Whistling Rock,
South Cape, and Anyang November 1-3, 2015
Two of these relatively new courses are fairly far from
Seoul. Whistling Rock is about 60 miles
west of Seoul, and South Cape is an hours flight south, along the southern
coast of the Korean Peninsula. Anyang
was competed in 1968 and in located near downtown Seoul.
Whistling Rock November 1, 2015: We arrived at the clubhouse around 7:15am. The original plan (assuming no frost) was to
tee off at 7:30 and play 27 (club has three nine hole loops, Cloud, Cocoon, and
Temple), then have lunch and a quick shower, and drive to GMP airport to catch
a 6:40pm flight to South Cape. Since the
temperature was 27° when I awoke, that plan was shot. At first they said we could go off at 8:30,
but that looked doubtful, but at 9:10 we were on the first tee of Cocoon.
But before talking about the golf course, its clubhouse is a
167,000 sq. ft. building (about 460’ long…about a 5 iron for me these days). We had our breakfast in a private dining room
overlooking the course…I was for sure the first guest to bring his own cereal
to breakfast here. It is beautifully
built, but again just a wee bit over the top…see picture:
Whistling Rock, like Haesley, is a private club with about
270 members (Haesley has 150, but 18 holes versus WR’s 27). The golf course is built in a very very hilly
region (but sits at only about 800’ above sea level). Approximately 7 million cubic yards of dirt,
rock and other materials were blasted or moved in constructing the 27
holes…leaving a course without any sort of “natural” feel. To put 7 million square yards in perspective
think about the following. The entire property
is 425 acres…which is equal to 2,057,000 square yards. So, they moved/blasted dirt and rock
AVERAGING 10 feet of depth over all 425 acres!!
The fairways were cut at a fairly high level…one could
almost catch flyers from the middle of the fairways. The course is totally unwalkable…with long
(often severely uphill) distances between greens and tees. In summation, this is not a great course even
with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it. Yes, it is long (7250 yards for the 18 we
played) and lavish, but those factors alone do not necessarily guarantee a
great course. I played fairly well (81)
but this is not even close to Top 100 quality.
Pictured below is hole #2 on the Temple nine, a 589 yard very uphill par
5…but it turns out they didn’t move enough dirt. The hill to the left of the green has a large
water tank inside it (or irrigation…this is one of the highest points on the
property), and it is too close to the green, leaving a very smallish green with
no bailout left and a steep fall off right, which severely limits the option of
going for it in two.
After finishing 18, we stopped quickly for a snack. We obviously could not complete the Cloud
nine and get to GMP airport in time (traffic heading back west toward Seoul is
very heavy and slow on Sunday afternoon as people are returning after a weekend
away). Tried to see if we could play 3-5
holes but that was not possible either (Cloud was packed with groups in front
of us), so we just drove the 9 holes in the cart, got back to the clubhouse,
said good bye and proceeded to GMP.
South Cape November 2, 2015: Got to GMP airport in Seoul (this is now
Sunday evening on way to South Cape) in plenty of time. Short flight to Sacheon (on southern coast of
Korean Peninsula) went well and was met by employee of South Cape for 30-minute
drive to resort…as the only passenger in a luxurious full sized excursion bus. When I arrived at the resort I was greeted by
its founder, Chairman Chung, who had already had his dinner (it was about 8:30pm)
but joined me while I had mine. I am
scheduled to play with Chairman Chung (who later asked me to call him “JB”)
Monday 11/2 at 9:40am.
The dinner was absolutely delicious. JB build from scratch the largest fashion
company in Korea and then sold it several years ago. He has been playing golf for 30 years, and
decided to build a great golf course on some spectacular land along S Korea’s
southern coast. First he had to put together
a parcel of a few hundred acres by purchasing hundreds of small farms and lots. He also needed to secure government approval
for converting land use. After
discussions with several top golf course architects he selected Kyle Phillips
(designer of Kingsbarns near St. Andrews Scotland amongst others). The course has only been open for two years.
The hotel that is part of South Cape is simply
exquisite. The rooms are close to
perfect with incredible attention to detail.
I didn’t get enough sleep, but that is par for the course on these
trips.
