Five courses every golfer must play in Vietnam
From vibrant cities and unique local delicacies to fascinating history and stunning natural landscapes, Vietnam has never had trouble drawing people to its shores, and now with almost 100 exceptional courses, golfers from across the globe are being enticed to see what it has to offer. Here, we look at five of the best golf courses in Vietnam.
Golf’s story in Vietnam begins in the 1930s when France was the colonial power in the region. It wasn’t the French themselves who laid out the first holes, but rather it was Vietnam’s last emperor, Bao Dai, who built a six-hole course in the central highlands at Dalat after discovering the sport on a trip to the French mainland.
The course, known as Dalat Golf Club, was revived in 1954 as a nine-hole course, later becoming popular with American troops, but was abandoned after the Vietnam War. It stayed that way until 1994, when American billionaire and DHL co-founder Larry Hillblom instigated a multi-million dollar renovation to turn it into an 18-hole championship layout. The same year, Vietnam Golf & Country Golf opened as Vietnam’s first 36-hole facility, close to Ho Chi Minh City, and the green shoots of Vietnam’s golfing culture were starting to show. However, it took until the late noughties for the sport to really take off in the county, with the central coastal region around Danang leading the way and styling itself as the Vietnam Golf Coast.
Today, golf continues to grow apace; the R&A’s 2023 Global Golf Participation Report put the number of courses in Vietnam at 96. Dozens more are either under construction or in the planning stages, making it one of the world’s fastest-growing golf destinations, if not the fastest. Today there are courses throughout Vietnam, from the north around Hanoi and UNESCO World Heritage Site Halong Bay down its 3,260km coastline to tropical holiday island Phu Quoc in the far south, with notable golf architects including Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Sir Nick Faldo and Robert Trent Jones Jr putting their stamp on a number of them. In terms of scenery, in terms of course conditioning, in terms of the eagerness of the country to embrace golf, Vietnam is second to none in Asia.
BRG Kings Island Golf Resort – King Course
The newest of three courses at the resort set on the shores of Dong Mo Lake, an hour west of downtown Hanoi and reached after a 10-minute boat ride, the Kings Course is a design by Jack Nicklaus II and opened for play in 2018. The course features 19 holes, with an extra par-3 hole played from a lofty tee atop a waterfall to an island green in front of the clubhouse. It is more open than sister layouts, the Lakeside and Mountainside courses, but is no pushover, measuring over 7,300 yards from the tips and with challenging bunker complexes around the greens
Ba Na Hills Golf Club
The first, and so far only, design by Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, in conjunction with IMG, is draped over slopes below the verdant Ba Na mountains less than 30 minutes from Danang. The course is spectacular, with every hole serving up glorious views of the forested backdrop, while undulating greens provide a stiff putting test. All 18 holes are floodlit, allowing golfers to carry on playing beyond dusk and into the night. At over 7,850 yards from the championship tees, Ba Na Hills is Vietnam’s longest golf course.
Hoiana Shores Golf Club
Robert Trent Jones Jr’s first design in Vietnam is a links-style par-71 set along a stunning, restored coastal dunescape close to the ancient trading port of Hoi An, a tourist hotspot known as the “City of Lanterns”. Highlighting that, pins on every green feature a red lantern in place of a flag. It was designated Asia’s first GEO Certified sustainable golf property by the GEO Foundation, the non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing sustainability in the golf industry.
Laguna Lang Co
Part of an integrated resort fronted by a three-kilometre beach with jungle-covered mountains rising steeply behind, this Faldo design is two hours by road from Hoi An if you are not staying at one of the two luxury, on-site hotels – but it is well worth the journey. The course encompasses six environments: sand blow-outs, rice paddy fields, beach, river, jungle and exposed rock outcrops. The rocks feature most prominently on the par-3 11th hole, which the six-time major champion rates his favourite. As with all Vietnam courses, caddies are mandatory, the 90 drawn from local villages and fishing communities resplendent in white, teal and blue uniforms topped by traditional Nón lá conical hats.
FLC Group
FLC Quy Nhon Ocean Course
Little earth was moved by Nicklaus Design to fashion this acclaimed natural beauty on Vietnam’s south-east coast. It features a front nine that plays through an elevated and contoured pine forest, several holes offering panoramic vistas of the South China Sea, and an oceanside back nine, all with expansive sea views. The course forms part of an award-winning resort project set along one of South East Asia’s best beaches that also includes the Schmidt & Curley-designed Mountain Course, which opened a year after its sibling, in 2017. There are no lakes on the Ocean Course, while sand and pine run-off areas edge the wide fairways instead of rough.