SLICE

ONLY THE LONELY: Lu Ming was playing as a single at Tianma. w He was teamed with a twosome. ForeplayIt always comes first After a few holes, his opponents ... from “a good walk spoiled” Pearls of wisdom asked why he was playing such a “ is the cruellest game. Eventually “Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a beautiful course alone. Lu Ming it will drag you out in front of the whole very small ball into an even smaller school, take your lunch money and slap hole, with weapons singularly ill- replied that he and his wife had you around” - Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly designed for the purpose” - Britain’s played together there for years, but World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill she had recently passed away. He “Through years of experience I have found that air offers less resistance than “As you walk down the fairway of life kept the time in her memory. dirt” - , arguably the greatest golfer of you must smell the roses, for you only all time, on why he his ball high get to play one round” - Legendary 1940s golfer Ben “The Hawk” Hogan The twosome, touched by Lu Ming’s “You’re looking up. That’s your problem’’ tale, said they were surprised none - Graffiti on the underside of 47’s roof at “To be truthful, I think golfers are of his friends or relatives had been Seascape in North Carolina overpaid. It’s unreal, and I have trouble dealing with the guilt willing to take his wife’s place. “Talking to a won’t do you any sometimes” - Scottish golfing “Golf is very much like good. Unless you do it while your genius a love affair, if you don’t “So am I,” Lu Ming said, “but they opponent is teeing off” take it seriously, it’s no - American author Bruce Lansky fun, if you do, it breaks all wanted to attend her funeral.” your heart. Don’t break your heart, but flirt with the possibility” - Mae Louise Suggs, a founder of Unbreakable rules at the SLICE modern women’s golf school of golfing etiquette

1. Back straight, knees bent, feet a shoulder width apart 2. Form a loose grip 3. Keep your head down 4. Avoid a quick back swing 5. Stay out of the water 6. Try not to hit anyone 7. Don’t stand directly in front of others 8. Remain quiet while others are preparing to go 9. No extra strokes 10. Now flush the urinal, go outside and tee off

8 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 9 Foreplay A Golfers’ Club member, fussy about his , called one and said, “I need a quality who can count WISE GUY: Young golfer Wang and keep score. Quickly, what’s three plus four, plus five?” was about to tee off when an old gent shuffled up and asked “Eleven, sir,” the caddie replied with authority. if he could accompany him in his game. Feeling sorry for the “Excellent, you’ll do perfectly.” pensioner, Wang agreed, and was ? pleasantly surprised to discover he had found a worthy opponent Greens on the Screen - though the old timer didn’t hit the ball far, his aim was true. Sideways (2005) The SLICE cinematic pick of the Most memorable golf scene: On year sees struggling novelist Miles the fairway, and Jack is pouring two (Paul Giamatti – The Cinderella small paper cups of wine as Miles At the 18th, Wang found himself Man) and his best friend, failed prepares to take his shot. actor Jack (Thomas Haden Church with a tough shot. There was a - Wings), set off on a whirlwind golf JACK: What about your agent? Hear and wine-tasting tour of California anything yet? large tree immediately in front as a last-ditch, male-bonding MILES: Nope. So now you know exercise before Jack settles into JACK: What do you think’s going on? of his ball, and between him and marriage. From the moment Miles’ MILES: Could be anything. Miles ignores Jack and says nothing. Why are golf courses 18 Holes in length? bashed-up convertible Saab turns JACK: Been checking your messages? the green. “When I was your age, north onto sun-drenched Route MILES: Obsessively. They probably JACK: Or **** those New York Like many developments in the sport, 101, testosterone-fueled Jack think my book is such a piece of publishers. Publish it yourself. I’ll the choice of 18 holes as the norm I’d hit the ball right over that is determined to sow his oats **** that it’s not even worthy of a chip in. Just get it out there, get it can be credited to the Royal & Ancient with the ladies they meet along response. I guess I’ll just have to reviewed, get it in libraries. Let the Saint Andrews in . tree,” the old fellow boasted. the way. Sideways is a modest, learn how to kiss off three years public decide. Standardization did not come about compassionate and ultimately of my life. overnight. In fact, it took over a century. feel-good comedy exploring the JACK: But you don’t know yet, so Miles looks at Jack in disbelief. He In 1764, St. Andrews converted from With that challenge before him, bitter-sweet struggles and lowered your negativity’s a bit premature, takes a stance over the ball and tries 22 holes to 18 holes simply because a expectations of middle age. wouldn’t you say? to concentrate. reduced number of holes was easier Wang rolled up his sleeves. The to maintain. However, other golf JACK: Don’t come over the top. courses continued to have 12, 17, or 23, youngster swung hard, hit the Stay still. or 15, or any other number of holes. MILES: Shut up. There was no standard, though some ball high and ... into the top of JACK: Just trying to be helpful. courses gradually began to copy the St. Andrews model. the tree. The ball thudded to the A second or two of silence and ... Then, in 1858, the R&A (golf’s world rules and development body that takes ground close to its original spot. JACK: It’s all about stillness, Miles. its name from the Scottish club) issued Inner quiet. new guidelines for its members. Rule one stated that “one round of the Miles drops his club and turns to or 18 holes is reckoned a match unless “Of course,” the old timer added, Jack, screaming. otherwise stipulated”. By the 1870s, most courses had adopted the trend, “when I was your age that tree MILES: Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! and a round of golf was accepted as What’s the matter with you, man? consisting of exactly18 holes. was only three feet tall.” SHUT UP!

10 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 11 SLICE Books

NICE JUMPER By Tom Cox ... and another six - no, seven - of the best golf books you must read before you die. Who’s Your Caddy? Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Reprobates of Golf Sam Wainwright puts his feet up. By Rick Reilly List Price: $24.95 Poignant and amusing, Nice Jumper has been described as "Catcher in the Rye meets Caddyshack”, and as “a book about one teenager’s obsessive search for sporting nirvana in the wrong- Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly had the coloured socks”. Best-selling novelist William Boyd insists it type of brilliant, simple idea we all wish we could “does for golf what [Nick Hornby’s] Fever Pitch did for football ... have had: the only way to get under the skin of Funny, clever and all-too-horribly true”. It’s SLICE’s must-read of the greats who play the game, he decided, would the moment. be to lug their gear around, watch and record everything that happens, and then write it all Cox’s autobiographic confessional tees off in the long, hot down with verve and elan. In short, Reilly became summer of 1988, when short-trousered Tom became a a caddy, and his readers' meticulously observant teenager. A disorienting enough time for most young men, but spy on golf’s great and good. Be prepared for our unlikely hero appears to relish and embrace alienation. sidesplitting misadventures, many embarrassing When he could be sharing cheap cigarettes and hanging out moments and all the gob-smacking gossip you on street corners with his spotty, malcontent chums; when he can handle. Hilarious! might be chasing skirt or bouncing around his bedroom to the Stone Roses’ Fool’s Gold; when he should be rebelling - as his groovy, liberal-minded parents genuinely wish he would - Tom is inexorably drawn to, of all things, the sedate and mannered lifestyle surrounding golf.

