South Cape Owners Club
Not far from Sacheon, South Korea a rather wealthy Korean fashion magnet and golf lover invested hundreds of millions of his own money, brought in a top American golf course architect in Kyle Phillips and bought an understated piece of land that appropriately visualized his dream to one up Pebble Beach with a spectacular golf resort and spa. This spectacular place is called South Cape Owners Club Resort and Spa.
This was one stop on my recent adventure and travels through Asia. In a country full of private courses closed to the public South Cape breaks the mold, it’s completely public and readily accessible by anyone that stays at the resort. Rounds run a pricey $500 US (approximately). I was even told that for people that don’t want to stay in the incredibly fancy resort they had another small basic hotel where the staff also resides that people that were purely interested in golf could stay in. Though I doubt this would change the price of a round of golf.
I usually take quite a lot of photos of courses I visit but not with the intention of publishing or posting them anywhere besides my Facebook page for my golf buddies so please bare with me on my poor photos as I try to put a bit of tour together for a course that doubt many people will venture all the way to see. The course is really quite special and I wish that everyone could go so we could discuss it here. I’d say the property is incredibly spectacular though perhaps a challenging site to route a course through given the high cliffs everywhere. The routing is aimed towards the spectacular and it works. It’s full of breath-taking views, heroic shots and wow moments but remains really playable for all resort guests.
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves but trust me on the fact that I am not talented enough with an iPhone to do the place justice.
The Clubhouse doubles as a spaceship offering a quick escape for future alien invasions:
Putting green right next to the first tee:
One of the more unique views from a putting greens:
# 1 – 390 meter par 4. Plays pretty severely downhill with a slight dogleg to the left. Bunkers are both in play for a well struck 3 wood, left or driver right side.
#1 approach
View to the left, hard to not be distracted:
#2 – 335 meter par 4. Short par 4 challenging you to take on the bunkers across the water to allow for the best approach to this tricky green with a short iron.
#2 approach
#2 Green – looking back
#3 – 400 meter par 4 dogleg left. Another cut off as much as you can chew drive. Plenty of space but the difference between a 3 wood or 7-8 iron approach, the reward to a successfully played Tiger line.
#3 – approach to an excellent skyline green, only the government insisted a few trees be planted behind the green to protect the road below (as a safety measure). I was assured this was temporary.
Behind the green looking back at the road and clubhouse (small trees mentioned above)
#4 – 155 meter par 3.
#5 – 550 meter par 5, a big drive taking on the right side fairway bunker results in a huge kick forward down the hill allowing a possibility to reach this excellent par 5 in two.
Because 5 holes is a lot to take on in one go, the customary halfway house comes early and has a rather unique and exotic presence.
#6 – 220 meter par 3. Cliff top to cliff top.
Front of the green, set up to catch the almost approach tee shots.
Looking back to the tee and rest house.
#7 - 340 meter par 4.
#7 approach – green runs away diagonally from left to right.
#8 – 395 meter par 4. Semi blind drive.
#8 approach (sorry poor photo) slight uphill, small green with significant back to front slope.
#9 – 510 meter par 5, dogleg right slightly downhill. A drive cutting off the inside or faded allows for a go in two at the green though the green is steep uphill and heavily protected front right.
#9 approach
#9 steep slope up to the green
#10 – 430 meter par 4. Photo of the drive didn’t turn out. Downhill tee shot with a steep slope on the right side and severe drop off on the left.
#12 – 415 meter par 4, playing along the cliffs with a slight dogleg left and a cut off as much as you can chew drive. .
#12 approach
#12 green view
#13 – 320 meter par 4. Very high tee shot played to an uphill fairway. I think the intention of this hole is actually to be drivable, though not for me from the back tee. Very close though.
#13 green
#14 – 130 meter drop shot par 3.
#14 – green and bunkers
#15 – 435 meter par 4. Long tough hole along the cliffs with a dogleg left.
#15 approach
Halfway house #2 – Titanic, literally, the design of this halfway house was an exact copy from the front deck on the Titanic (king of the world stuff)
#16 – 210 meter par 3 – cliff top to cliff top part 2.
#17 – 395 meter par 4.
#17 approach
#18 – 525 meter par 5 closing hole.
#18 approach
#18 green
A couple points of interest. As you can see water is in view from every hole on the course. The routing is a little bit of a Fisher’s Island type routing on both sides of the peninsula (rather than island) and then back. One exception is that with Fisher’s Island on most holes you face the water on the tee as a right handed player. Here at South Cape that’s the opposite. Not that this is necessarily better or worse, just a point to notice. Not sure why this is the case but I guess the spectacular holes worked better.
South Cape enjoys fine grasses and is firm but not maintained to be fast yet. Naturally you can look past this but it is designed so that almost all greens can also be approached on the ground. Problem is as you can see in some of the photos the grass is maintained far too long in order to play the ball consistently on the ground. This is the case with all the green surrounds and approaches. Fairways are also slightly too long. This however doesn’t detract from the fact it’s an excellent and spectacular routing and a must see if you are ever in Korea for golf or want to play Asia’s best courses. It’s certainly by a margin the best course in Korea in my opinion and will most certainly enjoy a Top 100 World Ranking in the future.