Clearwater Bay Golf Club (A)

Overview: Course A at Clearwater Bay Golf Club is the original 18-hole layout in the 36-hole resort complex at Lingshui on Hainan's southeastern coast. Schmidt-Curley Design routed the par-72 course through palms, tropical vegetation and beachfront ground beside the South China Sea. At 7,333 yards it has championship scale, but the playing character depends on angles rather than length alone. Large, undulating greens are set at different orientations to the fairways, so the best approach is often determined by where the tee shot finishes. Broad corridors, coastal wind, salt-tolerant turf and varied bunker shapes give Course A a clear identity within the wider Clearwater Bay property.

History: The original Clearwater Bay course was developed by Agile Group and opened in 2009 as Schmidt-Curley's first Hainan project. A second course followed in 2011, creating the current 36-hole facility. Course A is therefore the earlier layout, not the later companion course, and its design story is tied to the first stage of the coastal resort development. The architects worked with the beach, palms and existing shoreline rather than hiding the site behind a heavily enclosed parkland treatment. That decision still explains the course's long views and the way ocean air enters the strategy.

Did You Know? The thirteenth and fourteenth holes form a notable back-nine pair of par threes. The first plays from an elevated tee toward an ocean-facing green with a lake and bunker guarding it, while the next runs parallel to the coast with dunes and native grasses along the side.