Having thrown himself into a curious, middle-class world of male-bonding rituals and dodgy fashions, Tom then denies himself all childish distractions, taking five years out of normal adolescent existence to live, breathe, walk and talk nothing but the sport he adores. Newton on the Tee: A Good Walk Through the Guaranteed you won’t put this fast-paced, coming-of-age tale down until it’s done. Cox is a genuine talent with a fine, Science of Golf sometimes sarcastic but always self-deprecating voice. Wonderful and uplifting stuff! By John Zumerchik List price: US$23.00 List Price: US$12.95

So, you never paid attention in class. And who’s suffering on the fairways now? Golfers at every level agree on one universal truth - golf is a tricky and blood-boiling game to master. In Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf his readable and lively tract, Zumerchick tells By John Updike us exactly why - it’s basic mathematics and List Price: US$12.95 physics, dummy. You’ll discover why dimpled balls fly twice as far as the non-dimpled variety. And Zumerchik explains that the angle “Stolen my life away,” groans devoted golfer John Updike (Brazil, Rabbit of lateral error (pushing the ball left or right) at Rest) of his -grip addiction to our enigmatic game. Written between allowable for a 160-yard shot “can be measured 1959 and 1995, this eclectic and insightful compilation of essays, poems, in the one one-thousandth of a degree range”, observances and ruminations displays intelligence and vitality on every page. compared with a forgiving 1.5 degrees for a Updike addresses everything from the golfer’s public humiliations and “the free throw in basketball. Be prepared to emit trouble with caddies” to the “soaring grandeur” of the game, always served up an “oh-so-that’s-why” sigh with every simple with lashings of dry wit and hard-found wisdom. Lighthearted philosophical scientific revelation. musings from one of America’s most venerable men of letters.

84 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 85 Books UNDERCOVER GOLF Was the aiyi away for the National Day holidays? Nasty Bit of Rough Nightmare! And you can bet she’ll disappear again come By David Feherty Lunar New Year? But don’t fret. Now you can practise List Price: US$US14 the most venerable of sporting arts while mopping your own floor, while vacuuming your cheesy Tibetan-rug This totally daft and off-beat first novel byGolf magazine columnist David Feherty is an unexpected joy for the young at heart. Synopsis: the collection, or when picking up your own kids from their planet’s most ancient golf course is Scrought’s . It is presided over overpriced Shanghai kindergarten. by Major General (retired) Sir Richard “Little Dicky” Gussett. Membership, unfortunately, has plummeted to a pathetic nine devotees. To swing its fortunes around, Dicky and gang travel to Scotland. There they clash with the You simply need UNDERCOVER GOLF. rival MacGregor clan of the Tay Club, who hold the most valued prize in golf - the petrified middle finger of St. Andrew, otherwise known as "The Digit". Excellent reading for the beach, or for a hidden corner of the clubhouse where nobody will see you chuckling like a cheeky schoolboy. LESSON: TRAINING YOUR RIGHT-HAND GRIP WHILE HANGING SHIRTS

The Cover: You are hanging freshly Step 3: Squeeze your right thumb you will hold your golf club with your laundered shirts in your closet. and forefinger together. right hand.

The Clicking of Cuthbert The Objective: To correctly set Prepare your right hand by pressing Step 6: Release your grip and By PG Wodehouse your right hand. Do not attempt to from the base of your thumb and complete hanging the shirt. List price: US$16.95 train your right-hand grip using align your thumb and index finger unbendable plastic hangers or while so that the middle joint of your Step 7: Repeat steps 1 through 6 hanging pants [trousers]. thumb touches the side of your until all your shirts are hung or your Though many find him a bit of a clever dick, the ever-droll Mr. Wodehouse has index knuckle. Notice the small “V” right-hand grip is instinctive. long been adored by SLICE, and his The Clicking had us grinning for days. It’s The Gear: six or seven wire hangers; formed between the pad of your a simple comic tale, told in 10 vignettes to demoralized younger golfers by the an equal number of button-style thumb and your forefinger, with the country club’s most pompous old windbag, who hopes to boost their flagging shirts. base of the “V” at the point where morale and keep them from wrapping their clubs around trees. In The Salvation the two come together (at the joints). of George Mackintosh, Wodehouse cruelly dissects that most irritating of species The Technique: - the boring, know-all golfer who just can’t stop talking. Deliciously funny. Step 4: Grip the hanger. Step 1: Prepare one of the hangers. Curl your fingers up and fold your Press the centre of the horizontal thumb over the top of the hanger hanger’s horizontal bar up towards so that the top wire runs directly up the base of the hook. This will form to the middle of the “V” described two wings about 3.8-5cm wide, one above. The top wire of the hanger Scratch: An Eddie Caminetti Novel of which will serve as your club. should be running into the “V” By Troon McAllister (Additionally, the newly rounded formed in the palm of your hand List Price: US$13.95 corners of the hanger will eliminate – between the meaty pads at the visible hanger points on the bases of your thumb and pinkie. Use shoulders of shirts that are not worn your left hand to shake out the shirt Golf goes noir ... with a comedic twist. Well, kind of. The third in McAllister’s frequently.) you are going to hang. series featuring to-cool-for-school hustler Eddie Caminetti (The Green, The Foursome), Scratch sees our world-weary hero - owner of the Swithen Bairn Step 2: Place the lower bar of the Step 5: Adjust your grip pressure Reproduced with the kind golf course on a paradisiacal “island in some ocean” - go head to head with the hanger across your open right palm. points and insert the left arm of the permission of Quirk Books of monomaniacal main man of a voracious multinational corporation. The rights hanger into a shirt sleeve. Philadelphia. To snap up your to the ultimate, miracle golf ball are up for grabs. Only one can survive the no- With your palm facing up and your copy of UNDERCOVER GOLF holds-barred battle. Who will it be? A wonderful send-up of the professional hand flat, place the hanger so that it Press up on the bottom wire using by Joe Borgenicht and R.D. golfing industry. runs diagonally across your fingers your ring and middle fingers, while Robinson, jump into – from the base of your pinkie to the simultaneously pressing down from www.quirkbooks.com. You're unlikely to lay your hands on the above tomes at the top of the middle joint of your index the base of the “V”. Note that there The real world need never be Foreign Languages Bookstore. But all are up for grabs via amazon.com finger. are three pressure points with which the same again.

58 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 59 SLICE The Breaks Fantasy Island

Boss getting you down? Or perhaps you’re the boss. And perhaps you’re down? Whatever. Just pack your clubs and wave cheerio to the dark, work-a-day coalface. Come join us as we say “nay” to the 9-5, and indulge in the planet’s finest golfing breaks. No stress; no worries; no hassles. We’ll show you where. We’ll show you how. Trust in SLICE. It makes sense.

60 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 61 t’s got 18 holes. It’s 72; 7,028 yards. But honestly, take a good, Ilong and lazy look at that picture and tell us you really give a damn. Opened in late 2003 as part of Fantasya US$32 million revamp of the One&Only Le Trouessrok resort, the mind-blowing Fantasy Island golf course -designed by European Ryder Captain Bernhard Langer - is nestled on the picture-postcard island of Ile aux Cerfs, just a wind-in-the-hair skip by water-taxi from theIsland sun- drenched east coast of Mauritius. It’s straight out of a Bond movie, and it’s more fun than Pussy Galore. You’ll experience water from every hole, but that water will always be turquoise, inviting and just over your shoulder. The course winds between rocky outcrops, lakes, mangrove swamps and ravines, and they say the 562-yard, par-five dog-leg th9 hole could turn your dream holiday into a nightmare. We don’t believe that. That’s plain ridiculous. When the sun is setting over the Indian Ocean, make for the chic and elegant 68-seat restaurant and bar in the clubhouse to celebrate or commiserate over a margarita or three. Or indulge yourself in the restorative charms of the resort’s Givenchy Spa. Or pick up some putting tips at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. Or enjoy a sensuous massage. Or relax in the Jacuzzi or … come on, you get the pretty picture. You won’t be rushing home when the gods are smiling.

Trou d’Eau Douce, Mauritius. Tel: (203) 402 7400. Course only open to hotel guests.

