29. Da Lat Palace and Bluffs Ho Tram, Vietnam, and Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, January 21-23, 2016

Da Lat Palace and Bluffs Ho Tram, Vietnam, and Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, January 21-23, 2016

Up until a few years ago, if you had suggested that I would be visiting Vietnam to play some golf, including a World Top 100 course, I would have simply laughed you off.  But, time does make the world change, and here I was in Ho Chi Ming City (HCMC…the old “Saigon’), which is literally teaming with activity.  The drive from SGN airport (at least something here is named after Saigon) gave me a taste of HCMC’s famous traffic with bikes and scooters filling every empty space between cars and larger vehicles.  The hotel was nice, and after getting there, I had to go out to purchase an i-phone power cord, which gave me a brief taste of the buzz of activity in this city.  I had heard stories from others about hostility of the Vietnamese toward Americans, but felt none of this during my two-day stay.  While I did bristle at seeing the tome of propaganda signs from the government (including hammer and sickle logos everywhere), I loved the industriousness of the people.

Da Lat Palace GC, January 21, 2016:  Was up early to catch a flight at 6:50am north to the city of Da Lat.  This overall trip has two purposes related to my three current bucket lists.  First is to finish off the Asian and Middle Eastern courses on my “Top 100 Ever” list.

The second purpose, is to knock off the four left on Tom MacWood’s 1939 Spoof that are difficult for me to reach…two in South Africa (East London and Maccauviel), Nuwara Eliya in “Tea Country” Sri Lanka, and Da Lat in the Highlands of Vietnam.  On Jan. 20, I awoke early to catch a puddle jumper from HCMC to Da Lat.  Upon arrival, I saw the iron gates at the entrance that I had seen on the club’s website, celebrating its origin in 1922 (see my pic to the left):

The clubhouse area (which is very small and comfortable) occupies two buildings, one encompassing the bar and lunch area, pro shop, and offices, and te other which houses the locker rooms.  The latter building was a beehive of activity as the locker rooms are in the process of being restored. 

Upon entering the clubhouse, I met the GM, who inquired about why I was traveling such distances to play his course.  He was unaware of the MacWood Top 100 Spoof and loved the story.  After I later learned that his daughter is a freshman at Northeastern U in Boston, and told him Pat and I would contact her and have her over for dinner.

The clubhouse is filled with interesting memorabilia, including a bunch of old photos (some of which I had never seen before) of Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and Sam Snead…and a framed copy of the LIFE magazine cover with Ben Hogan and his “secret”.  The LIFE issue was dated August 8, 1955, about 5 weeks after I first took up the game at Camp Cherokee near Honesdale, PA.

The golf course stretches to 7009 yards (somewhat mitigated by the altitude of about 5000’) and features ponds influencing play on 7 holes, some very large bunkers and some very deep bunkers as well.  It is also extremely hilly.  The fairways were too soft but the GM advised that they are trying to firm it up over time.  There seemed to be a lot of course work going on…as was the case with the clubhouse area.  The GM said the course had a major renovation in 1991 (which was obvious from the green to tee distances on about 2 holes) that was led by IMG…I was surprised by that as I never knew IMG to have been in the renovation business.  Any of you have any thoughts on this?

Best two holes are #7 (399 yard par 4 uphill dogleg left with a large pond creating a split fairway about 230 yards off the back tee…safe play off tee is to left leaving a very long second, while tough tee shot to right is rewarded with much easier approach), and #3 (386 yards, slightly downhill off tee and then turning sharply right and downhill to a punchbowl green for the approach…with a large tree blocking the corner of the dogleg, forcing you to hit your drive long and left).  Pictures of these two holes follow.

Hole #7 above and approach on hole #3 below

After the round, had a nice lunch with the GM and then headed back to the airport to get back to HCMC.

Bluffs at Ho Tram, Vietnam, January 22, 2016:  I arrived at HCMC’s airport just before 5pm, looking forward to getting to Bluffs.  However, my golf clubs apparently had become fed up with my game, and decide to fly to Hanoi instead.  With proper use of bar codes on luggage, this should never happen…and believe it or not, I resisted the temptation to lecture the people of Vietnamese Airlines about their luggage procedures.  Actually, the day was saved by one of the employees of Bluffs who met me at HCMC and worked with the airline folks to get the clubs shipped down to HCMC that evening, and then he drove them to Bluffs.  By 10pm during dinner, I knew the golf bag was on its was in a Bluffs car. 

