The course was really nice, it was set right up against some mountains, had some great lakes and ravines that ran through the course and I really liked the bunkering. I got off to a pretty bad start, not so much because of really bad swings, but I was just missing in really bad parts of the course and couldn't follow up one good shot with another. I turned it around on the back, though. I reached the par-five eleventh hole in two and two-putted for a birdie but then bogeyed the next hole, giving it right back. I finished with a 39 on the back though, which I was pretty happy with. Besides the course, another great part of this club was the lady who approached me once on the front and once on the back with a tray of ice-cold green tea. I chugged two glasses of the tea both times, which was really refreshing.
The approach to the first green, a 376-yard par 4
The tee shot on number two, a 386-yard par 4
The approach to number two
Number four, a 162-yard par 3
The approach to number five, a 568-yard par 5
Number seven, a 196-yard par 3
Number nine, a 387-yard par 4
The approach to number nine
Number twelve, a 185-yard par 3
Number fifteen, a 481-yard par 5
My approach to number fifteen
Number 18, a 347-yard par 4After my round I went into the clubhouse to ask the people to call a taxi for me. They said it would cost 200 yuan, even though the ride was only 30-minutes. I started telling them how ridiculous that price was and that I could get a taxi to drive me around Chongqing for over two hours for 200 yuan, but there was no way to get a cab back to my hotel for less. Finally the staff half-jokingly told me that I could wait around for 45-minutes and take the bus back to Chongqing with all of the staff members. I agreed to that in a second and then went over to the driving range to see if anyone was practicing. There was one person on the driving range - a kid who was maybe ten years old - who was having a lesson with one of the club "pros." I put pro in quotation marks because it did not seem to me that this guy knew any better than the kid what the golf swing was about. He would try to demonstrate to the kid how to hit a golf ball but could not hit it anywhere near high enough and the ball was going all over the place but never where he was aiming. However, the kid was listening to his analysis of the swing, which was pretty basic and looked like the tips in Golf Digest every month.
I then went on the bus and was introduced to a woman who the clubhouse attendant told me would be my "guide." I had no clue why I needed a guide for this bus ride but I figured that she would try to sell me one of the condos that were being built on the course. However, I was wrong, and she was just someone who the clubhouse attendant thought I could talk to on the ride. We started talking about golf in China and America as well as this course in particular, and while she doesn't play golf she had some pretty interesting insights. I asked her why she thought golf was growing in China and she said in addition to the health benefits and that people find the game intriguing, she said she thought people saw golf as a way for China to develop and that by taking up golf they could help their country develop. She was very interested in what golf is like in America, so she started asking me how much a round of golf costs in America, how this course compares to courses in America in price and how many courses there are in America. When I estimated how many courses there are in America she almost had a heart attack and repeated the number to me because she thought she misheard me. I then asked her who plays golf in China, and she started talking about how golf is very expensive, but people will start playing golf and practice for a few years without ever stepping onto a course, which I can not imagine ever doing. She said people go to the driving ranges and practice their swings, hoping that down the road they will have enough money to be able to play 18 holes regularly or even a few times a year. The part of our conversation that I found the most interesting was when I asked her something about the course she worked at in Chinese. I started my question by saying "your course" to identify what I was talking about, but she immediately cut me off, saying, "this is not my course." I'm not sure if she said this because she feels a disconnect with the course she works at since it is too expensive for her to enjoy during her free time, or if it was her way of saying she doesn't own it, but I thought the fact that she didn't let me call it her course was really intriguing.
I then went on the bus and was introduced to a woman who the clubhouse attendant told me would be my "guide." I had no clue why I needed a guide for this bus ride but I figured that she would try to sell me one of the condos that were being built on the course. However, I was wrong, and she was just someone who the clubhouse attendant thought I could talk to on the ride. We started talking about golf in China and America as well as this course in particular, and while she doesn't play golf she had some pretty interesting insights. I asked her why she thought golf was growing in China and she said in addition to the health benefits and that people find the game intriguing, she said she thought people saw golf as a way for China to develop and that by taking up golf they could help their country develop. She was very interested in what golf is like in America, so she started asking me how much a round of golf costs in America, how this course compares to courses in America in price and how many courses there are in America. When I estimated how many courses there are in America she almost had a heart attack and repeated the number to me because she thought she misheard me. I then asked her who plays golf in China, and she started talking about how golf is very expensive, but people will start playing golf and practice for a few years without ever stepping onto a course, which I can not imagine ever doing. She said people go to the driving ranges and practice their swings, hoping that down the road they will have enough money to be able to play 18 holes regularly or even a few times a year. The part of our conversation that I found the most interesting was when I asked her something about the course she worked at in Chinese. I started my question by saying "your course" to identify what I was talking about, but she immediately cut me off, saying, "this is not my course." I'm not sure if she said this because she feels a disconnect with the course she works at since it is too expensive for her to enjoy during her free time, or if it was her way of saying she doesn't own it, but I thought the fact that she didn't let me call it her course was really intriguing.
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