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Welcome...

...to the August edition of Asian Golf Insider.

This month, we are heading to Hanoi, a city where excellent golf, rich history and some of Vietnam’s best food come together beautifully. Our featured course is Phoenix Golf Resort, home to 54 holes framed by dramatic limestone karsts and a recently renovated clubhouse. We are also introducing the new Fairmont Hanoi, Vietnam’s first Fairmont and an excellent new base for golfers who want to stay close to Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter.

We also sit down with Jean-François Brun, General Manager of Fairmont Hanoi, to discuss his return to Vietnam, the stories woven into the hotel’s design, and why he believes northern Vietnam has such a promising future as a luxury golf destination.

August is also a busy month for our tournament team. There is still time to join the Pattaya Men’s Open from 23-29 August and the Bangkok Golf Championship from 30 August-5 September. Places remain for both events, but availability is now getting tight, so please register soon if you would like to play.

Looking further ahead, bookings are now open for two of our biggest events of 2027: the Centara World Masters in Hua Hin from 6-12 June and the Avani Pattaya 2 Ball from 13-19 June. You will find our full Asia golf event calendar, together with all the registration links, further down in this newsletter.

A quick reminder to download the My Golfasian app, available now on iPhone and Android. From your phone you can:

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We are now ramping up for the coming high season, and demand is already looking strong. The most popular tee times and hotels will fill quickly, so we encourage you to contact us now if you are planning to travel. We have a good selection of early bird offers available, with huge savings on selected hotels and travel dates. Booking early gives us the best chance of securing your preferred courses, tee times and hotel specials.

A quick personal request: please take a moment to vote for Golfasian in the 2026 World Golf Awards. Your support makes a real difference to our business and our team. Every single vote counts, and we’re very grateful for each one.

Finally, if you have feedback, an interesting golf travel story or something you think we should cover in a future newsletter, we would love to hear from you. Please send it our way.

We hope you enjoy this month's edition.

Mark Siegel,

Managing Director

ASIA GOLF EVENT CALENDAR

Pattaya Men's Open 23 - 29 Aug. 2026, Pattaya, Thailand

Bangkok Golf Championship 30 Aug. - 5 Sep. 2026, Bangkok, Thailand

Vietnam World Masters 6 - 13 Sep. 2026, Danang, Vietnam (SOLD OUT)
Vietnam World Masters Week 2 13 - 19 Sep. 2026, Danang, Vietnam

Cambodia Golf Tournament 25 - 30 Oct. 2026, Cambodia

Pullman Invitational 1 - 6 Nov. 2026, Pattaya, Thailand

Malaysia World Masters 21 - 28 Nov. 2026, Malaysia
Philippines Golf Invitational 21 - 27 Feb. 2027, Clark, Philippines (SPECIAL OFFER)

Amari Skins Hua Hin Golf Week 14 - 19 Mar. 2027, Hua Hin, TH

Centara World Masters 6 - 12 Jun. 2027, Hua Hin, Thailand (SPECIAL OFFER)
Avani Pattaya 2 Ball 13 - 19 Jun. 2027, Pattaya, Thailand (SPECIAL OFFER)

DESTINATION OF THE MONTH: Hanoi, Vietnam

Where Championship Golf Meets a Thousand Years of Culture

Some golf cities make you choose between memorable courses and a compelling destination. Hanoi gives you both. Vietnam's thousand-year-old capital wraps every trip in lakes, tree-lined boulevards, colonial architecture and the irresistible energy of the Old Quarter. International access through Noi Bai International Airport is straightforward, and many of the leading Hanoi golf courses sit roughly 45 to 90 minutes from the centre, so even a short stay can deliver serious variety.

The landscapes change from round to round. Phoenix Golf Resort places 54 holes beneath spectacular limestone karsts. Kings Island Golf Resort combines three courses beside the Dong Mo reservoir, with the Lakeside experience beginning by boat. At Sky Lake Resort & Golf Club, 36 holes roll through hills and natural Vietnamese countryside, while the Nick Faldo-designed Thanh Lanh Valley Golf & Resort adds cooler highland air and a dramatic mountain setting. No two days need feel alike.