But I am getting ahead of myself.  I was met by three representatives of Bluffs who basically “parted the Red Sea” at HCMC airport, and we were on our way in a luxury van by 5:45pm.  It is a 2 hour drive from the airport to Bluffs, but this was rush hour so it took 2:30.  I was greeted by Patrick Kelly (originally from Brisbane, Australia), head pro, and Ali Macfadyen (originally from Scotland), head superintendent).   The complex basically consists of the Ho Tram hotel and casino complex and the Greg Norman designed Bluffs golf course, which first opened in late 2014, and hosted an Asian Tour sponsored event in late 2015 (Ho Tram Open).

The dinner was great fun…fascinating talk regarding top 100’s, golf course architecture, our golf backgrounds, etc.  Would have bored any normal person to tears.  By about 10:30pm, I was fading fast and we adjourned until 6:30am Friday, when I was scheduled to play Bluffs w Patrick.

My room, correction…suite, was not to be believed…easily nicer than any Motel 6 or Comfort Inn.  Probably about 800-100 sq ft, and beautifully done.  Had a good but short night’s sleep.  This is the tough stretch of the trip until I get a day of rest Monday in Johannesburg.

Patrick and I teed off on #10 at about 6:40am.  We were late as I got lost in the hotel/casino lobby looking for him…place is simply huge.  The course is laid out with every hole running in either a NE-SW or SW-NE direction…which runs parallel to the beach sitting about 200 yards southeast of holes 5, 16 and 17.  The beach and Indian Ocean are clearly visible from about every hole as the property’s elevation rises as you move inland, and virtually all of the golf course sits within 400 yards of the beach. From the tips, it plays to 7007 yards (par 72), which is plenty long for its windy environment and contours (about 170’ of elevation change across the property).  The setting and course are very dramatic.  It plays like a true links course, firm and fast, and the greens are in close to perfect condition.  Overall I would like to see it get a bit firmer and faster and a little “brown” instead of 100% green, but given that it is still in the grow in phase, that will take time…and frankly, it is not clear what the course’s management/owners will want in this regard…as most golfers today still have a love affair with green green tracks.  The fairways have a ton of width, few level lies (excellent contouring), and offer great angles and options, and the greens are large and tough with lots of contours, but are not “over the top” tough.  Bunkers are extremely well placed and beautifully set, and the sand plays well, even if it is soft when walking through the bunkers (my guess is that this will improve with time as the sand settles).  Simply put, this is a great site and setting, Greg Norman and company have done an outstanding job with it, and Ali and his crew are maintaining it wonderfully.  The course offers both “eye candy” and architectural substance.  My favorite holes are #1, 2, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16, and 18. 

My taste would lean to a more traditional, rather than very modern clubhouse, but that is not what the Asian market seems to be calling for, and in any case, is a small point.  Only hole I question is #15…which plays 257 yards up hill to a green protected on the left front by a large deep bunker. Even though its contours give plenty of room to work the ball into the green with a slight draw, I believe it simply puts too much of a premium on power.

Earlier this month, Bluffs made Golf Digest’s World 100 Greatest at position #74.  Only Cabot Cliffs (Nova Scotia, Canada) and Cape Wickham (Kings Island, Tasmania, Australia) came out higher among very recent openings (to date I have not played either but I am planning both for 2016).   I would fully expect Bluffs to ne a fixture in Top 100 listing going forward…especially as the grow in phase continues and the course matures.  Clearly one of Asia’s great tracks.  Following are some photos from my round…

Bluffs #2--par 3 downhill

Bluffs #4 par 3 (above)



Bluffs #7 par 3

Bluffs #8 downhill par 4...drive to split fairway

Bluffs #2 downhill par 4

Bluffs #15...long uphill par 3

After the round, I showered, changed and finished packing, had lunch w Patrick, Ali and Bluffs’ marketing manager, Sonia, then we headed to HCMC airport and I was off to visit Sri Lanka.  Great place and excellent team managing it.

