South Vietnam Triangle Golf Package

Located just 17 kilometers from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Golf & Country Club is one of the nearest golf clubs to the city center.  Vietnam Golf & Country Club is set amongst 300 hectares of land and includes two championship golf courses. Both courses play through mature woodlands with minimal land movement. Golfers at Vietnam Golf & Country Club get the feeling that the land was destined to be a golf course, so natural is the layout and design.

Open since November 1995, the 7,106-yard West Course at Vietnam Golf & Country Club features narrow tree-lined fairways and fast level greens. The par-72 championship course was Taiwanese designed and hosted the Vietnam Open Asian PGA Tour events in both 1995 and 1997.

The course winds its way through mostly oil palm trees offering challenging tee shots to narrow landing areas. Several holes also feature a lone tree in the center of the fairway. Bermuda Tifeagle greens provide beautiful putting surfaces all year round. The West Course’s difficulty lies in its championship length. Only single-digit handicap players should play off the back tees. Even from the regular men's tees, this course can provide a very long afternoon of golf, especially if drives are not on target.

One of the best holes is 11th. It's a long 408 yard par-4,  dogleg to the left. The tee shot must carry over trees on the left to have sight of the green. A large tree on the center of the fairway and bunkers on both sides of the green come into play on the second shot. The slightly elevated green is shallow and wide, so an approach shot must have some spin on it to hold the green.

The second course at Vietnam Golf & Country Club is the 6,946-yard East Course.  Designed by Lee Trevino and opened in 1997, the East Course offers more generous fairways than the West Course but includes 110 well-positioned bunkers, water hazards, and undulating fast-rolling Bermuda Tifdwarf greens. The layout is so challenging even a seasoned tour pro will think twice before 'going for it.' The East Course’s undulating greens are the undoing of many an unsuspecting player. Golfers must play smart and set-up good approach shots to give relatively straight putts - which is something more comfortable said than done on these greens. Many a side bet have been won or lost due to the putting skills of the golfer.

The clubhouse is spacious and well-maintained as a private club. The large locker and changing rooms include Japanese showers and dry and wet saunas for a welcome treat after any round. Two clubhouse restaurants serve a good range of food items, with the local Vietnamese noodle soups highly recommended. The pro shop is one of the best stocked in Vietnam with new and used equipment, great selections of golf apparel, and all of the latest balls and gloves.

While Vietnam Golf & Country Club is technically a private golf club with priority to locals and expatriates, however, weekday play, when the course is least crowded, is open for visitor bookings. Both the East and West Courses are good choices for a day golfing in Saigon.

Tan Son Nhat Golf Course is a public golf course located 4 kilometers from the center of Ho Chi Minh City and one of Saigon's most popular courses. Built across 156 hectares, the 36-hole course borders the Tan Son Nhat Airport – the busiest in Vietnam.

Nelson & Haworth Golf Course Architects designed a top course out of the surrounding flattish land. Significant earth mounding, many water hazards, large bunkers, and undulating greens characterize every hole. Paspalum turf used on the tees, fairway, rough, and greens ensure top year-round playing conditions. The Saigon golf course is a modern city layout, and Vietnam's most populated city's skyline is viewable from practically every hole.

As well as being the most convenient to play in the city, the course conditioning is consistently great during both dry and wet seasons.  Offering four nines is a considerable advantage when it comes to course maintenance and playability. Each nine is equally challenging and well-maintained.

Course A plays away from the clubhouse and in an area designated for apartments, villas, and an on-site hotel. Course B, C, and D all start at the clubhouse. C and D Courses are more demanding off the tee, whereas A and B Courses require more strategic play than length and accuracy. The par-5's play long and mainly into the wind. Avoid the greenside bunkers on the par-3's for scoring opportunities. All the greens have extreme undulation and, while on the slow side, are still good fun to play.  The fairway bunkers can be pretty problematic, but an errant tee shot deserves to be penalized.   

Standout holes on each nine include hole six on the A Course. The par-4 has water all down the left side and fairway bunkers placed at landing areas. Strategy is important as a perfect drive is needed to reach a green that slopes front to back.  Hole three on the B Course is a short par-4 with a fairway bunker and a dogleg fairway to the left.  It's preferable to lay back off the tee and have a full club into the smallish sloping and well-protected green.  The final hole on the C Course is a reachable downwind par-5. Two solid shots get on the green. However, avoid the bunkers 230 yards off the tee and the creek fronting the green. The best hole on Course D is the fifth. This par-3 plays over water, ensuring any mishit is wet. The undulated green is tricky, especially if putting from a different tier as the pin.

The Tan Son Nhat clubhouse is one of the largest in Asia and can accommodate golfers and large banquets, weddings, and other official functions for up to 5,000 guests at a time. The on-site restaurant serves tasty Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and western dishes at very reasonable prices, with Korean dishes as the specialties.

One of the interesting features at Tan Son Nhat is night golf. Play carries on past midnight and might be a good way to settle bets or as an alternative to the Saigon nightlife.

Other faculties, including a pro shop, driving range, chipping and putting areas, locker rooms, and changing areas, are all first-rate. Tan Son Nhat Golf Club runs under the supervision of the Vietnam Ministry of Defense. Golf carts are mandatory and relegated to cart paths only, although prices are reasonable, and golfers can still walk the fairways while caddies drive. Speaking of caddies, they are all male army recruits with an excellent service mindset, though limited English skills.

Anyone golfing in Saigon should have a hit at Tan Son Nhat.  High-quality golf courses close to town are a rarity these days and won't be around forever.