Then the city takes over. Early mornings beside Hoan Kiem Lake, bun cha and pho, hidden coffee shops, the Temple of Literature, water puppets and the lanes of the Old Quarter turn the hours between rounds into part of the journey rather than downtime. A Hanoi Golf Week balances those cultural highlights with a strong course lineup, while longer Vietnam golf holidays can extend to Ninh Binh, Ha Long Bay or the mountain landscapes around Sapa.

Hanoi feels authentic, atmospheric and genuinely different: championship golf by day, one of Asia's great food-and-culture cities each evening, and northern Vietnam waiting beyond. Start planning your Hanoi golf holiday with Golfasian.

COURSE OF THE MONTH: Phoenix Golf Resort

Some golf courses are remembered for a signature hole. Phoenix Golf Resort is remembered for the landscape around almost every one of them. Set roughly 40 kilometres from Hanoi in Luong Son, this remarkable 54-hole complex spreads three distinct 18-hole layouts - Dragon, Phoenix and Champion - through a valley of towering limestone karsts. The scenery has earned it the nickname "Ha Long Bay on land," and with the resort's clubhouse and hospitality facilities newly upgraded, this long-established northern Vietnam favourite feels ready for a very welcome new chapter.

The Dragon Course is the showpiece. Designed by Sato Kentaro, the 7,281-yard, par-72 layout uses the site's rolling terrain and rock formations to create a course that is as strategic as it is photogenic. The front nine delivers the greatest drama, with holes framed tightly by limestone walls and elevation changes that demand confident club selection. The inward half eases the pressure slightly as it works back towards the clubhouse, but the final par 4 has one last sting, with a deep ravine guarding the approach to the green.

Stay another day and the scale of Phoenix begins to make sense. The Champion Course offers broader, more open playing corridors with plenty of strategic decisions, while the Phoenix Course provides a more forgiving resort-style round without losing the extraordinary mountain backdrop. Together, the three courses give groups of mixed handicaps real variety and make it possible to play for two or three days without repeating the same experience.

The recent resort refresh changes the proposition beyond the fairways, too. The new-look clubhouse brings modern reception and dining spaces, 634 lockers, and restaurants serving Asian and European dishes, while the wider resort includes 164 rooms for golfers who prefer to stay on site. Add a driving range, massage, sauna, swimming pool and those first-tee views at breakfast, and Phoenix now makes a convincing stay-and-play base rather than simply a memorable round on the Hanoi circuit.

Phoenix Golf Resort is open every day and sits around 90 minutes from central Hanoi, depending on traffic. It works beautifully as a day trip, especially with an early tee time, but the 54-hole setup now rewards a longer stay. Golfasian can arrange confirmed tee times, private transfers and accommodation either as a standalone Phoenix escape or as part of a tailor-made Hanoi golf holiday. Come for the karsts, and you may find the variety keeps you for another round.

Explore Phoenix Golf Resort.

Fairmont Hanoi hotel near Hoan Kiem Lake, Vietnam

ACCOMMODATION OF THE MONTH: Fairmont Hanoi

A New Five-Star Landmark Between Hanoi's Old Quarter and French Quarter.

Fairmont Hanoi is the brand's first address in Vietnam, and it arrives in exactly the right place for a city-and-golf escape. Set at 10 Tran Nguyen Han, close to Hoan Kiem Lake and between the Old Quarter and French Quarter, it puts Hanoi's street life, galleries, architecture and evening dining within an easy walk. After a day on the course, the contrast is lovely: outside, the capital is all energy; inside, the mood is calm, polished and distinctly contemporary.

The hotel has 241 rooms and suites, each designed as a proper urban retreat rather than simply a place to sleep. Marble bathrooms, Le Labo amenities and nightly turndown service bring the small luxuries, while spacious layouts and deep soaking tubs are especially welcome after 18 holes. Guests choosing Fairmont Gold add lounge access and more personalised service, a useful upgrade for longer stays or groups who enjoy a quieter place to gather.

