Sanya, a paradise for golfers
Sanya is increasingly emerging as a choice for many of the top professional or armature golf competitions
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With golf set to return to the upcoming Summer Olympics in Rio, Brazil for the first time in over a century, the sport, often described as “a rich man’s game”, started to attract more and more interests from people in all walks of life. But sky-high prices and limited options have always stopped many people from trying to take a swing themselves. Now they have a choice: in China’s Sanya.
Sanya, a seaside resort in China’s only tropical island Hainan, is an attractive golfing paradise that may allow golf-lovers to fulfill their dreams of enjoying the sport while being immersed in some of the most stunning backdrops in the world.
Sanya, an increasingly internationally popular tourism destination due to its gorgeous natural beauty and its stress-free environment, has a wide range of world-class golf courses, many of which are designed by world-renowned architects.
Sanya has eight golf courses open to tourists so far, according to Ye Yuan, an executive director of Hainan Nice Golf Co., Ltd, an operator of golf tour in the island. And all of them are designed by world-class designers, such as Clearwater Bay Golf Club and the Yalong Bay Golf Club, she said.
Opened in 2008 and designed by U.S.-based Schmidt-Curley Design, Inc, Clearwater Bay is located on the island's southeast coast, adjoining the South China Sea and offering views of the ocean and surrounding countryside.
The par-72, 7,333-yard layout features fairways of generous width and large, undulating greens, requiring prudent course management, as greens are strategically set at varying angles to the line of play and favor approaches from the proper side of the fairway.
The Yalong Bay Golf Club, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in 2000, has been selected to host major tournaments, and been recognized with both national and international accolades, such as the “Top 100 Outside US” by Golf Digest, “Top 10 Championship Course in Asia” by Asian Golf.
The 7,189 yard, 18-hole Yalong Club is a links-style course, featuring 98 bunkers inspired by the nearby sandy ocean beaches. Together with a number of tropical features such as waterfalls and coconut palms, the course incorporates an existing river which forms an integral part of the design.
Thanks to the world-class golf courses the city boasts, Sanya is increasingly emerging as a choice for many of the top professional or armature golf competitions, having hosted some of the biggest tournaments in Asia, including the Sanya Ladies Open and the Volvo China Open International Qualifiers.
After winning her second consecutive title at the Sanya Ladies Open last year, Lin Xiyu sang praise of the golf course at the Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya.“I just love this course so much and every hole, every fairway, every green. I need to find out why I always play well in Sanya,” she told Sky Sports.
And a summer promotion launched by the Sanya Tourism Development Commission on June 16 may offer tourists a good bargain to taste those gorgeous golf courses and the city’s fascinating landscapes at once.
The “Cool Summer Promotion” includes a series of tour packages that offer access to world-class golf courses on the tropical island, for example, one option is starting from RMB 2,260 per person for 3-day and two-night stay in Clearwater Bay Golf Club, which covers flights, accommodation, green fees, caddies and transfers. Hainan Nice Golf Co., Ltd, an operator of golf tour in Hainan island, is offering such packaged golf tours in Sanya. Interested readers may contact Ms. Ye Yuan, executive director of Hainan Nice Golf and also the vice president of Hainan Golf Tourism Association, for further inquiry on anything related to golfing tour in the island and particularly in Sanya. She can be reached through fixed-line telephone: 86-898-68537889, or mobile phone: 86-13307529298.
The accommodation choices in the promotional offer include the Ritz-Carlton and the Holiday Inn, among a host of options that underline Sanya’s another attraction as a leisure destination, its wealth of terrific hotels and resorts.
The city has more than 30 award-winning five-star hotels, operated by world’s top hotel chain brands with impeccable facilities and services. And many of them are close to or even have their own golf courses. For example, Raffles Hainan is situated adjacent to the Clearwater Bay golf courses and Sanya Marriott Yalong Bay Resort & Spa also has two championship golf courses nearby.
