china Size and Whispers

If there’s one thing Richard Mandell has learned about golf development in China, it that more always seems to be merrier.

“The Chinese certainly like to do things big,” he wrote earlier this year in a column for the Washington Times. “It is amazing to me how many multiple-course facilities are under construction and in planning.”

Don’t be surprised if Mandell is soon working on some of those multi-course complexes. Today he’s cultivating nine prospects who could deliver design contracts on more than a dozen 18-hole courses, including a pair of 54-hole complexes and one 72-hole complex.

The Pinehurst, North Carolina-based designer has been introduced to these prospects over the past year or so, during the 11 trips he’s made to Zhangjiajie, in Hunan Province, in connection with the design and construction of Skydoor Golf Club.

In fact, as if to prove that size really matters in the People’s Republic, Skydoor itself may grow bigger than originally expected. The club’s first 18 is scheduled to open next month, with a long-planned third nine to follow. And if all goes well, the club’s developers could add up to 18 more holes.