Pure GOLF ATRAVEL Player’s Guide
Indulgence
Richard Castka / Sportspixgolf.com
Alex Jenkins checks out the foremost places in the Asia-Pacific region where you can combine world-class golf with the best in spa and wellness treatments.
The wonderfully manicured Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin, Thailand, which is also home to impressive spa facilities 76
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C Courtesy of Nirwana Bali Golf Club
The memorable par-3 seventh hole at Nirwana Bali Golf Club (top), a fine Greg Norman design and one of the region’s premier courses; 36 strong holes await visitors to Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur (opposite) 78
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ombining golf with spa is not a new concept. While it is difficult to imagine the legendar y Scottish golfer of the 19th century, “Old” To m M o r r i s , h e a d i n g off down the quaint St Andrews streets in search of a post-round body wrap, his 1980s successors – men like Nick Faldo, Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros – understood that a relaxing treatment or two was a great way of recuperating from a particularly gruelling stretch of tournament rounds. Fast forward nearly 30 years and no self-respecting pro on any of the major golf tours around the world will go more than a few days without a good massage to alleviate the aches and pains that come with the near-constant swinging of a golf club. Recreational golfers may have been slower to incorporate spa visits into their post-round schedules – fully-fledged golf and spa resorts only really got going in the 1990s – but they have blossomed in recent years, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, where the trend has coincided with an increase in men visiting spas, and a growth in the number of women who have taken up golf.
Bali The Island of the Gods has been on the golfing traveller’s radar since the opening of one of southeast Asia’a best layouts – Nirwana Bali Golf Club – in 1997. This Greg Norman seaside design, which is attached to the five-star Pan Pacific Resort, gallops across rice paddies and through dense jungle. The crashing surf of the Indian Ocean comes into view on many of the holes, most memorably at the par-3 seventh, where a crisp mid-iron is required to carry waves and beach to a wellguarded green. To the left of the putting surface sits the island temple of Tanah Lot, where the devout wade out at sunset in their hundreds amid faintly orange, billowing clouds of incense. To add to the Zen-like atmosphere of the place, the resort offers an array of spa packages, i nclud i ng t rad it iona l Ba l i ne se hea l i ng therapies, although many golfers opt for the simply named Sport Massage, an invigorating treatment that promises to ease any muscle soreness in time for the next day’s round. nirwanabaligolf.com, panpacific.com
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Bangkok
Kuala Lumpur
To say that Thailand is well prepared for the tourist who comes with their clubs in tow would be something of an understatement: with nearly 300 courses, the vast majority of which are open to visitors, the Land of Smiles is rightly known as the golf capital of Asia. Indeed, one recent report suggests that by 2016, Thailand will have overtaken Spain as the world’s most popular golf tourism destination. While Bangkok itself remains an allure, t hose i n t he k now head to t he coa sta l resor t town of Hua H in, a t wo-a nd-ahalf hour drive away, where a handful of the country’s top courses can be found. Ch ief a mong t hese is t he Swed ishowned Black Mountain, a challenging yet eminently enjoyable track that has become the winter base for several European and Asian Tour stars. Luxury is the name of the game here, which is evident by the club’s full-service spa, a fantastic spot to enjoy an aromatherapy massage in the most tranquil of surroundings.
Kuala Lumpur might not immediately strike you as a fully fledged golfing hotspot – the Malaysian capital, a buzzing city of some 1.6 million, is better known as the country’s main financial hub – but it only takes a short drive from the skyscraper-crammed central business district to reach a number of world-class c ourses and resorts. Arguably the most famous of these is Saujana Golf and Country Club, a 36-hole establishment that has tested the skills of some of the game’s greats. Built over the rolling hills of a former palm oil estate, the Palm Course at Saujana is the pick of the club’s two courses and is widely acknowledged as one of the toughest in the country, thanks to its narrow, palm-fringed fairways and fast, undulating greens. Nicknamed “The Cobra” by its members, the course was also the first in Asia to host a European Tour event, the Malaysian Open, and has entertained the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomerie. Such is the course’s stoutness that players habitually feel a little battered and bruised following their first encounter, but fortunately the tropical rainforest setting and treatments at the adjoining Club Saujana Resort’s spa provides a wonderful antidote to any post-round travail. It pays to visit with a partner – couples are best served by the spa’s signature beauty rituals and romantic bathing ceremonies.
