REPORT The newest addition to Vietnam’s burgeoning golf market is Vinpearl Golf Léman, in the Củ Chi District of Ho Chi Minh City. The club will be the fifth from the hospitality arm of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, and will comprise two 18-hole golf courses designed by Golfplan, alongside villas and community facilities. Construction began in February 2023, some 10 years after the previous developer abandoned a project to build a golf course on the site after encountering financial difficulties. The site is flat and prone to flooding during the rainy season. “Numerous lakes had been excavated and the lake edges had naturised,” says David Dale, Golfplan principal. “We have utilised the existing lakes for a natural look on the North course as well as for strategic purposes. We developed an interconnected lake system to store irrigation water and dewater the site during the rainy season. We also created eight metres of elevation change throughout the course with elevated tees, landing zones and green sites. Few trees existed, but those that remained and were above the managed water level were retained and utilised aesthetically.” The North course will open in March 2025. “There is a wonderful variation of play direction with the North’s front nine routed with a clockwise rotation and the back nine with a counterclockwise rotation,” says Dale. New pearls for Vietnam The first of two Golfplan-designed courses at Vinpearl Golf Léman will open for play in March 2025. Architects David Dale (left) and Kevin Ramsey on the tee of the par-four thirteenth at Léman Photo: Golfplan 74
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=