At breakfast met Chung’s wife who is very very nice. We ate on a balcony overlooking the golf
course and looking south at the coastline in the distance. JB and I then went to the first tee to play
the course. It is a very good design,
but to my mind, not as great as some of the praise I had heard from other
raters. The course certainly has more
than abundant length (approximately 7,350 yards), and the par 3’s and 4’s have
a good variety of holes lengths. The
best holes to me were 6, 10, 14-16, and 18.
See pictures below:
Hole #6 212
yards
hole #14…136 yards…and where is a ladder when I need one!
hole #16—204 yards
Chairman Chung (“JB”) and moi on 13th green or so
The last five holes follow the coastline and are very
spectacular. From that standpoint this
is a fabulous piece of land, but at the same time this piece of land brings
with it some architectural issues.
First and foremost, this is very hilly, almost mountainous
land. I ask you, name a World Top 100
built on very hilly terrain. I counted 8
holes with extreme uphill or downhill terrain (a la Augusta’s #10 and
#18). I do not think any of the current
GM World Top 100 is as hilly.
Additionally, this results in long stretches from green to tee.
Second, while the land is dramatic (especially the holes
along the coast and deep chasms), conditions were very very calm the day I
played, especially for the first 1-12 holes.
I asked JB if this was normal and he advised that the conditions that
day were somewhat calmer than usual, but that it was unusual for the area to
experience strong winds. Over the last
few holes, the winds reached maybe 7-10 mph, and he said they were about
normal. I would suggest that this makes
for dramatic looking holes, but not dramatically playing holes.
Third, the condition of the fairways was questionable. The grass length was certainly longer than at
Whistling Rock, and I think it was longer than I have seen on a great course in
some 30 years. Others I have discussed
this with confirm that they noticed this as well. I have no reason to believe the fairways
could not be cut down to shorter length, but frankly wonder if that is the
plan. JB seems very proud of what he,
his wife, and his team have put together here, but I somehow suspect he
believes that all one has to do is build a great course to make the World
100. I disagree. To be at that level, a course must PLAY like
a great course, meaning that its condition must be world class most of the
time. Due to periods of unusual weather,
that is impossible to achieve 100% of the time, but it certainly must be the
“normal” condition at a bare minimum. I
do not sense that this is the case at South Cape, and I wonder of JB is willing
to commit the resources to ensure that such playing conditions become
“normal”.
As with most things of this nature, time will tell. But to this set of eyes, the verdict is “not
yet.”
Anyang Country Club, November 3, 2015: Anyang is one of South Korea’s oldest
courses, having opened in 1968. It is owned
by Samsung (which runs an extensive golf division which includes about six
private and daily fee courses). Given
that 1968 is considered to be in the middle of the ”dark years” of golf
architecture, and that Anyang was renovated by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 1995
(not one of my favorite architects), I was not expecting much, quite
frankly.
Shows how much I knew!!
I played with Ho Cheol Kim, the Greens Superintendent who had worked his
way up through the Samsung golf operation to this position that he has occupied
for about 20 years. Although he did not
speak much English, another member of the division, Kenneth Kwak was an
effective translator.
We started on #10, and from the start I sensed this was a
very special club and course. The
playing conditions were superb. Greens
fast and firm as were the fairways of Zoysia grass (spelling???) patented many
years ago by Samsung and on which the ball sat perfectly (good to feel firm
turf under one’s feet as opposed to the overwatered fairways I has seen
elsewhere in South Korea). The holes were
built into the course’s natural terrain that pitches and rolls very well as
opposed to the more mountainous terrain of the other three courses played here
on this trip to date. At about 6950
yards (par 72), I would characterize it as long enough for most amateurs and
many many pros as well. It might be even
better as a par 70 of just over 6900 yards by converting holes 6 and 16 from
par 5’s to par 4’s. Perhaps the best
word to describe the club is “exquisite”.
The course is one that I could play every day. While not as great as Japan’s Hirono Golf
Club, in many ways I was reminded of Hirono.
