Song Be Golf Resort is one of eight courses that have opened in Vietnam since the late 1990s. Vietnam was without golf for decades after the government shut down the country's only course in 1955.

2001 Leo Feser award candidate

The first image in the minds of most people at the mention of Vietnam is of the war with the United States. Most people think of the country only in terms of the American conflict in Indochina that ended more than 25 years ago. But today, despite lingering signs of past American involvement, the situation in Vietnam is markedly different.

The country has finally begun to welcome tourists from the West into what was once a forbidden country. It may take a bit more effort and tenacity to plan a visit to Vietnam than it would for another Southeast Asia destination, but Vietnam has much to offer in terms of culture and sights.

Golf in Vietnam is relatively new. Vietnamese communist officials, who shut down the country's only golf course in 1955, are suddenly demonstrating a fascination with Asia's fastest-growing sport. They now realize that the country needs golf courses so it can compete with its neighbours for foreign investors and tourists.

Getting started
Currently, there are eight golf courses, built by overseas investors, seeking to capitalize on the growing enthusiasm of foreign businessmen and tourists in Vietnam since it launched a retreat from command economics in the late 1980s.

Last year I had a great opportunity to visit some of the golf courses in the vicinity of Ho Chi Minh City as a consultant. As superintendent at Safra Resort Country Club in Singapore, I was anxious to see this "hidden" part of Asia. One course, Golf Vietnam, is located at Thu Duc. A Taiwanese company manages this course through a joint venture arrangement with local companies. Membership fees for the course are high, approximately $35,000 (U.S.), which means the average Vietnamese citizen would have to work 100 years to buy a membership.

The first golf course opened in Vietnam since 1955 was in Song Be (approximately 30 minutes from Ho Chi Minh City), where I spent most of my time. Located in Vietnam's economic hub, the Song Be Golf Resort sits directly across from the Vietnam Singapore Industry Park (VSIP).

Female workers wash sand, which is composed of clay, sediment, small pebbles and other impurities, before is can be used on the Song Be course.

Song Be Golf Resort was a $30 million (U.S.) project developed in 1992 by a joint venture between Vietnam's state-owned enterprise, Protrade, and the Singapore-based TCI group of companies called Palm Song Be Golf Co. The Palm Song Be Golf Co. was issued an investment license by the State Committee of Cooperation and Investment to use 104 hectares of land in Song Be Province.

Song Be Resort is a gently undulating 18-hole golf course in an area famous for its fresh fruits, tapioca, peanuts, cashews and eucalyptus -- and the tombstones of the nearby village. Even though all property in Vietnam is state owned, the traditional land users and families of those who were buried on the site were compensated for the relocation of homes and tombs.

Workers sweep fairways with homemade branch brooms in preparation for early morning golfers.

"The locals were deeply hurt when they learned that golf was to be played where their ancestors were laid to rest," says Richard Wong, president of the Song Be Golf Resort. The villagers suggested an alternative; that the head stones remain in place and the golf course be built around them. "But this wasn't possible as the tombstones were in the middle of the fairways." explains Wong.

Instead of ordering in the bulldozers, however, he opted for diplomacy. And after negotiations with the village headman, it was agreed that compensation be paid to the families involved and that the tombs would be relocated to a place adjacent to the golf course.

In addition, Wong sent in 20 Buddhist monks to offer prayers at the site. The villagers were happy, and the project was back on track after a month's delay.

A team of three mechanics maintains Song Be's fleet of 35 turf-related machines and 10 golf cars.

Weather woes
Even after the course made peace with the locals, Mother Nature still provided challenges. "The weather is our single biggest deterrent," says Song Be's director Bobby Chua, referring to the heavy rains that can flood fairways.

Vietnam is located in both a tropical and a temperate zone, which is characterized by strong monsoon influences, but with a considerable amount of sun and high rates of rainfall and humidity. The annual average temperature ranges from 22 to 27 degrees C (71.6 to 80.6 F).

There are two distinguishable seasons. The cold season occurs from November to April and the hot season from May to October. The difference in temperature between the two seasons in southern Vietnam is almost unnoticeable, averaging 3 degrees C. The most noticeable variations are found in the northern provinces, where differences of 12 degrees C have been observed.

Annual rainfall in the south is approximately 80 inches. Between July and November, Vietnam is hit by random, violent typhoons that develop off the coast in the South China Sea. They typically hit the central and north coasts and have been increasing in frequency over the past few years.