62 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 63 SLICE

QShanghai-based& landscapeA architect Neil Haworth has carved out a fascinating career as one of Asia’s most respected and sought-after designers. We strapped him into the SLICE Q&A hot seat. Al Campbell fired off the questions.

course. As a result, most of the Haworth, as we are now known, was beat for its courses, SLICE: Is there a trademark style to golf courses is a business, and me, their game is completely planted trees are outside the line of the golf course architecture division prices and après-golf options. your designs? (Venerated American developers must turn a profit. Local different to the one you and I enjoy. play and should not be a factor. But for Belt Collins, and I worked on Vietnam is the up-and-coming course architect) Pete Dye has the governments are not, after all, in the The course was specifically I think the golfers will understand projects in Thailand, Bali and destination, but it is still a couple of island hole. Jack Nicklaus designs business of building and managing designed to have some long, tough very quickly the main strategic . From there our company years behind the rest. are heavily bunkered ... What golf courses for public use. par 4s and short gambling par 4s, concepts we tried to create, but the grew to one of the most successful characterizes the designs of your The potential for developing future some of which the pros will subtleties of the greens should keep working in the Pacific Rim. SLICE: The big designer names can company Nelson & Haworth Golf golfers from all walks of life lies with in one. I remember being at the them guessing. As for Canada, we are still charge possibly over US$1 million Course Architects? corporations and the sponsorship of last year, standing on the doing some work there but, unlike for a design, and they usually only junior golf programmes or golf tours 6th tee and watching the guys try SLICE: You redesigned Shenzhen in , economic conditions visit the site once or twice. Are NEIL HAWORTH: We try and in China. Forward Golf Management and drive a short uphill par 4. It is Golf Club - originally an Isao Aoki and environmental regulations they good value for the client and make all our courses different, from Shenzhen is organizing a exciting for players and spectators, course - that is being used to limit the number of golf courses. the golfer, who ultimately pays the while ensuring playability remains very successful nationwide tour and hopefully the European tour will stage the , also Golfers in Canada love the game, price via higher green fees? challenging and enjoyable for all of for golfers, while we are designing set up a couple of holes like this to in November. What did you try to which is accessible to all. During them. If a course can be dramatic a 36-hole course in Shenzhen for add excitement. achieve down there? summertime, courses are full and HAWORTH: The “big designer and very playable at the same time, OCT Group that will include 18 If the greens can be kept firm and golfers can play in daylight until names”, as you call them, can bring then I think that is our signature public holes. This way the developer fast, I think [Sheshan] will prove a HAWORTH: It is quite interesting 10pm in July. a marketing element to certain characteristic. “Dramatic”, however, balances business needs with a fair test for all players. I also believe that the is projects, especially to resorts or can differ from course to course responsibility to make golf available the club will put on a great show as starting with two Nelson & Haworth SLICE: What other courses do you real-estate developments targeting - from the classic, hilly style we to the general public. General Manager David Townend golf courses, and we are very excited have on the go? Any favourites golfers overseas. incorporated at Sheshan Golf Club has much experience managing about that fact. The difference among those recently completed? Spring City in Kunming is a good to the Irish links course we did at SLICE: You designed Sheshan, competitions of this magnitude. between the two is in the greens. Where should we be heading on our example. While its Lake Course and Suzhou Sun Island, which features the course that will host Tiger At Shenzhen, the greens are much next golfing break? Mountain Course were designed 40-metre-high “dunes”. These local Woods and the HSBC Champions SLICE: Sheshan is so new and more undulating and severe. And the by signature-name companies, the courses are considered two of the Tournament in November? Do you already being used to stage a trees have been around for 20 years, HAWORTH: We currently have five actual project designers were Don best by Shanghai golfers. consider that an honour, or is it just tournament. Will those competing so when we redesigned the course, projects under construction in Knott and Lee Schmidt respectively, another job in a stream of projects? gain a true understanding of the we ensured they took a role much China (Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, who few golfers will have heard SLICE: Chinese golf has only aimed What are the challenges Sheshan course you envisaged? After all, the more integral to the playability of the Jiang Yin, Tianjin) with two more of. Here in China, the market has at high-end golfers, leaving the presents? newly planted trees will not be fully course. Once again, I think the pros about to start (Sanya, ). matured very quickly and golfers game inaccessible to the masses. Is grown, and therefore will not be a will be fairly challenged, and should We also have work in Korea, know the best courses, but not their this damaging the sport’s potential HAWORTH: Whenever the world’s factor in the play. find it a good test of golf. I think. Vietnam and an important 36-hole architects. But a client can market for future growth in China? best play a course we designed, it’s remodel job at the Royal Selangor Nelson & Haworth, for instance, as a great honour, especially if they HAWORTH: The purpose of the SLICE: You are originally from Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur. the designer of Sheshan Golf Club, HAWORTH: For golf to succeed enjoy the challenge. It’s also an forest effect was to extend the Montreal, Canada, so how did you As for golfing trips ... for Shenzhen Golf Club and [Yunnan’s] in China in the long term it will opportunity for us to get up close to natural character of the surrounding end up designing courses in Asia? families, I think the best Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, need more golfers. But developing learn how these guys play. Believe Sheshan National Park into the Canada is a big country with lots opportunity to combine golf with among others. This provides better of space for courses, but I get the scuba diving or eco-tourism is marketing value for developers here impression it has a limited season Sabah, Malaysia. You can play our than if I had won the British Open because of the weather. Is that Shan Shui Golf Club, which was 15 years ago. accurate? voted “Best Golf Course in Asia” As for the cost of signature (ahead of Spring City) a few years designers, someone has to pay it, HAWORTH: I graduated in landscape back, as well as dive on Sipadan and that will be either the golfers architecture from the University Island, or see the orangutans up or homeowners if the project of Guelph outside Toronto in 1986. close and personal. For a high-end is financially successful, or the Four years later a fellow classmate trip I would recommend Dubai, developer if they got the market visited to persuade me to come and where there are some spectacular wrong. It is critical for developers work for the Belt Collins group of dessert courses and the best to understand the market and the companies, of which he was director, hotels in the world. For a golfing real value of golf memberships and in Hawaii and . Nelson & trip with the guys, it is tough to green fees.

24 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 25 SLICE World Back-street drivers Tired of the stuffy elitism pervading golf clubs in the countryside, a group of innovators has adapted the Tim Bryan reports game to an urban environment. from London. Pictures byLinda Nylind

player stoops to analyse At the annual Shoreditch the lie. He must chip the Open, organized by the local “golf overflowing rubbish, clear club” (motto: “Never play in a Athe construction site to his left and thunderstorm. Take cover in the avoid the printing factory on the right. nearest pub or minicab [taxi] office”), “Tricky,” he muses, stroking his chin. caddies carry a tile of green carpet “I think this calls for a sand .” from which to tee off, though no tee is With the traditional swoosh of the required. The ball is a strengthened backswing and the not-so-customary Hacky Sack minus the beans, which thwack of a golf club hitting a skew the shot. Only the clubs are dumpster, the crowd greets the shot unchanged, though you might not with mock “oooohs” and “aaahs” want to risk your best Callaways as the ball bounces and rests by a when playing on concrete. concrete bollard. There is a ripple A light-hearted sense of fun of applause - the ball is playable, dominates - players sport quirky at least, unlike that of another names like Karl Heinz Frostenigge golfer, whose ball is stuck under a (replete with fake mullet haircut and Mercedes. He elects to drop, and it sun visor), Iron Giant, Puff Caddy and lands next to a scooter lying in the Davis Duffer Junior. The streetwise gutter. “Godammit,” he exclaims. and distinctly leftfield dandies “Who parks a car on a golf course?” - mainly young city professionals Welcome to the whacky world of who prefer to be handicapped by “Urban Golf”, the anarchic new sport alcohol for events - are also decidedly that’s booming in popularity on grimy tongue-in-cheek in their dress sense, city streets worldwide. Taking the opting for a garish 1970s look of traditionally rural pastime of golf and bright-yellow plaid and diamond- dropping it into a city setting, Urban patterned Pringle V-neck sweaters, is turning the game’s stuffy image or plus-fours and striped socks. on its head, before whacking it with a Dismissed as a fad by purists, nine iron. It amuses and confuses in Urban is winning plaudits for its equal measure. sense of good old-fashioned fun The cobbled, graffiti-decorated - former European No. 1 Ronan streets of Shoreditch, in London’s Rafferty played in the inaugural gritty East End, host one of a growing tournament, and even though he shot number of Urban tournaments being a plus-30, “he loved it”, says 33- With the not-so-customary held everywhere from California’s year-old Jez Feakes, an architect by thwack of a golf club hitting a San Francisco and Sienna in to day, and organiser of the Shoreditch dumpster, the crowd greets the Cape Town in . Streets Open by night. ““I’d love to do shot with mock “oooohs” and take the place of fairways, and a Tokyo, New York and Hong “aaahs” as the ball bounces to circular carpet doubles as a green, Kong: really urban places,” rest by a concrete bollard with flags protruding from holes says Feakes. But what could he crafted from open storm drains. make of Shanghai? Read on …

