| Address | Dragon Lake Community, Beixing Town, Haudu District, Guangzhou |
|---|---|
| 007 booking hotline | +852 2187 3146 or book-on-line |
| No. of holes | 18 at present |
| Par/Back tee | 72 / 7,134 yards (Gold Tee) |
| Course Designer | Dick Davidson |
| Course Transport | Cart |
Introduction
Thought I had completed my rounds on all courses at Guangdong province at 2003 and would be able to give myself and………. my wallet a long break on playing different golf clubs for a while.
But it seems new courses are keeping coming up……the new 5 courses at Mission Hills, Haili,
Orient at Zhuhai and this one, Dragon Lake…….running golf courses must be really profit
making or else they won’t be building so many, right??
This one just lies outside of the Guangzhou’s city outskirt, may be 30 to 40 minutes drive from the city (depending on the traffic, of course), but if you are like me (from Hong Kong), the journey from Huanggang would take about 2 hours and 800 RMB on a chartered van. You can take a look at the location map here (written in Chinese though)
Club Facilities & Service
The club’s decoration & finishes is decent & quite unqiue…….it is done in Scottish style, they even put in a fire place! ….not sure if it will be useful in the generally warmer climate of Guangdong but it is nice to know they are willing to give us something different.
Anyway, the club is nicely decorated and reasonably big (they are planing to build 54 holes!), the ground level is the lobby, proshop & cafe, the 1st floor is their restaurant.
The quality of the service is reasonably good too.
Fairway & Green maintenance
Not bad! I think it is above average to courses I’d just been but didn’t like the greens which were on the quick side and way too firm for longer clubs, I had a sand wedge in which flew nice & high but still couldn’t hold the green & bounced off : (
Soften them up and they will have a winner.
Caddy Service & knowledge
Pretty good considering it is a new course, may be due to they opened 9 holes for a while so the caddies had sufficient time to know parts of the course. Service was not bad too.
Course Design
The surrounding area of the club is very nice & scenic with mature trees scatter around the course, the front 9 is built on a flatter piece of land around the lake while the back is built around the small hills.
Due to its layout, the front has more water in play but the fairways are generally wider and it is bit easier than the back which is narrower, more elevation changes and more blind shots, direction & distance control is critical here so consult with your caddy before you take your shots. I also found the back 9 design very similar to Century Seaview GC & Sino.
As mentioned, you wouldn’t know this is a new course due to maturity of the trees, my round here was very pleasant with nice weather and beautiful fresh air.
Photos
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Dogleg left, slightly downhill, the approach is going back uphill with an elevated green….water is not really in play unless you are way off-line.
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Aim dead centre of the fairway, water is play on the left all the way to the green.
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Index 1, downhill, water and 2 bunkers on the left are in play. Need to be careful on the approach also as water is the right in front of the green.
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water is in front of the green, need to carry your ball all the way or you will lose it.
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A short par 5, this is the one you can go for it. Just aim the directly under red arrow, you will need a driver of around 230 yards to cut the dogleg.
Now all you have left is around 220 and a slightly uphill approach.
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Slight dogleg to the left, downhill and water on the right is in play.
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Take dead aim to the lone tree or slightly to its left.
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Long par 3, downhill, water on the left and with an elevated green.
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A simple straight coward hole with a slightly elevated green.
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Par 5, going upslope so it will play a little longer, water is in play on the left.
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A fairly normal downslope par 4.
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A long par 3, big downshill with bunkers guarding the green.
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Downslope par 4, looks quite intimating from the tee with water on the left. The approach to the green will be slightly back to the slope..
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Blind hole from the tee as well as the approach.
The club deploy a caddy hidden the landing area, he/she will come out to warm you if there is any group in your range.
Aim at the blue arrow for 230 yards, too long will hit over the fairway.
Still can’t see the green on your approach, unless…….
you walk forward a bit….and you will see an elevated green
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A nice hole, play down the hill, water is on the left and bunkers on the right, need to position a good drive to good back up to the slope to the green.
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They rank this downhill par 3 the ‘easiest’ hole on the course – an island green!
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Difficult hole. A par 5 playing up the slope making it even longer.
Check what you need to do on your 2nd shot……going major uphill.
Wow ！
The apporach will need to fly over the ravine.
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A long par 4 plays down the hill.
007’s Rating
The course is a little further away for Hong Kong golfers but the ride from Huanggang wasn’t too bad as most of the journey is on a fairly comfortable highway.
The blue tee has 6,662 yards with some tight fairways, if you want to play well, you have got to control the ball well.
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