A Typical Mansion at Mission Hills

Here's a question for you: where is the world's largest golf resort?

North Carolina? South Carolina? Arizona? Spain? Dubai?

Texas?

The answer may surprise you but, on reflection, will probably make sense.

The largest golf resort in the world is in the Shenzhen Valley north of Hong Kong.

Yes, that's right. In China.

During the PGA Merchandise Show this past winter, I wrote about the enormous economic power of the golf industry around the world.

Asia is seeing an explosion in golf course development and China epitomizes that enormous growth, nay, it's fuelling it.

What you have to understand about China is that it has an enormous and inexpensive workforce and an almost Wild West view of capitalism.

It's an unbeatable combination.

China is slated to become the world's largest auto maker within the decade; its economy - expected to surpass that of the United States in a few years - was up 11% in the first quarter of this year, a 44% annual growth rate.

Where else in the world is an economy growing anywhere near that quickly? Not even India can keep up with that.

The number of billionaires in China is climbing all the time. Soon, Forbes Magazine's list of the world's richest will contain a lot of Chinese names.

With wealth comes leisure - even the Chinese understand this - and golf tops the list of leisure activities.

13 years ago, there were only 20 golf courses in China; today there are more than 320.

Not many of them are your basic muni courses, either. In fact, entry fees of $50 thousand US are the norm.

And so that brings us to the World's Largest Golf Resort.

It boasts the oddly Western name of Mission Hills. It covers an area of 20 square kilometers and contains 12 courses.

Not just any 12 courses. Remember, China is fabulously wealthy.

These are "designer" courses. In fact, they're named after their architects.

So you can play the Norman Course, the Annika Course, the Els course, the Vijay course, the Faldo, Olazabal, Duval, Ozaki or Leadbetter courses. And let's not forget the World Cup Course designed by Jack.

Shakespeare opined, "What's in a name?" in Romeo and Juliet. Well, the Chinese figure there's a lot of "brand image" in names, apparently.

And that's exactly what Mission Hills is all about: image.

The resort, of course, is in the real estate business, too. So Mission Hills is "home" to the world's most opulent mansions - $80 million and up! Chump change.

Six driving ranges, Asia's largest spa and tennis facility - it goes on and on.

You can "pay and play" at Mission Hills. But you might be mistaken for a caddy, too.

Check the website. The place is amazing.