Sunshine

Robert Trent Jones Jnr already had several golf projects in China under his belt before his course at Sunshine Golf Club was revealed to the general golfing public in 2004 and this latest offering from the architect is just one of a number of top golf facilities – such as Stone Forest and Spring City – to appear in Yunnan province since the start of the new millennium.

With holes on the front nine set out on a relatively flat landscape and a back nine routed across hillier terrain, the Sunshine course certainly offers golfers a game of two halves. As many of the fairways dogleg left or right around man-made water hazards on the outward half, they contrast sharply with the holes that play uphill or downhill on the inward half.

Highlight holes include the right doglegged 3rd, rated the toughest hole on the front nine, and the 159-yard 7th, played to a peninsula green surrounded by sand and water. On the hillier back nine, the uphill 14th is another very difficult par four, rated stroke index 1 on the scorecard, whilst the 192-yard 17th is another tough hole, requiring a heroic carry across a gully to a small two-tiered green.