Virtual Strategy: Mission Hills China Scoops Hat-trick of World Golf Awards

Mon 05 November 2018

Mission Hills Haikou resort on China’s Hainan Island has received three World Golf Awards, including China’s Best Golf Course and China’s Best Golf Hotel. Mission Hills Group Vice-Chairman, Tenniel Chu has been named Travel Personality of the Year.

Announced during a glittering ceremony at the La Manga Club in Spain, the hat-trick of World Golf Awards for Mission Hills were voted for by leading golf tourism professionals worldwide as well as more than 100,000 golf consumers in over 100 countries.

The par-72 Lava Fields Course at Mission Hills Haikou was voted China’s Best Golf Course 2018 while the five-star Mission Hills Hotel was named China’s Best Golf Hotel. Tenniel Chu was named Travel Personality of the Year for his commitment to the golf and travel tourism industry.

Chu commented: “Three World Golf Awards is a great honour for the Mission Hills Group and for me personally. Since my late father founded Mission Hills 25 years ago, our family’s mission has always been to bring China to the world and the world to China, so this recognition on such a global scale is truly special.”

Brian Curley of Schmidt-Curley Design, the architects behind the 10 courses at Mission Hills Haikou including the award-winning Lava Fields Course added: “It is quite an honour to receive this award and the attention that this Lava Fields Course long deserves. Wonderfully walkable with unique trails that weave in and out of the lava surrounds, the course is a great departure from the standard designs seen in Asia today and is a great ambassador to the 10 course complex at Mission Hills Haikou.” [See full transcript below]

Chris Frost, Managing Director of World Golf Awards said: “I congratulate Mission Hills on this remarkable achievement. Golf tourism’s highest accolade is truly deserved and rewards Mission Hills for its commitment to excellence and its determination to become the undisputed market leader.”

Located on the tropical tourism island of Hainan, Mission Hills Haikou is part of the Mission Hills Group which also owns and operates Mission Hills Shenzhen in southern China. Together, the fully-integrated luxury resorts span a total of 40 square kilometres and 22 golf courses, making Mission Hills the largest golf complex in the world.

The trio of World Golf Awards for Mission Hills is further recognition for its Haikou facility which was recently voted Asia Pacific Golf Resort of the Year by IAGTO, the world’s leading golf tourism organisation. Earlier this year, the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Haikou entered Golf Digest’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses for the first time at number 48.

Photo Caption
1 – Lava Fields Course at Mission Hills Haikou in Hainan Province, China
2 – Mission Hills Hotel at the Mission Hills Haikou resort on Hainan Island in China
3 – Tenniel Chu, Group Vice-Chairman of Mission Hills

Full transcript of Brian Curley of Schmidt-Curley Design talking about the award-winning Lava Fields Course at Mission Hills Haikou:

It is quite an honour to receive this award and the attention that this course long deserves.
While the Blackstone Course (a course that has hosted numerous world class events and is located adjacent to the main facilities) has certainly been the most visible and renowned course at Mission Hills Haikou over the past years, I have always felt that Lava Fields warranted equal attention for its strong, quality golf experience. This has also been echoed by many in the golf critic circles who have appreciated Lava Fields for its unique design, including an early strong ranking by Golf World Magazine when it opened, placing it in the middle of its Top 100 list.

While Blackstone took advantage of a more dramatic and varied setting, Lava Fields was produced on a somewhat desolate expanse of generally flatfish lava terrain. There were a handful of existing low areas that, in the hands of most designers, may have become lakes to avoid the cost and trouble of excavating additional lows. But, to the credit of Mission Hills and the desire to produce the best experience possible, we retained these natural lows as is and created additional large lakes. These additional rock excavations were costly but helped create the landforms that factor heavily in the design and produce elevation change on the site.

The design is exceptionally dramatic and varied with 18 individual holes of memorable character, but reads as an overall experience that emphasizes a rugged, transitional look where the outer edges weave in and out of the lava. Open lava expanses create a very intimidating look but ample fairway width is available for those who choose a safer route yet angles of attack create exciting opportunities for aggressive play.

There is a wide variety of green shapes and contour, some bordering on the extreme, but always in keeping with the club used as an approach.

Highlights include the 3rd hole that hugs a long stretch of lava rock, strong, varied par-3s with wonderful carries over trouble, the visually dramatic 15th that plays to a perched green site with wild transitional bunkering surrounds, and the risk / reward 18th that features optional second shots over dramatic rock walls and canyons.

Wonderfully walkable with unique trails that weave in and out of the lava surrounds, the course is a great departure from the standard designs seen in Asia today and is a great ambassador to the 10 course complex at Mission Hills Haikou.

Source: https://virtual-strategy.com/2018/11/04/mission-hills-china-scoops-hat-trick-of-world-golf-awards/

Virtual Strategy: Mission Hills China Scoops Hat-trick of World Golf Awards

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