter.
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#17, par 3, gold tee 163 meters, blue 139, white 117, yellow 97, red 90, index men 14, women 12.
Water on the left, bunkers on the right..hit the green is the only way.
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#18, par 4, gold tee 431 meters, blue 399, white 379, yellow 348, red 315, index men & women 2.
A final obstacle to finish the round with this tight left and right fairway.
007’s Rating
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.
(New Course) Some of the holes are very intimating, if you are looking for a challenge, this one wouldn’t disappoint and it will be a good idea to consult your caddy where they put the tees before you start.
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