Built on 260 hectares of former rice paddy on the outskirts of Yangon in Myanmar is a golf course like few in the world, according to its designer, Gary Player. 'Of the many golf courses I have seen in the world, Pun Hlaing has to be in the top five,' the South African great said when it opened in 2002. 'It reminds me of Augusta, Georgia.'
Player was not exaggerating when he said he had seen a lot of courses. He has been a professional for 54 years, winning nine majors along the way, and, like many top pros, has enjoyed a lucrative second career as a course designer. He has been involved in the construction of hundreds of courses around the world, including two in Hong Kong, at Kau Sai Chau Island in Sai Kung.
But the Pun Hlaing course is different, not just because of its beauty. It is the recreational playground of the generals of Burma's repressive military junta; the place where they are said to gather to discuss business deals.
The course was designed and built by the 72-year-old Player's company, Black Knight International, landing him in controversy.
Another famous South African, retired archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, who is also a patron of the country's Free Burma Campaign, was furious when he learned about the course during the regime's crackdown on pro-democracy protests in September.
Player said his involvement with the design of the golf course occurred in 2002 when 'the world's relations towards the regime in Burma had thawed; Aung San Suu Kyi had been released from house arrest and it seemed as though real political change was in the air'.