JOURNEY 01 · YUNNAN · 7 NIGHTS · 4 ROUNDS
Kunming sits at 1,700 metres, and the ball flies eight percent farther for free. Three bases — Kunming, Dali, Lijiang — two short flights, one driver throughout, and the quietest golf you will ever play.
Golfers who want the trip to feel like an expedition, not a resort week.
The rhythm — Two-base rhythm, one 90-minute flight, no drive over three hours Spring City resort suites; boutique courtyard stays in Dali and Lijiang.
THE ROUTE
The spine your dates grow around. Every leg is timed against real traffic, real flight loads and one rule: nobody rides for three hours before a tee time without a good reason.
Base one. Two rounds on the Nicklaus Mountain and Trent Jones Lake courses, one slow afternoon by Yangzong Lake.
Rest stop by choice. Erhai Lake, the marble market, Bai tie-dye workshops — and the best noodle breakfast in Yunnan.
Base two. The sunrise tee time of the trip beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, plus an old-town evening most groups extend.
DAY BY DAY
Drive times, beds and meals as we actually plan them. Your itinerary rebuilds this around your flights — the second draft is usually the good one.
Land at Changshui International, where your driver is waiting airside of customs. The drive to Spring City runs east along the plateau — 75 minutes of red earth and eucalyptus. Settle into the resort, walk the lake shore before dinner, and let your body learn the altitude.
Jack Nicklaus built his best mountain course here: ridgeline fairways, plateau greens, and a par-3 18th that drops a full club distance to the lake. Your caddie will hand you one club more than you think — the altitude repays it.
Robert Trent Jones Jr. rounds the shoreline: water on half the holes, bunkering you read from the tee, and afternoon light that makes photographers of everyone. The gentler walk of the two — save the Cart for it if your group prefers.
A plateau drive west to Dali — three hours through farming country with the Cangshan range growing on the horizon. Check into a courtyard hotel inside the old walls. The afternoon is deliberately empty: Erhai Lake, the marble market, or a tea nobody outside Yunnan has heard of.
No golf today, on purpose. Options your planner books on request: a Bai tie-dye workshop, Xizhou village morning, or a boat out onto Erhai with lunch aboard. Non-golfers and golfers take the same day — which is why it works.
Drive north through the Hengduan foothills to Lijiang — two and a half hours on a good road. The old town is a UNESCO site your group will underestimate until you are lost in it at dusk. Early night: tomorrow starts at altitude with a sunrise tee time.
The signature morning of the journey: an early tee time at 3,100 metres with the snow mountain over your shoulder and the ball flying nearly a club longer. The course is short by scorecard and long by thin air. Lunch on the terrace, then the old town or a Naxi music evening.
One more round for the keen — Dianchi Lake course on the water outside Kunming — or a direct departure from Lijiang with your clubs packed by the hotel. Your planner books whichever version of the last day your group actually wants.
THE COURSES ON THIS JOURNEY
Each course links to its full file — designer, terrain, season, and how a visitor actually gets on the tee. Access is confirmed for your dates before anything is paid.
Jack Nicklaus ridgeline layout; the best mountain golf in Asia, played at 1,800 m.
Trent Jones Jr. shoreline round; water, light and the gentler walk.
Asia’s highest championship course; the ball flies a club longer at 3,100 m.
Water-side closer outside Kunming, ten minutes from the airport run.
THE PRICE, HONESTLY
Per golfer, twin share, all-in: golf with caddies booked, hotels, private car and driver, breakfasts and the listed meals, and a planner on call from landing to take-off. This is a planning band, not a bookable price — the starting figure assumes four golfers travelling together, and the number moves with group size, hotel tier, weekday or weekend golf and your travel dates. Your dated proposal confirms courses, hotel level and every inclusion in writing.
THE SMALL PRINT, LARGE
The two lists that prevent 90% of arguments. If a service is not on the left column, it is on the right — and your proposal repeats both before signature.
ASKED BEFORE YOU ASK
The honest answers. Everything else — visas, your handicap against that back nine, the wine list — is one message away.
In your favour. The ball flies 6–10% farther at Spring City and nearly a full club longer at Jade Dragon. Walking is the part that takes a day to adjust — carts are available on every course, and we sequence the round order so the walking-heavy day comes third, not first.
Yes, because the drive times are short and the flight is 50 minutes. Groups who want a softer rhythm drop the Dianchi finish and fly home from Lijiang — the journey is built for both versions.
The Dali days are shared; on the golf days we build a parallel programme — tea mountains, old-town walks, a cooking morning — booked with the same driver and confirmed before you travel, not improvised on the day.
April–June and September–October for the driest, clearest plateau weather. Yunnan plays all year — winter rounds run cool mornings, warm middays — but the mountain view is clearest in autumn.
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FOUR PROVINCES · 10 NIGHTS · 6 ROUNDS
For the group that has done everywhere else.
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No deposit, no obligation. The first draft is simply ours to make.
PLAN THIS JOURNEY →