Saipan’s first golf course is revived, re-opened

The first golf course ever built on Saipan has been revived and is finally open to players—at an affordable price for people to unwind following the devastation of Super Typhoon Yutu.

The company that owns the Saipan Vegas Resort, MP Holdings, has brought the former Saipan Country Club golf course back to life and opened it to the public last Monday.

The opening of the golf course comes at a perfect time as it gives members of the Saipan community a place to take their family to unwind over a game of golf at a low price.

According to Mariana Entertainment LLC consultant Gus Noble, MP Holdings takes pride in the affordability of its resort, its game room, and now its golf course. “We priced it…like our resort…to be affordable…” he said.

Everyone can enjoy a game or two at the newly renovated Saipan Country Club golf course for as low as $5 a round.

“…It’s affordable, fun, and its good exercise so we want the community to come out,” said Noble. “The golf course isn’t a professional…course…it’s a fun golf course, a nine-hole golf course. It’s good for families, it’s good for beginners.”

Noble said that MP Holdings’ only goal is to maintain the island’s hidden gem and to keep it running for the people of Saipan.

“Because the golf course and the Country Club is part of Saipan, we aim to maintain it and keep it running as the first golf course. …With its location and pricing, it is really for everyone…it is well and truly the very first and original golf course on Saipan and many locals have fond memories of either learning, playing golf, or running on the golf course, or even getting mangos from the golf course,” he said.

Renovations include the reconstruction of pathways, improvement to the greenery, and basically overall cleanup.

“We mainly gave it a good tidy-up and we improved all the greens because they were all patchy…we fixed the pathways and just did a general renovation to the golf course to bring it back to reasonable specs,” said Noble.

Noble noted that MP Holdings bought the Saipan Country Club golf course along with the land that the Saipan Vegas Resort and gaming parlor were built on.

“We saw an opportunity when we saw the golf course was up for sale…we saw an opportunity to bring the golf course back online for the people of Saipan and so we did. At the same time, we built a hotel and we were able to build our gaming room,” he said.

The Saipan Country Club golf course was established around the 1960s and was created by the U.S. Department of Defense.