Danang, Vietnam: Golf course designs should enhance and protect the cultural identity of each destination as well as giving an appropriate and enhanced sense of place and respect to the land it sits on.

Those are the views that golf course architect Tim Lobb will express during his presentation at the second Asian Golf Industry Federation (AGIF) Danang Conference.

To be staged at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in the coastal city in central Vietnam, the four-day gathering (August 28-31) will bring together leaders from the region’s golfing industry and embrace a variety of topical themes.

Held in conjunction with Danang Tourism and the BRG Group, the AGIF Danang Conference will specifically focus on sustainability in golf course design, golf course maintenance and operations, the growing role of women in golf and continued golf tourism recovery in the post-Covid era.

Among the keynote speakers is Lobb, who heads up Lobb + Partners and is a member of the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects and immediate Past President of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects (2021-2023).

Lobb said: “As golf course architects, we have the power to shape the future. We need to design courses that are relevant in our modern-day society. It is our chance, now, in a post-Covid world, to bring families and young people into golf. We must create the facilities that make golf interesting and fun.

“The design of a course is fundamental to safeguarding the future of golf. We need to stress how the design of courses helps promote the game of golf, for all.”

A strong proponent of the importance of design in the future of golf, the title of Lobb’s Danang presentation is Golf Course Design the Next Generation: A Sense of Place, Protect the Cultural Identity and Provide Emotional Stimulation.

Lobb, who has worked in golf course design for 25 years, said: “I’m looking forward to presenting the importance of ensuring that golf course designs enhance and protect the cultural identity of each destination as well as giving an appropriate and enhanced sense of place and respect to the land it sits in and on.

“The most memorable golfing experiences provoke emotional stimulation and I seek to demonstrate how within the golf course design we can evoke this emotive spark in our mind.”

The AGIF Danang Conference forms part of a week-long golfing festival in Danang that will also see BRG Da Nang Golf Resort play host to a 54-hole event on the Asian Development Tour (ADT), the Asian Tour’s feeder circuit.

Name: AGIF Danang Conference
Date: August 28-31, 2023
Venue: Sheraton Grand Hotel, Danang, Vietnam
Organisers: Asian Golf Industry Federation, Danang Tourism, BRG Group

*For further details about sponsorship opportunities and attending the Conference as a delegate, please contact the AGIF’s Fran Hughes at membership@agif.asia