Sir Nick Faldo is to design a new golf course at Thanh Lanh Golf Club near Hanoi, Vietnam.
The unique setting is celebrated from all angles of the design with the site’s returning nines routing reimagining the peninsula layout and inviting the landscape into the playing experience across every hole.
Away from the surrounding views, the design harnesses the natural context of the course and responds to it through the detailing of features, most notably using unique bunker shaping to mirror the overlooking mountain skyline.
Having recently adapted to remote working and virtual design direction in the latter stages of construction, Faldo is set to complete work this summer on the new 18-hole course in Vinh Phuc Province near Hanoi.
Faldo commented: “This is a special site and presents us with an opportunity to create a memorable, world-class golf course. In addition to nine lakeside holes, our design features spectacular mountain and lake views from all 18 holes. We are also very fortunate to be working with a client who shares the same vision as we do in terms of incorporating the existing natural landscape into a high-quality strategic golf course and development.”
The course will measure over 7,000 yards and present a strategic challenge using preserved local features, such as natural streams and relief, to create interest and shot variation around all 18 holes. However, with five sets of tees, the design offers an inviting playing experience for all abilities with generous tee shots and downhill run offs supporting shorter hitters.
Inspired by the local surroundings, Andrew Haggar, Faldo Design’s lead architect, said: “From the start of design to the completion of construction we have looked to be creative and innovative on this project. Establishing returning nines which both play out and back, and which share in the beauty of the lakeside, really set the foundation for maximising the site’s surrounding assets.”
“The closing stretch, I think quite fittingly, encompasses much of what we’ve tried to achieve by returning players along the shoreline of the lake to the new clubhouse with a magnificent mountain backdrop. This place certainly has memorability and once visited players will definitely want to return.”
Sustainable practices have also remained at the forefront of the design’s decision making, implementing a comprehensive planting programme to support an ongoing thriving environment in addition to the ‘cut and fill’ practice used during the course’s construction phases to eliminate any earthmoving waste at the site.