The Novotel Ocean Dunes resort is the first to grace Vietnam's shores, and its world-class golf course, designed by Nick Faldo, is a must play for anyone interested in Asian golf.

PHAN THIET, Vietnam - You wake up early, when the hotel is silent, and you can't help but walk down to the beach, which has been seducing you since faint light first appeared over the South China Sea.

You're in for a minor shock. Forget that solo sunrise walk on the sand. There may be no one stirring at the hotel, but here on the beach the good people of Phan Thiet are starting their day at, or in, the sea.

They're going at it full-bore, stretching, walking, even playing badminton. A group of fishermen pulls a net toward shore as onlookers approvingly eye the wriggling catch.

Phan Thiet is one of the most popular getaways in Vietnam, especially for harried urbanites from nearby Ho Chi Minh City, but this is one beach where the locals won't be crowded out by the tourists.

That may have something to do with the town itself - a busy little fishing village, bright and clean with wide streets. Phan Thiet is famous for nuoc ma, a kind of fish sauce, and nearby markets and restaurants sell the fishermen's daily haul.

The first resort to grace Vietnam's shores, the Novotel Ocean Dunes sits right on the South China Sea (called the East Sea by the natives) and a private beach that in reality isn't so private. Alongside is a superb Nick Faldo-designed golf course.

Originally built by Russian developers in the 1970s, the hotel opened in its present form in 1996 and is now a crescent-shaped star on the Binh Thuan coast resort scene. Seaside rooms are bathed in light shining off the polished hardwood floors; large verandas (mine had a bathtub) overlook the gardens, swimming pools, massage huts and lighted tennis courts.

The first two of a planned 20 bungalows, modeled on a historic home built by Chinese merchants in the former imperial capital of Hue, opened in August 2006. Each has four rooms on the ground floor and two suites on the second, the latter featuring galley kitchens, high-ceilinged salons, master bedrooms and blond-wood bathrooms. Sunken jacuzzis have beach views.

"We think the villas will be the seaside resort of choice for tour groups and families who prefer the relative seclusion that a multi-room villa affords," said Barry Israel, chairman of owner Danao International Holdings.

The beach is the lure here, but there are other attractions. Cape Mui Ne's sprawling sand dunes are about 13 miles away, via more seaside fishing towns. Also nearby are Silver Lake and the 13th-century Cham Tower.

If you're a golfer, though, you probably won't want to leave the grounds.

Designer Faldo calls the Ocean Dunes course a "tropical links" layout and it is indeed links-like in following the natural contours of a sand-covered dune sculpted into new angles daily by the winds sweeping off the sea.

Of course, a true links course doesn't have pines decorating the rolling terrain, or such distinctly non-Scottish flora as cacti, or the sounds of Buddhist chanting from an on-course temple. But it is a gorgeous layout, beautifully manicured, with palms swaying in the breeze, glassy ponds topped by floating pinking flowers and views of distant volcanic mountains.

With water coming into play on nearly every hole and some subtle but attention-getting elevation changes, Ocean Dunes is a cut above your typical resort course in terms of challenge.

The course is in excellent condition, with pristine, multi-tiered greens that are a pleasure to putt upon. The par-3 ninth, voted one of the world's 500 best holes by Golf Magazine, is a narrow shoot through the trees to an elevated green and postcard town views beyond.

May 18, 2007

CANCUN, Mexico -- The International Association of Golf Travel Operators (IAGTO) has named Vietnam its 2007 “Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year.” The announcement capped the organization’s annual Awards Gala Dec. 6, here at the Gran Melia Hotel.

The award was a crowning moment in a pivotal golf year for Vietnam. Development of the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail, launched July 1, signaled a coming-of-age for the country’s international golf standing. A month later, representatives of the VN golf community met in Hanoi to form the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), the country's first such governing body.

“We used to think of ourselves as the golf world’s best-kept secret,” said Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chu, General Secretary of the VGA, “but with the announcement of this award, the secret is out. Vietnam is ready for the big time.”

It felt a little odd, even a touch irreverent, swinging a Callaway driver in the land of "Apocalypse Now," Khe Sahn and Ho Chi Minh. And yet there I stood on a carpet of manicured grass outside Hanoi, looking toward a small flag in the distance.

My wife, Diana, and I needed a break from the traffic-choked cities of Vietnam, where we were spending a few days last October, and so we had booked a round of golf with a tour company and hopped into the back of an SUV with a driver partial to symphonies. With soaring violins to soothe us, we drove from the capital's cacophonous streets to its outskirts, where Vietnam's rural past and booming present stand side by side.

First, we saw a towering glass apartment complex shadowing a field of grazing cows; then a factory belching smoke over neighboring rice fields; and, finally, Kings' Island Golf Club — northern Vietnam's first course, opened in 1993, when the country began to trade communism for managed capitalism.

QUANG NAM, Vietnam -- Though several golf holes are yet to be grassed, and construction of the clubhouse only began last month, The Montgomerie Links Vietnam took just one day to reel in its entire charter membership base and clearly establish itself as the most anticipated new golf club in Southeast Asia.

In less than 24 hours, the $64 million development taking shape on Vietnam’s China Beach sold all 25 of its most exclusive membership packages at $16,500 each. The achievement allowed the club to launch into regular membership sales overnight—a phase that has already netted five more buyers, despite a price point that’s $6,500 higher.

“Demand was through the roof yesterday because the opportunity appeals to families, passionate golfers /and/ investors,” said Jon Tomlinson, the club’s general manager. “If you love great golf courses, then it’s a chance to belong to and test your skills on what will quickly become the No. 1 golf club in Vietnam and one of the very best in the world. If you are looking to broaden your investment portfolio, then it’s a chance to get in on something that is sure to appreciate at an attractive rate, because there will only be a limited number of memberships offered.”