HO CHI MINH GOLF
Ho Chi Minh Golf - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Ho Chi Minh Golf | |||||
| By: John Cook, Issue 36 – Spring 2008 | |||||
| (Ho Chi Minh City, Phan Thiet, Dalat, Hanoi and Chi Linh – Vietnam) | |||||
| WITH 60 NEW COURSES PLANNED, VIETNAM IS SETTING ITSELF UP TO BE ASIA’S LATEST GOLF DESTINATION. IT IS EARLY DAYS YET BUT WE TAKE A LOOK AT HOW THE FAIRWAYS ARE FAIRING. | |||||
| Let’s do the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail’ suggested my good friend Neil when we were thinking of getting away from it all for a week of playing golf. I had images of impossibly lush golf courses carved out of thick jungle, where you would not stray from the fairways looking for the lost balls for fear of snakes; and visions of exotic temple-style buildings converted into clubhouses where, after 18 holes in the intense heat, you are pampered with iced tea and cold towels by staff who are somehow both attentive and invisible at the same time. The original Ho Chi Minh Trail, named after ex-president Ho, was set up during the Vietnam War to enable the communist troops to shift men and arms along hidden jungle paths. Hopefully our journey would be a lot less arduous and a lot more fun. Seven courses were listed on the golf trail website and all seemed quite different to one another and interesting in their own way. The Trail was really an arbitrary line linking the courses together across the country. But the names had more than a hint of magic about them – Dalat Palace, Tam Dao, the Phoenix course at Chi Linh Star, and Kings Island. We picked five courses (ambitious I admit for a seven-day rip) packed our clubs and went. | |||||
| Ho Chi Minh City – The Vietnamese Golf Course | |||||
| This is a big bustling 36-hole complex – at weekends they employ up to 500 caddies. To be honest this wouldn’t rate as my favourite course – I’m a 20 handicapper and the heavily bunkered fairways and bouncy greens made it too tough for me. But it seems to suit the more affluent local Vietnamese A and Korean visitors who wager huge sums of money per game and sometimes per hole. Also it’s a good start point for the trip in many ways – you can shake off the cobwebs from the flight over and get to find out about Saigon’s fascinating history. Non-golfing attractions around Ho Chi Minh City: • The powerfully emotive War Remnants Museum • The Presidential Palace • A tour of Colonial Saigon In order to get between the courses in the south of Vietnam we had to ‘white knuckle it’. We arranged for a driver to pick us up from the hotel and take us to our next destination, Ocean Dunes, at Phan Thiet. I’m a newcomer to Vietnam, and the experience of travelling by road is quite amazing. There are millions of motorbikes in Vietnam, often transporting entire families, all going in many directions at once. Amazingly our driver weaved and flowed through the traffic with only the occasional gentle application of brakes and no sudden swerves. Cocooned within the safety of a solidly built car and thankful we had a driver, we began to relax and enjoy the spectacle. | |||||
| Phan Thiet – Ocean Dunes | |||||
| Ocean Dunes is a sandy, resort type course designed by Nick Faldo with a number of interesting water holes. Tee box placements vary considerably so you have the choice to make your hole as easy or difficult as you like. As the literature relating to the course continually reminds you it boasts ‘one of the top 500 holes in the world’ - an uphill 135 metre par three where you have to fire your tee shot between two huge grassy mounds straight out towards the sea. The flagstick is 4m long because the hole placement is often behind one of the mounds. I was fortunate enough, on the day, to hit my iron shot to within five feet and roll the putt in for one of only four birdies I manage on the whole trip, so I reckon it’s a great hole. My partner finally got down in six and is less convinced. We stayed at the Novotel Phan Thiet, which is next to the course. It was built by the Russians at the height of their ‘call that ugly - I’ll show you ugly’ architectural design phase. In the evening we played pool on the kind of table that makes the 16th at Augusta so exciting. Apparently the hotel is to be demolished soon as part of a US$110million redevelopment plan for the area. We spoke with the pro, Kenny Saunders, a wonderfully warm, laconic American from the deep South, about golf in Vietnam. Clearly it is ready to take off. Kenny told us there are currently only 15 courses in Vietnam but a further 60 are under licence, several of which are currently under construction. Golf is being taught in schools, senior officials in the party are getting behind the game and two new golf magazines have recently been established. In the immediate area around Phan Thiet alone, Sea Links, Montgomery Links and two other courses should be opening shortly. Non-golfing attractions around Phan Thiet: • Water sports and activities at the Novotel • A trip to the nearby fishing village | |||||
