With his practice continuing to thrive internationally, Chicago area golf course architect Rick Jacobson has completed the design on his firm’s fourth new layout on the Chinese mainland.
The Chengdu Wolong Valley International Golf Club is an 18-hole championship course located at the focal point of a thriving mixed-use residential, commercial, hotel, and retail development in the city of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province situated in southwestern China.
Known as the world’s only breeding and research center for China’s famed giant pandas, Chengdu boasts a 12-month golf season thanks to its mild winters and temperate summer climate. Jacobson said his design has a “Pine Valley theme,” which takes advantage of the site’s gently rolling topography. The concept features large sand waste areas with scrub pines, junipers, and fescue grasses reminiscent of George Arthur Crump’s original New Jersey masterpiece.
The course will be tournament-ready, measuring just under 7,200 yards from the back tees. But, as is the case with all Jacobson designs, the course will be playable for hotel guests and higher handicappers, with the forward tees playing approximately 5,100 yards.
The facility will have a large practice area for full-swing, short game, putting, and private instruction. The practice range will feature both natural turf grass and artificial teeing areas with target greens guarded by bunkers that emulate conditions found on the golf course, Jacobson noted. The course is expected to feature a Tuscan-style clubhouse that will provide golfers with panoramic views across a lake to several golf holes.
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