The Bluffs Ho Tram: Vietnam's Links Masterpiece That Belongs on Every Golfer's Bucket List

Gunnar Kobin
Mar 24
5 min read

The Bluffs Ho Tram is Greg Norman Masterpiece

There are golf courses that you play, and there are golf courses that stay with you. The ones you think about weeks later because of how you swung, how the wind came in, and how the view from the elevated tee made you forget you had a club. The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram is in that category.

I'd been told there was a true links course in southern Vietnam, and honestly I was a little skeptical. Links golf conjures images of wind swept coastlines in Scotland, Ireland, and maybe parts of Australia. Not Vietnam. Vietnam is a warm tropical climate with lush resort fairways where you can play a round and sit down for a cold beer at the turn. The Bluffs doesn’t cater to your expectations and will break them down one by one as you play from hole to hole.

Getting There

The course is located approximately 130 km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and can take anywhere from 2 to 2.5 hours to get to depending on traffic. This is not a short trip. It gives you time to unwind as the road leads you through the city on the outskirts and finally transforms into a beautiful coastline. You will understand why the trip is worth it.

I recommend you stay the night. The Intercontinental Hotel and Casino is on site and is your best bet - comfortable, and convenient - and it allows you to do what this course truly asks of you, which is to play it twice. More on that later.

Greg Norman's Best Work in Asia

The Bluffs is the best course in Vietnam and is consistently ranked within the top 40 in the world. Opened in 2014, it is the best course Norman has designed in the Asia Pacific, largely due to the firm’s minimal disturbance approach to course design. The firm built the course around the natural dune system instead of trying to bulldoze or mold it to fit their vision. As you walk the course, there is a strong sense of that philosophy in use. Everything feels natural and discovered.

The course is built in and around massive sand hills that rise to 50 meters above sea level with a number of seascapes of the South China Sea. The course has native and crawling vegetation, sand and fast draining soil, and a true and authentic feel that many resort courses lack.

Playing the Course: What You Should Expect

To be honest, it’ll be very difficult to keep your ego intact after your first visit to this course.

There are some serious hills. You may experience a small gasp or two when walking between the green and the tee, and your caddie is probably doing just fine. The hills are tough and the elevation changes are serious, and combined with the many blind shots, you’ll be hitting into the void very often. Trust your caddie.

The Bluffs has blind shots that aren't gimmicky. They are a result of routing a course through massive dunes, which is why it may take a couple of rounds, or a solid caddie, to bring some clarity to which club to hit. On your first round, experienced golfers will still be unsure about whether to take a 3-wood or a wedge. Use your caddie, especially if it's your first round. They know which shots are drivers and which aren't. In fact, pulling driver on some holes will just create a disaster where getting a bogey may have been possible.

Links Feel, but Higher

What stands out about The Bluffs and separates it from the many other courses in Southeast Asia, is that it offers a true links experience, but instead of being at sea level, it is located in the high dunes. Most links courses are located at the shore line, but this course has a surprising amount of elevation changes and verticality as it goes through the sand hills.

This made me think of La Réserve in Mauritius, particularly in the core of the golf course, which offers a one-off experience of unique golf course design. There’s a one-off experience in the core of the golf course, which offers a one-off experience of unique golf course design. The poa on the fairways, the natural seated greens, with the lush, old, ashen look and feel of the course, and the old-fashioned and feel of the course, which is open less than a less than a decade ago. The experience of playing golf is very awesome.

The greens are solid with a variety of challenging ridges and reasonable speed. The wind can be your friend or foe. When it picks up, the shot selection becomes extremely strategic. The Bluffs’ flat windless day is a totally different experience to a breezy windy contract day. Here the afternoon can easily create a 3 or 4 club wind, so strategic shot selection is essential.

A Few Honest Notes

Most of the views are stunning, particularly those around the elevated 4th hole, where there is a near 360 view of the course. To be honest, there are a few, more than a few, ocean-facing views that are obstructed by waterfront construction. It is still breathtaking, as the course should provide a remote feeling to the player, but the construction is an obvious eyesore. Hopefully the development over time, but for now the construction is an unmissable eyesore.

One more honest observation regarding the course and the surrounding area. It does feel a bit lacking for the journey that you have to do coming from Ho Chi Minh City. There is a long drive and while The Bluffs is definitely worthy of the trip, the area is still lacking in really good golf/ courses. It does need at least 2 or 3 more great courses in the proximity to really establish a good golf destination.

The Smart Way to Do It

That would be to play it twice. That's the answer.

Make two bookings, have two nights stays at the Intercontinental, and consider the first round your orientation lap — learning the blind shots, knowing where driver gets you into trouble, understanding which greens are fast and which par-3s are longer than they look, etc. The second round is where you really get to play golf. You'll drop shots more intentionally, go for the right pins, and have a good understanding of pace and strategy. The course reveals itself slowly, and it rewards the attentive golfer.

While the casino and hotel complex may not be the most atmospheric stay, it does offer a polished and comfortable stay. The casino and hotel complex is convenient, the facilities are good, and waking up two minutes from the first tee makes it easier to motivate yourself for an early morning round.'

Final Verdict

The Bluffs is the complete package. It is visually beautiful, physically challenging, and difficult, and is about as natural as a modern course gets. You’ll get caught out by the blind shots, the wind will add unforeseen strokes to your score, and the hills will challenge your legs as much as your golfing ability. But that’s links golf — it’s meant to be a battle.

Get a good caddie and play it twice. Stay the night. Under that configuration, The Bluffs definitely falls into bucket-list course territory.