Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Spring City) is a premier integrated golf resort in Kunming, China.The development comprises two championship golf courses as well as luxury resort homes set amidst lush landscapes against the backdrop of Yang Zonghai Lake.
Consistently voted one of the best golf courses in China, Spring City is a popular golfing destination. Its award-winning golf courses include the Mountain Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and the Lake Course by Robert Trent Jones Jr.Spring City is a 40-minute drive from the city center of Kunming with convenient access to the airport. It’s cool and temperate spring-like climate all year round makes Spring City a favored destination by golfers internationally.

Mountain Course

The 18-hole Mountain Course is set on high grounds overlooking the Yang Zonghai Lake. This offers golfers spectacular views of the picturesque lake and the verdant hills.Golfers will find the view both inspiring and soothing while they allow the challenging course to test their skills and bring out their best game.With bunkers strategically placed on fairways and around the greens, and bentgrass greens that challenge even the most experienced players, the Mountain Course reaffirms Jack Nicklaus as one of the greatest players and course designers of all time.

Lake Course

This spectacular 18-hole golf course is set on the banks of the Yang Zonghai Lake and is world-renowned for its narrow fairways, crisscrossing trenches, green terraces and breathtaking lake views.A 150-yard elevation drop between Hole 1 on the hill and Hole 9 by the lake side provides a unique and lush effect for players. The golf course also has strong winds which increase the game difficulty, creating a more challenging game.Coupled with Robert Trent Jones Jr.’s quest for accuracy, the Lake Course definitely offers visitors an unforgettable golfing experience of a lifetime.

BTN caught up with Mervin Ho, the resorts GM to find out more on this amazing resort and its plans for the future.

BTN.You have received a great many awards and accolades over the past few years from a great many golfing web sites and specialist publications, and now you have been nominated in the prestigious World Golf Awards for 2023.
What do you put your success down to?

MH: Thank you for the affirmation! Appreciate it. We attribute our achievements to a steadfast focus on sustainable development and growth since our opening more than 25 years ago. We have adopted an approach that places environmental sustainability at its core while ensuring a sharp focus on quality standards and customer experiences. Attesting to our efforts on environmental, social and governance sustainability, we were recently conferred the prestigious recognition by GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) and in so doing, becoming the first GSTC-accredited Golf Hotel/Resort in China. We have also received numerous nominations and accolades by the World Travel Awards panel in past years, which bears testament to our efforts on customer servicing.

BTN. I note that you have two fabulous championship courses at Spring City, which one has proven to be the most popular, not necessarily the toughest course?

MH: Both courses, “Mountain” designed by Jack Nicklaus and “Lake” by Robert Trent Jones Jr, are synonymous with Spring City and are widely renowned to offer not just a spectacular picturesque view that differs on each visit but also a highly differentiated challenge posed to even the most experienced of golfers on each visit. The Lake Course has been a perennial winner of various awards, not least the most prestigious of them all, the World Top 100 Courses conferred by Golf Digest USA

BTN. Unlike a great many golf resorts, you operate a fabulous day spa for visitors and guests, how popular has this become and are there plans to develop this further?

MH: Our wellness program is a key feature of the resort’s long term development future. Spring City’s wellness philosophy centres around the 3 main pillars of physical, mental, social health that are ingrained into our products and services. Our spa services focus on the physical element of recuperation and recovery, especially relevant to meeting our golfers’ needs. Golfers get to access Chinese traditional healing treatments to spot resolve body and muscular aches, such as cupping, moxibustion etc; and also recuperative treatments such as our signature golfers’ deep tissue massage. Visitors and guests can also access mental health programs such as sleep coaching, mindfulness programs etc, as well as a suite of social community activities and events, that will fully integrate all the various elements to elevate human performance.

BTN. Your golf lodges and Villas offer a real treat for visiting golfers and their families, are their any pans to develop this concept further?

MH: As a world class integrated wellness resort, our objective is to provide a holistic hospitality and wellness solution for our guests - such that the continuum offered combines both golf and non-golf activities and its’ suitability for all ages to partake in. To cite a few examples - Guests will enjoy the outdoors at China’s first camping village in Spring City that is designed by a famed camping brand from Denmark, as well as participate in the first permanent obstacle challenge course installed in a hotel/resort in China operated by one of the world’s leading brand names in the obstacle course race business. Ultimately, we see that the resort’s future lies in it being a comprehensive one-stop destination for elevated human performance through the participation in the resort’s suite of activities and programs.

BTN: I note your aim is to make Spring City the premier golf resort in China and indeed Asia, a huge task but judging by the success you are having a goal that looks achievable. How long do you think it will be until you achieve your goals., what time frame have you given yourselves, and what must you do to ensure that this is the result?

MH: Spring City has cultivated a legacy of being one of Asia’s finest (if not, the best) for more than 25 years. The relentless pursuit of excellence is synonymous with the game of golf, in that every single game offers an opportunity to better oneself. Similarly, we see that our progress is never completed and is an ongoing journey for us to constantly elevate our product and services to create a uniquely differentiated experience for our customers. With the introduction and curation of a bevy of highly unique market-leading initiatives in the resort aspect, we have created a to-go destination within a destination (golf).

BTN: Lastly, for any golfer visiting your resort, it is good to see that apart from the accommodation, great dining and leisure facilities which accompany the two championship courses you have an abundance of practise facilities and a well stocked pro shop, do you have any plans to change this or develop the practise areas any further.

MH: We are moving closer to realizing our vision of an integrated wellness retreat with world class golf and non-golf lifestyle services. We see that the wellness segment is an area that offers incredible opportunities for us to expand our repertoire of services and to improve the lives of our customers. We are already working on the next big thing at Spring City and to launch a fresh and exciting wellness concept that marries the afore mentioned physical, mental, and social pillars in health. This is the future of Spring City, and we can’t wait to share and deliver our vision to our guests

As a golfer, this has instant appeal, what’s not to like, two championship courses, excellent accomodation with villas and lodges, sensational practise facilities, amazing dining as you would expect from the Asian market and scenery that looks incredible, I for one can’t wait to go.
It’s easy to see why this amazing resort wins so many awards and accolades; they keep pushing the boundaries and for that, we can all be very grateful!

Mervin and his exceptional team are clearly committed to making this resort the best in Asia; I wouldn’t bet against them succeeding!