Perhaps unsurprisingly, the staff are obsessed by numbers. It won't take long after you arrive here to be told, for instance, that Mission Hills holds many other records besides its size. The highest number of golfers to be on the links in a day: 2,366, on May 20 this year. Number of caddies: 1,500. Carts: 1,015. Golf bags in storage: 3,814.

Oh, and there are some actual golf-related records, too. The most holes-in-one for a single day is four, set twice by Mission Hills this year. The record they seem to be most proud of is that set by the legendary Greg Norman when he completed his signature course earlier this year: with an index of 150, it is rated Asia's toughest.

Any golfer worth his spikes probably knows this already. The reason why it may be of interest to general readers, however, is that the people behind Mission Hills learnt one very important truth in building this place: golfers are mostly men. And men have girlfriends, wives and families that don't like to be deserted on weekends.

It should therefore not be surprising to learn that Mission Hills also has an enormous clubhouse, a five-star hotel, and a country club with enough facilities to keep anyone of any age busy for days while their menfolk hack chunks of grass out of the surrounding countryside. You can play tennis on one of 51 courts at Asia's largest tennis facility. You can play in the country's largest toy castle, imported from Sweden. You can try your hand at lawn bowls, table tennis (this is China), squash, badminton, basketball, skating, jogging or cycling. And if you're in the mood to shoot a certain someone who just spent a thousand dollars on a new driver, you can act out your fantasy on the archery range.

For those less energetic, there are pools for lazing, mahjong and card rooms to chance your luck, or a mini-theatre to pass the time.

To be sure, this is a great place to spend a weekend even if you are not into golf. The hotel feels like a resort somewhere in southeast Asia. The newly opened La Quinta Spa is comfortable and classy. Restaurants include quality Japanese, Chinese and western food.

And if you are into golf, you couldn't get enough in a weekend. Besides the 10 courses, there is a covered driving range for wimps scared of typhoons and the occasional electric storm. The David Leadbetter academy, meanwhile, can help with your swing.

Shenzhen probably has some better individual courses than every one of the 10 here. But the advantage for Mission Hills, like Shenzhen itself, is variety. From the Norman course through the Faldo, Olazabal, Annike (Sorenstam), Vijay (Singh), Els, Duval, Ozaki and Leadbetter courses to the World Cup course designed by the greatest of them all, Jack Nicklaus you could not ask for more in one place.

Naturally, Mission Hills is not going to offer all these facilities without making it easy for visitors from Hong Kong to get here. Shuttle buses run daily from Central, Kowloon Tong and Sheung Shui. Call (852) 2826-0238 for details.

If you prefer to drive, the address is: Mission Hills, Guanlan Town, Shenzhen.