Top 30 Golf Courses of Malaysia 2015
Kuala Lumpur (West) holds on to the number one slot in our extended Malaysian rankings
Since 2009, when we created our first Top 10 chart for Malaysia, we’ve tried to showcase the very best courses in that particular corner of South East Asia. Our coverage of golf courses in that nation doubled to a Top 20 in 2011 and now, four years further on, we’re extending our rankings even further by presenting our new Malaysian Top 30.
The 18-hole layout at Datai Bay occupied the number 6 position in our inaugural listings but it then dropped out when our next re-ranking exercise took place after it was closed for major refurbishment. Fast forward five years to December 2014 and the emergence of the fabulous new Els Club Teluk Datai, which supercedes the old Ted Parslow-designed course, and this brand new track from the Big Easy enters our new chart at an impressive number 2 position.
Taking an overall look at the thirty courses in our Malaysian table, there are ten new entries, five climbers, fourteen fallers and only one course - our number one at Kuala Lumpur (West) - where there’s no move in either direction. The West course, which has hosted the last six editions of the Malaysian Open, moved up two places to the top spot in 2013 and it has managed to cling on to that position this time around.
The next new entry in the national listings arrives at number 12 and it’s the Parslow & Winter redesign of Palm Garden in Putrajaya that makes it into the chart. Following a significant revamp of the layout in 2009, two 9-hole loops named “Eugenia” and “Bismarck” emerged and this new 18-hole layout well merits its lofty position in the Malaysian listings.
Further down the table, three new courses enter the Top 30 at positions 18 to 20: Andy Dye’s tough test on the East and West nines at Orna(regular host to the Asian Tour Qualifying School), Royal Perak (one of the oldest clubs outside the British Isles) and Kelab Rahman Putra Malaysia (Lakes), founded by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in the late 1980s.
From the handful of courses that make an upward move in the table, three are worth noting: the Raintree & Lakes nines at Clearwater Sanctuary in Batu Gajah, which rise five places from 12 to 7, the Japanese-owned Templer Park course in Rawang, advancing six spots from 19 to 13 and the most easterly course that we feature in Malaysia, Shan-Shui, on the south eastern coast of Borneo, which progresses a commendable seven positions from 15 to 8.
As ever, Top 100 Golf Courses welcomes your feedback so please let us know what you think of our Malaysian rankings. We’ve recently brought a couple of Asian correspondents into the Top 100 Team so, with their vast experience of playing the top tracks in the region, we’re confident that our national charts in that part of the world are as up to date and as accurate as possible.
We never claim to be “definitive” but we do like to think that we publish the most “informed” rankings in the golf industry. If you’ve played any of the courses below, why not post a review and let us know what you think?
To view the complete detailed list of the Top 30 Golf Courses in Malaysiaclick the link.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
