Situated on the East Coast of Hainan Island, near both the White Stone Mountain and the popular Baishiling Scenic Spot, the White Stone golf course was designed by Schmidt Curley and opened for play in 2012.

The course is set partly on the edge of a large reservoir, and was routed with numerous holes playing across or along the body of water. Sadly, given the design team involved, the holes are rather bland and it appears that little effort was made to inject real strategy into the layout, or build what might be regarded as lasting holes. Those that bend around the water are the most disappointing, as they often force golfers away from trouble either because of bunkers on the inside of hazards or no real advantage being offered those who take the risky driving line. Some of the forced carries, such as on the long par four 9^th, are poor and quite unforgiving on weaker hitters.

White Stone isn’t the worst course on Hainan Island, but we expect a little more inspiration from this design team especially when the site is reasonable.