Hoiana Shores Golf Club, the most ambitious resort development ever undertaken in Vietnam, will open Sept. 23. The 985-hectare, $4 billion Hoiana complex features a Robert Trent Jones II golf course, and will eventually integrate more than 1,000 rooms, suites and villas (managed by Rosewood Hotel Group), 4 kilometers of pristine beach, a suite of beachside pools and restaurants, a stand-alone beach club, and an entertainment facility managed by Suncity Group.
The golf course will be the first facility within the new Hoiana Integrated Resort to welcome the public.
“Hoiana Shores Golf Club will indeed be the first component of this larger development welcoming both domestic and international tourism to our shores,” said Steve Wolstenholme, Group COO at Hoiana. “As a group we intend to showcase the vibrancy and economic potential of not only Hoi An and Central Vietnam but this region in general.”
Vietnam is the most active golf development market in the world.
“Golf occupies a very exciting place in Vietnam right now,” said Ben Styles, Vice President of Golf for Hoiana. “What we have tried to achieve at Hoiana Shores GC — with help from the design team at Robert Trent Jones II — is something specific and nuanced: a traditional links that proudly builds on local traditions, which, if we are honest, is what all great golf courses do.”
The course will use red lanterns instead of flags at each hole. Hoi An is called The City of Lanterns. Six of the 18 holes at Hoiana Shores come into direct contact with the beach.
“It speaks volumes about our ownership group — to allow so much interaction with the shoreline,” Styles said. “That’s a rarity. The beachfront could have been otherwise developed. But this decision will ultimately pay off, as this part of the course is uniquely unforgettable/ There aren’t many courses in Asia that serve up that type of experience.”
Hoiana Shores Golf Club began construction since late 2017, under direction of experienced, Hong Kong-based course builder Linksshape, led by Australian, Stuart Stone.
The course has also been developed in accordance with sustainability principles laid out by the U.K.-based GEO Foundation.
“In Southeast Asia, there are no other golf developments at this stage of construction that are going through this program,” said GEO Executive Director Sam Thomas. “All others are in the planning or design stage. I think it’s fair to say that, if they continue on this path, Hoiana Shores will be first past the post, the market leader in this regard.”
While the greens at Hoiana Shores are grassed with Tif-Eagle Bermuda, all the fairways and tees use Zeon Zoysia, a relatively new, drought-tolerant turfgrass strain specially developed to provide firm, fast conditions in equatorial regions. This choice was both sustainable and strategic: Many “tropical links” are built entirely on sand; several more feature the flamboyant contour associated with links golf — but few have delivered the requisite bounce and roll that links design requires.
“It’s an upright grower where you can cut back on water and get it right — firm and fast,” said Rob Weiks, golf course superintendent at Hoiana Shores GC. “It’s less grainy than bermuda, way less than the paspalum. It frankly freed up the architects and shapers to manufacture some wonderful shapes and contours — a lot of created architecture that could not be rushed. It is a great luxury to pile the sand up, shape it, then let the wind shape it again. It’s one reason the landforms out here are so compelling.”