| Dalat – Dalat Palace Golf Club | |||||
| The drive up from Phan Thiet to Dalat takes about three hours. Dalat is a beautiful town built into the mountains in 1922 as a holiday destination for the French. The golf course was the first one to be built in Vietnam. We stayed at the Sofitel Dalat Palace, a stunningly well-preserved hotel which was the first building to be constructed and which the Emperor used as a holiday home. Less well preserved is the hotel’s beautiful 1950s Citroen which is only taken for a spin on very special occasions. In fact it was the Emperor who had the golf course built. The golf course is superb. Almost every hole has something interesting or challenging about it. Water genuinely comes into play on nine of the holes and throughout the round you have to make key decisions such as to how far you want to hit your drive and which side of the fairway it is best to be on. Conditions are quite temperate throughout the year because the course is high up and it is liberally scattered with beautiful flowers and walkways over the water. As soon as we finished our round I wanted to play the course again – I wished I could have taken it home with me! Staying at the Sofitel Dalat Palace was a real treat too. The design is very French, as is the food and the wine list. The rooms transport you back to the 20s and 30s in terms of the mood and style (but with all mod cons of course) and there are excellent spa facilities if your muscles need kneading. Non-golfing attractions around Dalat: • Horse-drawn carriage rides around the lake in Dalat • Hiking and bicycling around the French villas and surrounding countryside | |||||
| Hanoi – Tam Dao | |||||
| For the next leg of the Trail we took the 90-minute flight up to Hanoi and played Tam Dao. Tam Dao is 67 km outside Hanoi but takes about an hour and 20 minutes to get there because the roads are currently so bad (although there is a lot of construction work going on to improve them). Tam Dao was different again to any of the courses we had been to previously. The clubhouse is a huge square block in the middle of an expansive, lush valley. The course was designed by IMG and caters for around 2000 rounds of golf a month although it seemed very quiet when we visited. In fact because there were very few people around. We had a crowd of about 30 or so caddies watching us tee off, which was somewhat disconcerting. Tam Dao is in immaculate condition – the fairways are very green, the bunkers very white and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep you interested. Lots of water and thick rough meant quite a few lost balls for me, but the pars I did manage were very satisfying. Non-golfing attractions in Hanoi: • The French quarter with its squiggles of tiny streets • Getting high quality tailor-made suits and dresses at fantastic prices • Seeing the fabulous works of the modern Vietnamese painters in numerous galleries around Hanoi | |||||
| Chi Linh | |||||
| Chi Linh is about an hour and a half outside Hanoi and offers three nine-hole layouts – the Hill Side, the Valley and the Lake. We only had time to play one and opted for the Hill Side course, which had some spectacular holes including blind drives, assively elevated tees and severe dog-legs. Apparently the other two courses are in much better condition, but I would be surprised if they were as interesting. Non-golfing attractions around Chi Linh: • An overnight cruise around the magical limestone outcrops of Halong Bay, reputed to be one of the seven natural wonders of the world Back on the plane, five courses and seven days later we discuss the trip. Our verdict? If you are looking for a holiday that combines great cultural experiences and good food with some fun golf then get ready to pack your clubs. As for the overall standard of the courses compared to more established golf destinations, there is a way to go yet but watch this space: Vietnam has grand plans. | |||||
| Caddies | |||||
| Everywhere you play golf in Vietnam you have to have a caddy. They are usually friendly women, although their English is limited. They aren’t caddies in the traditional sense so don’t expect any knowledgeable advice, Asian reserve and lack of expert know-how means they are reluctant to proffer suggestions even when asked, although most of them read the greens pretty well. But they can be good fun and they usually supply lots of enthusiastic encouragement for good shots – sadly my caddies rarely had much cause for such excitement. As the days passed I also became aware of how good they are at retrieving wayward balls. | |||||
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