KN Cam Ranh Golf Links is a Greg Norman-designed signature course. It’s one of only a handful of links courses in Asia. It is part of an 800-hectare mega-project including eight kilometers of prime oceanfront land along the East Sea, dominated by spectacular white sand-dunes and long, gently curving coastline. The course is 5-minutes from the Cam Ranh International Airport and 20 minutes from the resort city of Nha Trang.

The Links Course at Cam Ranh golf course was created on top of rolling dunes with some 50 meters of elevation change from highest to lowest. The existing coastal dunes, features, hazards, and ocean views form an integral part of the hole routing. The property's natural topography lends itself beautifully to a great variety of golf holes, and there are sensational views from tee boxes of most holes.

The layout is devoid of trees and resembles a links course in Scotland rather than Asia. There are some natural shrubbery and native grass, and that’s all!  Meticulously manicured Zoysia turf on the fairways provides a beautiful contrast with the white sandy beach and blue waters of the South China Sea. Greens are grassed with Tiff-Eagle Bermuda turf.

Playability was another factor that went into the design because the links course represents the original golf style. Cam Ranh plays links because there’s a lot of up and down and natural contouring. Run-off areas feature on most holes which adds to the strategy. Also, being near the sea, wind speed, and direction provides constant challenges, with the more elevated holes affected the most when the wind’s up.

Two of the best holes are the 10th and 15th, a pair of par-4s that play downhill towards the ocean and three small islands about 10 kilometers offshore.

The Oasis Course offers golfers a tranquil challenge that complements the rugged nature of the award-winning 18-hole Links Course. Expansive fairways with large landing areas and water on eight of the nine holes characterize the Oasis course. The par-five third hole offers the first sight of the inter-connecting water network with a stream snaking its way down the left-hand side from the tee before splitting the fairway as it cuts across to the right and down towards the island green. The course has floodlights, which makes it ideal for late afternoon rounds on arrival into Cam Ranh.

Golfers can play either the 18-hole Links Course or a 9-9 combination of Ocean-Links Courses. For even more enjoyment and time permitting, a full 27-hole layout is also a good choice.  

Professionally managed by IMG, Cam Ranh Golf Links runs like clockwork and offers 5-star service. The well-equipped clubhouse provides spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and out over Cam Ranh Bay itself. Together with the golf courses and clubhouse, multiple hotels, entertainment areas, a marina, a theme park, and villas form the total Cam Ranh Links Golf Resort.

Vinpearl Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-71 layout of 6,787 yards. The golf course is part of the Vinpearl Resort set on Hon Tre Island in a private cove of Nha Trang Bay. Forbes Magazine rates the area as one of the most beautiful bays in the world, and Vinpearl Golf Club offers a spectacular bay view from most holes on the course. It takes one hour by combined car and boat from Nha Trang’s Cam Ranh Airport to reach Vinpearl Golf Club.

IMG Worldwide, a global leader in golf course design, has made great use of the natural beauty mapping an impressive layout along the 800-meter beach and throughout the valley. Each hole is a unique challenge creating unmatched satisfaction and memorable experience for the golfer.

Some of the most memorable holes include the long 460-yard par-4 forth and the beautiful par-3 16th that plays with the South China Sea in the backdrop. The eighteenth is a brutal uphill walk, so have some extra charge in the batteries to make it to the end without resorting to walking.

The 300-yard driving range with all grass teeing area, including extensive practice chipping and putting greens and standard practice bunkers, provides excellent facilities to warm-up before any round. The clubhouse restaurant serves both Asian and Western cuisine, albeit at high prices. The seaside setting is an ideal place to host outdoor events and enjoy the delightful natural scenery with fresh air and cooling sea breezes.

The Dalat Palace Golf Club is situated 5000 feet above sea level in the temperate highlands of Dalat and plays downhill to the Xuan Huong Lake. Playing at Dalat Palace reminds golfers of the days when leisure pursuit was the norm for the French colonialists. Local Vietnamese staff greets guests with warm, friendly smiles and service, making Dalat a favorite retreat for decades. Surveys in 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 by Golf Digest ranked the Dalat Palace Golf Club as the top course in Vietnam. Asian Golf Monthly in 2007 recognized the club as one of the top 10 in Asia. The club is also a member of the Finest Golf Clubs of The World (London). All awards are a tribute to Vietnam's first golf course! Built as a 9-hole layout in 1922, it took support from the country's most prominent golfer (Bao Dai, the last emperor of Vietnam) to finish the construction of a full 18-holes later in the decade. The Dalat Palace golf course was abandoned after WWII and revived in 1959. In early 1966, Dalat palace hosted professional golfers from around the world, including Billy Casper, several months before he beat Arnold Palmer to win the U.S. Open at San Francisco's Olympic Club. The course was abandoned again in 1975 after the reunification of Vietnam. The Dalat Palace's second comeback in 1993 saw a significant renovation by American investors. In early 1994, Dalat emerged again as one of the up-and-coming golf destinations in Southeast Asia with the revival and expansion of Dalat Palace Golf Club. Dalat Palace crosses through stately pine trees to oversized and delicately manicured bent grass greens, the only ones in Asia. Today, it's the top-rated course in Vietnam due to the excellent layout, many elevation changes, and for bent grass greens. In fact, due to the colder climate in the mountains of Dalat, Vietnam, the Dalat Palace Golf Club is the only golf course in South East Asia with bent grass tees, fairways, and greens. Bentgrass is often considered to be the ultimate playing surface in golf. The large, undulating bent grass greens are maintained to impeccable standards and present a good challenge. Once golfers adjust to the fast speed, they agree that the greens at Dalat Palace are among the finest in Asia.