DIANCHI LAKE · KUNMING · YUNNAN
培星东岸高尔夫俱乐部
A demanding Arnold Palmer design overlooking Dianchi Lake. For around eleven years, golf occupied these lakeside slopes. In 2021, its playing features were removed and the grounds entered a new chapter of ecological restoration.
01 / THE COURSE
Dianchi supplied the view. The terrain supplied the challenge.
Peixing stood in the Dayu area on Dianchi’s eastern shore, at 866 Huanhu East Road. The lake lay to the northwest, with the ring road inland to the southeast. Across the water, the long outline of the surrounding hills framed the round.
Historical photographs show a landscape of sloping fairways, rough grass, irregular bunkers and wooded ridges. Chinese booking descriptions presented it as a members’ club with a links-inspired character, although its inland lakeside setting was quite different from a traditional coastal links.
Peixing East Shore also appears in English as Peixing East Coast and Pure Scene. Closure records use the administrative name 云南昆明铭真生态爱心苑高尔夫球场, usually shortened to Mingzhen Golf Course. The matching address connects the official record with the club remembered by golfers.
The design
In a 2014 interview, Arnold Palmer described Peixing’s steep changes in level, ravines and expansive lake views. The brief called for a particularly challenging course, with a rugged appearance that responded to the terrain. He placed its length at under 7,100 yards.
Planet Golf described beautiful scenery alongside exceptionally severe rough, difficult carries and narrow targets.
Contemporary records show more than just a private golfing retreat. In November 2016, students from Yunnan Tourism Vocational College visited Peixing as part of their introduction to golf-club operations and the leisure industry.
Identified archival photographs · holes 12 and 15
HOLE 12 · PAR THREE
Architect Brandon Johnson described a short-to-mid-length par three found during a routing change while construction was underway. Dianchi formed the backdrop, with the back-left flag position close to the cliff edge.
HOLE 15 · PAR FOUR
A broad fairway led to a very small, narrow green on the hillside edge. Johnson explained that the prevailing wind and fairway contours complicated the decision to drive the green: an ambitious tee shot could leave a delicate recovery to a shallow target.
These photographs are explicitly numbered in the architect’s interview. Their capture dates are unrecorded. They retain the original image detail and have not been AI-enhanced.
Historical routing details · Planet Golf
The tee shot called for a lay-up before a blind second shot across an overgrown waste area. Beyond the carry, the fairway and green sloped sharply downhill, making it difficult to stop the ball.
A tall pine complicated the forced carry across the ravine. The landing area demanded restraint before a sharp right turn; another large tree obstructed the approach to a green set well below.
The directory singled out this mid-length par three for its scenic appeal. It provides no measured yardage or detailed green description.
The hole turned sharply left along a narrow shelf. Severe bunkering near the green favoured successive lay-ups, leaving an approach over sand to a putting surface angled away from the player.
Historical routing notes, not a verified scorecard: exact hole yardages have not been established. Photographs reliably identified as holes 2, 4, 14 and 17 have not yet been located; the numbered photographs above show holes 12 and 15.
03 / THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
Four additional views from the course’s golfing years. Select any photograph to enlarge it.
These are unnumbered historical views. They are not assigned to the four routing highlights above, and do not show current conditions.
The documented milestones
Operations began in May, following development under an outdoor recreation park project.
Orders to leave protected land and subsequent inspections failed to bring lasting removal of the golf course.
April inspections exposed incomplete clearance. By August, a local notice reported removal of all 18 holes and their facilities.
The national results for the 2021 clean-up formally recorded the Mingzhen course as closed, with clearance completed.
Official reporting dates the start of operations to May 2010. Some international directories give 2011; this profile follows the documented operating history.
Why it closed
Environmental inspectors found that 456.68 mu—about 30.4 hectares, or 64.9% of the recorded course area—occupied Dianchi’s first-level protection zone. The whole of fairways 5 and 12, together with parts of 4, 6 and 11, lay within that boundary.
Official accounts describe a course developed after the national suspension of new golf-course construction, using approvals obtained for an outdoor recreation park. Instructions to stop operating and withdraw from protected land were not effectively carried out.
The April 2021 inspection became a turning point. Inspectors found that hurried planting had left the course’s basic function intact; some apparent new trees were merely branches pushed into the soil. The subsequent programme required removal of the golfing layout itself.
The national clean-up results, published in June 2022, list the course at 866 Huanhu East Road as having completed closure.
View the official course closure record ↗Photographs from the 2021 clearance
AI-enhanced archival photographs: clarity and resolution have been improved, and fine detail may be reconstructed. The two headland views show a similar area from different positions. These images document work in progress in 2021, rather than present-day conditions.
After golf
By 25 May 2021, the city reported that facilities had been removed from both the five holes within the first-level protection zone and the remaining thirteen outside it. The work extended beyond the greens to paths, the clubhouse and rest buildings.
An August update recorded removal of the underground irrigation, breaking up 10.4 kilometres of hard-surfaced roads, and demolition of an 8,474-square-metre clubhouse. Red soil was brought in, grass was sown, and trees and shrubs—including Yunnan pine, camphor and southern heavenly bamboo—were planted.
The documented change was ecological restoration. This archive records the end of golf and the subsequent planting; it does not establish the former grounds as a public park or a visitor attraction.
No. The course closed in 2021, and its playing facilities were removed. Older directory and booking entries remain online but do not establish that it is operating.
Yes. Contemporary reporting explicitly identifies Mingzhen Golf Course as Peixing East Shore. The national closure record gives the same address: 866 Huanhu East Road.
International profiles sometimes list 2011 as the opening year. Inspection reporting dates actual operations to May 2010. The national confirmation appeared in 2022 but concerns the closure carried out in 2021.