The next day began with a tour of Lijiang's Ancient City, an area that dates back to 475 B.C., followed by a round at the Lijiang Ancient City International Lakefront Golf Course. It was just a 10-minute drive from the center of Lijiang-a city of a million residents-but without our cab driver, we would never have found it, as the last mile took us along a winding dirt road past a succession of primitive wooden huts without water or electricity at the doors of which men, women and children leaned and squatted and stared as our car passed by, a stark reminder of the immense gap between the rich and poor in China.

When our cab emerged from the last bumpy bend, the course suddenly appeared-a scene I had envisioned as the classic Chinese setting for golf, 18 fairways unfurling between the foot of a mountain and the shore of a serene lake. The course is the work of an American named Joe Obringer, who served an apprenticeship with Jack Nicklaus before heading to the Far East on his own.

Although there wasn't much contour to the fairways, the par 4s and 5s doglegged interestingly and the greens were fun without being funky. Eleven holes brought us to the water's edge and at the par-3 17th, I actually played my tee shot over the head of a fisherman poling his dory toward the bank.

What struck me most was the absolutely superb condition of the course-superior to even the private courses in the U.S. Yes, my tour of China had opened my eyes. I visited several well designed and beautifully maintained courses, stayed at first-class hotels equal to those in any major city, and paid about half what I would have for a comparable experience in the U.S. China as a golf destination had not only eclipsed anything I had seen in Asia, but in terms of value had beaten everything in the Western world as well.