Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau (North)

Another, shorter, course exists (The South) and a third, completed in 2008 called the East, is located on the other side of the island which features tremendous elevation and some spectacular sea views.

There are many good golf holes on the North course and every round will throw up a bagful of challenging shots, mainly from the tees. The 1st hole is a par 5 that presses a strategy on the golfer. Longer hitters will want to fly the lake and rough on the right but err to safe to the left and you can end up stymied or worse. The short par 4 2nd has a links land feel, again presenting an alignment challenge from the tee. The 3rd is one of the toughest par 3s in the region. Normally played in a cross-wind, you play across a daunting chasm from which no ball returns to a green built out on the side of a hill with sharp run offs on three sides. Experience relates that the percentage approach is probably to aim left of the green itself, especially when the left to right wind is in force. Only on the left is there any bail out option at all. From the 3rd green you then yomp sharply uphill to the 4th tee. By the time you get there you realise the point of Gary Player's two finger push-ups. The tee shot at this dog leg hole again presents an alignment challenge. You are tempted left to cut the corner but the better strategy is to aim close to the right edge of this fairway.

The 5th is a visually challenging hole as well. Many will be put off by the requirement to clear a ravine and drive sharply uphill. The hole looks innocuous from the card, 348 yards at its longest, but the combination of playing steeply uphill into a headwind, makes a par difficult. And so on. The short par 4 6th will tempt many into erring on the right. The par 3 7th looks easy on the map but is normally into the wind and pin positions on the left are difficult to access. Many miss the fairway on the left of the par 5 8th despite the abundance of room on the right.

If the back nine is not quite as taxing from the tee, it is only by a slim margin. The downhill 10th which was built as a par 5 but converted into a 4 requires a tee shot aimed more left than caution would advise. The 11th is an unusually difficult uphill par 3, again normally into the wind. The view from the tee at the par 5 12th offers two skinny necks of land either side of a gravestone and a bunker and across a carry.

The most memorable view on the course is without doubt that from the tee of the 14th. You play from a raised tee across a watery inlet to a peninsula green with sharp fall offs on three sides. Reaching the green in the battling breezes is the larger part of the story but a 3 is never easy as the surface is canted sharply from back to front.

Hopefully there is enough left in the tank to climb the hill that leads to the 15th tee and complete the closing quartet of holes. The North Course at Kau Sai Chau is one of the best public golf courses in the region outside Australia and New Zealand

The above passage is an extract from The Finest Golf Courses of Asia and Australasia by James Spence. Reproduced with kind permission.