Mission Hills (Faldo)

Opened in 1999, the Faldo course at Mission Hills Shenzhen is billed as being China’s first stadium course and it has its own equivalent of the famous 17th island hole at TPC Sawgrass at the par three 16th.

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

“The Faldo course occupies an attractive woodland setting and is refreshingly free of the vast houses that line the some of the fairways at the other [Mission Hills] courses here. The feeling is of agreeable seclusion. But, of course, it’s the also the design itself which is deserving of attention – and Faldo, who worked on the specifics with the noted design pairing of Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley, has fashioned an imaginatively bunkered ‘Stadium’-style layout.

Like a well-written piece of music that build towards a crescendo, the Faldo course, which hosts the annual Faldo Series Asia Grand Finals, flows along in style before reaching what can only be described as a highly memorable – and water-strewn – finish. Watch out for the par three 16th and its island green – it’s probably a tougher hole than the famous 17th at TPC Sawgrass.”