19th Hole
The biggest golf resort you never knew (but should)
As a Korean-Canadian and an avid golfer for over 35 years, I am fortunate to have played on many beautiful golf courses in the West and the Far East. I still have a boatload of courses like Pebble Beach and St. Andrews on my bucket list, but I came to learn that Asia had plenty of such places to visit as well.
I have recently had the good fortune of playing the iconic Blackstone Golf Club at Mission Hills Resort in China, which is consistently ranked as one of the best courses in Asia. Blackstone is particularly famous for hosting the Tiger Woods vs. Rory McIlroy exhibition ‘The Match at Mission Hills’ in 2013. The event brought international attention to the sprawling luxury resort and boosted the level of interest in the game in the region.
Before delving into my amazing experience at Blackstone Golf Club, here is a little bit of information about the best golf resort you may never heard of.
The Best Golf Resort in The World?
Mission Hills Golf and Resort is located in the southern part of China on Hainan Island, which is about the size of Maine. Often referred to as the Hawaii of China, its tropical location gives the island year-round sunshine with temperatures between 75~90°F in the winter and 60~75°F in the summer. Along with dozens of other notable golf resorts and courses on the Island, the resort is a popular destination for golfers from Asia, Europe, and as far away as Australia and New Zealand.
Mission Hills first opened its doors in early 2010 with the aim of becoming the best resort in the world. I’m not sure if they achieved their goal, but before you smirk at their ambitiousness, Mission Hills is currently listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the World’s largest golf resort with a total of 10 world-class golf courses. That is an astounding 180 championship-class golf holes in one resort! The courses are designed by the talented Schmidt-Curley Design team who are behind some of the best courses in Asia and around the world.
The Blackstone Golf Club is considered the “crown jewel” course at Mission Hills Resort and gets its name from the plethora of black lava rock that is found all over the course as part of its beautiful charm. But don’t be fooled by its rugged beauty, as the monster-long Blackstone has hosted several World Cup of Golf championships (guess who teamed up for the US to win in 2011?) and the annual World Ladies Championships. It also hosts the annual World Celebrity Pro-Am attended by an amazing A-list of screen stars, pro golfers, and elite athletes from around the world.
So yeah, the course is quite good.
On top of that, the resort holds another world’s best distinction, with a total of 168 different hot springs and pools within the resort. Unfortunately, I was too immersed in playing golf to take advantage of a good hot soak, but it will be on the top of my list to do with my whole family next time.
Now, let’s take a close look at what the Blackstone course was all about, and keep in mind that the course descriptions and opinions are all my own from experience and perspective.
Greens
The green condition was quite superb, albeit a bit slow from Western standards. According to the caddie, the green speed was measured at about 2.9 meters, which translates to about 9.5 on the stimp meter. A speed of 7 is considered to be slow, and the average PGA Tour event is said to be about 12, so for us average folk the greens were rolling well.
The green size is quite large with nearly 5700 square feet average in size with less-than-subtle undulations and big rolling plateaus. The pins were placed slightly towards the front left of the green this day, and the approach shots were challenging for us amateurs to stuff close. The ball rolled straight and true to where it was aimed, and I only had myself to blame for missed short putts.
Fairways
Unlike many of the Korean courses I’m used to, the fairways are lush and readily yielded nice dollar-sized divots from well-struck iron shots into the greens. The course itself is huge and it was reflected in the long wide fairways stretching from tee to green.
Most of the fairways seemed to be free of readily noticeable trouble areas, meaning that what you see was what you got. However, upon close inspection, there were many subtle undulations which caused the stance to be slightly uneven at address. It wasn’t like St. Andrews level of fairway undulations, but it was there.
Also, the big prominent fairways bunkers often came into play and caused me to consciously aim away from them, which left longer approach shots into the green. We were somehow feeling confident this day and were playing from the blue tees. And for a guy who averages 240-yard drives on my best days, those small detours inevitably added 1-2 clubs more to the next shot.
Rough
Truth to tell, the rough wasn’t all that intimidating, as it was only modestly long, and the wide fairways pushed the rough back considerably. As it wasn’t tournament season and the course was set up to mostly cater to vacationers, it made sense not to make the rough too punishing.
Beyond the rough was mostly deep jungle-like vegetation, which made it next to impossible to hit the ball out of, let alone find it in the first place. Thanks to our amateur ball-striking abilities, however, we easily overpowered the hapless wide fairways to appease the jungle gods with our many golf balls.
Bunkers
Blackstone had no shortage of fairway and greenside bunkers to daunt the average golfer. The many fairway bunkers were often quite large, and despite the mostly wide fairways, some were placed just at the right (?) places to catch drives that strayed left or right off the tee. Standing on the tees, the presence of so many bunkers was aesthetically pleasing yet intimidating at the same time.