Construction plans
Song Be has planted Tifgreen on greens, common bermuda on tees and Tifway on fairways. For the rough, cowgrass was used. The first and sixth holes are planted with seashore paspalum. All fairways will be converted to seashore paspalum eventually.

Former Song Be superintendent Alan Healey, a five-year GCSAA member now at Southland Golf Club in his native New Zealand, reports that greens were constructed as close to USGA recommendations as possible, depending on availability of materials and time during construction. During my visit, the main problem was simply getting quality and acceptable sand for the routine maintenance programs for the greens.

The sand from the local supplier was dug from the bed of a nearby shallow, muddy river and is a mixture of sand, clay, sediment, small pebbles and other impurities. The sand was then transported to the resort's maintenance facility, and oversize materials were screened out, but not washed.

The top layer of the sand profile is a very heavy silt and clay content that exhibits poor physical properties. A thick layer of heavy organic material has built up. Add this 6- to 8-inch layer to a base of fine-textured sand, and the greens have a profile that has an extremely slow percolation rate. In addition, these greens have a thatch layer of 1 to 11/2 inches. The problems associated with this combination include graininess, foot printing, puffiness and mower scalping. After a few discussions with a local golf course manager named Hung, we experimented with washed sand for the greens, and the advantages were obvious.

The rest of the management of greens -- topdressing, verticutting and aerification -- is similar to practices throughout the world.

Market limitations
Due to the small market size, and in some cases the high cost of transportation and also the import taxes, not all companies are represented here. Only two greens fertilizers are available, and those come from Singapore-based suppliers. As for the fairways, roughs and tee boxes, only immediate-release agricultural analysis was used, which resulted in a flush of growth and occasional burning of the fairways' turfgrass.

Chemicals are available in Vietnam, but they are sold for the agricultural sector and are not registered for turf. Active ingredients used are cypermethrin, diazinon and cyfluthrin.

Staff members bring in herbicides and plant growth regulators from Singapore on a monthly basis, as these items are not available locally. The limited availability of chemicals decreases control options. So, the Vietnamese frequently verticut and topdress the greens and tees, which helps control persistent pests.

The dry, moderate weather conditions in Song Be are not conducive to disease. During rainy season, however, leaf spot and dollar spot are the most prevalent. Most of the time, crew members will get a sprayer out to the green to rectify the problem, even for one or two spots. Control is attempted well before the disease is established.

Ants and mole crickets are the biggest insect problem on Vietnamese courses, and ants are easily controlled. Mole crickets, however, have been giving them problems for many years.

Unfortunately, the irrigation system -- a manual pop-up system with perimeter spacing on greens and dual-row on tees and fairways -- is inadequate. The pump and zone operation of sprinkler heads are manually controlled by the irrigation team, which consists of four staff members for every nine holes, who follow the superintendent's water program.

The water comes from "bore holes." These wells are scattered at strategic locations on the course. A pump at each bore hole supplies the needed pressure. The process is time consuming, but there's no alternative.

In Vietnam, there is no lack of proper equipment for maintaining golf courses. Toro, Jacobsen and John Deere have their respective distributors in Vietnam. However, the turf equipment has to be imported, resulting in high transportation costs and taxes. If equipment breaks, repair parts are difficult to obtain, resulting in extended downtime. When I was there, Song Be had just purchased a Reelmaster 4000-D, four Greensmaster 1000 walk-behind mowers, a Toro topdresser 250, a Reelmaster 5400-D and Greensmaster 3250-D. Three mechanics maintain the entire fleet of 35 turf machines and 10 golf cars.

Song Be's work force consists of 40 staff members as well as 40 workers retained on a daily-rate basis, who hand-weed fairways, sieve sand and help with renovations and other projects.

It might have shortages of supplies, but Song Be Resort does not lack manpower. About 40 people work full time, with another 40 daily rated workers employed for hand weeding fairways, sweeping leaves by hand using homemade branch brooms, sieving sand, renovation projects and manually brushing the greens after topdressing.

The principal means of transportation of the daily rated worker is usually by foot or bicycle as bicycles are quick and quiet. Course supervisors get around the course on motorbikes.

There's no formal turfgrass management training in Vietnam. Therefore, like many golf course superintendents in the region, the vast majority of turf managers come to their positions with an agriculture background.

As a result of the current increase in tourism and overseas investment in Vietnam, it seems Vietnam may become a popular golf destination for foreigners. Vietnam appears to be bitten by the golf bug that has affected so many other Southeast Asian countries.

James Sua, CGCS, is superintendent at Safra Resort Country Club in Singapore and an eight-year GCSAA member.