22 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 23 World

SLICE Salutes:

Slick in the city: Feakes Jez Feakes - the brains behind leads the Urban charge through the centre of Sienna, Italy. Opposite: the the Shoreditch Urban Open Shoreditch “Fore!”

rban taps into what architect and Shoreditch implement are there for the entertainment of others, Open organizer Jez Feakes calls “a growing and we make use of underutilized city areas during democratisation” of the golf across the world, a new public holidays. Uphilosophy rejecting the old-fashioned image that, he says, The [Urban] concept is steeped in design history, excludes popular culture and people from inner cities. particularly architecture and architectural juxtaposition. “I played a lot of golf between the ages of 14 and 18, but It’s an inherently destructive idea made reality. The I gave it up when I came to London to study,” says Feakes. truth is that there are so many people who once played “One day, I organised a game, but while I was on the traditional golf, and then moved to cities to study, etc, fairway this woman just popped out of the bushes in front and who then discovered beer, girls, etc. That’s us. of me with some clubs and started playing. I was shocked. I asked her what she was doing and if she was a member. SLICE: Would you be interested if fellow golfers I got hauled over the coals by the club captain later on. organized a similar event in Shanghai? How could they He said she was the women’s captain and she could do achieve that? whatever she wanted. What a load of rubbish. There is too much of that at golf clubs. It’s archaic.” FEAKES: Of course! The only way to hold a Shanghai Other incidents sparked the 33-year-old’s imagination. event would be through sponsorship, as we have done While on a visit to Ireland, Feakes says he felt like a misfit in London and elsewhere. carrying his golf clubs around. Later, he found himself in We’re off to Edinburgh and Cape Town soon, where London with his clubs in tow. People were smirking, so he other [Urban Golfers] have followed our tournament started asking passers by if anyone had seen his ball. “It plan to the letter and all has been approved. Shanghai got a laugh, but it also got me thinking. Why couldn’t you could follow the same plan. It looks simple, but it play golf in the city? I left it in the incubator for a few years took us three years to get the [Open] format right. We and now, here we are with the Shoreditch Open.” have the support of the golf development boards in Edinburgh and Cape Town, so we are by no means anti- SLICE: The simplest of questions: what exactly is the golf. I’ll see if we can get a few pros playing, too. attraction of Urban Golf?

FEAKES: Why are you talking to us? Because [Urban Golf] Intro: Tim Bryan. Pics: courtesy Jez Feakes is hilarious. I suppose it’s a bit like when some fool turned up on a ski slope with a surfboard, and everyone applauded his idiocy. And so snowboarding was born. There is sheer exhilaration in driving a ball down a city street. Maybe I’m sad, but it makes me grin from ear to ear. For many, I think the attraction is the initial novelty, which soon wears off when you realize it takes a hell of a lot more skill to win than you might think. But I like golf. And every player selected [for the Shoreditch Open] gets to be a superstar on television for one day.

SLICE: Could Urban Golf ever replace the traditional “good walk spoiled” in verdant surroundings?

FEAKES: No, it’ll never take over the verdant, brother. But it’s much more accessible for spectators. We don’t restrict to playing ability, and we definitely don’t have outdated, archaic club rules (other than R&A). Any rules we

24 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 25 SLICE World Pictures: Reuters and Gary Jones Gary and Reuters Pictures: ‘Shabash’ Kabul! What a strange world we live in. In need of an adventure, Gary Jones stuck a pin in a map and panicked when it prodded Afghanistan. But he flew over the Hindu Kush from Urumqi to lend a hand at the Kabul Weekly newspaper, to become bored with lamb kebabs and to marvel at the battered but unbowed nation’s fascinating golf course. Silly sod!

hink you’ve conquered extreme hazards while playing the world’s T most challenging golf courses? Slice or hook at this facility and your ball might land beyond the white-painted boulders that mark the limits of recent de-mining operations. Just over a year ago, the layout was littered with burned-out tanks, rocket launchers and the amassed detritus of decades of war. Security guards carry AK-47s and scan the surrounding Crude facilities: hills for unfriendly spectators. putting on a black The battered clubhouse is pockmarked "green", made from with bullet holes. The greens aren’t green. a mixture of sand They’re black, and consist of a raked and oil, is just one mixture of sand and oil. As for the rough of many outlandish ... well, everything here is rough. Water experiences at features have long since dried up, the Kabul Golf Club. only bunkers are of the military type, and there is little grass. Just rocks, hastily dug trenches, thistles and discarded cigarette packets. Welcome to the nine-hole Kabul Golf Club, Afghanistan’s only golf facility, which last year hosted the Kabul Desert Open, the first such tournament to be held in Afghanistan since Soviet Red Army tanks rumbled over the border in 1979 to kick off over two

18 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 19 World In 1996, the hardline fundamentalist – was accused of spying and locked be held for two months and tortured. acts as a perfect metaphor up for six months. Unsurprisingly, he “They said golf would keep us from for Afghanistan’s recent woes, of balls & bullets ... Taliban swept into power, and all hope has no interest in welcoming Russian our prayers,” he groans painfully. the club's troubled existence visitors to the club today. “Afghans “They flogged my feet with a cable, directly reflecting the bloodied of playing golf was lost. The killjoy can play, and foreigners from every and took away all my clubs, trophies nation’s contemporary history, country,” insists Abdul, his world- and pictures.” and perhaps its revitalization. First, this article does not encourage Talibs also banned singing, dancing, weary face made tough and leathery After his beating, despondent While Kabulis struggle to get travel to Afghanistan. The country is TV and the flying of kites. by constant exposure to the fierce Abdul went into self-imposed exile in their capital back on its feet, still a very dangerous place to visit, high-altitude sun. “But not Russians.” neighbouring Pakistan, returning in to rebuild its schools and and readers are urged to consult the Things looked brighter when 2003 to find his beloved golf course universities, hospitals and travel advisories of their countries’ decades of conflict, continuing towering snow-dusted peaks, mujahideen fighters finally snatched littered with unexploded ordnance roads, to restore electricity diplomatic missions, and to heed with a blood-soaked civil war, was a huge hit with the diplomatic back Kabul in 1988, and the club and shrapnel, the once-majestic trees and water, and to revive their such advice. resulting in misery under the corp and the oasis city’s liberal, reopened – only to be shut down felled for firewood by long-suffering prosperous pre-war society, Okay, with that disclaimer out of hardline fundamentalist Taliban Western-influenced middle almost immediately with the outbreak Kabulis, and the clubhouse all but Abdul and company are doing the way (we don’t want to be sued regime, and culminating with their classes. At the end of play, they of civil war, when mortar shells falling down. “It was a terrible sight,” the same with their beloved by any golfer coming back legless) violent ousting courtesy of the US would compare scores over regularly whistled overhead and rival Abdul recalls. golf course. ... Ariana Afghan Airlines flies to military’s post-9/11 "Operation imported beers and single-malt guerilla factions settled old scores. Though rumour says Kabul direct from Urumqi in China’s Enduring Freedom" in 2001-2002. whiskies while listening to Abba In 1996, the medieval, black- UNDETERRED, ABDUL and a small Ezatullah Atef, a former Xinjiang province. Return fare is Originally constructed in and the Rolling Stones. turbaned Taliban swept into power, clique of like-minded golf fanatics US$380 (also payable 1967, during the reign of King and all hope of playing golf was lost. reopened the club in 2004. Today it in RMB). See www. Mohammad Zahir Shah, but ACCORDING TO THE club’s The killjoy Talibs also banned singing, flyariana.com for further moved to its present site after 48-year-old English-speaking dancing, TV and the flying of kites. details. Visas can be he was overthrown by his cousin pro Mohammad Afzal Abdul, Once again, Abdul was arrested, to obtained from the in 1973, this otherworldly club however, the occupying Soviets Afghanistan Embassy is set among craggy foothills on were anything but keen golfers. in Beijing. the outskirts of the fabled Afghan The club was immediately closed capital. In its 1970s heyday, with their invasion, and Abdul – a The comfortable the lush, tree-lined facility, scratch player who has worked at Mustafa Hotel (tel: surrounded by mesmerizing and the facility on and off for 30 years (070) 276 021) is located in the centre of Kabul. Rooms US$35-60 a night. The Intercontinental Hotel (tel: (873 761) 469690 satellite phone, or 0202 2201 320 locally) offers the closest accommodation to the golf course, is the city’s plushest residence and offers magnificent views. Rooms US$80-130.

