The Royal Selangor Golf Club (Old)

Overview: From the championship tees, The Royal Selangor Golf Club’s Old Course reaches 6,981 yards on a par-72 parkland routing. Its location close to Kuala Lumpur’s central business district gives the round an unusual setting: mature tree lines, ponds and established club grounds sit alongside the city skyline. The layout rewards placement rather than simple power, with the traditional flat-to-gently-moving land making the angles into the greens and the corridors between trees especially important. It remains the more historic and slightly longer of RSGC’s two championship courses.

History: Royal Selangor Golf Club was founded in 1893. After the club moved to its present area, the first nine of the Old Course and a new clubhouse were ready in 1921, with the second nine opening the following year. The Old routing was later modernised by Nelson & Haworth, who retained most of the established course while addressing drainage, turf, trees and strategic definition. Their project record lists 2008 as the opening of the current renovated version. That distinction keeps the club’s long heritage separate from the date of the present championship specification.

Did You Know? The Old Course’s current character is partly a story of restraint. Nelson & Haworth retained most of the established routing while working around large existing trees and the drainage limits of a relatively flat site. The result is a modernised course that still reads as traditional Kuala Lumpur golf, with the tree lines, ponds and compact corridors shaping the strategy as much as the scorecard length.