The Seven Wonders of Southern Asia

Award-winning architect Paul Jansen recently embarked on a 28-day trip around southern Asia in search of the region’s most unique golf courses and landscapes

Nuwara Eliya Golf Club

1st Wonder - Sri Lanka

Nuwara Eliya Golf Club (in the middle of Nuwara Eliya town). In an era where most of our golf courses are guideline driven Nuwara Eliya hits back and shows that golf can be as good - even better - when it does not conform to any formula and where holes are not laid out in an orderly fashion or to meet some desired end number. This is highlighted by Hole 4 - the tee shot is played from an elevated tee. Golfers are required to hit their shot over the public highway, 11th green and fairway, lateral hazard and public footpath onto a common area and then towards a green complex surrounded by the city.

Royal Colombo Golf Club (in the capital city Colombo). As Golden Age Golf Architect Tom Simpson once wrote, “Roads, railways, sheds and gardens may be thought unsatisfactory and unwelcome on a golf course, yet they are often the essence of a course; take them away and the difference would at once be felt.' At Royal Colombo, an active rail line bisects many of the holes and is the essence of the course.

Royal Colombo Golf Club

Pages

Click here to see the published article.