After the round I enjoyed a wonderful lunch in their
clubhouse, which while not as lavish as some of the others in South Korea, is
very large and gracious. The lunch was
hosted by Doug Sik Kim, the club’s GM and EVP of Samsung’s Golf Division.
Anyang has only appeared on Golf Digest’s initial World Top
100 in 2014 at a lofty #40 (along with Haesley Nine Bridges’ #72). While I think both were overrated in that
listing, I also believe Anyang belongs in a World Top 100, in the #80-90-ish
range.
Aborted Trip to
Bali, Jack Nicklaus GC-Korea, Wack Wack G&CC, and Singapore Island CC
(Bukit)
Was driven to ICN airport by Kent Baek (who has shepherded
me around South Korea for the past two days and proved top be and invaluable
guide/resource here in S Korea). Kent
runs Joann Dost’s Golf Agency business in S Korea. Feeling pretty good about my visit to S
Korea, I sent Kent on his way and then checked in. It was then that I learned that a volcano had
erupted west of Bali and the volcanic ash might effect aircraft operations at
the Denpasar airport, where we were headed. While Virgin and Jetstar had
cancelled their flights to DPS, Korean Airways and others were continuing to
operate.
The flight heads almost directly south and is scheduled for
about 7 ½ hours. About 5 hours into the
flight, the Captain announced that because of questionable conditions at DPS,
we would circle for a while to determine whether to proceed. After circling for 40 minutes, back north we
headed back north to ICN. It was there
that we learned of the second eruption, which occurred during our flight.
On the way back to ICN, I started to plan adjustments to my
schedule as at least one and perhaps two days of golf could be lost as a result
of the volcano. I quickly realized that
playing Jack Nicklaus GC-Korean November 4 instead of November 12 would make
great sense. I also realized I might be
able to play Wack Wack GC in Manila, Philippines the next day but that would
require some luck and effort. Working via
email I was quickly able to secure a tee time that afternoon at JNGCK at
12:45pm.
I had been trying to set up Wack Wack for another trip to
Asia in January, and this had yielded several potential contacts. Sending an “immediate call for help with a
game in 24 hours” worked well with several friends of friends offering
solutions, some of which jelled together to make it happen. Flights were available and I was on my way. As Pat pointed out to me, I have been very
very lucky on these trips (knock on wood) with my only major hiccup being a
missed connection in Hong Kong during my round-the-world journey of May
2014. More changes to my itinerary are
in the works, but for now, back to the courses.
Jack Nicklaus Golf Club-Korea, November 4, 2015: Most of you probably became of aware of this
course at last month’s President’s Cup Match.
It was completed about 5 years ago in the “new” city of Incheon west of
Seoul, and also home to a gleaming new international airport (ICN). The entire area was created by landfill
recently, and now is filled with office towers, hotels, apartment buildings,
wide streets and super highways. There
is so much construction going on that Incheon should adopt the Crane as its
city bird.
JNGCK is a private club with about 250 members, and it is
very busy. Naturally, it has a huge
modern clubhouse. I arrived at 11:30am
somewhat frazzled by email and other activity related to revised trip plans,
but found myself on the first tee playing with the club’s GM Joon-Hee Lee, who
earned his PhD in Turf Management at University of Florida. Best I can tell, he and his able assistant,
Elaine Jin-Young Lee run a very smooth operation, and he is a wonderful guy
with a great sense of humor.
Play was slow…and one reason was tee time spacing is a scant
8 minutes. We were only able to play
holes 1-14 as I had a plane to catch to Manila…but having the morning of
November 12 now open (I had been scheduled to play JNGCK that morning before
heading back to the USA), perhaps I could sneak in the last 4 that
morning.
Naturally, the course shows some wear and tear from the
event, but less than I would have expected.
The course was clearly designed with big events in mind. It plays to 7413 yards (par 72) and being
built on landfill, required lots of dirt moving to create some “movement” in
the land. The greens are very difficult
(typical of JWN) but the fairways fairly generous. In some ways it reminded me of JWN’s Trump
Ferry Point in The Bronx NY in that the bunkering had more of an “old-fashion”
ragged edge look. Overall I liked the
course, but would not want to play it every day…it is high in the
“championship” quotient and low in the “fun” quotient. It does have its fair share of pin positions
only a few touring pros would dare go after.
