CHINA
World-Class Golf
at Spring City Golf & Lake Resort

China Has More Than 300 Golf Courses

You might be surprised at this statistic: China, with its over 300 golf courses, is now ranked 5th among all countries for having the most golf courses. Considering that golf was first introduced to China in 1984 when it had only eight golf courses, this is an amazing accomplishment. And there are confirmed plans for building dozens and dozens of new golf courses each year for many years to come in China.

From Beijing, I flew to Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province in the southwestern part of the country. Yunnan, home to the #1 golf resort in Asia-Spring City Golf & Lake Resort-is the 12th most populated province in China with over 44 million people; Kunming metropolitan area is home to approximately 15.5 million, over a third of the province's total population. Among the country's 56 ethnic groups, 25 are found in Yunnan. Some 38% of the province's population are members of minorities, easily identifiable because most wear their native garb daily. I met some individuals from the Naxi ethnic group and they were charming.

Met at the Kunming Airport by exceedingly friendly hosts, we made our way to Spring City Golf & Lake Resort; about a 45-minute drive by car. Coming out of the city, from the modern freeway you see the intermeshing of the old and the new; fresh buildings being built, old dilapidated buildings ready to be torn down. Kunming, as with the rest of China, is going through a revolutionary modernization unequaled in our time.

Soon, we are in the countryside with beautiful farmland and rolling hills. Another part of China unfolds before my eyes and I see peasant farmers working the land on hands and knees, ox and ox-cart alongside them.

As beautiful as the farm landscape is, I begin to wonder if the driver is lost. Where is this incredible golf resort I've head about? It can't be out here in Nowhere's Land.

Soon, we exit the freeway and I get really confused. We jiggle and jaggle around turns and curves on a two-lane, sometimes one-lane, narrow primitive road. "How is it possible that a world-class golf resort is out here?" I ask myself. "This sidewalk of a road couldn't be taking us to a golf resort".

Lake Course

Magical Moment of Seeing Spring City

Spring City Golf Course

Lo-and-behold, we begin to incline up a hill. The primitive road magically becomes a modern paved thoroughfare and rows of trees appear as part of a well-kept middle road divider, and the environment changes before my eyes. The entrance of Spring City Lake & Golf Resort is as beautiful as any I've ever seen. I finally understood that, indeed, I was at the #1 golf resort in Asia .

Because of misconceptions so many Americans have of China, it's quite amazing that a golf resort of Spring City's magnitude exists. It's as exquisite than any of the high-end, top-rated golf resorts that I have been to in the United States and Europe . Spring City is complete with a luxurious reception area, fine dining, Spa, two immaculate and challenging championship 18-hole golf courses, Villas as modern and sophisticated as any you'll see in America, and a breathtaking lake. It even has it's own small zoo where indigenous animals live and relax.

Spring City has two of the finest golf courses you'll ever play. The Mountain Course designed by Jack Nicklaus features gently rolling fairways, greens as good as on the PGA Tour, total distance ranging from 7,453 to 5,322 yards depending which tees you play from, beautiful scenery and immaculate maintenance. It's a big, meandering course; the type of course I love because I feel a golf course should be large enough to have a life of it's own. It deserves its own identity.

The Lake Course designed by Robert Trent Jones II zigzags along Yangzonghai Lakeshore. All 18 holes offer spectacular views of the lake while preserving the rocky cliffs and undulating terrain of the mountain. Close your eyes on some holes, then open them and for a moment you find yourself at Pebble Beach , looking over cliffs with gorgeous views of the water. Instead of crashing ocean waves, you see sparkling lake water kissing the sky.

One of Spring City Resort's monikers is "A Home Away From Home." Without question, Spring City offers the quality of life and golf that any of us would be willing to call home all the time.

For more information on playing golf in China, particularly Spring City Golf & Lake Resort, contact China Golf Travel at email: danpoppers@aol.com.