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fter a lunch of delicious Vi-
etnamese noodles at the
clubhouse Swing restaurant,
I went for a walk around the
beautiful island along its red cactus and
king palm lined paths.
Surrounded by mountains, trees
and lakes, the island is cool and fresh,
in pleasant contrast to the heat of
the capital.
When this course was handed over
to a Vietnamese group 20 years ago,
no one could have predicted the future
of golf in Vietnam. Jamie Westenburg
is the golf director. “The Lakeside 18
hole par 72 course was designed by
the famous American architect Robert
McFarland,” he says. “McFarland tried
to keep the original terrain and make
use of the 1,500ha water surface to
make many water hazards to challenge
golfers’ skills.”
The other 18 hole par 72 course,
the Mountain View, was designed by Pa-
cific Coast Designs, an Australian com-
pany well known for its many projects
throughout Southeast Asia. With one
course looking over the lake and anoth-
er surrounded by mountains the island
is a beautiful spectacle. This helped it
earn the title of Vietnam’s Best Land-
scaped Golf Course in 2008 and 2009.
Beside the speed boat dock, dozens
of caddies gather waiting for custom-
ers. While the experienced caddies chat
and joke, the newcomers watch and
learn. Nearly 400 caddies are organized
by four caddy managers. Binh, who
lives less than 10km from the course,
says it is a hard job: “After three months
of probation, I remember feeling it was
tough walking in the sun for hours,
trying to understand, solve and satisfy
customer requests. But now, the job is a
part of my life. I have met so many very
nice customers.”
All of the caddies have to pass a
yearly exam which decides their ben-
efits for the whole year. This is to keep
the quality of staff at a high level.
The young director’s philosophy
from his first day was to make the cus-
tomer happy from beginning to end.
To achieve this he believes all the staff
have to be happy and energetic. The
philosophy may seem simple, but it
took a a long time and great effort to
turn it into practice.
18
timeout
ISLAND
Just 60km from Hanoi, a short
speedboat ride whisks golfers to the
forests, lakes and two 18 hole cours-
es of the King’s Island Golf Resort.
Hong Nguyen
paid a visit