Top 15 Golf Courses of Singapore 2018
A little more than a year after we reported that Singapore is one of the most stable ranking lists we publish, we’re now reporting a real change to the Singaporean golfing landscape, largely due to the complexities of land lease expiration and government infrastructure expansions across one of the smallest and most enterprising countries in the world.
Golf is still very big business in Singapore and clubs that have reasonably long leases are redeveloping their golfing facilities. On the flip side, some have closed and others are in the process of winding down operations. The well-regarded Jurong Country Club shut for business in late December 2016 to make way for the new Singapore to Kuala Lumpur high-speed rail link – the course had only re-opened following an extensive Ted Parslow makeover in 2012.
Both courses at Raffles Country Club are not included in our 2018 list because Singapore’s land authorities have not renewed the lease and taken back the property. It’s a good job the club didn’t follow through with plans to renovate the Palm course. Raffles will cease to operate as a golf club later this year.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Laguna National Golf & Country Club is set to challenge Sentosa as Singapore’s premier golf club. Both the Masters and World Classic courses (each originally designed by Andy Dye) have been under the knife. The radically altered World Classic (managed by IMG) has only just reopened – even the crazy 305-yard par three 3rd has thankfully disappeared to make room for a state-of-the-art greenkeeping compound. Several new World Classic holes have been built and the club is also renovating the clubhouse and developing the 5-Star Dusit Thani Laguna Singapore hotel. Laguna National is set to become one of Southeast Asia’s finest golf resorts.
The Garden course at Tanah Merah Country Club was the favourite of many, but ten hectares of land was lost to accommodate the expansion of Changi Airport and the layout was reduced to a par 70 by Phil Jacobs – ironically only a decade after the former Gary Player Design lead architect had expanded the Garden layout to 7,350 yards. Phil Jacobs was also commissioned to renovate the Tampines course, which is now all but completed and due to open within the next few weeks. An early look at the renovation suggests the Tampines is destined for the top, or at least near the top.
It’s hard to imagine Sentosa’s Serapong course being toppled just yet. But the fact that the New Tanjong layout has moved up into second place in our listings just goes to show what can be done with the right resources in place. Sentosa General Manager, Director of Agronomy and course architect Andrew Johnson (who was in charge of the Serapong course upgrade) was the person responsible for the startling course redesign of the Tanjong, along with long-term associate Matt Swanson, a long-term friend and former colleague at Gene Bates Design Group, where both men worked for a number of years. The Tanjong is now a class act and is no longer the poor relation at Sentosa Golf Club.
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Our latest Singapore rankings may not meet with universal approval, but we think they provide a current snapshot across an ever-shifting landscape. If you agree or disagree then let us know by using the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page.
To view further details of the Top 15 Golf Courses of Singapore click the link.
Keith Baxter
Top 100 Golf Courses
