Hanoi: Golf in a Fast Changing Time

When Hanoi opened its door to the outside world following the adoption of the Doi Moi Reforms in 1986, golf remained a sport tagged with a ‘four-letter’ word. The Party frowned on golf as an irrelevant bourgeois indulgence. That had much to do with the imperial past of Vietnamese history when golf was first introduced during the colonial era. The present day Dalat Golf Club was built as a first and an amusement to the then Emperor Bao Dai.

But, just like it happened in other countries having similar ideologies of the time, engagement with the outside world certainly had its positive side. It somehow mellowed the viewpoint based strictly on ideology alone and golf as a ‘tainted’ sport underwent rehabilitation. Today, for reasons of pragmatism or more, the Party elite has bestowed its full blessing on the game as both a symbol and tool of Vietnam’s economic modernisation. “Golf is a very effective instrument for bringing people together…”, said an official from the Institute for International Relations who incidentally was also the secretary of the Hanoi Golf Club.

Not too long after but certainly before we could quickly put all the good golf vacation packages for Vietnam in place, The Golf Swing, a popular instruction book of the day, was translated into Vietnamese and the inaugural issue of Vietnam Golf Magazine followed suit with endorsements from a former mayor of Hanoi. The magazine featured a serving Deputy Minister taking a swing.

Today, much to the chagrin of Uncle Ho, a golf vacation package can be arranged within days anywhere in the country, not least in Hanoi ‘where it all began’. Together with Ho Chi Minh City in the far south and Dalat/Phantiet in the central region, the trio presents some of the best golf venues anywhere in Southeast Asia.