Green fee for two rounds of the nine-hole Kabul Golf Club course is 500 Afghanis or US$10. Hire of a caddy is an Above: though rusting tanks and rocket launchers have been additional 250 removed from the golf course, Kabul is still littered with Afghanis. reminders of two decades of war. Right: a caddy, out for a practice during downtime, clears rocks away from his ball.

20 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 21 British-run KORYO TOURS "A magical experience" has organized trips to the John Barton, Editor-in-Chief DPRK since 1993, and has of UK, and winner held the groundbreaking of the Pyongyang Open 2004 Pyongyang Golf Open since 2004.

NOW, GOLFERS of all levels are invited to enter this year’s tournament, which will be held June 3-6 (return date may be extended).

As well as rounds on the secretive nation’s two golf courses, this magical tour includes visits to the DMZ, the captured USS Pueblo, The Fatherland Liberation War Museum and a world- warlord who once controlled 1,500 The event attracted 20 teams – mostly class circus. Visitors are holy warriors in the hills around the consisting of diplomats, aid workers, accommodated at the course, is to inject funding to build an security personnel and businessmen. Yanggakdo Hotel in entire town – complete with a marina, An advisory sheet of “special Pyongyang, which boasts luxury hotel, Mediterranean-style techniques” for completing the nine its own casino and is villas and ski complex - close to the holes counselled players to “attack nestled next to the only club, rebirth has, so far, been modest. the course” and to “play aggressively”, course and driving But progress is underway. and players teed off from portable range in the A senior United Nations' employee squares of fake grass to heartfelt cries capital. has donated second-hand clubs and of “Shabash” – meaning “Bravo”, balls. Though there is no 19th hole or “Well played” – from club staff, (Afghans are forbidden to buy alcohol journalists and assorted well-wishers. For the FIRST TIME under the current constitution), the The tournament’s eventual winners ever ... US CITIZENS club already has 300 members, and were Americans Sam Hendricks, more than 100 of them are female. 35, and Jiffer Bourguignon, 28, who will be issued Under the Taliban, women were also work with the UN. And though travel permits Atten ... shun! forbidden from playing sports or entrants had been warned they would Caddies line up like to take part in entering a sporting club, as well as be playing “at their own risk”; though soldiers before the the event start of the first from working outside the home, to many players brought along their own Kabul Desert Open. study or to wear colourful clothes. caddies armed with machine guns; and despite a distant burst of gunfire AND THE KABUL DESERT Open, heard during play, event organizers YOU CAN PLAY IN THE 3rd played in September 2005 in aid of a were delighted to report only one local orphanage, can also be seen as casualty. Hendricks’ drive off the a genuine step in the right direction. fourth tee struck a stray goat. PYONGYANG GOLF OPEN! Just €1,490 () All inclusive, from Beijing Please contact Nick or Simon at [email protected] for details, or visit www.koryogroup.com. Tel/fax: (86 10) 6416-7544. Mobile: (86) 1362-1099-277.

22 SLICEShanghai

SLICE Spend it

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CROSS TIMEPIECES Left to right, the Aphex, the Vortex and the Equinox. At www.cross.com

OAKLEY CAMOUFLAGE GOLF BAG They won’t see you coming. www.oakley.com

ECCO WORLD-CLASS GOLF SHOE Designed by a team including Thomas Bjorn, this is pure top-of-the-range footwear matching space-age technology and old-school class. www.ecco.com

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SLICE Look sharp

SLICE checks out the future of fairway fashion at the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. Rising star Ollie Fisher does the modelling honours BAll swinging, all dancing

Ollie wears jumper by J. Lindeberg Shirt by Bally Golf b This page: Trousers and belt by William Hunt Ollie wears belt by J. Lindeberg Shoes by Nike Golf White shirt by Boss Hugo Boss Tank top by Burberry Golf Trousers by William Hunt BShoes and glove by Nike Golf 70 SLICEShanghai 4Q05 B SLICEShanghai 4Q05 71 SLICE