Nuwara Eliya GC, Sri Lanka, January 23, 2016:  In case you didn’t guess, my trip included a stop in Sri Lanka due to Tom MacWood’s 1939 spoof list.  From the first time I thought about trying to complete the MacWood list, Nuwara Eliya always stood out as my toughest “get to”.  Vietnam is not far from the other countries of SE Asia and I had heard that Bluffs was 100 caliber…so Da Lat was not that tough, and while South Africa was out of the way, and I had played all of the great ones from there mast March, having two courses left made that visit easier on the time and $$ wallets.

Nuwara Eliya is in the highlands of Sri Lanka and sits about 80 miles as the crow flies from the capital city of Colombo.  However, research indicated that the trip could take as much as 6+ hours as the roads navigate Sri Lanka’s mountainous tea country.  To be honest, a two-day stopover in Sri Lanka was not high on my list.  Then someone suggested looking at a seaplane or helicopter charter.  Obviously, not the cheapest alternative but thru research on the web and numerous emails, I found one that was not too unreasonable…and seemed to check out in terms of safety, viability etc.  And I certainly did not want to end up having completed all but one of MacWood’s list (note…you may recall that his list totals 101 courses as he included two then 9 holers as his 100^th…of these 101, 5 no longer exist, so my goal is to have played the other 96).

I arrived after a good pair of flights (HCMC to Kuala Lumpur to Colombo…on my 6^th and 7^th Malaysian Airline flights of this trip).  My hotel, the Galle Face Hotel, is a classic old very British hotel dating from well before Ceylon became Sri Lanka.  Sleep time was not long and it was off to a local military base for an 8am take off.  All week long the web had been showing thunderstorms as likely for this date at NE. and further research showed that such storms pop up quickly most afternoons.  I had hoped to depart well before 8am but ground fog at NE this time of year made that impossible.  So I ran the risk of not being able to fly back to Colombo...and arranged for a backup driver jic….which would necessitate a much later flight out of Colombo.  Not a happy thought but doable as a backup.  In any case, the flight to NE was on time and very uneventful (eventful helicopter rides being something one wants to avoid).

Originally built by the Brits, it is hard to guess what Nuwara Eliya was like in the 1930’s, but it is not exactly Top 100 material right now.  I played from about 6100 yards and the course sits at about 6500’…but very wet and soft fairways killed most roll.  The club has a very very British “colonial” feel to it, not surprising, of course.  The weather was beautiful as I tees off on #1 at about 9:10…very very tight relatively long par 4…so tight it reminded me of the first tee at Salahee near Seattle.  When I played Sahalee in summer 2013, at the first tee I wondered whether to take out a golf ball or a bowling ball…same feeling here.  Not a bad layout, but due to space limitations, many fairways literally cross each other.  It does not get much play, or at least it did not on 1/13, so I avoided getting hit by an errant or not so errant ball.  Pictures of course follow:

Entry to Nuwara Eliya

Looking down 1st from tee (bowling alley)

Looking back at clubhouse from 1st tee

Nuwara Eliya Irrigation System

Around 11:00, the weather seemed to turn and I could see the clouds starting to form, so hustled my way through the last 6 holes, said goodbye and got back to the helicopter by noon (about 45 minutes earlier than planned). 

The pilot was called and we started to take off around 12:30…but the engine did not start and the pilot said it was the battery…which was over heating due to the hot weather and thin air.  He called his technical people, and they advised that he give the battery about 15 minutes to cool off and then try again.  I was beginning to prepare for a long drive back to Colombo…and the need to switch to later flights.  We tried again 15 minutes later and the engine just did crank up…much to both of our reliefs.  Flight back to Colombo was again uneventful…but the clouds were quickly forming in the mountains.  If we had tried to leave an hour later, might well have been socked in.  In any case, made it back to Colombo and its International airport, and flight to Dubai was on time and smooth…at least in terms of getting to Dubai…more later.  At this point, have two pot play in Dubai, two in South Africa and then home!

My game:  Frankly, mostly ugly so far.  Trip has been very tiring…and hard to stay focused on the golf at hand.  Plus have hit zero range balls…playing so much want to minimize # of swings to reduce chance of repetitive motion injury.

During my first seven rounds (until I got to Vietnam), had exactly ZERO birdies.  What an embarrassment.  But then birdied #17 at Da Lat…a long, tough par 4 where I hit a 3 wood to 2’.  And made the putt  J.  Then at Bluffs, actually had three birdies!!  Best scores so far has been two 80’s.

Will need to hit the range when I get back to Pinehurst…but not the first day back!!