KN Golf Links Cam Ranh gets Shark’s seal of approval
Greg Norman said during his latest visit to Vietnam that KN Golf Links Cam Ranh’s breadth of character will make for an experience unlike any other in the booming golf nation.
"The scale and natural topography of the property lends itself beautifully to a great variety of golf holes," Mr. Norman said while playing with the course’s owner — KN Investment Group Chairman Le Van Kiem — and other influential figures in an invitation-only tournament earlier this month.
"It plays links because there’s a lot of up and down and natural contouring to the layout, so you get these sensational visuals from tee boxes especially and really cool run-off areas where the ball can roll and turn. It’s a lot of fun already."
Scheduled to officially open later this year, KN Golf Links Cam Ranh will be Norman's third course in Vietnam (the other two being: Bluffs Ho Tram Strip and Danang Dunes) and the first in Cam Ranh, a new resort destination taking shape along an 8-kilometer stretch of coastline less than an hour’s flight from Ho Chi Minh City.
The span is dominated by spectacular white sand dunes and is within minutes of an international airport that by May will be home to a new, US $163 million terminal.
Norman’s 104th creation is located at the southernmost end of that long and gently curving sweep, interrupted only by a ruggedly beautiful headland and where the height of some of the terrain makes for a number of remarkable viewpoints.
KN Golf Links Cam Ranh is routed through many of those spots. Two of Norman’s favorites are at the 10th and 15th holes, a pair of par-4s that play downhill toward azure ocean waters and three small islands about 10 kilometers offshore.
But what one of the greatest golfers of all time likes most about the 7,165-yard, par-72 layout is its playability.
“You can make a course difficult, but you can also make it so people can get around on their own skills,” said Mr. Norman, who was known as The Great White Shark during his playing days and held the No. 1 ranking for a remarkable 331 weeks. “What’s clear to me here, especially after observing a range of players have a go at it, is that anyone can play all 18 holes.”
Managed with consultation from IMG, KN Golf Links Cam Ranh is among 31 courses in Vietnam in some stage of development and the third golf facility developed by Mr. Kiem, whose company also owns and operates Long Thanh Golf Club near Ho Chi Minh City and Long Vien Golf Club in Vientiane, Laos.
“There is a reason Greg Norman Golf Course Design is recognized as the premier signature golf course design firm in the world,” said Mr. Kiem, who represented Vietnam in golf in the 1999 SEA Games. “His design philosophy of ‘least disturbance’ — whereby he effectively utilizes the surrounding environment while highlighting natural features — has given golfers so many world-class courses.
“KN Golf Links Cam Ranh is Mr. Norman’s latest masterpiece, and perhaps his most distinct links-style golf course in Asia, if not the world.”
When finished, KN Golf Links Cam Ranh will be the first milestone in the inaugural phase of KN Paradise, an 800-hectare hospitality venture that’s also slated to include a suite of hotels, an array of real estate opportunities and entertainment options, and at least nine more holes designed by Norman.
“I could not be more pleased with how this project is coming together,” Mr. Kiem said. “It fills me with pride and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to see it and experience it.”