Course listingsThe rest for the wicked

Al Campbell casts his discerning eye over the best the 18 holes. Not to be confused Membership is long sold out and for tricky putts. Designed by TRC.” of the rest. ALL of the courses and driving ranges with Shanghai’s original course there is a lengthy waiting list.” in and around the city will be come under the SLICE from the early 20th century which closed in 1949 and was converted Shanghai Riviera Golf Resort spotlight via detailed, unbiased reviews in coming into in 1954.” Shanghai Links Golf & Country Club 277 Road, Nanxiang, Jiading. issues of Shanghai’s most spot-on golf mag. 1600 Ling Bai Road, . CHINESE ADDRESS. Tel: (0512) CHINESE ADDRESS. Tel: (021) 5897- 5912-6888. No website. E-mail: Shanghai Grand City Golf Club 5899. Web: www.thelinks.cm.cn. [email protected]. Golf Clubs & Resorts 9988 Zhongchun Road, Email: [email protected]. Town, Minhang . CHINESE Membership US$25,000. Eighteen Grand Shanghai International Web: www.binhaigolf.com. ADDRESS. Tel: (021) 6419-3676. No Membership US$90,000. Private. holes, par 61, 3,507 yards. Driving Golf & Holiday Resort “The second golf club in the website. Eighteen holes, par 72, 7,100 yards. range, pro-shop, restaurant and Yangcheng Lake Holiday Zone, SunIsland series designed by Membership (annual) 3,880rmb. , pro-shop, tennis locker rooms. Kunshan, Jiangsu. CHINESE Nelson & Haworth. Features Fairy Lakes Course: 18 holes Par Nine holes, par 54, 2,670 yards. courts, locker room, Asian and ADDRESS. Tel: (0512) 5789-1999. elevation changes rarely seen amid 72, 7,069 yards. Forest Course: nine Driving range, golf training centre, Western restaurant and shuttle bus. “Executive-style course by the late Web: www.grandshanghaigolf.com. Shanghai’s generally pancake- holes. Par 72, 7,000 yards. Driving pro-shop, Japanese restaurant, Bob Martin, the same man who flat topography. Wide berths off range, CHINESE ADDRESS and sauna and massage, swimming pool “Shanghai’s most expensive designed the excellent Shanghai Membership US$40,000. Eighteen the tee are met with strategically Western restaurant, pro-shop, sauna and gym. membership club is a fine example Silport layout. The course is ideal holes, par 72, 7,066 yards. Driving placed bunkers and ample water. and Jacuzzi, bar, locker room and of a Jack Nicklaus-designed, for sharpening your short game as range, pro-shop, Chinese and Motorised carts compulsory.” shuttle bus. “If your short game is ailing, be sure links-style course. ‘The Golden there are only par three and par four Japanese restaurants, locker room, to check out Shanghai Grand. The Bear’, a prolific winner of Open holes. The longest is 307 yards, while spa, sauna, dance hall, members’ “This course may be 70 minutes nine-hole executive course features championships, has drawn on his the shortest is 95. The fact that there lounge and shuttle bus. Sanyang Golf & Country Club out of town but it is well worth the par threes ranging from 85 to 240 extensive knowledge of British is water on every hole adds drama.” Luzhi Town, Wu Zhong District, trek. Designed in a unique Scottish- yards. An abundance of water and courses to create a great test of “This course is 60 kilometres from Suzhou City, Jiangsu. CHINESE links style by five-time British Open tight fairways add to the challenge. golf. The layout is wide in places downtown Shanghai, but it’s well ADDRESS. Tel: (0512) 6501-0980. champion Peter Thomson, the Facility features a full training to let rip the “big stick” while Shanghai Silport Golf Club worth braving the traffic and getting Web: www.sanyanggolf.com. course features heavy mounding and centre. No membership is required some excellent par-threes require Dian-Shan Lake, Kunshan. CHINESE an early start. Designed by Ronald deep riveted pot bunkers. The ever- and nine holes with caddie is a steal accurate club selection. The club, ADDRESS. Tel: (0512) 5748-1111. Fream, one of the most respected Membership US$32,000. Public present winds blowing off the East at as low as 130rmb on weekdays.” which is connected to the American Web: www.silportgolf.com. Email: names in the business, Grand days Monday, Tuesday and Friday. China Sea mean you should keep School of Shanghai, has recently [email protected]. Shanghai boasts a rolling, resort- Eighteen holes, par 73, 7,160 your shots low to score well.” started construction of its US$20 style layout with an abundance of yards. Guest rooms, driving range, Shanghai International Golf and million clubhouse.” Membership US$66,000 water and sharp drop-offs. The restaurant, pro-shop, function Country Club (transferable). Weekday specials for resort claimed the China Golf Award rooms, sauna and Jacuzzi, locker Shanghai Golf Club Zhu Jia Jiao, Qingpu County, public on Wednesday and Thursday for Most Characteristic Fairways in rooms and shuttle bus. 12 Shuang Tang Cun, TangHang PROVINCE. CHINESE ADDRESS. Tel: Shanghai Qi Zhong Golf Club (call for details). Twenty-seven holes, 1999 and 2000.” Town, . CHINESE (021 5972-8111). Web: www.scc.com. Kunyang Road, Qi Zhong, Minhang par 108, 10,344 yards. Driving ranges “Scenic layout on an old silkworm ADDRESS. Tel: (021) 5995-0111. No District. CHINESE ADDRESS. Tel: at course and in town, function plantation (?) with several holes website. Membership sold out. Public day (021) 6409-1256. No website. rooms, pro-shop, Asian and Western Kunshan SunIsland International built on reclaimed land from Jin Thursday. Eighteen holes, par 72, restaurant, sauna, bar, locker Golf Club Chun Hoo (Gold Lake). The 225-yard Membership US$58,000 7,025 yards. Driving range, three- Membership US$32,000. Public days rooms, VIP rooms and shuttle bus. First exit off Hu Ning highway, third is among the best in Shanghai, (transferable). Eighteen holes, hole mini course, accommodation, Monday and Thursday. Eighteen north of Shuang Yang Lake, while the 525-yard 16th features par 72, 7,131 yards. Driving range, tennis, swimming, restaurant and a holes, par 72, 7,200 yards. Driving “As host venue for the Volvo Zhang Pu township, Kunshan City, an ultra-slick bent-grass green pro-shop, Japanese Jacuzzi, locker second club house. range, pro-shop, tennis, swimming China Open the last xx years, Jiangsu. CHINESE ADDRESS. Tel: that is arguably the most difficult rooms and restaurant. pool, Chinese and Western Silport ranks among Shanghai’s (0512) 5745-1688/87. Web: www. in the area. The club hosted the “The return of golf to Shanghai in the restaurant, sauna and Jacuzzi and top courses. The 27-hole facility sunislandclub.com. E-mail: pro@ 2002 Suzhou Classic on the fledging “This hardcore Japanese- modern era got off to a good start guest rooms. features an abundance of sunislandclub.com. Chinese PGA Tour.” members’ club designed by with the 1991 opening of this 18- water and fantastic conditions Designed by Kentarou Sato is hole Robert Trent Jones II-designed “European-style course with wide throughout. It’s a true test of Membership US$32,000. Weekday located about 50 kilometres layout. Water is in abundance and fairways. An abundance of sand golfing prowess. The club will specials for public on Tuesdays. Shanghai Binhai Golf DIRECTION of town. Rolling layout many of the holes require accurate traps and undulating topography expand to 36 holes by late 2004 Eighteen holes, par 72, 7,208. Driving Binhai, Nanhui, Pudong. CHINESE features plenty of water with the shots to carry the wet stuff, either to give this course bite. The Tif dwarf with nine new holes by renowned range, pro-shop and locker room. ADDRESS. Tel: (021) 5805-8888. wet stuff coming into play on 16 of stay in the fairways or hit the greens. greens, if cut short, can often make US designer Roger Packard,

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BShanghai Binhai Golf Clubb

Spotlight

Ocean’s 18 ... and another 18, and 18 more to come

magine a Scottish links course at dunes and mounding created towards uplifting it to safe heights,” Forest Course – soft opened at the which the mercury can soar well into naturally by the sea. But fortunately, recalls designer Peter Thomson end of 2004. Binhai has ambitious Ithe upper 30s. We know it’s a tall and most importantly for most of - arguably ’s greatest golfer plans to eventually become a 54-hole order. But stretch your imagination, dear us, it is eminently affordable. No who carried away no fewer than five resort featuring a hotel and private When Aussie great Peter Thomson set out to design golfing daydreamer. Open wide that crippling US$50,000 memberships British Open championship trophies residences within the next few years. Shanghai Binhai Golf Club’s coastal Fairy Lakes bleary mind’s eye and ... there, can you here. Binhai only demands 3,880rmb in the 1950s and ‘60s. Its third 18-hole layout, the Wetlands see it? Yes? You can? You’ve conjured from the wallet via its annual “Par Clearly, Thomson of Australian Course designed by Malaysia-based course in the late 1990s, the five times British Open up the splendid, demanding and varied Membership” deal. outfit Thomson, Wolveridge & Perrett Australian Ted Parslow of E&G winner was presented with a dull plain of reclaimed Shanghai Binhai Golf Club. Set on a chunk of reclaimed land Golf Course Designers knows a thing Parslow and Associates, is Located in the non-descript Nanhui that previously hosted scattered or two about links, and his expertise currently under construction and land battered by vicious gales. Today, Binhai offers area of Pudong, about 20 minutes from fish farms and unkempt fields, the shines through like a coastal beacon promises a spectacular and dramatic one of Shanghai’s most varied and challenging the international airport and an hour original Binhai site was far from an at the demanding Fairy Lakes layout, seaside location. days out. We call it “Links - China style”. And it’s from downtown Puxi, Binhai doesn’t ideal starting point for a magnificent the first 18 holes completed at “(The Fairy Lakes design) quite stretch to being a 100 percent- golf course. “It was low-lying and Binhai in 2000. The second 18 holes is faithful to our philosophy of arguably the best value-for-money deal in town. faithful links course with giant sand wet, and a lot of thought had to go - making up the more-forgiving emulating, in some ways, the