The bunkers were meticulously raked and pristine, with the sand looking visually heavy but being very soft. Maintaining the bunkers to this level of readiness cannot be easy, as there are 10 courses at this resort! Even if there were just two bunkers per hole, that’s still 360 sand traps to rake and prep each day! Add to this the fairways and greens, not to mention the decorative foliage, the level of course maintenance at this level is quite mind-boggling.
I also don’t recall seeing any flat bunkers, as most seemed to have a healthy amount of incline at the front to make it harder to move the ball forward a long way. The greenside bunkers were also deeper and usually presented an upslope lie, and the shots had to have some climb to escape from them. If you have trouble hitting the ball straight, be sure to sharpen your bunker play when you visit Blackstone.
Tee To Green
Blackstone’s monstrous 7808 yards should satisfy most golfers’ urge to go all out on their shots. From the blues, it was still a challenging 6722 yards, and I don’t mind saying it felt longer than that all day.
Most of the pins can be seen from the tee box, and despite some slightly rolling fairways, Blackstone is a mostly-level parkland course without any significant drop or rise in elevation. Sprawling over a huge area of land, the holes do not double back in parallel but stretch forward through dense foliage, making for a scenic ride in the golf cart. One thing I also appreciated was the leisurely pace of play. The group ahead and behind were not visible for nearly the entire round, despite our less-than-quick pace of play.
From tee to green in its entirety, the course was in amazing shape and condition. The unexpected tropical golf experience was nothing short of amazing, and if I had to make a comparison to some of the other memorable tracks I’ve visited, the Hoakalei Country Club and Turtle Bay Resort (Palmer design) in Hawaii come to mind, along with Korea’s own Haesley Nine Bridge Club, which consistently ranks as one of the best courses in Asia.
The pictures below don’t do justice to the course, but I’m sure you’ll get the idea.
Caddies & Carts
Unlike most courses in the West, golf clubs in Asia require each golfer to play with a mandatory caddie and golf cart. Also, if you each decide to have an additional caddie to help hold the umbrella, it can make for a sizeable group of 12 (greens keepers would be tossing in their beds in the west)! So how do the caddies move if you’re driving a power cart, you ask? They simply hop onboard the back of the buggy.
On this day, we ‘only’ had four caddies to attend our play, and they were fantastic. Despite my initial concerns, the language barrier was not an issue as they were conversant in all the needed terminology in English and Korean. This was a pleasant surprise, as I was able to ask more about the course to help my play, and there was always Google Translate.
The caddie fee was 500 yuan each, which is about $70 US. They were highly professional and quick on their feet, and I could tell that the resort had gone to good lengths in training the caddies (said to be 2000 in number!) to make the golfing experience enjoyable for their international guests.
Resort & Facilities
Mission Hills Haikou has a 500-room hotel with several fine-dining restaurants and high-end boutiques within the main wing and the adjoining annex. They also have a shopping mall within the hotel featuring global brands like Taylormade, Adidas, and Skechers, along with a slew of high-end golf brands to luxury watches and whiskies.
The view from my room on the 9th floor was something to write home about, along with the impeccable services. Truth to tell, I had previously heard several horror stories of less-than-friendly services which led me to refrain from visiting China prior. That must’ve been a different country, as Mission Hills pulled out all the stops to impress and awe its visitors, and it certainly worked on me. We were treated like kings on and off the course, and the hotel personnel was on hand to assist us everywhere we went.
The entire resort complex was like a huge labyrinth of spas, pools, shops, and golf courses. They nearly had everything, including an incredible hotel buffet and several ethnic cuisines, a nightclub and karaoke, and an entire museum-like wing dedicated to the many celebrities and pro golfers that have played here. I could have stayed for hours simply looking at their vast collection of golf memorabilia. My golf buddy called it a golf heaven on earth, and I couldn’t agree more.
Again, the pics won’t be able to fully capture the experience, but they’ll give you an idea of the enormous size and quality of the place.
Hotel Shops & Amenities
Then there were dozens more shops in a whole other building next to the hotel, lined with the palm prints of celebrities and stars. The sheer size and scale of Mission Hills was outrageous.
Trip Overview
- LIKE31
- LEGIT4
- WOW5
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB3
- SHANK9
19th Hole
Dave Portnoy places monstrous outright bet for the 2024 Masters
Fresh off of winning $2.76 million on UConn’s victory over Purdue on Monday night, Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy has just placed a massive bet for this year’s Masters.
Tweeting on Wednesday morning, Portnoy revealed that he has placed $300,000 on Scottie Scheffler to win this year’s Masters at odds of +450.
Should he win, that’d be a total payout of $1.65 million.
Keep the momentum. For people who wanted me to hedge for is why I didn't. So I could take another shot at glory. #DKPartner #scotty pic.twitter.com/X9a0X8HOTZ
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) April 10, 2024
Scheffler is one of the shortest priced favorites of recent times at the Masters, and is looking for what would be his third win in his last four events.
