Home to the oldest golf course on mainland China, the Chung Shan Hot Spring Golf Club is situated in Zhongshan, a short distance from the gambling hub of Macau. Given the era, the country and the designers involved, the two courses here could have been very disappointing but aren’t too bad all things considered. The club seems to do a nice job with the conditioning as well, which is crucial in a country where golfers are often more concerned about turf quality than design quality.

The Arnold Palmer course has changed little in the thirty years since it opened, saved for the odd back tee here and there, a new pushed back green site at the 16^th and a new teeing pad on the water carry par three 17^th. What remains is an original 1980s Arnold Palmer design, which is hardly a museum piece but somehow better than many others from this era, in this region and by this designer. The periphery mounding is predictably monotonous in places, but what does work are the humps and mounds carried down into some of the green entrances and approach areas. This is a design tactic the firm could employ with a little more strategic awareness, but nonetheless has made the occasional dull approach shot somewhat more interesting.

As one would expect, the trees at Chung Shan have all grown since 1985 and now intrude too far into the line of play in several places. The simple sandpit style bunkering, built into symmetrical mounding, has also not aged well, plus a few of the turning points, such as on the short par four 5^th, are no longer appropriate for the modern game. These issues aside, this is far from the worst golf course in China and a neat experience given its walking only policy and the popularity of the push buggy here. Both are uncommon and unpopular in China. 1980s golf has never felt so old school.