Montgomerie Links - Vietnam

Montgomerie Links is, as the name suggests, a links-like course consisting of many features such as wide and hard fairways. The greens are generally large and undulating, and the bunkers are deep and challenging, and look appealing as their white color offers an interesting contrast to the green of the fairways and putting surfaces. The sandy-soil, wind-blown dunes and indigenous vegetation such as the pines and casuarinas combine in creating a nice landscape. Many water hazards and deep bunkers are strategically placed throughout the course, so accuracy is important on this course. My favorites are short par 4 4th, a pretty par 3 5th, a short par 5 5th, a very long par 4 9th, nice par 3 11th, a mid-length par 5 12th that has 18 FW bunkers, long par 4 13th, long par 3 14th and a short par 4 14th.

The par 4 321-yard 4th is a very short par four with a dogleg bending to the right. With a downhill tee shot, long hitters will be able to carry the ball very close to the green. At around 235 yards from the tee ground, there is a pond that appears on the right side. Accuracy is more important over distance off the tee. The further the ball flies, the narrower the fairway guarded by bunkers becomes. Players can use a driver or lay-up with a utility or iron. The green is guarded with a lake to its right. A birdie is possible as long as players can hit a successful and accurate tee shot. This is a nice risk/reward hole.

The par 13 455-13th is a straight, difficult, and long par four. The second shot will require a very demanding uphill shot. The dense trees come into play on the left side of the green, sloping steeply from left to right. When the pin is positioned to the left side, it will make the approach shot more difficult. The right side of the green is guarded by a sloping dune with a small pond strategically located just under the dune waiting for any errant shots.

Pretty humdrum compared to Greg Norman course up the road and Ba Na Hills. Few memorable holes other than a Par 4 that curves around a lake and all felt a bit 'scruffy' - course seemed not sure about what the off fairway areas should look like. Monty also seemed to position bunkers in middle of fairways on most holes - perhaps he perfers an iron off the tee ? :)

There is something almost surreal to playing golf at somewhere like this in Vietnam as it's so far away from what constitutes normaility for almost every single person in the country. The green fee is obscene, but that seems to be pretty normal for Asian courses where it seems highlighting your wealth is much more important than the golf. This course didn't impress me and first and foremost, I'm there to pay golf, not look at caddies or be wowed by clubhouses. The caddie I was allocated was pleasant enough but could only discuss very basic golf concepts such as yardage and "flag front", or "flag back". So effectively useless to me as I've seemed to have no problems pulling my own buggy around and getting my own clubs in about 35 other countries. Plus I have a golf GPS on my bag (in metres) as that's what I know all my clubs in. (Caddie used yards). The other reason I use a GPS is it shows me distances to the start of/to clear hazards and helps me plan how best to play unfamiliar courses. The allocated caddie could do none of that. (and yes I fully understand that I'm a visitor to the country and it's my fault I don't speak Vietnamese, but if you want to force me to take a caddie and charge me fees for such, then surely I should expect to get something out of it?) Another bizarre experience: as I was a single I wasn't allowed to tee off before my tee time as I had to wait at the starters for others to join me. It wasn't busy! They arrived at my tee time and were three pleasant Korean guys. It was pretty clear they didn't want to play as a foursome probably because I don't speak Korean and they had only minimal English, but mostly because I was playing from the Blue tees and they looked like they wanted to play from the more forward Whites, but even after encouraging them to do so, I suspect 'loss of face' meant that they all duly hit off from the Blues as well. We reached the second green and were caught by, surprisingly, a single golfer! So even though the caddies didn't seem to like the decision, I joined with the single and played the rest of the round as a twosome and left the others to their original threesome. Who knows what the starters plan was... Course was nice enough and I'd rate it 8/10, but that is mostly from the conditioning (overwatered though) and aesthetics. The design of the layout didn't inspire me and I can't really remember much of the holes. They did tend to blend into one another due to the layout of the site and the fact that it appears constrained. (much more so than Danang GC next door which has MUCH better landscape to work with and is routed in a much more interesting fashion). 4th was an interesting short par 4 with water hidden along the right, but maybe I remember that hole because it was my only birdie for the day. 5th was a too short par 3 (it was 118yards on the card (over water) but the tee markers were well forward so only wedge required) and this was overcompensated for by the par 3 14th which was playing longer than its indicated 204yards (due to the breeze and it's also over water). Summary: - Too expensive for the game (and nickel and diming for the range balls!). - Course was mediocre. - Compulsory caddie was pointless. - It was nice to be playing golf on holidays! - Clubhouse and staff are all very pleasant, but I'm quite capable of doing things myself and this isn't the middle ages so I don't need serfs. - Danang GC was much better.

Just 5 minutes away from the beautiful fishing village of Hoi An is the opulent ‘Monty links’Greeted by a literal ‘army’ of friendly female caddies we made our way to the pro shop & picked up our shoes & Titlist hire clubs.Make no mistake this is a 5 star course & the western price green fees reflect that. Seems even more expensive in the stark contrast of the cheap local Vietnamese prices... but if you’re after a round of golf out here then you might not mind indulging yourself.The course itself has lots of tee options for whatever standard you feel you can play to that day after your late night out in the bars of Hoi An.My Caddie Kai politely informed me that championship tees have been re-named as the ‘Monty tees’ in homage to the courses well known designer. After removing from that information I teed off & set off with my friends down the fairway for a slow but ultimately very enjoyable round. The course is tough by any measure you want to use. Some fantastic looking holes & when the mountains revealed themselves through the clearing mist of the morning we all had a collective feeling of contentment. A fantastic place to be. The toughest aspect of this course has to be the undulating & firm greens. Single figure handicappers going into greens with wedges still finding that the ball takes 3-4 extra yards to check-up. A real challenge & plenty of fun. Monty has done a fine job here.The club house, changing facility & bar are all top notch too for a post-game drink. Well worth a visit if you’re a golf fan passing along this route.