Twelve courses, 216 holes, 79,697 yards, 1,200 bunkers, four clubhouses, 1,500 electric carts, 3,000 caddies, four driving ranges, three golf academies, 51 tennis courts, ten restaurants, dozens of lost golf balls. TALK’s Mike Hall visited Mission Hills to see if he could handle playing more golf in four days than he usually does in a month, and came out wanting more.

First Impressions

The first time you pull off one of Shenzhen’s eight lane freeways onto one of the many dedicated Mission Hills exit lanes and then drive back across the bustling traffic on a quiet private flyover bridge, you can’t help but be a little bit excited – you are entering golf utopia. The guard boxes every few hundred metres manned by smart saluting paramilitaries, soaring sculptures and perfectly kept greenery may be par for any of China’s better golf courses, but none can compare to the unique experience of staying at the Mission Hills resort and having daily access to 12 different courses and some of the best instructors in Asia. At Mission Hills, for a whole week you can do nothing but live and breathe golf.

The Courses and Caddies

Stretching across 20 square kilometres in the lush hills of Shenzhen and Dongguan, an hour north of Hong Kong, Mission Hills was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest golf club in 2004, and it remains one of Asia's top golfing resorts.

Mission Hills was recognised by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest golf club in 2004

Each of Mission Hills' 12 courses have been sculpted out of the surrounding environment and imprinted with the golfing philosophy of its namesake designer. Annika Sorenstam's shorter course requires pinpoint accuracy and entices (then punishes) the long, inaccurate hitter. Legendary instructor David Leadbetter's course is set up to require you to use every club and shot in your bag, and the brilliantly designed Greg Norman course earns its ranking in the top ten courses in China with strategic sands and fast greens.

Whether spending two days or a whole week at Mission Hills, the first challenge you will face is planning which courses to play: In what order? Which ones should you miss? Should you play each once or play one multiple times to really get a feel for the course and learn its tricks?