CLOSEUP
tee off
FAHTHAI
77
4
SHOW STOPPER
Hong Kong's only
public course is its
most impressive
The views of the
NewTerri
andHo
Islan
dis
f
With golf courses nestled in Himalayan valleys
and inhospitable desert, golf is no stranger to
unconventional environs. That said, a plan to build
a $522 million “floating” golf layout in the Maldives
surely trumps any previous feat of engineering. With
rising sea levels threatening to engulf the Indian Ocean
archipelago, radical solutions have been mooted to
replace the sinking islands with man-made, floating
ones. Dutch firm Waterstudio is already developing an
18-hole championship golf course, which features an
underwater clubhouse accessed via elevator and run on
solar power. It's slated for completion by next year.
Floating
future
THE PUBLIC VOTE
Kau Sai Chau (North),
Hong Kong
Rightly or wrongly, golf is
considered an elitist sport. That’s
especially true in Hong Kong,
where the game is typically played
by successful businessmen and
moneyed expatriates on sleekly
manicured private courses. It’s
therefore both an anomaly and
a blessing that the best course in
the Special Administrative Region
is also the only one open to the
public. Designed by South African
legend Gary Player and laid out
on the scarcely populated Kau
Sai Chau island in Hong Kong’s
New Territories, the North Course
offers a challenge that is every
bit the equal of more prestigious
clubs in the area. While it’s
virtually impossible to replicate
the characteristics of a classic
links golf course in a sub-tropical
environment, Kau Sai Chau’s
rolling topography and coastal
setting imbue it with a certain
Britishness. The views over the
New Territories and onwards to
Hong Kong Island in the distance
make for a spectacular sense of
place, and the course boasts several
show-stopping holes. The par-3
third is played across a daunting
ravine to a green built into the side
of a hill while the elevated tee of
the 14th, another short hole, offers
the course’s most memorable vista.
(kscgolf.org.hk)