More from the 19th Hole
- The wild reason why Mark Wahlberg was initially denied entry to an Australian golf club
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Edoardo Molinari reveals the latest PGA Tour golfer to turn down ‘good offer’ from LIV Golf
New here?
- LIKE5
- LEGIT1
- WOW2
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK11
19th Hole
Brooks Koepka was asked if a 59 was possible at this year’s Masters. His answer did not disappoint
During Brooks Koepka’s pre-tournament press conference for this week’s Masters Tournament, the five-time major champion was asked a bit of a silly question and gave a brilliant response.
Q. It sounds like the course is already pretty dialed this week, but under softer or optimal scoring conditions do you think 59 is obtainable on this golf course?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Have you played here?
Q. Not yet.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I can tell by the question.
Q. What number is attainable in your mind? 63’s the low.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, now, anything’s attainable. But, yeah, if you want to go play the members tees and maybe play like 15 holes, yeah, I could do that.
With the course record being 63, it’s somewhat unclear why the reporter thought a soft golf course would be enough to result in a score four shots better than the record.
More from the 19th Hole
- The wild reason why Mark Wahlberg was initially denied entry to an Australian golf club
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Edoardo Molinari reveals the latest PGA Tour golfer to turn down ‘good offer’ from LIV Golf
New here?
- LIKE28
- LEGIT4
- WOW1
- LOL15
- IDHT0
- FLOP2
- OB0
- SHANK5
19th Hole
Viktor Hovland reveals surprise swing coach changeup ahead of 2024 Masters
In what’s already been a topsy-turvy season, Viktor Hovland is making another swing coach change.
While speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, for the Masters, the reigning Tour champion spoke openly about the struggles he’s been having with his swing.
Earlier this year, Hovland parted ways with his short game coach, Joe Mayo, after Mayo had helped him make significant strides around the greens. He then announced his new swing coach would be Grant Waite.
However, at the press conference, a new swing coach, Dana Dahlquist, was alongside the Norwegian.
“I’m still kind of looking for some opinions out there, but I feel like I’m on a good track right now and we’ll see where that takes us. It’s one of those things. I was playing great golf last year, but it’s not like I’m trying to change my golf swing.”
Hovland then spoke about the change to Dahlquist.
“I liked what he thought was the best strategy to get back to a lot of that movement from that time. I thought it made a lot of sense, and so we’ve been working together a bit now. Then we’ll see how it goes.”
The 26-year-old added that he didn’t feel his game was sustainable after his magnificent run during the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
“I had to find my way back to where I think I’m going to play my best golf. Even at the end of the last year, I still felt like, yeah, I was playing great, but I got a lot out of my game, and it didn’t necessarily feel sustainable. But it’s not like I consciously went in and said, hey, we’re going to change everything up.”
“There has been a bit too much back-and-forth. It has been difficult to see the way forward, what exactly is the answer, and what exactly I need to do. I feel that now I’ve decided that ‘this is right, this works.’ I have to get on with it. Then we’ll see how it goes. I feel things are going in the right direction, but it has been more difficult than we would have liked.”
Coming into the season, Hovland was one of the favorites to win the Masters. As the tournament approaches, it feels as if the young star has more questions than answers.
More from the 19th Hole
- The wild reason why Mark Wahlberg was initially denied entry to an Australian golf club
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Edoardo Molinari reveals the latest PGA Tour golfer to turn down ‘good offer’ from LIV Golf
New here?
- LIKE10
- LEGIT4
- WOW1
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK7
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
John Daly stuns fans into silence with brutal opening tee shot on PGA Tour Champions
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Things got heated at the Houston Open between Tony Finau and Alejandro Tosti. Here’s why
-
19th Hole2 days ago
Tiger Woods arrives at 2024 Masters equipped with a putter that may surprise you
-
19th Hole7 days ago
Report: Tiger Woods has ‘eliminated sex’ in preparation for the 2024 Masters
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Charlie Woods finds it tough going on American Junior Golf Association debut
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Addiction, spinal fusion, and scam artists – Everything Anthony Kim revealed in candid interview with David Feherty
-
19th Hole6 days ago
Anthony Kim says doctors told him that he ‘may not have much time left’ ahead of LIV return
Morty Seinfeld
Feb 11, 2024 at 8:22 am
Pinko commie rags.
golfballhead
Feb 9, 2024 at 11:52 am
Great writeup, James! Looks like a fun time.
Doog
Feb 9, 2024 at 10:20 am
Is dog meat on the buffet menu? lmao
Eastpointe
Feb 9, 2024 at 9:18 am
What did the package cost all in?
A. Shipnuck
Feb 9, 2024 at 9:14 am
Yea no forking way would I ever go to a resort course in China.