blackmountainhuahin.com
saujana.com.my
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Singapore The Lion City, much like Hong Kong, has a long and proud golfing history – but it has been the recent development of the island resort of Sentosa that has really put the citystate on the game’s global map. The island, billed as Asia’s favourite playground, boasts a variety of top-rate spas – including CHI, the Shangri-La’s holistic heaven –that cater for golfers who a drawn to the resort because of Sentosa Golf Club, a terrific facility that features two contrasting courses. The Serapong Course, the home of the Singapore Open since 2005, just edges its older rival, the Tanjong, in terms of quality thanks to a 2007 renovation that focused on the re-contouring and conditioning of its playing surfaces. The results are impressive. The front nine here snakes through heavily wooded terrain while the second loop, which was built on reclaimed land overlooking the Singapore container port, is more open in character but features more in terms of water, while the bunkering is superb throughout. sentosagolf.com, sentosa.com.sg The Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club, Singapore
Tokyo
Courtesy of Sentosa Golf Club, Courtesy of Kawana Resort Hotel, David Cannon
The Japanese tend to do things a little differently when it comes to golf – the traditional midround stop for lunch and a cooling beer being one of them – but a game in the Land of the Rising Sun is an experience to savour, especially if you find yourself at the Kawana Resort Hotel, a grand Art-Deco structure built in the Roaring Twenties, situated on the Izu Peninsula a couple hours’ south of Tokyo. Japan’s answer to Pebble Beach, the Fuji Course at Kawana is the most revered seaside layout in the country and was the work of Englishman Charles Hugh Alison, who along with his design partner Harry Colt, was responsible for some of the famous courses in the West during the early part of the 20th century. This cliff-top gem, which is perennially ranked inside the world’s top 100 courses, affords stunning views of both the ocean and the famous snow-capped peak it is named after. While the hotel features a traditional onsen in the locker room, those in search of further pampering need look no further than the nearby town of Ito, one of Japan’s top-three spa resorts, home to more than 700 facilities where visitors can relax in mixed-gender thermal hot springs. princehotels.com/en/kawana 80
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The stunning Fuji Course at the Kawana Resort Hotel, a Charles Alison design
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New Zealand New Zealand golf is flourishing, and no more is this true than at the magnificent Farm at Cape Kidnappers, a luxuriously serene development in the wine-growing region of Hawke’s Bay, a 45-minute flight from Auckland. Owned by the American hedge fund billionaire Julian Robertson, Cape Kidnappers is everything the well-heeled golfer could possibly want. The course, designed by the highly regarded Tom Doak, has been laid out over several fingers of land that jut out into the Pacific Ocean, and provides one of the most memorable tests in the southern hemisphere, with sea views galore. You don’t have to stay at Cape Kidnappers to play it, but it’s certainly worth the splurge: the 22 lodge suites are reminiscent of some of the finer hotel accommodations you find in The Hamptons, while the award-winning spa offers a standard of treatment found only at the world’s best. The 80-minute Earth Stone Massage has achieved almost legendary status amongst its well-heeled visitors. Like Kauri Cliffs – Robertson’s other resort in New Zealand’s North Island – Cape Kidnappers is really in a class of its own. capekidnappers.com
The dramatic Cape Kidnappers has been laid out over several fingers of land that jut out into the Pacific Ocean
Australia For the purist, nowhere outside the British Isles, Ireland and the United States offers the kind of natural golfing experience that Australia provides. Melbourne’s Sandbelt region, location to half a dozen of the country’s most historic and respected courses – including Royal Melbourne and Kingston Heath – is Australian golf’s spiritual home, while Tasmania’s golfing siblings, Barnbougle Dunes and Lost Farm, are widely considered two of the best courses to have opened anywhere in the last decade. Both Barnbougle and Lost Farm bring to mind the classic Scottish links thanks to their rugged, seaside nature – but the post-round amenities couldn’t be more different. Where the great British clubs often surprise visitors with their strict dress codes and somewhat meager dining options, Barnbougle and Lost Farm’s offerings of fine local cuisine and an amenity-packed spa provide the best of both worlds. The spa here is particularly m e m o r a b l e ; w it h it s f l o o r - t o - c e i l i n g windows one can enjoy the most generous of treatments – including Lost Farm’s speciality: vinotherapy renew, an anti-ageing indulgence – while gazing out at the surf. barnbougledunes.com, lostfarm.com.au HKGOLFER.COM
Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania is rightly considered one of the world’s best new courses
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