78 REPORT A full season of play has now been completed at Eschuri Vung Bau Golf Resort, located on Phú Quốc, an island off the coast of southern Vietnam. The resort was created by developer Sun Group and built within an ecotourism area on the north west of the island. Sun Group’s vision from the outset was to create a worldclass residential and commercial development with a golf course as the centrepiece. IMG’s lead architect Steven McFarlane and senior vice president Paul Burley oversaw the design of an 18-hole course with a front nine that winds around the ancient hardwood trees of the Phú Quốc forest, before arriving at pristine coastline with white sand beaches for the back nine. “The site for the Eschuri Vung Bau golf course was ideal for laying out a world-class golf course,” says McFarlane. “Some preliminary land use plans had been prepared by the client’s land planners but when IMG was engaged for the design of the course, we were instructed to ignore all previous masterplans and prepare routing plans that provided the best golfing experience. The one exception was that they wanted most of the coastline for the development of high-end residential, but after we presented a number of routing options it was agreed that the golf course should have some direct contact with the beach, which we achieved at the northern end of the property with holes fourteen and fifteen.” Construction began in October 2022, with IMG supported on the project by Steven Halliwell, superintendent at Ba Na Hills, lead shaper Tom Addis and construction supervisor Ferdi Castro. A workforce of more than 200 helped build the course over 10 months. “The site had very few topographic constraints with a very comfortable elevation change of around 25 metres from the ridgeline running alongside hole two down to the beach,” says McFarlane. “The greatest influence on the routing was the amazing mature trees throughout the property, which we succeeded in preserving as specimen features for a number of greens and as woodland between holes for separation and definition. “We also wanted to preserve and enhance a flowing stream that crossed the property from the woodland in the east to the ocean in the west. We incorporated the stream into the design and strategy of three holes and widened it out to form a large water feature on two holes. Using rock from the area, local craftsmen worked with the construction crew to install some amazing walls, bridges and weirs to really enhance the concept. It turned out better than we could have imagined.” From woodland to the water’s edge New resort course by IMG Golf Design winds through Vietnam’s Phú Quốc forest before reaching pristine white sand beaches.
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