Weekend Excursion
Monday, November 16th, 2009This weekend I took a short trip to China to play golf. I had been conducting business all week in South Korea, and this week I am in Thailand. I thought a short excursion to China would be a welcome break. Plus, I had never played golf there.
I played at Weihai Point Golf Club and Resort, which is owned by Kumho Asiana Group (also the owner of Asiana Airlines). The course is one of the most interesting and challenging courses I have ever played. Move over Pebble Beach, which has seven holes on the water. The Weihai course runs the holes along a peninsula, with 14 holes directly on the water and the rest just a stone’s throw away.
The weather was an issue as the temperature had dropped to 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind (as I had predicted) was gusting at 40 m.p.h. So, take the best of Pebble Beach and merge it with the wind aspects of the Old Course — and you have Weihai. I am told that in the warmer months, there is very comfortable weather, as this region of China has minimal rainfall and virtually no humidity. Make sure you keep an eye out for my GTee golf report on Weihai coming soon.
I was also pleased to see how dedicated the Chinese government is being to keeping tabs on the H1N1, or swine flu, outbreak. I think I had swine flu three months ago. When you arrive in China, passengers are required to complete a lengthy health questionnaire. While this is reviewed, they scan your temperature from behind the desk. It all happens so quickly, though, that you really have no idea what is going on! The Chinese government was harshly criticized for the poor efforts during the SARS and Bird Flu outbreaks, which appear to be far more serious than H1N1. The criticism has forced them to be more diligent.
On the way out of China, I was able to rate the immigration inspector as Great, Good, Fair or Bad by pressing a little button. After my passport was stamped, I looked up at the rather serious gentleman in his official uniform and I said “Great” and hit the button!
– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO










