FR Golfing at Shenzhen (picture intensive!)

Ok Guys,

as promised the field report from my last week trip to Shenzhen china. I"m quite lucky that I got used to the G20 by the 2nd course on route to Jiu Long Shan and Feng Huang Shan, saves me a lot of problem and helps on keeping me at mid 90's score

Day 1 : Mission Hills Nick Faldo course
I found this to be a nice course. Green and fairway are well maintained, quite level compared to the other 3 courses. The challenge is on accuracy as it said so in its website.

1st tee box. Need to get 200+ to tiger line the bunker on the right or fade the shot (but dangerous if short)



2nd tee box.


cant remember what the rest are, snap photo when I remember to




Day 2 : Hill View
This course is somewhat hilly, not as hilly as the other two, but serve as a nice intro

View from club house




1st Tee box and green



Fairway view from 2d green


9th tee box and green approach



?th tee box. Bloody narrow fairway


Day 3 : Jiu Long shan golf course
1st tee original blue (they moved the blue to white on the day)


2nd tee - across the tree tops


probaby 3rd. Can't remember


can't remember the rest, just enjoy the picture..





I think this is 9th tee






Day 4: Feng Huang shan
As hilly as Jiu long shan with less forest, but pretty much the same (lots of up slope approach). Some say it's harder than Jiu long shan...

Club house view




1st tee : Part 3 cross the gorge at 169 yards from blue


2nd tee


3rd tee


4th tee


can't remember what the rest are as I sometimes forgot to take the photo








Enjoy.

Cheers,

Wow!!!!! Nice pics!

What's the costing for each course eh?

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing. The courses looks quite challenging..

Mission hills rather pricey, about RMB1k for w/d, w/e i think could be close to RMB2k per round as guest..

The other courses average abt RMB1k for w/e, and RMB600-700 for w/d. Never played Hillview, so not too sure about that...

we took package from singapore. Hotel + local transport + course fee at 800 SGD. Got 1 or 2 dinner free. Flight is on our own, and we went there on silk air, which is around 800 as well I think.

The only think on these course 200m is a must. I'm quite lucky the driver (G20) and the 4 wood (G15) works otherwise sure die one and must depend on 3 iron which will be cutting it very very close.

But yes very very fun. Some course I can't carry 250m accross hazard in middle of fairway and need to tee off with 4 iron / 3 iron as water waits at 210 yards (180-190m). So I get to use all of the club on my bag which is rare (normally driver + mid iron playing white in singapore).
The food and massage is great. The only gripe I have is I don't speak mandarin other then few words, so sometimes end up in trouble due to ill informed decision making hahaha.. but I think my golf only mandarin is improving by leaps and bounds.

All in all, extremely fun both in and outside the course.

Cheers,

Sounds and looks like you had a fantastic trip. Including the part where you got yourself into 'trouble' because of the language barrier. Was it massage-related?

The green and texture of the grass looks interesting, fluffy, and deep brilliant green, almost like moss.

Did you find your carry any longer than in singapore/malaysia because of the lower humidity? Were any of the courses at higher elevation?

What were the speeds of the greens?

Now I'm tempted to make a trip.

to be honest this trip is more of a relaxing trip. We didn't do any crazy stuff like 36 holes in one day, unlike the previous trip to Kunming where we really go mental and did 3 days straight of 36 holes. This is more of a balance trip, breakfast, golf 18 holes, massage, dinner, KTV, sleep, repeat and rinse.

The part I'm in trouble is basicaly not knowing the green lie and end up doing unnecessary judgement mistake. All cause I can't yet converse in mandarin well, which is a shame as I've lived here in singapore which is a Mandarin speaking society for 11 over years.

Carry definitely longer but not much. Mostly due to the undulation and still far compared to Kun Ming (I did average 250-300 yards in Kun Ming, which is unheard of in Singapore). Shenzhen is close proximity to coastal so even on hill it's about few hundreds meter above sea level, so not that thin compared to Kun Ming's 1500++m,.

Green speed vary but mostly around 9-10. Faster than what is found in singapore but still nothing compared to Kun Ming's 13!!

Lee if you decide to make a trip, do let me know and maybe I'll join you.

NOTE to all : the holes I'm referring to is GOLF holes, not any other kind of hole (rabbit, mouse, mole or whatever others your imagination managed to conjure

Great pics!

Someone mentioned to me that in China, it seems everyone plays at the BLue tee. Something that their coaches taught them that way.

When i played there last time, the caddies were very surprised that we are playing at white. (we are white tee players in singapore)

Did you play white or blue there?

Am heading there in late oct and this question about white and blue still lingers. hehe:)

Cheers
heiwa

We were playing blue. We mixed stronger player in all flight to "carry" the flight so it will look decent. But you are right most ppl play off blue in china and there doesn't seems to be any requirement to it. So you are free to choose which tee you want to play from.
One thing though, some of the tee difference can be up to 20-30 meter and require forced carry (ravine, jungle, water etc)so if you don't drive well you are most probably won't enjoy playing off blue. On the plus side you get the high elevation and fantastic view.

