🇨🇳 Shanqin Bay Golf Club - China's Coastal Masterpiece

Ni hao (Good day) golfers,

This week, I am taking you to Hainan, China, where I’ll explore Shanqin Bay Golf Club, one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world. Rumour has it that the cost to join ranges between USD $1 million and USD $1.4 million, with annual dues of USD $30,000, making it one of the most expensive golf courses in the world. The club is so elite that it doesn’t even have a website.

Interesting fact - Golf-like games such as chuiwan were played in China as early as the Song dynasty (around 1000 AD).

In Today’s Email

• 🤿 Deep Dive into the very exclusive Shanqin Bay Golf Club

This Week in Golf 

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Check them out here: 👉 Manors Golf

🥢 Shanqin Bay Golf Club

Location

Perched dramatically on China's Hainan Island close to the remote village of Bo’ao overlooking the East China Sea. Few courses better showcase their natural canvas than this masterpiece, where each hole unveils a new drama of cliffs, dense jungle and coastal views, testing both a golfers shot-making ability and courage. Access to this exclusive sanctuary requires both substantial means ($1-1.4 million USD initiation fee) and proper connections. The journey begins through two guard gates and along a 2-mile snaking drive which builds anticipation, with teasing glimpses of jungle, coastline, and pristine fairways.

History

The property's story began in 2004 when Jun Wang, then chairman of CITIC, discovered the site during a helicopter reconnaissance of Hainan's southeast coast. Upon landing on what was then a vast pineapple plantation, Wang immediately recognized the land's potential. His vision: to create Asia's finest golf experience on this dramatic oceanfront terrain.

Wang hired Bill Coore of Coore & Crenshaw, though initially reluctant to work in China. It took Coore seven days of walking the site before discovering a routing that could tame the severe topography. The result would become one of Asia's most celebrated courses.

Architectural Brilliance

Shanqin Bay is often compared to Kapalua meets Cape Kidnappers, with touches of Barnbougle Lost Farm. The course features huge playing corridors, minimal rough, and strategic blind shots - unconventional for China. Coore's routing masterfully uses the severe elevation changes primarily on downhill holes, striking a masterful balance between challenge and beauty.

The design incorporates natural features brilliantly: dramatic cliffs, native jungle vegetation, and rocky outcrops. Unlike typical Chinese courses, cart paths are minimal, enhancing the natural aesthetic. Coore's strategic bunkering and green complexes transform even the most challenging terrain into holes of genuine beauty.

Course Highlights

From the muscular opening par-4 to the dramatic coastal closing stretch.

Signature holes include:

• Front Nine:

  • Hole 5 (Par 4): Fairway routed around an irrigation lake, over a ridge to a blind green.

  • Hole 8 (Par 3): Played across a gully to a green set into a sand dune.

• Back Nine:

  • Hole 11 (Par 3): Highlighted as one of the standout par threes.

  • Hole 14 (Par 3): Another notable par three.

  • Hole 15 (Par 4): Cliffside hole with breathtaking South China Sea views.

  • Hole 16 (Par 3): A dramatic short hole that drops more than 50 feet from tee to green.

  • Hole 17 (Par 4): Stunning, bunkerless hole veering slightly right along the beach to a long, narrow green—considered by some as the “signature hole.”

  • Hole 18 (Par 4): A testing finishing hole with a shallow green perched on top of a ridge.

Environmental Stewardship

The course skillfully balances golf with nature. Local wildlife, including (rarely seen) cobras and kraits (one of the most venomous snakes), inhabit the surrounding jungle. What’s amazing is the maintenance team, 50 strong, completely rebuilds the course during a two-month annual closure, ensuring perfect year-round conditions.

The Shanqin Experience

The experience is choreographed to perfection: personalized welcome signs at the driving range, ginger tea served on an open-air terrace with 180-degree ocean views, and an army of attentive caddies (five per foursome) who anticipate your every need. This isn't just golf - it's theater of the highest order.

The attention to detail here is next-level stuff. We're talking about pristine fairways that look like they've been manicured with tweezers, halfway houses that feel more like fine dining restaurants (forget your typical hot dog and beer), and caddies who double as entertainment, yes they put on dance shows when the sun goes down. With just 2,000 rounds a year, it's like having a Broadway show performed just for you - if Broadway had ocean views and perfect putting surfaces.

Legacy

While Shanqin Bay may be less accessible than other world-class venues, it stands as a testament to what's possible when vision meets execution. As international golf photographer Gary Lisbon noted, "Shanqin Bay is simply a world-class golf experience."

The club operates like a family, providing three meals daily for its 150 employees year-round (no wonder it costs an arm an a leg to join). This attention to detail and care extends to every aspect of the operation, creating what executive secretary Joey Garon describes as "more like a family than a golf club."

Until next week…

I hope you enjoyed this edition of The Caddie’s Playbook Please share the newsletter with at least one of your golfing buddies.

The Caddie