Singapore: Golfers can expect a fun and user-friendly experience when they set foot on the soon-to-open 18-hole layout at Nara Binh Tien Golf and Beach Resort.
Sculpted by David Dale, Principal of Golfplan, the course which features spectacular vistas and plateau-style greens is the centrepiece of a new resort development in the South Central Coast region of Vietnam.
Speaking in the latest Asian Golf Industry Federation webinar, Dale said the project has been built on 80 hectares of land, against the western edge of a large dune along a coastal area.
Asked to characterise the latest addition to Vietnam’s burgeoning golf market, Dale referenced the fabled Seminole Golf Club, consistently rated among the top-100 courses in America.
He said: “The architectural character itself, if I was to start to create an image for someone to expect and experience it, then think of Seminole, Donald Ross’s Florida masterpiece that he did on a site that was on the back side of the dune, flatish lands.
“Binh Tien is an exciting course. I think they’ll (golfers) find it user-friendly and fun. And I think part of that is that on every one of the green sites there’s a place to miss.
“And if you miss your tee shot, there’s a place to hit your second shot to get in position for your third, and you’re able to use that area with a putter to be able to get up and down around the green.”
Located in the city of Cam Ranh, Dale said the course weaves through a variety of different environments.
He said: “On the opening hole, you’ve got a mountain backdrop. You get to the second hole and you’ve got a sea backdrop. You get to the third, fourth, fifth and sixth, and you’re in a water environment. You come into holes seven, eight, nine, back more inland inside the dunes and coming back to the clubhouse area, around a very lavish practice facility.
“When you get into holes 10 through 18 it gets pretty exciting. At 10, 11 you have a little bit of water, it’s the salt marsh then beach resort development. You get onto hole 12, now you’ve got dunes on both sides, and on 13, all of a sudden, you’re looking north down the coastline to a peninsula where there’ll be a luxury villa development location called The Promontory. It’s dramatic.”
Dale predicts the closing stretch will be ‘a wake-up call for anybody playing this golf course’. The 16th is a tough par-three, the 17th is an uphill par-four and the 18th a risk-reward par-five.
Dale said: “It’s a lovely finishing hole, downhill. You’ve got a bunker down the left you can try to cover; you’ve got a big long run out down the right and if you get into that run out down the right, it opens up the green to go at it with a rescue or three-wood, to get to the green in two.”
*To view the full webinar, please click here.