Hillview Golf Club
No rain! No typhoon! Yes, golf!! Finally!! Yep, I got out and played at the Hillview Golf Club Sunday. It is only about a mile away near the Sofitel Royal Lagoon Hotel. And what a difference from Camdor Harbour (the only other golf course I have played in China). Camdor Harbour is like Rutherfordton Golf Club compared to this course. I felt like I had walked into the Rivera Country Club. What a magnificent club house. It was massive! And such incredible taste! No Greek gods and windmills here.It was a warm and nice day, when I called, but the receptionist told me I could not come out as a single until after 3 PM. So I hailed a cab around 2:15. Surprisingly, when we pulled into the Club grounds, the ride rolled through a long meandering road to the magnificent and huge Club House. Bag attendants quickly took my bag and directed me inside.
And the interior continued the extraordinary experience. The exterior was impressive, but the inside was magnificent: tall high ceilings with huge chandeliers and curving staircases up and down to three story windows overlooking the course. Check in was more akin to a Ritz Carlton than a golf club. As I headed down to the locker room, even more impressive a setting was to be found. The ceiling was at least 20 feet tall. At the end of the hall past the lockers and showers, you quickly noticed the large round hot tub. Now this is style!
Then making my way outside, Caddie #379 quickly grabbed my bag and directed me to a golf cart!! Yes, a golf cart!! Hot dig!! A golf cart!! No long walk to the hills ahead! I soon found out Caddie #379 was named something akin to Jim Su. And she was delightful. Her smile was enduring. And on this day, we didn’t get paired with anyone, as I really expected. A course to my own, at my pace. Only a couple of times did I catch up to play ahead.
And it was fun! Great course! Challenging and beautiful. And whereas the greens at Camdor were like putting on old shag carpet, these were like concrete. I made my first twisting putt on the first hole from about 25 feet, and really got psyched for a good day of putting. Oh well, that soured quickly when I three putted the next three holes. Hard as I tried, I couldn’t lag a putt short on these greens for the whole day. They were hard! Literally hard. Most every second putt was an uphill 2 to 3 footer.
Bermuda grass increased the challenge around the greens. And it was one of those courses lined with mogul type mounds everywhere, and elephants buried on most every green. What contours! But at least we had a cart. Okay it was a pain being cart trail only. It looks like that is a permanent thing. The curbs were massive. You weren’t gonna be driving out in the fairway over these curbs!
Lakes and hills were plentiful. And those poles all around the course serve a unique purpose. They are lights! Yes, you can play at night. I understand that the rate is higher to pay for the generators, but pretty impressive. The lights only covered the 18 I played on Sunday. There is another 18 that is longer and has a tall waterfall overlooking the last hole.
The scoring wasn’t so good, but it was fun! Great to be out on a fabulous course and playing golf again. Next time I gotta try late night under the lights!
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 7:22 PM
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