Its condition was good but it is very overwatered and way way too
“green” for my taste.
South Korean
Golf—Overall Assessment
Including Jeju Island’s Nine Bridges (played in May 2014), I
have now played six of the top courses in South Korea. There is no question that the game is growing
very rapidly in S Korea. The LPGA Tour
is filled with great players from South Korea who now dominate the game. They started coming to the USA as teenagers
with there parents to learn the refinements of the modern golf swing under the
tutelage of Hank Haney, David Leadbedder and others in the early 1990’s. And certainly KJ Choi made his presence felt
on the PGA Tour over the past 15+ years.
However, there are some disturbing themes that were
prevalent in most of the six courses:
1. members
do a terrible job maintaining their courses…ball marks on green generally are
not repaired by players (apparently due to Korean “culture”) and bunkers are
often unraked, even with almost all players having a caddy;
2. the
humongous over the top clubhouse phenomenon is also very troubling…you just
simply can’t believe what is being built over here;
3. I
did not see many kids playing…and at a couple of courses, when I asked about
junior programs I was told there was none
Rest of Asia Trip
Wack Wack G&CC, November 5, 2015: Arrived at Manila airport around
11:30pm. Drive to hotel was filled with
visible evidence that Manila has been left behind as a good part of SE Asia modernized
and grew like crazy over the past 40 years.
I had been here 3x while at Citibank, in October 1973, around March
1974, and April 1975. The 1974 trip was
with golf clubs in hand (was on a trip to visit about 5 Asian countries over a
2 week span and had to be prepared if someone asked if I wanted to play 18, or
36). I was spending a weekend in Manila,
and hoped to play Wack Wack, but they were hosting the Philippine Open (as WW
has done many many times) so that was my first turn down by WW!! I did go over there and watched the event for
a couple of hours (must have been during a weekend…would have never have done
such a thing during a workday).
By the way, ex-Citibankers…two of the guys who were trying
to set me up at WW were Citibankers from the IBG in the 1970’s (although we did
not know each other: Edward Sy and
Topper Coronel.
There is a wonderful story about how Wack Wack got started
and got its name:
In the 1930’s, and American named William Shaw was working
in Manila and was a member of Manila Golf Club.
He was a very good player and came in 2nd in a decent sized
event at Manila GC (something like the Philippine Amateur) to a local, who
obviously had dark colored skin. At the
awards ceremony, the local was not allowed to enter the clubhouse to be
presented his trophy. Shaw went nuts…and
railed against his club, saying his opponent was a perfect gentleman, a superb
player, and won fair and square…and that those should be the only
criteria. So he pulled together some wealthy
friends, purchased land and starting a new club, which became Wack Wack and was
(and still is) open to all. Oh…the name
thing. Seems the land they bought and
then built the course on was and still is inhabited by a bunch of crows. Shaw and his buddies heard them screaming one
day, and the decided to name the club Wack Wack, after the sounds crows
make. Knew you’d love that. That makes it the #1 candidate for “best golf
club name.”
I very much enjoyed the course. Is it a World Top 100 today…clearly no…but it
is a very good golf course, and frankly I would prefer playing it than some of
the highly touted courses built over the last 30 years. In Golf Magazine’s first two Worldwide
ratings, they listed 50 courses alphabetically and Wack Wack was included in
these first two in 1979 and 1981 (I should note that GM also cited the top 12
among the 50…listing these 12 alphabetically as well…WW was not in either Top
12 lists making it in the 13-50 grouping on both).
Its fairways and rough are still C ”cow grass” or “elephant
grass”, and tick bladed version of Bermuda which was almost universal in hot
climates such as SE Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, Africa, and some parts of the
US deep south many decades ago.
Maintained properly, it is a good playing surface but does not compare
to today’s new strains of Bermuda. WW
has been stretched to 7222 yards (par 72) with only 2 par 3’s and 2 par
5’s…sounds strange unless you’ve been to a place called The Old Course in St.
