Illinois-based architect Rick Jacobson is to design his third golf course on the Chinese mainland. The Si Hui Golf Club will be a 27 hole complex located in Guangdong province, near the city of Guangzhou.

Jacobson will design a new 18 hole course and completely renovate an existing nine-hole layout. The courses will be the centre of a residential development that will include hotels, as well as retail and commercial developments.

"We are very excited to have an opportunity to create a truly enjoyable golf experience – one that is challenging but not punishing," said Jacobson. "We're always looking for a perfect balance so that golfers can walk away saying they had fun and would love to come back and play again." Each of the three nine-hole tracks will measure about 3,500 yards from the back tees, and 2,500 from the front ones.

Jacobson plans to incorporate large landforms and various water features into each hole, as well as Donald Ross-style grass-faced, flat-bottomed bunkers.

This article first appeared in issue 15 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2009.