Is Vietnam the planet’s fastest-growing golf country?

What a difference half a century can make.

On the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, there are more golf courses in development in Vietnam than almost anywhere else in the world. The only exception lies in the place that is just as synonymous with the infamous 20-year conflict: the United States, where 124 layouts are in some stage of planning or construction.

But while that number is more than double what Vietnam has going, it doesn’t tell the whole story, according to at least one golf industry expert.

“The U.S. has 30 times the amount of land that Vietnam does,” said Scott Resch, an American who has been organizing golf trips to Vietnam since 2007, first as a media relations specialist and now as the owner of boutique tour operator Asia Golf Trips. “Factor that gaping difference into the equation, and I’m not sure anyone could argue that Vietnam isn’t the world’s fastest-growing golf nation.”

Regardless of which country rightfully deserves that title, there’s no question as to how convinced Vietnam is that building lots of golf courses is a good idea.

According to the National Golf Foundation’s latest Worldwide Golf Course Development report, Vietnam has 51 courses in planning or under construction, far outpacing the United Kingdom — the third-most-active country at 27. When all of those courses are finished, Vietnam’s inventory will almost double.

One reason for the country’s golf course building boom could be anticipated demand based on the trajectory of foreign visitation. Last year, Vietnam recorded more than 17.5 million international arrivals, a 39 percent increase over 2023 and just a hair shy of its all-time record of 18 million set in 2019, right before the pandemic threw a long-term wrench into travel habits.

Silk Path

But there also seems to be a new level of recognition among Vietnamese officials and developers that their country possesses the quintessential canvas for golf, Resch said.

“We’re talking more than 2,000 miles of coastline that is still relatively untouched,” said Resch, who oversaw the grand openings of several seaside designs in Vietnam from 2010 from 2018 and who continues to visit its beaches and bluffs as his company’s tour guide. “All those sand dunes are a designer’s dream — and Vietnam, over the last 15 years, has really tapped into it.”

Resch launched Asia Golf Trips in late 2023 partially because of the quality of the courses he personally watched open in Vietnam in the decade and a half prior. He also saw an opportunity to capitalize on Vietnam’s appeal to a new generation of Americans — one that is too young to remember the Fall of Saigon in 1975, and one that is traveling for golf more than any group to come before.

“If you’re an American under 50, or even under 60, there’s a good chance your picture of Vietnam is a lot closer to (Anthony) Bourdain’s version than (Walter) Cronkite’s,” he said. “The Bourdain version — beautiful landscapes, great food, welcoming culture — is one that people are intrigued by. And that’s the persona my clientele relates really well to.”

Resch’s wager that Vietnam is now a country that a lot of Americans have at least thought about exploring is already paying off.

“As soon as a golf traveler sees how good the courses really are, how amazing the hotels and resorts are, and just how warm and friendly the Vietnamese are, you have an ambassador,” Resch said. “This ain’t your father’s Vietnam. It’s the world’s fastest-growing golf nation, and it’s on track to be among the very best real soon.”

Bluffs Ho Tram / Patrick Koenig