Tiger Beach Golf Links

It would be no exaggeration to say that Tiger Beach Golf Links is the most unique golf course in China – perhaps even Asia. It is the closest you can get to a traditional links course outside the British Isles, and has all the trappings of a traditional links course: bunkers, rough, ridges and bunkers, tricky fairways and often small greens. Even the setting has a Scottish seaside feel. Thanks to its red roofs, the small town of Feng Cheng (left) that borders the course on one side is known locally as “Little Aberdeen”.

Notably, Tiger Beach Golf Links was designed by the club’s owner, Taiwanese businessman Beta Soong, whose love of links golf seems to know no bounds. To prepare for the layout, Mr. Soong traveled to England, where he visited and played many classic links courses in Scotland and Ireland to get a feel for what it takes to turn a flat piece of land into a true links golf experience.

While traditionalists will argue that this is not a true links golf course – although it is flat and sea-side, the “dunes” that give the course its distinct ruggedness are actually bulldozer-created and not natural – Tiger Beach Golf Links does offer such an experience thanks to its unique design and the strong winds from the Yellow Sea. And so, dunes were shaped to frame the holes, fairways were firm and quick to be groomed, bunkers were placed around small contoured greens and thick fescue grass was planted on almost every unmaintained area of the course.

Notable holes include the 555-yard 5th, which leads to an infinity green (a replica of the Swilcan Bridge is also featured on this hole), and the 374-yard 7th, where the fairway doglegs left to a two-tiered green protected by a couple of bunkers on the right. Like all links courses, Tiger Beach’s playability is heavily dependent on the wind. If the wind stays good, which is extremely rare, the course becomes quite playable for high-handicappers. However, when the wind blows, which it most often does, Tiger Beach Golf Links becomes a “Tiger Beast.”