Recently, Colin Montgomery and Marc Warren took home to Scotland the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup. A great win for the duo and their country, but just as importantly, the tournament displayed the beautiful Olazabal Course at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China. It was important because the tournament gave a glimpse into the possibilities for golf in China and that region of the world. Steadily improving over the past decade or so, such recent success stories indicate the best is yet to come for Asian golf.
In addition to it’s spa and resort, the Mission Hills Complex is comprised of 12 courses, with names such as the Els Course, the Annika Course, the Pete Dye Course, the Nicklaus and the Norman. Mission Hills was master planned, beginning in the 1990s, by Schmidt-Curley Design, a Scottsdale, Arizona golf course design firm owned by Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley.
In November 2007, Mission Hills was voted "The Best Golf Resort in Asia" by Asian Golf Monthly magazine. The Pete Dye and Olazabal Courses at Mission Hills were also recognized by the magazine as the "Best New Course in Asia" and "No. 2 Course in China," respectively. Schmidt-Curley collaborated with the designer-legend on his namesake credit, and are the architects of record on the Olazabal Course, which recently hosted a top-flight international field for the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup.
Years of success in Asia prompted Schmidt-Curley to recently open a new full service office in Haikou, Hainan Island, China. On the heels of opening the office, the golf course design firm was also voted the "No. 2 Golf Course Architecture Firm" in Asia, behind giant designer Robert Trent Jones, II, by Asian Golf Monthly. With an established 15-year presence in the Asian golf industry, their satellite office provides enhanced professional, administrative and logistic support for its ever-increasing portfolio of overseas projects.
According to Brian Curley, "Lee and I are both honored that our work in Asia, and specifically our work at Mission Hills, has once again been recognized by Asian Golf Monthly," says Curley. "Our ranking above renowned names such as Nicklaus, Player, and Norman speaks volumes about the quality of our designs and the customer satisfaction they continue to stimulate."
Other acclaimed Schmidt-Curley golf course designs include Agile C.C. (North Course) in Zhongshan, China, named one of the top five courses in China by Golf Digest in 2004, and Chiang Mai Highlands G.C., the # 3 course in Asian Golf Monthly's 2006 "Best New Course" ranking.
Although they have been successful there, Schmidt-Curley has not limited itself to China. The firm's award-winning Asian credits also include Amata Spring G.C. in Chonburi, Thailand. Amata, named Asian Golf Monthly's Best New Course in Asia for 2006, will for the third straight year host the Royal Trophy, a "Ryder Cup" format competition involving teams from Europe and Asia, captained by Seve Ballesteros and Jumbo Ozaki, respectively. The course design firm also has projects, in various stages, in Vietnam and Korea.
After at least a decade and a half of growth, it is obvious from the success of Schmidt-Curley, Robert Trent Jones, II and others, as well as increasing design involvement from the Nicklaus, Norman and Palmer firms, golf in China and Asia is set to boom. As China and other Asian countries modernize their economies, the future of golf is limitless in the region.
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