Mission Hills Shenzhen is a twelve course 18-hole course golf resort, located in the town of Guanlan (觀瀾) in Shenzhen, between the cities of Shenzhen and Dongguan. It is accredited as the world's largest golf facility by the Guinness World Records in 2004, surpassing the Pinehurst Resort in the United States. It currently has 11 championship courses and an 18-hole par three course, each designed by a different golf personality. Dr. Ken Chu, also known as “Mr. Golf" in China holds the position of Chairman and CEO for Mission Hills Group.
From 2007 through 2009, Mission Hills hosted the Omega Mission Hills World Cup. Scotland (Colin Montgomerie-Marc Warren) won the 2007 event, followed by Sweden (Robert Karlsson-Henrik Stenson) in 2008 and Italy (Francesco Molinari-Edoardo Molinari) in 2009. The contract runs for 12 years; however, Mission Hills' Shenzhen resort will no longer host the event. The event's organizer, the International Federation of PGA Tours, announced in 2010 that the World Cup would become a biennial event held in odd-numbered years. When the World Cup resumed in 2011, the tournament moved to another property owned by the Mission Hills company, Mission Hills Haikou, located on Hainan Island, a tournament won by the United States' team of Matt Kuchar and Gary Woodland.
Courses
(course designer in parentheses)
- World Cup Course (Jack Nicklaus) Â United States
- Norman Course (Greg Norman) Â Australia
- Annika Course (Annika Sörenstam)  Sweden
- Els Course (Ernie Els) Â South Africa
- Vijay Course (Vijay Singh) Â Fiji
- Faldo Course (Nick Faldo) Â England
- Olazabal Course (José MarÃa Olazábal)  Spain
- Matchplay Course (Ian Poulter - Justin Rose) Â England
- Ozaki Course (Jumbo Ozaki) Â Japan
- Leadbetter Course (David Leadbetter) Â England
- Pete Dye Course (Pete Dye) Â United States
- Zhang Lianwei Course (Zhang Lian-wei) Â People's Republic of China (par-3 course)
Other facilities
In addition to golf courses, Mission Hills also features the Mission Hills Spa, Mission Hills Resort, Country Club featuring the largest tennis centre in Asia with 51 courts, including a 3,000 seat stadium court, Mission Hills In Residence, many function Rooms, recreation facilities, Mission Hills Golf Academy, Mission Hills Golf Academy, and Mission Hills Golf Academy by Zhang Lianwei. 15 km², 216 holes, 2 clubhouses (the new Dongguan Clubhouse at 63,000 m²), 4 spa locations, a 5-star hotel.
Mission Hills Centreville
Mission Hills Centreville is a large 5 billion RMB (US$793 million) new development located next to the golf courses. Termed a HOPSCA project, meaning Hotel, Offices, Parks, Shopping, Convention and Apartment complex. Built on an area of 500,000m², it features a 700-room 5 star hotel, IMAX theatre, exhibition halls, 200 retailers, an international school, 1,000 apartment homes and all surrounded by extensive parkland. It is intended to be the first high end shopping mall in northern Shenzhen. It is expected to open in mid-2013.
History
The land on which this golf club was built was stolen from the people of Songyuanxia village, Guanlan township. First of all, the villagers were told that there was a government requisition order requiring the villagers to turn their land over to the government for the purpose of creating an orchard. Apparently the order came from Ye Xuanping, son of Ye Jianying. Then once the land was handed over, somehow it came into the hands of a Thai Chinese. This happened during the time when a blind eye was turned to corruption. Mission Hills Golf Club was established in 1992 and 1993 saw the opening of its public driving range. By February 1994, the People's Government of Shenzhen entered into an agreement with the International Golf Association, announcing that Mission Hills Golf Club would be the host venue for the 1995 World Cup of Golf - the first international golf tournament in China. That year, an estimated 30,000 fans lined the fairways to see the United States team of Fred Couples and Davis Love III win its fourth consecutive World Cup title by 14 strokes over Australia (Brett Ogle and Robert Allenby).
Since its inception, Mission Hills Golf Club has hosted over 50 international matches and is regularly visited by dignitaries, royalties, celebrities, world business and political leaders, and a steady stream of the world's greatest golfers, including Annika Sorenstam, Nick Faldo, Zhang Lianwei, Colin Montgomerie, Retief Goosen and Tiger Woods.
The vice president of the course is Tenniel Chu.
Sponsorships
Mission Hills Golf Club sponsored the Mission Hills Cup football match between FC Barcelona and a Mission Hills Invitation XI, which was played at the Hong Kong Stadium on 10 August 2007.
References
External links
- Official Website
- About Mission Hills History
