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"Ah, that is local delicacy," said my host. "Yak."
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Duck's feet, Pizza and the Yankees
The next day began with a tour of Lijiang's Ancient City, an area that dates back to 475 B.C., followed by a round at the Lijiang Ancient City International Lakefront Golf Course. It was just a 10-minute drive from the center of Lijiang-a city of a million residents-but without our cab driver, we would never have found it, as the last mile took us along a winding dirt road past a succession of primitive wooden huts without water or electricity at the doors of which men, women and children leaned and squatted and stared as our car passed by, a stark reminder of the immense gap between the rich and poor in China.
When our cab emerged from the last bumpy bend, the course suddenly appeared-a scene I had envisioned as the classic Chinese setting for golf, 18 fairways unfurling between the foot of a mountain and the shore of a serene lake. The course is the work of an American named Joe Obringer, who served an apprenticeship with Jack Nicklaus before heading to the Far East on his own.
Although there wasn't much contour to the fairways, the par 4s and 5s doglegged interestingly and the greens were fun without being funky. Eleven holes brought us to the water's edge and at the par-3 17th, I actually played my tee shot over the head of a fisherman poling his dory toward the bank.
What struck me most was the absolutely superb condition of the course-superior to even the private courses in the U.S. Yes, my tour of China had opened my eyes. I visited several well designed and beautifully maintained courses, stayed at first-class hotels equal to those in any major city, and paid about half what I would have for a comparable experience in the U.S. China as a golf destination had not only eclipsed anything I had seen in Asia, but in terms of value had beaten everything in the Western world as well.
However, nothing I'd seen could have prepared me for what I found at my last stop. Roughly 200 miles southeast of Lijiang is a place that deserves to be ranked among the top handful of golf resorts in the world: Spring City Lake Resort in Kunming.
It's difficult to conceive of a more spectacular site for an inland course-perched at the top of a hill overlooking a sparkling lake, with a range of massive mountains beyond. Imagine Lake Tahoe at its glistening best and you'll begin to get the picture.
Spring City derives its name from the year-round spring-like conditions the area enjoys-perfect for golf. There are two courses, the Lake course by Trent Jones Jr. (although the real credit goes to Don Knott, who was then his chief designer and is now on his own) and the Mountain course by Nicklaus (again, with credit to his then associate Lee Schmidt). I suspect the only reason they aren't ranked among the top 50 or so courses in the world is that not enough raters have been to China.
The Lake course starts just behind the clifftop hotel and zigzags downhill in a series of dramatic and jaw-droppingly beautiful holes, culminating at the picturesque par-3 8th, which plays from an elevated tee to a green at the edge of the lake. The inward nine climbs back up, but so artfully that no hole feels uphill.
Once again, I was struck by the conditioning. In fact, I can think of only two courses that were as immaculately groomed-Augusta National and Muirfield Village. My intent had been to play Lake in the morning and Mountain in the afternoon, but by the start of the second nine of the morning round my stomach had begun to talk to me. By the 16th tee, I knew that finishing even one round without a gastrointestinal incident would be a challenge. The culprit, I knew, was the previous evening's dinner-I had gotten a bad piece of yak.
After staggering in the final beautiful holes, I took a quick cart tour of the Mountain, which was every bit as spectacular, its undulating fairways bending through pine corridors toward dramatically bunkered, raised greens with the lake and mountains always in view. The signature hole is No. 18, an uphill 465-yard par 4 with the second shot over a ravine.
I yearned to play the Nicklaus layout, but instead, I loaded up on the Chinese equivalent of Kaopectate and spent the afternoon watching a Yankees game in which the winning pitcher was Taiwanese ace Chien-Ming Wang.
By evening I was ready for a tour of the Spring City hotel, a contemporary Asian design that takes full advantage of the lake views. Three restaurants serve the full range of local and international cuisine, everything from pickled duck's feet to pizza, and if you overdo the golf or eating there's not only a fitness center but also an enormous massage area.
With all of this available for as little as $200 a day, Spring City is likely the world's best deal in resort golf. Say you live on the East Coast and you want to stay and play at Pebble Beach for five days. Assuming you fly first class from New York City, that trip will cost you about $8,000. For the same money, you can fly business class to China, stay in Beijing for a couple of days, then head to Spring City for five days of spectacular golf -- complete with caddies and carts, superb accommodations, all meals, and a full-body massage every day.
Barely a week after I had arrived in China I was due to head home. There were many courses I had missed-Pine Valley, the best course near Beijing, ultraprivate Sheshan in Shanghai, Tiger Beach (a sister course of Carnoustie!) in Shangdong and Hainan's Ocean Bay, said to have sea views equal to those of Pebble's. And there was so much of non-golf China I wanted to see, so much of the history and culture I had missed by being so golfcentric. I simply hadn't allowed enough time.
Yes, I will go back to China soon, and so should you. The World Tourism Organization has forecast that by 2020 China will be the number one tourist destination in the world. So beat the crowds and go now, for the happy golf surprise of your life.