Greg Norman's new Links opens soon in Vietnam 30th January 2010 Norman's Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club set to open in April on Vietnam’s central coast While not quite finished, The Dunes Course at Danang Golf Club already possesses the characteristics that will allow it immediate entree into conversations about the best links layouts in the world. Firm and fast fairways that bleed gently into wild seaside vegetation, rugged waste areas, swales, hollows, even briny ocean air comprise its DNA. “This will be different from anything anyone’s ever seen in Southeast Asia, I can assure you that,” Howie Roberts - General Manager of the club - says. Looking out over an azure East Sea to the Cham Islands off Vietnam’s central coast you can see what he means. "Links golf hasn't traditionally exerted the same allure among Asian players as it has with golfers in other regions," Roberts observes. "But that's about to change, and I think Danang Golf Club will be a pivotal element in that transformation." The welcome mat gets rolled out in April, when Roberts officially cuts the ribbon on this Greg Norman design. And what a design it’s shaping up to be. In addition to the breathtaking 16th, the minimalist layout features 17 more holes that could just as easily be lifted and placed in Bandon, Oregon, or Doonbeg, County Clare, the homes of a few of golf’s most compelling modern links. “Like Bandon Dunes or Doonbeg (another Norman design), Danang GC is going to look as if it’s been here for centuries,” said Roberts, who’s worked at internationally acclaimed golf venues such as Gary Player’s Cascades Course at Soma Bay, in Egypt. “That’s the type of course we were after, and I think we nailed it.” Danang Golf Club is designed by Greg Norman Golf Course Design (GNGCD) to blend with the existing landscape and look as unlike a new course as possible. Set amid 280 hectares of tropical linksland, the Dunes Course was crafted in the spirit of the world’s most recognizable links including the Moonah Course at The National in Australia and the aforementioned Doonbeg in Ireland — GNGCD designs that rake in awards for their creativity, quality and environmental harmony. “Terms such as ‘links-style,’ ‘linksish,’ and ‘links-like’ are indiscriminately applied to coastal courses these days, but this is the real deal,” said Harley Kruse, senior architect of GNGCD. “It’s wild and exotic and lends itself to the development of the kind of golf course the likes of Old Tom Morris was playing on in Scotland almost 200 years ago. For someone in the golf business, the chance to work with terrain like this is like winning the lottery. And that's how lucky we feel.” With the addition of Danang Golf Club, the central coast solidifies itself as a bona fide golf destination. The Dunes Course gives the region two tracks, including the Colin Montgomerie-designed Montgomerie Links next door that opened in August of last year. A third layout, by three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo, will soon break ground next to a bay less than an hour north of Danang. Some of the world’s most recognizable hotel management brands, such as Hyatt, Raffles and GHM, are either digging in or already there. “The area has long had the fundamental ingredients for a world-class destination,” noted Roberts, “with golden-sand beaches and nearby UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Great golf is a perfect fit and it’s exciting to see the pace of development blossom to match the region’s inherent potential.” When complete, Danang Golf Club will also feature a 3,800-square-metre clubhouse by Sydney-based award winning architects; a practice facility with swing studios and a custom club-fitting lab — both firsts for Vietnam; and 190 luxury ocean villas. Blueprints call for a second championship-standard course and an international-brand, 5-star hotel, in due course.
Top 10 Golf Courses of Vietnam 2015 Big name golf course architects vie for dominance in Vietnam Vietnam, officially recognised by The International Association of Golf Tour Operators as "Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year" in 2008, shows little sign of scaling down its golf development. In a country where there was only a couple of golf courses in use a couple of decades ago, there are now dozens of new layouts in operation and on the drawing board. Big name course architects are attracting much of the limelight, with the design companies of Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Colin Montgomerie all jockeying for position when it comes to unveiling top-end courses, and we’ve now adjusted our Vietnamese Top 10 rankings in an attempt to keep up with what’s going on in a very fast moving golfing environment. Our top ranked course for 2015 in Vietnam is the sensational new Bluffs Ho Tram Strip layout, a Greg Norman design that opened in 2014 to much critical acclaim in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. Fairways have been expertly routed around towering seaside sand dunes, offering golfers a wonderful links-like golf experience. The Great White Shark’s other headline design, the Dunes course at Danang Golf Club, drops three places to number 4 in our new national chart. It’s still the only 18-hole layout available at Danang’s China Beach resort, but Greg Norman’s contracted to double the golfing complement with a new Heritage 18-hole layout. Sir Nick Faldo’s fantastic new Laguna Lang Co course makes its first appearance in our Vietnam Top 10 chart at number 3. Located on the East Sea coastline, between the old imperial capital of Hue and the nation’s third largest city Danang, the layout forms the golfing centrepiece of an upmarket residential development. Colin Montgomerie completes the triumvirate of modern golfing greats who now ply their trade in Vietnam as headline golf architects, but unfortunately for Monty, his Montgomerie Links layout, situated adjacent to the Danang Golf Club property, falls three spots to number 5 in our latest Vietnam rankings. IMG is another big architectural firm in the region and two of its courses feature in our new chart. Squeezing in at number 10, Vinpearl – Nha Trang is set out on Hon Tre Island, a former penal colony, with every hole enjoying glorious views of Nha Trang Bay. At the other end of our Vietnamese listings, the 18-hole layout at Dalat Palace moves up one place to an impressive number 2 position. Golfplan (who designed Long Thanh in 2003, Dragon Phoenix in 2007 and Sea Links in 2008) and Pacific Coast Design (with their Kings’ Island (Mountainview) in 2004, Heron Lake in 2007 and Do Son Seaside Golf Resort in 2010) are two long-established firms that have worked extensively in Vietnam in recent years. Brett Mogg of Nelson & Haworth, a relative newcomer to the country, tells us their first 18-hole layout at Longbien Tan Son Nhat Golf Club is due to open next month or in January 2015 with a second 18-hole course to follow by the middle of 2015. Another of the company’s new courses at Longbien Gia Lam Golf Club in Hanoi is now open with a further 9 holes scheduled for play by the end of next year. Click the link to view the complete detailed list of Vietnam’s Top 10 courses Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses of the World Thanks to Masa Nishijima (our International Consultant) for helping to assemble our new Vietnamese Top 10.
