Ba Na Hills Golf Club

Located just 25 minutes inland from Da Nang city nestled in the foothills of the Ba Na Mountain range, this recently opened gem is the first design by former world number one tour star Luke Donald.  It is easy to see that Donald majored in Art at Northwestern University as his first attempt at design resulted in a true masterpiece.  

Even the clubhouse itself is a crafted creation with its design modeled after an old Vietnamese coin which is round with a square hole in the middle of it. This uniquely designed building offers 360 degree panoramic views, a beautifully stocked golf shop, championship style locker rooms, relaxation rooms, and an open style restaurant featuring a large terrace enjoying gorgeous vistas of the course and surrounding mountains. 

The facility is managed by IMG and features some of the most warm hearted, pleasant and helpful staff I have encountered in Southeast Asia. Everyone from the golf shop attendants, restaurant staff, locker room attendants, starters, caddies, and even the smiling course maintenance workers are here to make sure you enjoy your experience. This course does not offer memberships, but instead treats every visiting guest as a member for the day and the personalized treatment is prevalent everywhere. 

After checking in and a quick change in the locker rooms, your smiling caddie will drive you over to the incredible warm up area which features covered hitting areas to a range which duplicates the feel of the golf course with fairways to aim at and target greens framed by bunkers allowing you to practice iron shots as you would if you were hitting actual approach shots.  Capped off with a practice bunker, large chipping and putting area as well as two full swing rooms with all the latest technology, this practice facility offers you everything you could hope for. 

As your caddie takes you up to the first tee, Donald's masterpiece begins to unfold before your eyes and heightens your other senses as this perfectly manicured course with pure white framing bunkers is beautifully surrounded by the lush green mountains. 

This course is the toughest challenge in the area measuring a whopping 7858 yards from the tips with some dramatic elevation changes and the encompassing jungle willing to swallow errant shots, however, it does offer more room to drive the ball then appears and with closely mown areas around the greens allows you a variety of ways to try and get up and down from wayward approach shots. 

This Donald design will test all your clubs in the bag, but with the helpful insight from your caddie coupled with the superb conditioning and extraordinary views greeting you on every hole it is simply a true pleasure to play.  Make sure to bring your camera, as the elevation changes paired with the picture perfect mountain backdrops are something you will want to capture and share. 

The beautiful layout offers you two distinct nines, with the front nine having a parkland feel with gently rolling terrain, and then the back nine ramps it up a notch with some dramatic elevation changes. A perfect example is the sixteenth, a par three with its island green taunting you to hit it while sitting what feels like a mile below you. 

If your senses are not fully awakened by a daytime round, this stunning layout is brought into an entirely different light as the whole course is lit from the first tee to the eighteenth green for a nighttime adventure that can hardly be described by words. With the playing surfaces brought to new life under the stars and the mountain ranges offering a shadow like outline, the entire scene becomes surreal and entrancing. 

I was privileged to play the course only weeks after it opened and it was in pristine shape.  I almost felt bad taking a divot from the immaculate fairways and tried to do my best Moe Norman interpretation of "bacon strips not pork chops" sweeping my irons off the playing surfaces. But with IMG at the helm, I am sure these same superb conditioning will be greeting me at my next visit whenever that will be. 

After the round comes to an end, enjoy a cool beverage and excellent choice of Vietnamese or Western dishes in the relaxing restaurant or sitting out on the terrace under the oscillating cool fans as you soak up the surroundings. 

With Da Nang city known for its beach fun, Ba Na Hills Golf Club is a must journey inland to the gorgeous mountainside as it is a true work of art that you will not want to miss during the day or evening on your vacation to this Central Coast of Vietnam. 

Course Details:

Black Tees: 7858 yards

Gold Tees: 7162 yards

Blue Tees: 6618 yards

White Tees: 6021 yards

Red Tees: 5173 yards

Contact Information

Tel: +84 511 3924 888

Email: info@banahillsgolf.com

Website: www.banahillsgolf.com