Andrews. It’s par 3 8th
plays from 191 yards, uphill to a small green sitting on a crest and falling
off sharply in all directions. The
bunkers surrounding it are very deep, and just recovering from the bottom of
these fall offs in quite a task as the green is so high and so small…playing
“ping pong” here is easy to do. This is
a world renown hole and deservedly so.
Another great hole is # 13, a 517 yard par 5 with a deep deep creek
fronting the green (see pics below):
Wack Wack #8, 191
yard par 3
Wack Wack #13 approach shot on 517 yard par 5…stuck it but
missed putt!!
The
course is much hillier than I recalled, and this being the tropics it was hot
and humid…quite a change from South Korea.
I hit the ball very well but my short game and putting were poor. Greens are Zoysia and were very slow, especially
uphill. While I had 3 birdies, I also
had 4 double bogies for an 81. So, after
41+ years, I finally got to play it and certainly enjoyed it.
As I finished up on 18, WW’S General Manager, Bones Floro
came out to greet me and invite me for lunch.
I would guess Bones to be about 45 -50 years old, and he was a long time
member of WW when he took this job.
Bones is a bright, warm, jovial guy and I very much enjoyed meeting
him. He said he had received a flurry of
emails/texts/calls from members requesting that I be allowed to play (THANKS so
much to quite a few of your readers!!!) and wanted to meet this guy Paul
Rudovsky. Hope he wasn’t too
disappointed.
Singapore Island Country Club—Bukit Course, November 6,
2015: After a needed shower, the drive
to the Manila airport crawled through horrendous traffic for 2 miles and then
went well. In daylight, this city is
even more third worldish than at night.
Flight to Singapore was on time and went smoothly. This was my first return to Singapore since
2001. Had been there a total of 5x
before…3x when at Citibank (same three trips 1973-75), once while consulting
for Bankers Trust in 1980, and then in 2001 on an MIT related trip. SICC has 4 courses and I had played SICC’s
Island Course in 1974 and its New Course in 1980 (again, clearly on
weekends). But its inclusion in the
World Top 50 in Golf Magazine in 1979 and 1981 was its Bukit Course, which I
had never played…so it was on my bucket list.
It historically had been the venue for the Singapore Open, but not in
recent years.
I was playing with Lim KS who grew up in Singapore (his
family has been members of SICC for a long time) and worked for Mobil Oil in
the Far East…we have a mutual friend from Mobil (who also went to MIT and lives
part time at CCNC in Pinehurst) who introduced us. Back in July 2009 KS and I were on a trip to
Bandon Dunes together. We were joined by
two of KS’s friends from SICC. At the
young age of 70, I was the spring chicken in the group, with the others being
71, 76, and 80 years old. OK…that’s not
that unusual today, but the 71 and 80 year old both walked it with a battery
powered hand carts (KS and I took a riding cart)…and the 71 and 80 year olds
insisted that we plat the back tees (tips actually) which stretch to about 6775
yards (par 71). And SICC is very
hilly! My ego kept this 70 year old
from suggesting the Silver tees might be more appropriate.
They were fun guys and I enjoyed the round immensely. Due to neargy lightning and some rain we had
to seek shelter at the 14th green for about 20 minutes, and then the
all-clear sounded. The day had started
off hot and humid, but it cooled down nicely with that front moving
through. KS then drove me back to my
hotel where I worked out, showered, and changed in the fitness center’s locker
room and repacked for my flight scheduled to leave Singapore for Kunming China
at 3:00am (and took off an hour late) in the wee shall hours of Saturday
morning (you did read that correctly).
Revise my
schedule??
Over the past few days I had been checking the news and
weather forecasts for Bali. While the
airport did reopen on Friday 11/6, and flights were available, I thought going
there would not be wise. Volcanic
eruptions tend to come in spurts so with two in the prior week or so, the
probability of another in the next week was probably significantly higher than
normal. While there was not any
immediate danger (since the volcano and Bali were separated by a wide channel
of water), another eruption would probably leave me stranded there for a few
days, and mess up the rest of the trip.
Instead I focused on two other courses on my bucket lists:
--Royal Selangor GC (Old Course),
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that like Wack Wack and Singapore Island had only
appeared on the Golf Magazine Worldwide Top 50 lists in 1979 and 1981; and
--Ayodhya Links GC about an hour
north of Bangkok, Thailand, that first appeared on TH GM Worldwide Top 100 (at
#76) this year.
