Construction complete on two new courses in Vietnam

Construction work is now complete on two new 18-hole courses, designed by Greg Norman Golf Course Design, at PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet in Vietnam.

Work on the 7,400-yard Ocean layout was finished in April 2021, with the 7,100-yard Garden course following in recent weeks. The two-course project is part of a huge development – led by Novaland Group – of a coastal area in the southeast of the country. When complete it will include luxury golf villas, townhouses, a marine park, an amusement park, retail outlets, hotels and more.

The Ocean course and clubhouse have been built on an area of almost 90 hectares with views of the sea.

“We designed two distinctly different golf courses,” said Chris Campbell, senior vice president of Greg Norman’s design firm. “The Ocean course has a very natural look and feel and will test the best players in the world on any given day. The Garden course is a more manicured, parkland style course that is fun, but challenging in its own right. Both give a nod to the sandbelt of Australia, which was an objective of Greg’s from the first time we walked the property.”

Greg Norman Golf Course Design has worked alongside the club, Flagstick Golf Course Construction Management, water feature designer WR RockGroup Construction and Sports Turf Solutions, who provided Zeon Zoysia for the layouts.

The Garden course project wrapped up with RockGroup completing work on a stream project for the fifth hole, a 173-yard par three that has a 78-yard carry over a lake, with a waterfall that leads to the stream. “It’s a majestic shot with a complete view of the front nine as it slopes down in elevation; complemented by the well-planted dragon fruit farms that fill the valley,” said Bill Rosmarino, president of RockGroup.

“The stream project was 18 months in the planning – delayed by the introduction of Covid travel restrictions in March 2020 – with my team able to pass quarantine in Vietnam and commence construction April 2021.”

The cascading stream system works its way through holes three to seven, and near the eighteenth green, flowing between the closing hole’s split fairway before emptying into the lakes near the tees. “It’s a beautiful combination of all the natural stream effects: from rushing rapid sections, calm flowing wide waterfall sections, to intense narrow section waterfalls,” said Rosmarino. “Superb shaping, bunker style and undulations surround all of the stream systems, affecting the strategy of every shot. 

“Wetlands and aquatic planting throughout the five lakes of the Garden course bring a pleasant contrast to the ocean views found on the adjacent Ocean course.”

Sports Turf Solution’s ‘Sod Squad’, including grassing superintendent John Gibb, has now completed planting and the course is currently growing in. “Tees and greens are grassed with Primo Zoysia and fairways and rough is Zeon Zoysia,” said Brad Burgess of Sports Turf Solutions. “We have also planted around 400,000 square metres of Bahia grass in the rough and supplied the project with native grass species from our nursery.”

The Garden course is expected to open in November 2021.

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