Situated an hour’s ferry ride to the south east of Singapore, Bintan is the largest island in Indonesia’s Riau archipelago with a land area of approximately 900 square miles. It was an important trading post for many centuries due to its position on the route between China and India but, in the modern era, it’s tourism potential is being developed in much the same way as Bali's.

The Bintan Resorts project in the north of the island now boasts three excellent golf facilities which all opened for play in the late 1990s. Laguna Bintan (formerly known as Banyan Tree) is a Greg Norman design laid out in two returning loops of nine, each of which flirts with the waters of the South China Sea.

The Ria Bintan 27-hole complex from Gary Player’s design company consists of the short, tight 9-hole Forest circuit and the more expansive 18-hole Ocean layout. Finally, the 36-hole Bintan Lagoon resort offers two contrasting courses with the Jack Nicklaus-designed Sea View course preferred by many to the tighter, more challenging Woodlands layout from Ian Baker-Finch.