I had planned on playing both of these on an upcoming return
to Asia in January 2016, but with Bali’s two courses added to the requirements
for that trip, I wanted to knock off as many others as possible (as I did by
playing Wack Wack this trip). Again…need
to stay flexible!
So I was working through emails and texts to see if I could
arrange either or both for 11/9 and 11/10.
In the end, I was successful with Ayodhya but not RSGC.
Spring City Resort (Mountain and Lake courses) November
7, 2015: Flight from Singapore to
Kunming, China was an hour late but went fairly smoothly given its departure
time. Kunming China is in Yunnan
Province and is a fast growing industrial city with China’s 4th
largest airport…that is brand spanking new.
It was here that I first discovered the joys of using the internet in
China! Tried to get my emails to see if
I had heard anything regarding RSGC or Ayodhya, but nothing came up. Found out that to use the “free” internet at
the airport, one needs to apply for a “number” and that takes about 10 days. Wonderful, but it gets worse later. Read closely all you “progressives”.
Decided I would play both the Mountain and Lake courses if
possible today. I am scheduled to play
Stone Forest’s Leader’s Peak (“C”) Course on Sunday, so by playing both Spring
City tracks today, if both RSGC and Ayodhya come through for Monday and
Tuesday, I can take advantage of that opportunity (had checked and flights are
available). We’ll see how that goes
after maybe 3-4 hours of sleep between Singapore airport and the flight last night. A driver from Spring City picked me up (one
can easily get used to being treated like royalty…especially when it is so well
deserved). Arrived at Spring City around
10:30am and was met by Lau Tong Chye, a Malaysian who manages Spring City’s
golf operation.
Spring City is about an hour east of Kunming and its air
quality is pretty good. It sits at an
altitude of about 6000’ above a very large lake that is at least several miles
long. Both courses require carts because of the terrain. Both were included on Golf Digest’s initial
Worldwide Top 100 published in early 2014, with the Lake rated #92 and Mountain
#100. Those ratings raised eyebrows in
the USA as many who follow these ratings had never heard of Spring City. The climate at Spring City is
wonderful…without extreme heat in summers or extreme cold in winters.
The Mountain Course was completed in around 1997 and was
designed by Jack Nicklaus. It is in
excellent shape (very green but plays fairly fast and firm) and it sits on the
more elevated portion of Spring City’s land (the Lake Course sits below the
Mountain Course).
Long at 7453 yards (par 72) but at an altitude of 6000’
plays much shorter. It is very typical
of Nicklaus’ designs with everything open in front of the player. But I describe that as no mystery. The fairways are fairly generous, and the
greens very difficult. Each hole is
totally separate and isolated from the others by trees. With the long cart drives from green to tee,
I had very little sense of where we stood on the property after a few
holes. In sum and simply put, while it
is a good course, I do not see how it was included in GD’s World Top 100 in
2014.
After a brief lunch, played the Lake Course starting around
2:30. Completed about 2002, it was designed
by Robert Trent Jones II. Plays to 7204
par 72 but again much shorter due to its altitude. It was in the same condition as Mountain,
except perhaps a little bit softer.
Other than the fairways being a little softer, to my mind, it beats the
Mountain Course hands down. I really
liked most of the holes from #4 through #17 and there really are no weak
holes. This track is well worth playing
and I believe deserves its current rating (and I have never been a big fan of
RTJ II). The views over the lake are
spectacular, but it is the quality of the holes that dominate. I was very surprised by how good it is. When it was named by Golf Digest to its
initial Worldwide 100, many suggested it could not be that good. And frankly, aside from the Top 100 listing,
it has generated very little publicity.
I was very very tired on the back nine. Went to take a nap and then had dinner with
Kimi Hoshiyama who I was introduced to by Fergal O’Leary. Kimi is an Asian rater for the top100golfcourses.co.uk
website and lives in Hong Kong. We were
joined by Lau TC.
Getting to sleep reasonably early certainly helped!!
