Hoiana Shores Golf Club has been named the Best New Course to open worldwide for the year 2020. The Robert Trent Jones II design, opened earlier this year in the stunning dunescape of Central Vietnam, was singled out for this honour as part of the 7th annual World Golf Awards.
The World Golf Awards are voted on by the golfing public and industry professionals during a ballot period that, this year, extended from 23 February to 1 September.
Hoiana Shores GC — part of the US$4 billion Hoiana Integrated Resort, located on the beach southeast of Hoi An — earned World’s Best New Course honours for 2020 by besting an exceedingly strong field of nominees, among them Old Toccoa Farm and the Tiger Woods-designed Payne’s Valley GC at Big Cedar Lodge; the Dumbarnie Links in Scotland and PGA National in the Czech Republic; the Education City GC in Qatar and the Dubai Hills GC in the UAE.
Hoiana Shores is a modern links design, laid out on a treeless expanse of pure sand, with no fewer than 5 holes coming into direct contact with the East Sea. “The success of Hoiana Shores makes it a game-changer,” said its architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., “and from a pure golfing perspective, this is some of our very best work. We really opened up the sand dunes and allowed the greens to settle into them. I wanted greens nestled into the dunes early in the round. When players get closer to the water, we wanted to open up vistas to the sea.”
“It’s a great honour to be recognized with this World Golf Award,” added Ben Styles, General Manager of HSGC. “This is the only award that combines the votes of both golfers and industry professionals globally. We’ve not been open a full year, but we do feel we’ve created something very special here, something that will stand as a landmark course in Asia-Pacific for decades to come. It’s gratifying to see that others agree.”
Hoiana Shores GC and the other winners were meant to be feted as part of an October 29 red-carpet ceremony and gala reception that has customarily drawn market leaders from nations across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Latin America, North America and Oceania. Sadly, the event was cancelled on account of the worldwide pandemic.
“Despite the many challenges that golf tourism has faced in this most unprecedented of years, this year’s program has seen a record number of votes cast by both golf consumers and golf industry professionals from around the world,” according to Chris Frost, Managing Director of World Golf Awards. “The appetite for golf tourism has never been as keen, with golf fans urging World Golf Awards to continue acknowledging the leading brands in our industry. This bodes well for golf tourism’s future as the global recovery begins.”