Leo Palace (Bougainvillea & Plumeria)

Described as a “Paradise city that awaits you in the hills,” the Leo Palace resort is located in the middle of Guam, less than a 30-minute car ride from the international airport. Apart from the golf that’s on offer here, there are major league-approved baseball fields, swimming pools and a soccer pitch available at this sporting centre of excellence.

The Bougainvillea and Plumeria nines were built by Arnold Palmer Design in 1992 and the fairways of this course wind their way across Guam’s rugged inland region, over hills and through valleys, within a dense jungle area called Manenggon Hills.

The returning nines extend to 6,446 yards in length, with feature holes including the left doglegging par fives at the 4th and 12th (rated two of the toughest holes on the layout) and the two short par fours at holes 5 and 8 on the front nine.

Tom Doak had this to say about the resort: “Palmer and Nicklaus have built courses side by side in more than a dozen places, and this is the only one I know where the Palmer course is clearly the star of the show. Leo Palace is a large resort catering to Japanese and Korean group business, and Bougainvillea is the best of its four nines.”