Dalat Palace named Vietnam’s best course A Vietnamese golf magazine, in conjunction with Vietnam Tourism has named Dalat Palace Golf Club the country’s best golf course. The selection process included input from readers and a panel of experts. Dalat Palace has been sitting proudly at the No.1 position in Vietnam on the website Top 100 Golf Courses of the World (www.top100golfcourses.com) for a number of years. “Phrases like ‘timeless quality’ are frequently applied to golf courses and anything else that’s designed,” said Kurt Greve, general manager of Dalat Palace. “But as our members and others who’ve played the course know, it’s not just a cliché in this case. You find something new and interesting every time you tee it up here. So this award is like seeing an old friend recognized for his hard work and intelligence.” Indeed, Dalat Palace could be said to embody Vietnam’s stop-and-start, but now-thriving golf scene. Along with the country’s other “original” course, the Go Vap Golf Course — familiarly known as Saigon Golf Club — Dalat Palace dates to the late 1920s and early 1930s, the golden age of golf course architecture. It is evident that Colt & Alison, the distinguished British firm, had a hand in the design, though it is not clear exactly what that consisted of. Like the clubhouse, a Le Tourquet-style villa with Tudor features that suggest the property’s connection to the British Isles, Dalat Palace – also called Dalat Pine Lake at one stage – has gone through a couple of boom-and-bust cycles. Most recently, the course essentially went to seed during the years from 1975 to 1993, when a joint venture project between U.S.-based Danao International Holdings Limited and Lam Dong Province renovated nine holes and built a new nine to go along with it. Since then, Dalat Palace has hosted numerous golf tournaments, including the Vietnam Amateur Championships last summer. Apart from its strategic challenge and precipitous changes in elevation, the course is known for its colorful flora, including bougainvillea, red salvia, impatiens, mimosa, and hydrangeas. “We hope the award will encourage golfers who’ve never played Dalat Palace to give the course a try,” said Greve. “We know they’ll be back once they do.” The Vietnamese golf magazine also voted Ocean Dunes Golf Club, in Phan Thiet, for having the best par 3 hole, No. 9. Ocean Dunes is also owned and operated under the Indochina Land and Danao International Holdings, Ltd. umbrella. ABOUT DANAO INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Danao manages a portfolio of hotels, resorts and serviced apartments, including the 5-star Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel, 4-star Novotel Dalat, Dalat Palace Golf Club, 4-star Novotel Ocean Dunes, Ocean Dunes Golf Club and the Riverside Apartments in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2007, Indochina Capital and Dragon Capital became joint investors in the Danao portfolio. Founded in 1999, Indochina Capital ranks as one of Vietnam's leading financial services firms. Dragon Capital, one of the most experienced investors in Vietnam, was founded in 1994 and now has US$1.6 billion in assets under management. Contact: Tom Harack Mandarin Media (+84) 0125 507 0880 tharack@mandarinmedia.net
