Soft opening for Eco City, Tripp Davis’ first Chinese course
American architect Tripp Davis has completed work on his first golf course project in China, the Eco-City International Country Club in Tianjin, the fourth largest city in the country. The occasion was marked this week with a soft opening of the eighteen hole course, along with extensive practice facilities and clubhouse.
Davis said he spent two years investigating potential projects in China before partnering with developer Keppel Land China. “We were selected for the Eco-City project largely because of our approach to being hands-on during construction and our commitment to quality,” said Davis. “I personally have made 20 visits to the site, my senior architect Gary Brawley made another ten and our staff shaper Jason Gold was on site for ten months, which allowed us to carefully handcraft our work there. I could not be any prouder of our first golf course in China and the collective efforts of the development, design, construction and grow-in teams.”
The course is surrounded by Ying-Cheng Lake, and the site occupies low land marshes near the Bohai Sea. To provide a contrast to the otherwise flat landscape, Davis said his team created bold bunkering to present strategic and visual definition, leaving the water as an aesthetic add-on.
“Eco-City is a big course with strategic fairways and greens set on subtle yet thought-provoking angles that gives the average player a lot of room to navigate and multiple options from which to choose,” said Davis. “However, the lines the better player must take in order to score well are relatively strict and demand good shot-making.”
The official grand opening is anticipated next May.