Vietnamese golf courses are being rated by Vietnam Golf Association, which will help golfers to work out their all-important handicap

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In recent years, Vietnam has been fast growing in stature as a golfing destination. Over a decade ago a handful of courses catered mostly to foreign business and diplomatic communities based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

But now Vietnamese are queuing up to tee off in unprecedented numbers while some of the world’s biggest names in golf have designed top quality courses that will boost the country’s reputation as one of the most exciting places to play golf in Asia.

With all this expectation in the air, the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA) has also raised its game. Industry experts from across Southeast Asia have been invited to inspect and officially “rate” several of the country’s top golf courses in accordance with the US Golf Association (USGA) Course Rating System, recognised as the world’s de facto handicapping system.

“This is an essential step in the maturation of the golfing culture in Vietnam,” said VGA general secretary Nguyen Ngoc Chu. “It’s a vital component of the VGA’s overall mission.”

So what does this all mean? Basically, accurate course ratings will allow the VGA to organise a legitimate, working handicap system for Vietnamese golfers – both resident golfers and tourists. Implementation of the system will be facilitated by the VGA in partnership with Saigon-based golf consultants Fore Golf Asia (FGA).

Golf’s handicap system is reliant on accurate course ratings and handicaps; it allows golfers of different abilities to enjoyably and fairly compete against one another on relatively equal terms. It is one of the few sports or games that provides this opportunity.

However, this system requires that courses be uniformly rated for difficulty, so that one player’s skill level is assessed along the same criteria as his or her opponent.

In this way, course rating is the first step in the handicapping process, and these four Vietnamese golf facilities have been singled out for this initial course-rating effort including Twin Doves Golf Resort in Binh Duong province, Vietnam Golf & Country Club (East and West Courses) in Ho Chi Minh City, Danang Golf Club (Dunes Course) and Montgomerie Links in Quang Nam province.

Jeff Puchalski, FGA founder and principal, said these courses were selected for the inaugural rating. “It is a very time consuming process and we will continue to rate the remaining courses over the next few months,” he added.

Only qualified USGA-certified raters are equipped to accurately assess the overall difficulty of an 18-hole golf course. Indeed, when rating an 18-hole course, the difficulty of each individual hole is also determined relative to the other 17.

The distinguished rating team assembled by the VGA and FGA for this task includes two representatives of the Hong Kong Golf Association, director Iain Valentine, and handicap chairman, Warwick Guy, the golf course architect Peter Rousseau from P&Z Design, FGA principal Jeff Puchalski, a 16-year member of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America, and Nguyen Ngoc Chu of the VGA.

“Golf is about enjoyment, but it’s also about fair and equitable competition,” said Puchalski. “Establishing legitimate USGA-sanctioned course ratings and, in turn, USGA-sanctioned handicaps, are essential to promoting equality amongst golfers. Handicaps allow that equality. Equality encourages more competition, and competition creates better golfers across Vietnam.

“With these ratings in place, Vietnamese courses will also be USGA-recognised — allowing golfers from all over the world to officially post their scores when playing golf here. Once all the courses have been rated, the VGA can provide handicaps to golfers at all VGA-affiliated clubs through a nationwide handicap system. This information will live online, so all clubs will have access to any golfer’s information – to verify Handicap Indexes for tournaments.”

The USGA’s method of rating course “slope” provides a better assessment of a golf course’s relative degree of difficulty than mere length. Some of the factors considered in course and slope rating are topography, rough and recoverability, trees, bunkers, and even the psychological obstacles a player may encounter on a hole.

The slope rating adjusts the strokes a golfer receives from an opponent while playing from any set of tees at any course. A course with a higher slope (which means that the spread between scores of scratch and non-scratch golfers will increase) will result in a player receiving more strokes from a more skilled opponent; conversely, a player receives fewer strokes from a more skilled opponent when he plays on a course with a lower slope rating, where the spread decreases.

Jon Tomlinson, general manager of the Montgomerie Links said: “The implementation of the USGA golf handicap system strategically arranged by the tireless committed efforts of the VGA provides a necessary structure to golf courses and golfers alike towards the continual development and modernisation of golf in Vietnam.”

Source: Timeout