The newest golf course design in western China from Mark Hollinger, ASGCA, is set to open later this summer. Juizhaigou Golf Club, a 7,800-yard par 72, is in the Juizhaigou Valley, Sichuan Province, China.
The course is being developed by Chengdu’s Honyee Investments Group. The 18-hole championship mountain-resort course is situated within China’s Yosemite-like dramatic mountain river gorge valley, called Juizhaigou Valley, a World Heritage location. It is constructed at an elevated high-altitude site, on a scenic mountain plateau in a western China favorite vacation destination.
“The mountain-plateau setting is visually spectacular and this site is the culmination of my career designing golf courses throughout China,” Hollinger said.
“We carefully constructed this project within very difficult terrain and under difficult circumstances, but did it in a way as to protect, embellish, and emulate the rugged mountain theme of the golf course. Upon completion, the golf course appears as if it was always there, as a participant in the Tibetan beauty of Juizhaigou Valley and that it merely grew out of the ground. It does not appear artificial in any way, and is at home with its setting.
“The course has been landscaped entirely with indigenous plant material with nothing imported from the outside to appear out of place. The course features mountain lakes, streams, waterfalls, rock outcroppings, alpine wildflowers and rugged wooded terrain. The golf holes are intelligently routed along ridge lines, meandering up valleys, and stretch along the hilltops to explore the vistas and allow for many strategic choices for the golfers to follow.
“This project took over six years to finish and sometimes one must wait for good things to happen …Juizhaigou Golf Club is a very good thing, indeed.”