I had been meaning to get back to Bintan Lagoon since the resort reopened under Mövenpick, and this long weekend finally gave us the excuse. My better half and two friends came along for the trip, the ladies had booked themselves into a local spa for the day, which meant it was just myself and my mate on the course. No pressure, no rushing. Perfect.
Getting there from the hotel couldn't have been simpler. The Mövenpick runs a complimentary shuttle to the ferry terminal (although for this trip we booked a private driver as it was.a busy public holiday weekend, well worth the $20), and once you're at the resort the golf club is a five-minute walk away, literally off the hotel steps and across the fairway. We arrived on the Saturday but we were not playing until the Sunday, so used that day to take advantage of the great facilities at the hotel.
The course we played was the Jack Nicklaus Sea View, a par-72 championship layout that works its way from dense jungle on the front nine out to the coastline as you progress. The inland holes are tighter and trickier than they look; the elevation changes are constant, and Nicklaus' trademark bunkering is placed exactly where you don't want it. There's also a genuinely quirky 13th, a par-4 with a green split right down the middle by a stream, which had us debating pin positions from 150 yards out.
But the moment that makes this course, the moment you'll talk about on the ferry home, is when the holes break out onto the coast. Suddenly you're playing along the South China Sea with coconut palms framing the fairway and the water stretching out to the horizon. It's properly stunning, and it was all ours.
What made it feel truly special was how quiet it was. Public holiday weekend, and we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. No backing up at tees, no waiting, just two mates playing their own game at their own pace in the Bintan heat, with a brilliant caddie keeping us on track.
And that brings me to the thing worth knowing, the Ian Baker-Finch Woodlands course, closed for years through the previous ownership, is due to reopen in around two months. When it does, Bintan Lagoon becomes a genuine two-course destination again and the crowds, and the prices, will almost certainly follow.
On price, yes, $160 per round isn't cheap for Indonesia, and a caddie tip on top adds another twenty or thirty dollars. But when you factor in the quality of the layout, the condition it's in, the fact that you're essentially playing in near-private, and that you're rolling out of a Mövenpick and walking to the first tee, it stacks up. This is a five-star golf experience right now, at a price point that won't last.
The hotel itself is a proper bonus. The Mövenpick lobby alone is worth the trip, a dramatic double-height atrium with a gorgeous ceiling installation and a Balinese-meets-contemporary design that sets the tone the moment you walk in. My partner and friends enjoyed a spa day locally while we played, which is exactly how a golf weekend should work.
QUICK FACTS
Green fees: ~$160 SGD (Jack Nicklaus Sea View Course)
Caddie: Required, tip expected (~$20-30 SGD)
Getting there: Ferry from Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (~60 min) + free Mövenpick shuttle to resort (~20 min)
Stay: Mövenpick Resort & Spa Bintan Lagoon - golf club is a 5-min walk
Ian Baker-Finch Woodlands Course: reopening in approximately 2 months
Book via: Resort directly or platforms like Golfsavers / Golftripz
TAKEAWAY
Book this before the Baker-Finch course opens. The Jack Nicklaus Sea View is in great shape, the Mövenpick makes the whole trip seamless, and right now you can play one of the finest layouts in the region with room to breathe, on a public holiday weekend if you want. That window is closing in about two months.