52 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 53 Binhai Signature hole It is an international

Surprisingly, with all the magnificent holes on the Fairy Lakes course, the new upstart Forest Course boasts the club’s signature course that could stand hole. The par-five, 552-yard second hole is an excellent risk- reward hole. With the dogleg right fairway wrapping around a its ground anywhere large lake, a good tee shot will set a player up with a shot at the green and a potential eagle. A large bailout area at the front of the green makes the opportunity even more inviting to go for it. There is also excellent potential for a regulation par as the fairway is wide and forgiving in many places.

great courses of the world,” says of heart. It makes and tolerates a computer screen. All that should five that again borders a lake for its it charges, and what it offers the Fairy Lakes Course: Thomson. “It is an international no excuses, and features deep come to a welcome end when an entire length. Long hitters can cut discerning golfer. It makes money 18 holes course that could stand its ground riveted bunkers that make accuracy extensive tree-planting programme off the edge of the lake and go for by offering a decent product at a fair par 72, 6,894 yards anywhere. It comprises a routing essential, elevated greens with breaks earth in coming years. the green in two, but anything but a price, and so the club has recently that uses the change of direction undulating putting surfaces, and Designer Nick Song of Lanxing confident hit will likely end up wet. overhauled its restaurant facilities, Forest Course: to advantage. It has enough length strong, direction-changing winds Golf has made extensive use of Finally, a polite SLICE added a 340-player men’s locker 18 holes [7,069 yards], greens of serious blowing in from the East China Sea. water in his Forest layout, notably warning: though the 3,880rmb room and an expanded pro-shop. undulation to make putting a Fairy Lakes can be a monster when on holes 13 and 14. As the course is Par Membership deal includes Check it out when you can. par 72, 7,000 yards challenge, and various hazards in the weather’s rough. It’s the closest located at the entrance to Binhai’s unlimited golfing on weekdays the form of wetlands and bunkers of thing Shanghai has to a cruel and extensive chunk of property, there with no green fees, the fine print Shanghai Binhai Golf Club serious and friendly depth.” heartbreaking British coastal layout. are no ocean views. reveals a cost of 200rmb each , Pudong. CHINESE Sounds fabulous, right? But The 18-hole Forest Course, which The par-four 13th is a hard dogleg time you play to cover caddie and ADDRESS HERE. Tel: (86 21) Fairy Lakes occasionally draws completed 18 holes last year, is left that wraps around a lake from facilities. The total rises to 580rmb 5805-8888. Fax: (8621) 5805-8588. complaints - usually from grouchy, another beast entirely that favours tee to green. The temptation is to on weekends. The club shuttle bus Web: www.binhaigolf.com. Email: underachieving malcontents the higher handicapper. The name go for the green in two, and change costs 40rmbrmb round trip. [email protected]. uninitiated to links golf - for what is misleading - there is a dearth of the hole into a par-three birdie That’s not a complaint - while they call the “unfair” placement trees and the parkland-style course attempt. Wind will play a major role half of China’s 200-plus golf clubs and abundance of bunkers. Indeed, is wide open to the elements. The in deciding whether to go for it or lost money in 2004, Binhai had this is a course not for the faint initial feel is of a layout designed on not. The 14th is an interesting par the balance right between what

54 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 55 SLICE Spotlight

BSheshan Golf Clubb Mountain low, expectations high Here they are - Shanghai’s most challenging and rewarding courses reviewed in detail. We’ll feature half a dozen hotspots in every issue of SLICE. And the ball starts rolling with the exacting and (yes, life is never easy) the excrutiatingly expensive Sheshan Golf Club. If you haven’t yet heard of it … trust us, you will. And soon! Read on and weep for all you’ve been missing.

10,000 more trees, mainly pine and melaluca, were planted during ny day now, Sheshan With an emphasis on Tuscan course construction. Shanghai will become a household aesthetics and unashamed luxury, course designers Nelson & Haworth name for golfers and golf the tranquil,suburban club’s lifetime expect a vastly different and wooded fans across our green membership is by invitation only, atmosphere come the trees’ maturity. Aand pleasant planet. In November and at a sky-high US$90,000, placing Topography and attention to detail, 2005, will head up an Sheshan among the most expensive however, ensure Sheshan stands impressive field of golfing giants at and elitist in China’s commercial head and shoulders above most the HSBC Champions Tournament capital. No walk ons are permitted, of the 200-odd clubs in mainland in Shanghai. With a purse of US$5 naturally. Only the connected and China. Though Shanghai and it’s million, it will be the richest and most the well-heeled get to savour this surroundings are situated on a prestigious tournament ever held in impressive and challenging 18-hole flat, alluvial plain, the course has Asia, and it will be televised globally. Nelson & Haworth layout. been built up to elevations as high The star-studded event will attract Located 32 kilometres from the as 20 metres to bring exciting shot event winners from five different PGA- central business district, Sheshan variations to the bent-grass fairways, sanctioned tours. Naturally, the venue is nestled at the base of the area’s which can be wide and undulating. of choice is the magnificent Sheshan tallest ‘mountain’, which towers … The 200-yard (black tee) par- Golf Club. just 95 metres. A Catholic church, three fourth hole would easily be the Sheshan’s opening in October built in xxx and the most ancient in signature hole at most clubs, but, oh 2004 massively raised the bar for China, tops the humble peak and no, not here. Dawdling barges ply the the standard of courses in Shanghai. serves as the club logo. Sequestered canal lining the entire left flank of the Sheshan is currently the polished within the already heavily forested fairway, and an ancient stone wall yardstick by which others are judged. Sheshan Natural Tourism Resort, and giant trees bring olde-worlde

40 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 41 Only a 1,000-year-old gingko tree, which sits directly behind the green, reminds that, yes, we are still in ‘the middle kingdom’

Our man on the fairways

Our Spotlight course reviews are rushed to SLICE readers from the smoking keyboard of Al Campbell, former editor of Singapore-based Asian magazine, and a veteran reporter on the rapid and thrilling growth of the Chinese and Asian golf scenes.

