Golfing at Kunming's Spring City Golf & Lake Resort - Lake Course

The room I had at the resort was spacious and very comfortable. After a good night's sleep, woke up early to a cold morning and headed straight to the chipping green for some practice. Had to wear 3 layers i.e. tee shirt, long sleeve polo and woolen vest and after 30mins, my exposed hands were feeling numb. Had a hearty buffet breakfast and by 10am, we were ready to take on the much more scenic Lake Course. Noticed that the sky was abit hazy (as can be seen in the photos) but the air was fresh. Was later told by the locals that this was not haze nor pollution but something caused by the weather there. Kunming has been having a long dry spell and perhaps this was a contributory factor. Again we had a buggy and caddy each and yes, buggies were allowed on the fairways! The course was in excellent condition and the greens were really fast but the lines were true. Was told it was 12.6 on the stimpmeter and it was a challenge not to 3 putt. The caddies were a great help in reading the lines. We had good weather throughout and by 3pm, finished our round and 4 of us decided to proceed for another 9 holes after a quick lunch. Great fun golfing and teaching the caddy English in return for Mandarin lessons!
Spring City Resort is purely golf and there are no other activites in or nearby to the resort. The resort has the usual health centre (was told the masseurs were good), mahjong, karaoke rooms and thats about it. So for non golfers, there isn't much to do. We had another sumptuous dinner of sweet potato porridge and many side dishes supplemented with wine and whisky and the usual talk abt the missed birdies and negotiations for strokes for the next round. Just for info, breakfast was abt RMB130 and dinner RMB160 per head on average. We had complimentary rooms courtesy of the 2 members in our group who used their room nights entitlement. Did not enquire what the normal room charge is. Also to note that the air there is very dry and one should use body lotion liberally right from the beginning and drink lots of water eventhough you may not feel thirsty.
Next review - Stoneforest International Country Club!

The course looks very scenic ... You must have enjoyed yourself thoroughly ... Did u notice your ball travel farther than usual?

Ya, the eternal spring weather there makes it a very attractive destination for golf though it is more expensive compared to other countries in SE Asia. And the ball does travel further but I would like to think it was my "skill"... ha ha Understand there are a couple more golf clubs nearby to Spring City Resort that are about to obtain their license to open to the public. So it will be even more attractive!

Thank you for the review Gofnut. The course looks beautiful!

kyleyann wrote:

Thank you for the review Gofnut. The course looks beautiful!

It is. My amateurish photography does not do it justice! Great destination for golfers to fellowship sans non golfing partners/kids!

Gofnut wrote:

Ya, the eternal spring weather there makes it a very attractive destination for golf though it is more expensive compared to other countries in SE Asia. And the ball does travel further but I would like to think it was my "skill"... ha ha Understand there are a couple more golf clubs nearby to Spring City Resort that are about to obtain their license to open to the public. So it will be even more attractive!

Hainan is equally good ... U should consider it your next golf destination ...

Gofnut wrote:

kyleyann wrote:

Thank you for the review Gofnut. The course looks beautiful!

It is. My amateurish photography does not do it justice! Great destination for golfers to fellowship sans non golfing partners/kids!

Hey golnut, how do you manage to book one buggy to a golfer with a caddy? Do you know the cost per golfer? We go there once or twice a year for few years and always two to a buggy, one caddy to a golfer. And buggies on path for all our games so far except one as he is 70 yr old.....u guys muz be vips? We have been paying 200rmb for the caddies for a 18 hole game...! We were told this the rate.

Cnng121 wrote:

Hey golnut, how do you manage to book one buggy to a golfer with a caddy? Do you know the cost per golfer? We go there once or twice a year for few years and always two to a buggy, one caddy to a golfer. And buggies on path for all our games so far except one as he is 70 yr old.....u guys muz be vips? We have been paying 200rmb for the caddies for a 18 hole game...! We were told this the rate.

Ha ha. Perhaps the two members with us are VVIPs! But I believe it was because the course was not crowded and thus we given the luxury of a caddy each to provide gainful employment. When they have insufficient caddies to go round, then we have to share. Our golfing fee of RMB900 is actually made up of Green Fee RMB600 and Caddy/Buggy Fee RMB300. We gave a further RMB100 direct to the caddy as tips.

Nice pics...

IIRC lotsa comments on Stone Forest is a must play course there...

Ah yes, Kunming - really miss that place. Dying to go there again, but waiting for kakis' round table from a list of "to play courses".
If you have 2 days' spare time while you're there, can take a short flight to Lijiang. Beautiful courses and superb courses as well.

Can't wait for my kunming and lijiang trip next month. Will be playing the 2 courses at spring city and also stone forest. Should have a spare day for another game in kunming. Any recommendations? Thanks.

devil_wq wrote:

Can't wait for my kunming and lijiang trip next month. Will be playing the 2 courses at spring city and also stone forest. Should have a spare day for another game in kunming. Any recommendations? Thanks.

I kinda like Sunshine Golf Club...

slash wrote:

devil_wq wrote:

Can't wait for my kunming and lijiang trip next month. Will be playing the 2 courses at spring city and also stone forest. Should have a spare day for another game in kunming. Any recommendations? Thanks.

I kinda like Sunshine Golf Club...

Thanks. I will go check it out.