The Blackstone Golf Resort on Jeju Island, is yet another modern South Korean golf experience dominated by a monstrous clubhouse and expensive golf course, this time with some surprisingly good design thrown in as well.

Fairways, tees and greens here are bent grass, and surfaces are generally very good. The setting is enjoyable enough, but the rocky terrain and softly moving ground didn’t yield great golf, the design team at JMP Design did reasonably well to incorporate some interesting movement into their layout.

This is more a pleasant surprise than an out-and-out world-class course; early on there are some nice flowing fairways and bold greens with good collection chipping areas and mini false fronts. An example of quality shaping work can be seen on a front nine par five with a ridge cut across the hole to kick good shots toward the green and reject offline shots by pushing them into out-of-position areas. The 18^th is also a decent heroic par five finisher that does reward a good drive nicely with a chance to reach the green in two. In between, holes like the 13^th and 14^th are quite good but the continual use of false fronts and some excessive green contouring spoils a few others. Nonetheless, Blackstone is a solid effort and fun to play.