ARMY GREENS: The 16th green at The Dunes golf course at China Beach in Danang, designed by Greg Norman (inset).

THE DANANG

TEE PARTY

Sport AIR

Home to a giant US military airbase

during the war, the Vietnamese

city of Danang is reinventing itself

as a club-swinger’s paradise with a new golf course designed

by Australian golfing great

Greg Norman. PAUL MYERS

checks the lie of the links.

72 J U N E 2 0 1 0 A I R

IN 1970, ABOUT THE SAME TIME that a 15-year-old Greg Norman first struck a ball in earnest at Virginia Golf Club in Brisbane, US Marines were withdrawing from their base on China Beach near the central Vietnamese city of Danang. The writing was on the wall for the political future of Vietnam’s third-largest metropolis. Considerably brighter was the outlook for the talented teenage golfer who yearned to become a top tour professional.

By the time Greg Norman won his first tournament, the West Lakes Classic in Adelaide in 1976, the Vietnam War had been over for more than a year. The waters off China Beach again belonged to local fishermen and the sand dunes where the first US Marines landed in 1965 were all but deserted. For the next 34 years, not much else happened on this sublime 25km stretch of coastline sweeping south to the ancient UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Hoi An. Danang’s destiny, it seemed, was as a regional hub and poor cousin, in terms of tourism, to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the hill town of Dalat.

Until now, that is. Danang and China Beach have again leapt into the world spotlight, this time as Asia’s emerging tourism destination, with golf as a major catalyst.

A hoarding that announces “Great White Shark seen in Danang” outside one of the many hotel, resort and villa developments along China Beach illustrates this new era. Here, where wartime gun emplacements, helicopter bunkers and pillboxes guarding the coast still stand as testimony to a divided and turbulent past, Australia’s favourite golfing son is the star attraction; the man whom Danang’s tourism operators hope will help bring thousands of visitors to indulge, enjoy, relax – and play golf.

Danang Golf Club’s The Dunes course, an outstanding links layout designed by Norman, unofficially opened for play in April. It has transformed the sand dunes of China Beach and, with it, Danang’s future. Development is everywhere: new bridges over the Han River and residential

towers on its banks, a huge new sporting complex, a soon-to-be-opened international airport and, south of town, beachfront resorts bearing the familiar names of Hyatt Regency, Raffles, Le Meridien, Furama and others.

But it’s on an adjacent piece of dune land where the most extraordinary transformation has occurred. Here, the Shark and his design team have created – at a cost of $US12 million ($13.1m) – a golf course that experts believe may be seen as Asia’s best. Between the dunes and native casuarina pines there is the same design philosophy that Norman employed on his acclaimed Doonbeg layout on the west coast of Ireland and on his Moonah course at The National on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.

“It’s classic links ground meets the Melbourne sand belt meets China Beach,” says Harley Kruse, an Australian who was Norman’s lead architect on the project. “It’s unlike anything else in Asia, where you don’t usually get the chance to work with this type of land.”

“While it may look intimidating, there are plenty of wide landing areas on the fairways and it’s bound to be enjoyed by golfers of all levels,” enthuses club general manager Howie Roberts.

“You don’t need to play off the [toughest] ‘Shark tees’; [further forward] off the black tips, the white tips or the ladies [red] tees, it’s manageable for most golfers.”

DO A BUNKER: Approaching the 3rd green at China Beach (right); 16th hole (below).

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A I R J U N E 2 0 1 0 73

CADDY COUNTRY: 10th hole at The Dunes; Great White Shark alert (left).

Well, to a point. The ebullient Roberts, who was Welsh amateur champion and whose own professional career was cut short by injury, had no trouble placing the ball wherever he wanted as he showed off the stunning 7160-yard (6547m) layout. But miss the fairways and you’re on one of hundreds of sand dunes that run the entire length of most holes. Miss the right landing spot on the undulating greens and your ball will roll to a run-out area, often with a tricky chip or putt to the flag. Avoid the bunkers surrounding almost every hole and you’ve done well. But miscalculate the salty ocean breeze that strengthens as the temperature rises and you’re certain to find trouble.

“You actually won’t lose balls,” Kruse points out. “Even if you stray off the generous fairways, you’ll find your ball and be able to play out – similar to the Alister MacKenzie [designer of Royal Melbourne] philosophy.”

Scenery and awe this masterpiece has aplenty, no more so than on the par-3 16th hole that plays right up to China Beach. From the tee you see the South China Sea and the Cham Islands in the distance. You can hear, but until reaching the green cannot see, the pounding surf near

where the US Marines landed. You putt up, down or across the steep slope and hope to make par, pause to take in the magnificent seaside vista and press on.

A pillbox facing the ocean from French colonial days greets you on the next tee. Then, skirting the 17th fairway emerges a metaphor for modern Vietnam: sumptuous canal-side golf villas – 128 in all – with a bevy of workers frenetically pushing them to completion.

Priced from $US500,000 ($552,000) to more than $US2m ($2.2m) just for beachfront land, it seems a big ask. But Roberts says 118 villas have already been sold, all to Vietnamese living in Hanoi. The Greg Norman Estates complex of villas starting at about $US800,000 ($883,500) is yet to be constructed.

Developed by VinaCapital Group, which is Vietnam’s largest asset-management company with investments totalling about $US2b ($2.21b), Danang Golf Club is the company’s first foray into golf. Already a second course, tentatively called The Heritage, is planned near an adjacent wetlands. Roberts estimates it will cost $US30m ($34.4m) and is at least three years away from opening. ❯

SAND TRAPPING: Bunkers on the 12th fairway at The Dunes lie in wait for unwary players.

A I R J U N E 2 0 1 0 75

Vietnam, a fledgling golf

destination with only 24 courses, and

more on the way, is embracing the

game with gusto.

In the meantime, Vietnam – a fledgling golf destination with only 24 courses and another 30 or 40 on the way – is embracing the game with gusto. Membership at Danang Golf Club costs $US26,400 and $US800 a year. There seems to be enough locals willing and able to pay, as well as millions of golf enthusiasts in Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and elsewhere seeking new golf courses to tackle and new experiences.

Next door to the Shark’s latest layout (he has two others planned in Ho Chi Minh City) is the recently opened, Colin Montgomerie-designed Montgomerie Links. Managed by an Australian former tour pro, Jon Tomlinson, it is the second of a trilogy of courses for Danang. The third, a Nick Faldo layout on the road north to Hue, is scheduled to open in 2012.

By then, Danang – already with five million visitors a year – is expected to have direct flights from several Asian destinations and at least 10 five-star beachside resorts. If just one per cent of visitors, plus however many locals can be enticed, play the courses, the ventures will be a success. Of the two courses built so far, some golfers may prefer Montgomerie Links ($US75 weekdays, $US95 at weekends a round) – it is less intimidating and is a picturesque, fully grass-covered layout. But traditionalists and those with savoir-faire will undoubtedly opt for Greg Norman’s course, at only $US3 a round more. After all, it allows you to play golf in Scotland while going only a third of the way there. And you can always obtain the requisite tartan golf kit next door. ✜

For more information see www.dananggolfclub.com and www.montgomerielinks.com