Singapore swing: The island’s five best golf courses
All Square 3min read •
10 Sep 2019
With a population of nearly six million crowded into just 720 square kilometres, the island city-state of Singapore is a surprisingly rewarding destination for golfers. Just a few minutes from the central business district you can find yourself on the immaculate fairways of some of the best courses that south-east Asia has to offer. Here’s our guide to the Top 5.
The Serapong Golf Course on the island of Sentosa is widely regarded as Singapore’s finest. Revamped by Ronald Fream in 2007 at a cost of $12 million, the course is always in superb condition, boasting manicured fairways and slick, immaculate greens that benefit from SubAir technology. Serapong is also known for its signature mounds, large lakes and stone-lined walls. The back 9 is made up of holes routed from reclaimed land and offers fantastic views of Singapore’s skyscraper-lined city centre.
Consistently rated among the top three golf complexes in Singapore, Tanah Merah has two of the best layouts on the island. A massive amount of sand and earth was shipped in to fashion the subtle mounding, undulations and lakes of the Tampines course and the result is a world class golfing venue. Remodelled in 2018 by Phil Jacobs due to the expansion of neighbouring Changi airport, his design brief was to provide an interesting but challenging course for all skill levels.
Known as the ‘Superclub’ of Singapore, this historic location dates back to 1891 before becoming the Royal Singapore Golf Club in 1938. Australian designer Peter Thompson upgraded the course almost twenty years ago, bringing in thousands of tonnes of sand and a new state of the art drainage system. Despite being the shortest course on the island at just over 6,000 yards from the back tees, there are some world class holes to tackle.
The course is built on reclaimed land, hence the effort to create a diverse type of course, one with drama (amazing mounding) and a unique golfing experience. Four lakes are the nucleus of the design concept of Pete Dye. Check out the 8th hole, a copy of Alistair Mackenzie’s designed ‘Golden Bell’, 12th hole at Augusta. The lakes come in to play at 12 of the 18 holes. Laguna National boasts two 18-hole championship courses that have won prestigious accolades and hosted international championships, including the European Tour’s Singapore Masters, the Korean LPGA’s ADT Caps Tour Championship and European and Asian Tour co-sanctioned events.
This compact, friendly little 9-hole course should not be underestimated. Away from the hustle and bustle of down town Singapore, it overlooks jade coloured seas and the beautiful island of Pulua Ubin. A neat, but tight and tricky course, there are different sets of tees and double greens to create an 18-hole location. Local cowgrass is used across the course, allowing the ball to sit up on the fairways and the greens to roll up to 10 on the stimpmetre.