The 42-year-old Canadian has covered the region’s most prestigious tournaments at Signature hole professional and amateur levels for over a decade, getting up close The presence ofSheshan an old quarry dominates Sheshan’s two signature and personal with the game’s holes – the 16th and 17th. The 288-yard 16th is a reachable par four most accomplished players and its that is an ultimate risk-reward challenge. With the right side of the fledgling stars of tomorrow. fairway and green wrapped around the quarry, anything right or short and you’ll be teeing off again. “Tiger Woods’ first visit to China The presence of a two-metre deep pot-style bunker to the left was a circus, attracting fans and of the green should have you jittery on the approach. The 191-yard the curious to a sport most had Europe to mind when standing on consultant company; we are do not impose on the course, the 17th features five sets of tee boxes, and all shots have to fly directly never played or knew little about,” the tee box. working with [sports management practice facilities are first rate. back across the quarry to reach a large green that slopes left to right says Campbell of covering the Only a 1,000-year-old gingko giant] IMG as our consultants,” Townend says club owner Cheung toward that menacing quarry. superstar’s historic inaugural visit tree, which sits directly behind the says Sheshan general manager Youcai, a property developer from to China in 2001. “It was only an green, reminds that, yes, we are David Townend, an ex-Australian Zhejiang Province, is passionate exhibition but it really teed off - still in ‘the middle kingdom’. Visual touring pro who previously served about the game. Cheng’s long- excuse the pun - the growth of golf treats abound at Sheshan. in a similar capacity at Shanghai term plan calls for a youth Yardage: Par 72 in China.” The 16th and 17th signature SunIsland and Taiwan’s Ta Shee programme to develop China’s next Black tees 7,143 yards holes wrap around an old quarry. Taoyuan club. “The clubhouse is generation of professional golfers. Blue tees 6,779 yards A resident of Asia for over 11 years, Campbell’s expertise and Measuring 130 metres by about totally unique. We brought Tuscany And the coming HSBC White tees 6,225 yards 30 metres, and with a drop of 80 style to Shanghai, a style that has Champions Tournament at educated opinions have also metres into water, these holes, since been heavily copied. The Sheshan is sure to spur them Red tees 5,436 yards enlivened the pages of Hong particularly the 16th, are likely to Italian-style Tuscan clubhouse, on. Though the iconic Woods Kong’s South China Morning have players second-guessing as which is very homely, is not like appeared in an exhibition in Post and the Shanghai Daily to club selection. Water comes into a typical clubhouse, which can China in 2001, this will be the newspapers, as well as Star play on 10 holes, and is especially sometimes be a little commercial big man’s tournament debut on Sheshan Golf Club, Linyin Avenue, Shanghai Television’s essential Sportsline prominent on holes two, nine and and cold. It is “like walking into the mainland. Victors from the Sheshan National Holiday Zone, Shanghai. progamme, which he contributed 18, where the greens are all visible something that you want to make European, Asian, Japan GTO, CHINESE ADDRESS HERE. to as a script writer. When not from the verandas of the splendid your home.” Australasian and South African playing or writing about the Tuscan-style clubhouse. Much like the 226 luxury tours are also scheduled to thrill Tel: (86 21) 5779-6689. Fax: (86 21) 5779- game he loves, Campbell sleeps “We are also the only course residential properties at Sheshan, golfers across China at the much- 6682. Web: www.sheshangolf.com. Email: and dreams of slashing his 22 in Shanghai using a management which, it should be well noted, anticipated event. [email protected]. down to a single figure.

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BShanghai Silport Golf Clubb SLICE humbly bows before the forward-thinking management of one of the most complete and unaffected golf experience in the country. Shanghai Silport Golf Club is the real dealJust watch out for the lions and tigers and bears. They might just improve your game. 100% pure golf, with good luck added

t has taken just one decade The clubs’s softly spoken for Shanghai Silport Golf owner is Beta Soong, Though the I Club to become synonymous unassuming Taiwanese industrialist with tournament golf at its highest oversees more than 100 flourishing level in China. And yet, even with businesses, Silport is his labour six consecutive Volvo China Open of love. When Soong took his first tournaments from 1999 to 2004 tentative steps into the business in under its belt, this peaceful, rural the early 1990s, he vowed to create club - located in Jiangsu province an experience that was pure golf. just beyond the border of Shanghai His mssion was not a real-estate municipality – refuses to rest on its venture poorly disguised as a golf on residential development, no style course. designed and built Tiger Beach bushy laurels. Club officials freely club, like many in China. True to overhead power lines … none of the Water is another key factor in Golf Links in Shandong province, admit they want to do much more his words, Soong has created a unsightly distractions that spoil so the layout, and the wet stuff comes also has a fiery passion for art, than manage an excellent golf club. wonderful escape from the concrete many high-end clubs. into play in all 18 of the club’s and 40 ancient Chinese statues They are determined to leave a jungle – Silport is cheerfully free of Getting down to business, the Championship Course, which decorate the Silport courses. legacy. They might just succeed. a luxurious and expensive, tagged- 27-HOLE? layout was designed is made up of West and Centre The stone animals, mostly from by Bob J. Martin, a former US layouts. Fish farms and barges the Ming (1368AD-1644AD) and touring pro who worked as a site operating on the perimeter canals Qing (1644AD-1911AD) dynasties, Spotlight construction coordinator for Jack boost the tranquil, old-world were collected over 25 years of Nicklaus’ nascent design company ambiance. schlepping across the middle in the early1980s. After years of While the prevalence of water kingdom. The most expensive working for the “Golden Bear” in proves a frustrating bane to most pair set him back 1.5 million yuan Asia, Martin branched out on his amateurs, so too do the greens, (US$181,200). “The old stone own when Soong gave him the which are overseeded according animals are said to have special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to to the seasons. A combination of powers that can bring the place design Silport. different types of blues grasses and where they sit good fortune, and The influence of his former tif dwarf on tricky, sloping greens the people around them good employer’s style is clear, however can make for a difficult read on luck,’’ Soong says. “Many have said - the club exhibits the Nicklaus’ the hard surfaces, and result in a Silport could never have reached trademark of huge waste bunkers three putt. this level, and earned such a good scattered throughout the resort- Cultured Soong, who also owns, reputation, without them.”

48 SLICEShanghai SLICEShanghai 49 Forty ancient stone sculptures from the Ming and Qing dynasties entice players with the promise of “good fortune” Silport Believing that golf course are needed as it will eliminate the potential to become the “fifth Major.” sanctioned with the European Tour Signature hole living entities that evolve organically, bottleneck we sometimes get when While his dream may be some years when Welshman that can be constantly upgraded the two nine-hole layouts empty into away at present, Silport has played overcame freezing conditions for The penultimate hole of Silport’s Championship Course, the No. 8 and improved over years and the one nine hole layout,” Soong its part in promoting the event as its his first win ahead of Denmark’s hole of the Centre Course, has provided many memorable moments decades, Soong is constantly “fine said. host venue from 1999 to 2004. Thomas Bjorn. during the club’s hosting of Volvo China Open events. The 185-yard hole tuning” Silport. In mid 2005, he “The new nine is faithful to the Myanmar’s Kyi Hla Han started The country’s national Open is requires a blast across water to reach the semi-island green that is will expand Silport to 36 original design integrity of the the Silport era in 1999 when he won scheduled to return to Silport in heavily fortified by bunkers at the front right and left, as well as at the holes with the new nine-hole existing 27 holes but it will create the US$400,000 Volvo China Open 2007 when the club will likely use back right. While the putting surface is large, its severe slope makes North Course. The course more interest overall for our in a year where he would win the the West Course and the new North running the ball up to the hole, or placing a shot with backspin beyond is currently being created members and guests. There are Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit. The Course layout as its Championship the flag, paramount for any chance of a birdie putt. Anything short, left, by American designer Roger greater hole variations and more winners in successive years included Course. right or long is likely to be wet. Packard who redesigned lateral options on the tees which will ’s (2000), parts of the famed Medinah make things more interesting. When Korean (2001), Australian Shanghai Silport Golf Club Course #3 layout in Chicago you run a golf course, the work is David Gleeson (2002) and a historic Dian-shan Lake, Kunshan, Jiangsu Yardage: par 108 for it’s hosting of the 1990 US never over,” he said. victory in 2003 when China No. 1 province. CHINESE ADDRESS HERE. Open as well as Bangkok’s Soong believes in the future of Zhang Lian-wei captured the title he Tel: (86 512) 5748-1111. Fax: (86 West Course par 36 Lam Luka among his more than Chinese golf so much that he boldly had so coveted. 512) 5748-0067. Web: www.silport. Pro tees 3,621 yards 200 designs. predicts the national Open is the only The following year, 2004, marked com.cn. Email: xxxxxxx. “This is something that we really tournament in the world that has the the first time the event was co- Blue tees 3,369 yards White tees 3,102 yards Red tees 2,834 yards Centre Course par 36 Pro tees 3,452 yards Blue tees 3,231 yards White tees 2,933 yards Red tees 2,624 yards East Course par 36 Pro tees 3,283 yards Blue tees 3,067 yards White tees 2,819 yards Red tees 2,570 yards

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