The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula (West)

Overview: The West Course at The Dunes at Shenzhou Peninsula is an 18-hole, par-72 seaside layout on the eastern coast of Hainan. Tom Weiskopf and Phil Smith routed it through naturally sandy ground between the South China Sea and the peninsula's inland landscape. The course has an open, windswept character, with beach views, rocky outcrops, broad sand areas and jagged-edged bunkers defining the visual language. It is not simply a long resort course: the best line changes with the breeze, and the firm sand base makes the ground game a useful alternative near the greens. The current profile uses the West Course's 7,456-yard target length and keeps it separate from the East Course and composite routing at the same 36-hole destination.

History: The Dunes was developed as part of the Shenzhou Peninsula resort by a subsidiary of CITIC Group, with Weiskopf and Smith shaping both the East and West courses around the coastal site. The West Course opened in 2010, giving the resort an 18-hole layout whose design language is inseparable from the beach, dunes and exposed rock. The two courses were conceived as championship layouts, but their strongest identity comes from how much existing sand and shoreline remain visible in the playing corridors. That makes the destination's history a story of fitting golf into the peninsula rather than masking the peninsula with golf.

Did You Know? On the West Course, the fifth green looks toward the western bay before the route turns to a par three played across a wetland. The sixteenth is another coastal signature: a missed drive can reach the beach, while the approach crosses a sandy swale to a green set against the shore.