Whistling Rock Country Club

The verdict

There is no other club quite like Whistling Rock. Set in the mountains near Chuncheon in Gangwon province, an hour or so east of Seoul, it was conceived as a place where golf, art, nature and architecture meet, and the budget and ambition behind it show in every detail. The clubhouse is run like a museum, the practice areas and halfway houses are designed objects in their own right, and scattered across the property are standalone teahouses commissioned as individual works of art. The golf, 27 holes laid out by the American architect Ted Robinson Jr and opened in 2011, is the thread that ties it all together.

It is also one of the most exclusive and difficult to access clubs in the country, which only adds to its mystique. Golf Magazine Korea ranked it the number one course in the land, and it sits near the top of most Korean lists for its blend of design, conditioning and sheer spectacle. For the traveling golfer this is a bucket list round rather than a casual booking, the kind of place you reach only through the right connection, and one that rewards the effort with an experience unlike any other in Asia.

The holes worth the trip

Whistling Rock plays through dramatic mountain terrain, and the routing carries a deliberate symbolism. The greater part of the 27 holes sits on one side of the largest mountain, conceived as a representation of life, while a small group of holes is reached through a tunnel and plays in near total seclusion on the far side, framed as the afterlife. It is a conceit you rarely meet on a golf course, and the secluded holes, cut off from everything but the surrounding nature, are among the most memorable on the property.

The golf itself is bold mountain design: tee shots played from elevation, fairways that tumble through forested ridges, and greens framed by rock and pine. Robinson's routing makes the most of the natural drama, and the conditioning is held to the lavish standard the rest of the club implies. This is not a flat parkland to be ground out; it asks for nerve off the tee, judgment of elevation into the greens, and an appetite for the theatrical.

What lingers, though, is the totality of the experience. Between holes you pass teahouses that are sculptures, halfway facilities that feel like galleries, and views composed as carefully as the architecture. Whistling Rock is a round where the walk between shots is as considered as the shots themselves, which is exactly why it commands the reputation it does.

Where to stay nearby

Chuncheon, the lakeside city of Gangwon province, is the nearest base, with hotels and resorts and an easy run back toward Seoul. For most international golfers, though, central Seoul remains the natural hub for a Korea trip, with the capital's full range of accommodation and a road or rail link out to the Gangwon mountains for a day at Whistling Rock.

Treat a round here as the centerpiece of a wider itinerary that takes in the Seoul region's parkland clubs and, if the trip allows, the island and coastal courses to the south. Whistling Rock is the jewel; build the rest of the days around securing it.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Whistling Rock Country Club.