95. Shanqin Bay
Hainan, China
ARCHITECT
Invoice Coore/Ben Crenshaw
“A tropical island within the South China Sea could also be an unlikely location for world-class golf,” panelist Joe Andriole writes, “however Hainan Island encompasses a plethora of dramatic landforms: steep stretches of rolling farmland, a broad canyon, majestic sand dunes and dense vegetation. Shanqin Bay’s routing, bordered by the ocean on three sides, embraces all of those geomorphic options, creating an exciting 18-hole experience. The tumultuous journey takes golfers excessive on a cliffside and hill, the place gorgeous ocean views prevail, earlier than dipping and turning into valleys and ravines bordered by unyielding native vines and grasses. There’s a pleasing mixture of lengthy and quick holes that hug the land and are concurrently pure and strategic. Fairway bunkering is comparatively sparse as befits the terrain. Greens are strewn on the property over each excessive and low land, creating a beautiful, motley array of strategy pictures. The inside holes might lack the visible drama of these on cliff and seashore, however don’t cede any shot worth or enjoying curiosity. At Shanqin Bay, Coore and Crenshaw turned hostile geography into an exalted playground for golf.” (Photograph credit score: Gary Lisbon)
