Royale Jakarta (West & South)

Situated close to Halim Perdanakusuma, Jakarta’s military airport, the 27-hole golf complex at Royale Jakarta Golf Club was constructed with Sea Isle Supreme Paspalum grass sown from tee to green on every hole. The course is one of several Indonesian layouts designed by the JMP Design Group over the last couple of decades and the three returning 9-hole loops (West, South and North) all play to a par of 36 with each circuit ending with a testing par five hole.

The following edited extract is from Volume Six of Golf Architecture: A Worldwide Perspective . Reproduced with kind permission. To obtain a copy of the book, email Paul Daley at fswing@bigpond.net.au.

“Royale Jakarta’s property provided JMP Golf Design Group with a wonderful canvas of rolling terrain and scattered specimen trees, facilitating the creation of a highly regarded golf course. The design style of this stand-alone golf course is consistent with parkland ideals, and is enhanced by its strong emphasis on long-range vistas – a rarity for the relatively flat topography of inner-city Jakarta.

The golf course is planted with Sea Isle Supreme Paspalum. The utilisation of a single species turfgrass for all playing surfaces is uncommon, yet it has been a success at Royal Jakarta. The surrounds of the golf course are accented with a colourful background of ornamental grasses and the introduction of both shade and flowering trees.

Many of the original rice fields have been cleverly incorporated into the design, providing both strategic and aesthetic aspects to the layout. The three individual nine-hole layouts were designed to blend in a seamless manner. Underpinning the design philosophy was a simple aim: to provide golfers with a consistent and enjoyable round of eighteen holes, regardless of which combination of nines was selected.”

The Indonesian Masters was first held at the club in April 2011 and Lee Westwood’s victory in the event saw him regain the world number one ranking. The Englishman returned to successfully defend the title the following year and he would go on to win the tournament after a playoff three years later, in 2015.