Savan Resorts in Savannakhet, Laos, will open a new nine-hole short course, by Nicklaus Design, for preview play in September 2025.

“The site already had a well-appointed but incomplete two-story clubhouse and an underutilised driving range, but the owners wanted to create an additional amenity,” said Sean Quinn, senior design associate at Nicklaus Design. “Initially, the owner wanted a full-length nine-hole course but with only 16 hectares designated for the course we’ve been able to create a short course where players could utilise most clubs in the bag.”

Savan Resorts has a 402-room five-star hotel, casino, amusement park, residential accommodation and other amenities. It is located near to the Thailand-Laos border, with both countries separated by the Mekong River. The short course development at the resort is being led by Hong Kong-based Continental Group.

“Unfortunately, the site had no interesting features other than a handful of nice trees and scrubland, but we’ve incorporated all the good trees and purchased approximately 500 good-sized indigenous trees to plant,” said Quinn.

Earthworks began in late November 2024 and around 120,000 cubic metres of dirt was moved in a cut and fill exercise. “We also cleaned up and removed hotel garbage waste from the site in an ecologically sensitive manner,” said Quinn. “We also created three deep lakes to generate dirt and to store water.”

The course has 11 metres of elevation change between the lowest point on site and the highest. “The shaping is bold,” said Quinn. “The course routing starts and finishes near the existing clubhouse and hotel. The longest hole will be from the back tee on hole nine at 272 yards while the shortest is 70 yards from the forward tee on hole eight.

“Each of the holes is distinctly unique. The eighth has an island green and will no doubt be a favourite, while the sixth has a bunker in the middle of the green, and eight metres of elevation change from tee to green, with that combination sure to make that a player favourite too. We’ve installed lights at holes seven, eight and nine to provide a three-hole night golf loop.”

Greens have been designed with subtle contours and a number of pinnable areas – they will, on average, be 690 square metres in size and are surrounded by bunkers or low areas.

“Operationally, each green will have two pins with different coloured flags to create an 18-hole round,” said Quinn. “This is helped by the variety of tee yardages and angles on every hole, allowing for two distinctly different nines when playing twice. The tees are enormous free flowing organic shapes that provide multiple shot angles, with most holes having a five-club swing between forward and back tees. The average tee area is 1,200 square metres, but they are easily mown with ride-on equipment and flow seamlessly into the fairways.”

The course features Stadium Zoysia on tees, rough and approaches, TifEagle bermuda on greens and bahia for outer rough, all supplied by Sports Turf Solutions. Flagstick Golf Course Construction Management has managed the project, and the team includes local contractor Pepsun, lead shaper John Carson, irrigation designer Jeff Stamper of Cadsult and agronomist Hamish McKendrick. A Toro irrigation system was supplied by Jebsen & Jessen.