Beijing Honghua International

Honghua International Golf Club in Beijing is a Nick Faldo design that opened for play in 2004 and four years later the club hosted the Volvo China Open. Adroit bunkering and intricate green complexes feature prominently.

The course appeared in The Rolex World’s Top 1000 Golf Courses with the following edited narrative extract:

“Located in the heart of the city, this parkland layout is the first Nick Faldo design in northern China. Sited on pancake-flat terrain, the six-time major champion and his team worked wonders with very little earth moving, resulting in a course that is now considered one of Beijing’s finest. Honghua, like most Faldo designs, is a strategic masterpiece.

Artfully combining the good use of water with beautiful bunkering, his architectural flair is most noticeable in and around the greens. These are wonderfully contoured, featuring swales and run-off areas and allowing for numerous pin positions, all typical of a well-thought-out championship course. Arguably the best hole is the 15th, a testing par four framed by attractive willow trees.”