at Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Where to play       What to see      Where to stay       Information

Ho Chi Minh City is the heart and the soul of Vietnam. Inhabitants of the former colonial capital call it still Saigon as a sort of resistance, not to Ho Chi Minh but to the Hanoian officials who have imposed the change of the old city's name.
It's a bustling, dynamic and industrious centre, the largest city in the country, the economic capital and the cultural trendsetter. And golfing around is very easy.

Where to play

First of all, Vietnam Golf & Country Club is located in Ho Chi Minh City in Thu Duc District. The green clean ridge where sits the luxury housing estate surrounding the two 18 hole courses is such a contrast with the traditional housing all around that it can be seen from the planes landing at Ho Chi Minh City airport.

The 7,106-yards West Course was designed by Taiwanese Master Golf Course Architect Chen King Shih. Since its opening in 1994, the West Course has hosted the first Vietnam Amateur Open Championship. The Course features narrow tree-lined fairways and fast smooth greens.
The tranquil-looking West Course's teeth lie in its championship length. Only single-digit handicap players are permitted to play off the Gold Tees. Even from the White Tees, this course can provide a very long afternoon to a low handicap player if his driving is not on target.
The West Course played host to the very first PGA Championship when the Asian PGA Tour rolled into town. The West Course was also the site of the very first SEA Games qualifying tournament where Vietnam's Ministry of Sports selected 12 participants from a field of 40 local Vietnamese to form the nucleus of the first Vietnam National Golf Team.

The 6,946-yard East Course was designed by PGA Tour legend Lee Trevino and opened in 1997. It has been the setting for the ASEAN Charity '99 Golf Tournament to benefit the Ho Chi Minh Hospital for the Poor.
This course is a links-style layout featuring rolling fairways, over 110 strategically placed bunkers, and greens that will have you crawling to Dave Pelz for putting lessons. The East Course's undulating greens are the undoing of many an unsuspecting player.
To score well on this course, a player must play smart and set up a good approach shot which will give him a relatively straight putt - which is something easier said than done on these greens.
Many a championship and US$5 Nassau bets have been won or lost due to the putting skills of the players.
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