Spring, 2007

Happy New Year ALL! , especially in The Year of the Pig!
It has been a fantastic year for us at VGT.com and would we like to thank all the wonderful, new friends and customers that have joined us in celebrating some of the finest golfing in Asia.

The visitors keep rolling in from Mick Jaeger, Brad Pitt and the better half Angelina Jolie. George W. Bush and Laura were also in town for a several days in Hanoi and Saigon, as part of the APEC conference. Regretfully, they did not bring their clubs!
As we start the New Year the country is booming with tourists in all the major cities and resort destinations. The courses stay very busy, especially on the weekends, so as we always suggest, weekday golfing is certainly the most enjoyable.

All courses are playing well, but by our visitor’s comments, Long Thanh is getting rave reviews. They have opened the new 9 which are lovely in the valley below the existing 18.  This now takes Long Thanh to 27 holes with 9 more under construction. Song Be working on their additional 9 to stay in the chase, the construction I find is a bit distracting and still wondering how they will squeeze 9 additional holes to the existing lay out, we shall see.  They claim to be finishing within the next several months.

Vietnam Country Club still fills up, with most of our requests for the “East” course. Dong Nai in great shape and is still a good weekend alternative with their 27 holes flowing well. Paradise in Vung Tau also 27 holes now, really fun day there for the total “country” golf experience. Ocean Dunes and Dalat still provide some memorable rounds, great service, and well manicured grounds and a very experienced, knowledgeable staff. Remember please try and stay away from weekends, tee time bookings are a nightmare, especially during the high travel season, a word to the wise.
The highlight of my past year was a visit to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. No, not to visit the beautiful temples, but to play the newly opened Phokeethra Country Club, managed by the Sofitel Royal Angkor Golf and Spa Resort. Several words come to mind after my round: spectacular, fantastic, unique, First Class, Must Play. It is one of best designs in a fantastic environment for a life time memory. I am not the only one cheering this additional to Angkor Wat tour activities. The 2007 Asia Golf Tour will be adding this beautiful course as a new stop in December of 2007. More on this later.

VGT.com is partnering with the Sofitel to offer several packages to Angkor Wat for golf days and touring the grand temples. These packages will be great for expats living overseas or wonderful additions to standard Vietnam Golf Tours. We will begin offering these packages in the coming month, if interested in more information email us for details.

Long and Straight - Saigon Tom