Top 25 Golf Courses of Vietnam 2018
We normally revise our various rankings every two years but occasionally, when circumstances dictate, we’ll update a listing within that time span, especially if a new data source comes to our attention or if there’s such a high level of golfing activity within a particular region or country that it would remiss of us not to reassess things more expeditiously.
As there’s a lot going on these days on the golf front in Vietnam, we’re reappraising the country less than fifteen months after our previous chart was updated, expanding it to a Top 25 and refreshing the positions. Across Asia, nearly 200 new golf facilities have been unveiled in 24 different countries since 2010 and there are currently more than 170 golf projects at various stages of development so the entire continent, and not just Vietnam, is a hotspot of golfing activity at the moment.
Even though we’re unsure of the exact number of Asia’s new and proposed facilities that are attributable to Vietnam, we’re pretty certain it’s an inordinately high percentage of the overall total. As evidence of this, we mentioned in our November 2016 Vietnam article that architects Schmidt & Curley – who seem to specialise in ultra-large golfing enterprises in Asia – have just started on the first two 18-hole layouts within an enormous ten-course initiative near Dong Hoi. Additionally, a new Brian Curley layout is due to open soon near the World Heritage site at Halong Bay.
There are currently around forty courses available to golfers around the country but that number will easily be doubled in the next few years if a national golf development plan comes to fruition and is completed in its entirety – it really is hard to believe it was only twenty-five years ago that the nation’s first modern golf course opened for play at the King’s Island Resort in 1993.
The Greg Norman-designed course at Bluffs Ho Tram Strip remains our Vietnamese number 1, a position it’s held since entering our rankings in 2015. Our US Consultant Fergal O’Leary played here last year and his opinion was “the Bluffs course is routed around wonderful sand dunes with the land for the back nine being much more interesting for golf.” He also thought the course might benefit from a couple of refinements: “new tees to add some angles to the holes and a comprehensive removal of vegetation across the smothered sand dunes. Thankfully the club is working on these improvements.”
The highest new entry in our last chart update at number 4 was the Ocean course at FLC Quy Nhon Beach & Golf Resort, a Nicklaus Design layout that now moves up one place to number 3. It doesn’t quite make the runner-up slot because that’s now occupied by its stablemate at FLC Quy Nhon, the Schmidt & Curley-designed Mountain course, which comes straight in at the number 2 position. Carpeted throughout in all-Platinum paspalum, the Mountain layout is set in the hillside above the Ocean course, where sixteen of the fairways enable golfers to enjoy a direct visual connection with the coastline.
It’s worth noting that both courses at FLC Quy Nhon were built in record time by Flagstick, a Schmidt-Curley Design spinoff company that’s become one of Asia’s top golf construction firms, and they now comprise the exciting 36-hole golfing component of a massive residential venture overlooking Nhon Ly Beach and the South China Sea on Vietnam’s eastern seaboard.
Surprisingly, only two other courses make an upward move in our new Vietnamese listings. The first of these is Ba Na Hills (up one to 4) near Da Nang, Luke Donald’s inaugural course design in conjunction with IMG, and the second layout is the 18-hole Lake course at Sky Lake Resort & Golf Club, an hour’s drive southwest of Hanio, which rises a commendable eight places to number 12.
Another Greg Norman design about to open in the second quarter of this year (according to IMG, who will manage the course) is the initial 18-hole layout at Cam Ranh Links Golf Resort in southeast Vietnam, sited next to Cam Ranh international airport. It’s part of an ambitious 2,000-acre seaside development that includes multiple high-end hotels, luxury villas, an upscale marina, entertainment zone and theme park. There’s more than a fair chance this new facility will feature in our next chart update so we’ll be keeping a very close eye on it between now and then.
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To view further details of our newly updated Vietnam Top 25 rankings click the link.
We always like to know what you think of our re-ranked national listings so please make use of the “Respond to this article” link at the top or at the bottom of this page if you’d like to get in touch regarding our newly enlarged Vietnam Top 25.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