Hth

Nice!! What was the weather like?

weather wise I think we were lucky. It's cloudy (probably due to the typhoon approaching hainan) and drizzle a bit, but yeah mostly dry and cloudy which is kindda perfect for golfing.

temperature between 22-29 I reckon. All in all perfect is all I can say. Luck plays a major part init as well (holding the drizzle up to dry and preventing it from turning into a down pour)

Heiwa wrote:

Great pics!

Someone mentioned to me that in China, it seems everyone plays at the BLue tee. Something that their coaches taught them that way.

When i played there last time, the caddies were very surprised that we are playing at white. (we are white tee players in singapore)

Did you play white or blue there?

Am heading there in late oct and this question about white and blue still lingers. hehe:)

Cheers
heiwa

* Black/Gold tee markers are usually reserved for touring professionals in official tournaments. Most municipal courses aren't equipped with this set of tees as very few public courses will hold professional events. Only the best players in the world play from these tees.
* Blue tee markers usually denote the teeing ground used for championship play in tournaments, and is the tee used by skilled male players who have a low handicap. This tee is almost always the longest yardage for each hole, unless the course is equipped with black or gold tees. Championship tees are often called "the tips".
* White tee markers usually denote the teeing ground used most often by men, typically those who have a middle or high handicaps. This tee is almost always the middle tee between the championship and ladies tee and is often called the "men's tee".
* Red tee markers can have two meanings. If the red tees are behind the white tees, it's usually for championship play. More commonly, the red tees are located in front of the white tee markers and are often called the "women's tees". The forward tees usually offer the shortest yardage on the course.
* Green tee markers often have shorter yardage even than the red tee markers, and usually indicate where juniors and beginners hit from. Sometimes they are between the white (men's) and red (women's) tee markers and are used as the "senior" tees.

dmateo wrote:

weather wise I think we were lucky. It's cloudy (probably due to the typhoon approaching hainan) and drizzle a bit, but yeah mostly dry and cloudy which is kindda perfect for golfing.

temperature between 22-29 I reckon. All in all perfect is all I can say. Luck plays a major part init as well (holding the drizzle up to dry and preventing it from turning into a down pour)

NICE! You've inspired me to play there too

Heiwa wrote:

Great pics!

Someone mentioned to me that in China, it seems everyone plays at the BLue tee. Something that their coaches taught them that way.

When i played there last time, the caddies were very surprised that we are playing at white. (we are white tee players in singapore)

Did you play white or blue there?

Am heading there in late oct and this question about white and blue still lingers. hehe:)

Cheers
heiwa

My rule of thumb on this is to look at the total yardage in the score card. I will play up to about 6,300m (just short of 7,000yds), whichever colour is the tee. In most cases, blue tees are between 6,000 and 6,300m. Some courses has its own definition of course. Back tee or championship tee are usually 7,000 yds and longer.

If the course is full of water, you may want to look at the layout of some of the par 4 which requires carry over water to make sure that you choose the tee which is within your driving distance. No point playing blue tee if one or 2 holes require long water carry and you are forced to lay up on your tee shot.

The photos of Fenghuangshan are great but you really have to stand at the tee box personally to appreciate the awesome views from elevated grounds. You will really need your caddy's advise on your tee shot direction, and club selections, when you play there first time. Another course with similar setting is Wind Valley (east of Shenzhen). These 2 courses , Fenhuangshan and Wind Valley in Shenzhen, and the Kau Sai Chau in HK, are some of the most difficult courses to play in Southern China.

Technospaz wrote:

dmateo wrote:

weather wise I think we were lucky. It's cloudy (probably due to the typhoon approaching hainan) and drizzle a bit, but yeah mostly dry and cloudy which is kindda perfect for golfing.

temperature between 22-29 I reckon. All in all perfect is all I can say. Luck plays a major part init as well (holding the drizzle up to dry and preventing it from turning into a down pour)

NICE! You've inspired me to play there too

When???

blee2007 wrote:

Technospaz wrote:

dmateo wrote:

weather wise I think we were lucky. It's cloudy (probably due to the typhoon approaching hainan) and drizzle a bit, but yeah mostly dry and cloudy which is kindda perfect for golfing.

temperature between 22-29 I reckon. All in all perfect is all I can say. Luck plays a major part init as well (holding the drizzle up to dry and preventing it from turning into a down pour)

NICE! You've inspired me to play there too

When???

Wanna plan a trip? I'm keen - I'm sure my wife would enjoy another shopping escapade.

Like that I lamppost ah?

blee2007 wrote:

Like that I lamppost ah?

Man of your capability.... Floodlight!!

blee2007 wrote:

Like that I lamppost ah?

Aiyah.. you bring your family too'lah!