The Palms Course at Saujana Golf Club is Malaysia's best known and most celebrated championship course. The layout is a real mixed bag, however, with a terrific start but a poor middle and finishing stretch.

The long cross-valley 2nd hole is very good, although the green seems a touch overdone, while the 3rd is a fine long par five that tumbles across a pronounced ravine, its fairway falling and then rising along left-to-right sloping ground with out-of-bounds down the left side and trees to block those bailing too far right. From this point the course falls away, the next few holes are decent enough but the 8th, 9th, 11th, with its ugly internal OOB, 13th and 14th are all poor holes that could have been avoided. The 10th and 11th are on flat ground, the short 12th with its wicked green about the only strong hole through a pedestrian back nine.

Despite its issues, the Palms Course at Saujana has decent golf terrain with elevation at holes like the 8th and 9th wasted by designer Ronald Fream. The 8th runs out of room from the tee then demands an uphill shot across a sideslope toward a tiny green perched on a severe right-to-left angle. The 9th is an equally disappointing driving hole, its fairway bottle-necking to prevent long hitters taking a driver.

Malaysia hasn't quite managed to establish itself as a genuine golf destination for aware golfers, and while Saujana is her finest club and most noted tournament facility, it's a long way from the best in the region.