After making its debut on the DP World Tour 12 months ago, Enhance Anting Golf Club is back in the international spotlight as host venue for the 2026 Volvo China Open.
Opened in 2005 in Shanghai’s northwestern Jiading district, home to the city’s Formula One racetrack, the Robert Trent Jones II-designed layout was created for championship golf.
Situated alongside the Wusong River, the par-71, 7,188-yard parkland layout, features extensive use of water in eight free-form lakes that are inter-connected.
Originally flat land, nearly one million cubic meters of soil was dug out to create the lakes, with the fill used to build up the course, creating mounds, hills and a rolling terrain.
Bunkering in various styles – pot, fairway and greenside – add to the challenge, while mature cedar, camphor and magnolia trees grow throughout the property.
The greens, featuring a Penn A-1/A-4 creeping bentgrass blend, are regarded as lightning fast and on many holes drop off sharply to water below.
“Most owners want to show how tough their golf course is, but I felt a course shouldn’t just be hard, it should also be fair, inclusive for players with higher handicaps and also for the pros," said Ozzie Ling, the club’s managing director.
Ling, whose father, Jackson, was instrumental in the course's creation, added: “It’s just different pin positions, different tee boxes that we can play around with (for tournaments).”
How the course played in 2025
Last year, Ashun Wu posted a winning score of 14-under 270 in what was the highest-level tournament the club has hosted.
Eleven of the holes played over par across the week for the 30th edition of China's national open, with the 488-yard par-four sixth proving the toughest - more than half a shot over its par.
Reflecting on his pride at how the course held up against a professional field, Ling said: “For DP World Tour players, 14-under, after four days, it’s tough. It’s not easy.
"You always see some people who shoot like they will break the course, 20-under, 18-under. But the course just eats you up if you just miss by a little bit. So I think 14-under is a good number.”
What players face
The course opens with a straight-forward 436-yard first hole with a series of pot bunkers up the right side of the fairway to the green.
The par-three second is a 273-yard monster that requires a confident shot to reach and stick on the green. Anything right or short will drop off to a steep collection area.
The third hole marks the first par-five, a 577-yard dog-leg left. With water along the left side of the fairway, a good drive will set up an approach for a possible eagle chance on a green that juts out hard left with a steep drop off the back.
The 513-yard sixth hole, another dog-leg left, plays as a par-five for members, but for the tournament it is a long par-four. For the professionals, the challenge is the approach as they have to hit over trees to reach the green.
Further ahead, the 194-yard 12th hole requires a confident strike over water to reach the elevated green, protected by a hard-sloping front.
Ling calls the hole the start of Enhance Anting’s own version of ‘Amen Corner’.
The course ends with one of Trent Jones’ trademark “crescendo finishes”, in the 614-yard par-five 18th.
The dramatic finale, with a tee shot facing a split fairway divided by water, and an approach to a raised green with steep drops to water, proved the undoing of Haotong Li at last year’s championship.
After making an eagle two at the 305-yard 17th hole, the top-ranked Chinese needed another eagle at the last to force a play-off.
However, after his approach bounced into the edge of a creek, Li hit out of the water, over the green, and made a bogey six to end his round and finish in a tie for fourth - three shots adrift of countryman Wu.
“I think last year we put up a really good show, a very successful event," said Ling.
"Doing a national championship you could say that it’s an honour, you could say it’s an obligation, but to us, also, this is our way of helping China’s golf to grow."
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