The recently-opened Laguna Lang Co golf course in Vietnam is helping a number of local schools improve the health of their communities.

The golf resort has provided each school with reverse osmosis water filtration systems to ensure schoolchildren have clean, fresh drinking water.

“Itʼs a very practical way of helping the community,” explains David Campion, group director of corporate social responsibility at resort operator Banyan Tree. “Water and sanitation-related illnesses are common in Vietnam and lead to school absenteeism. Our commitment is to supply filtration systems and three years of filters and hygiene training. Already, we are seeing the benefits as schools get behind the programme.”

The resort's social responsibility programme includes supporting local farmersʼ rice-growing. Three hectares of rice paddy are part of the courseʼs layout, sitting between the third and fourth and thirteenth and fifteenth holes. Signature designer Sir Nick Faldo and his team, including project architect Paul Jansen, were keen to retain the rice paddy look as part of the course.

Laguna Lang Co can produce up to 30 tonnes of rice from two harvests each year, much of which will be used by the resort itself and donated to local orphanages. Visiting golfers, many of whom may have never been so close to a rice paddy, may have more of an experience than theyʼd planned if a shot goes wild!

The rice project is being run by Laguna Lang Co's landscape director, Stuart Donald, a Scot who is being guided by a an eager group of local workers familiar with rice production.