Dining is a major part of the experience. Eight restaurants and bars move from refined Vietnamese flavours to international cooking, relaxed cocktails and rooftop dining with views across the city. The rooftop pool gives you another way to slow the pace between rounds, whether that means a late-afternoon swim or a drink as the lights come on around Hoan Kiem.

Then there is CIRUA Bathhouse, the hotel's 3,500-square-metre wellness sanctuary. Inspired by Vietnamese bathing traditions, it combines thermal bathing, hydrotherapy, holistic rituals, relaxation areas and a modern fitness centre. For golfers arriving back with tired legs and another tee time the following morning, it may become the hotel's most appreciated address.

Fairmont Hanoi works beautifully as a luxury base for the capital's varied golf circuit. You are centrally placed for evenings in the city, while Golfasian can arrange confirmed tee times, private transfers and a tailored itinerary featuring Phoenix Golf Resort and other leading Hanoi courses. It is a sophisticated new option for travellers who want serious golf by day and the best of Hanoi waiting when they return.

Discover Fairmont Hanoi.

MEET JEAN-FRANÇOIS BRUN

Vietnam’s first Fairmont Hanoi was never meant to feel like an international hotel simply placed in the capital. For General Manager Jean-François Brun, it needed to belong to Hanoi, reflecting the city’s history, symbolism and distinct sense of hospitality.

Brun brings more than 25 years of experience from hotels in Marrakech, Bangkok, Dubai and across Vietnam. At Fairmont Hanoi, he is bringing those lessons together through a locally rooted design, a service culture built around personal attention, and thoughtful support for golfers exploring the leading courses around the city.

We sat down with Brun to discuss his return to Vietnam, the stories woven into the hotel, his idea of a golfer’s perfect day, and why he believes Hanoi is becoming one of Asia’s most compelling luxury golf destinations.

Read the full interview

Dao Thuc water puppeteers preparing hand-painted figures near Hanoi

BEYOND THE FAIRWAYS: Secret Hanoi

Hanoi's famous monuments tell only part of its story. The capital's most rewarding encounters often happen behind an unmarked workshop door, beside a village pond, or in a listening room small enough to hear every breath. These five experiences take more arranging than a standard city tour, but each brings you face to face with the people keeping a rare Hanoi tradition alive.

1. Go behind the water curtain in Dao Thuc North of the city, Dao Thuc has kept its village water-puppet tradition alive for nearly 300 years. Instead of watching from a theatre seat, arrange time with the troupe beside its rural pond: meet the puppet makers, see how lacquered figures are carved and balanced, and step behind the thuy dinh to understand the bamboo rods, ropes and underwater mechanics that make farmers, dragons and buffalo appear to dance on water.

2. Draw a thread from a lotus stem in Phung Xa At artisan Phan Thi Thuan's family workshop by the Day River, discarded lotus stems become one of the world's rarest textiles. In season, visitors can split a fresh stem, tease out the almost invisible cellulose filaments, roll them into thread and try a traditional loom. A scarf requires thousands of stems; watching even a few centimetres emerge by hand changes the way you see both silk and the lotus.

3. Hear gold being made in Kieu Ky Kieu Ky is Vietnam's only village specialising in gold and silver leaf, a craft maintained for roughly 400 years. Inside a working family atelier, tiny pieces of precious metal are packed between paper and hammered hundreds of times until a sheet can float at the touch of breath. Its gold has gilded temples, lacquerware and landmarks across Vietnam. The sound, patience and impossible thinness are the experience.

4. Turn Van Phuc's discarded silk into folk art Beyond Van Phuc's well-known looms, Vun Art gives the village's smallest offcuts a second life. Sit with its disabled artisans and build a Hang Trong- or Dong Ho-inspired collage, placing slivers of patterned silk into a picture or tote. It is tactile, quietly absorbing and directly supports a social enterprise that creates skilled work while preventing beautiful fabric from becoming waste.

5. Listen to ca tru at arm's length Seek out one of Hanoi's preservation clubs for a private or very small performance of ca tru, the capital's refined chamber music. There is no amplified stage: a singer marks the poetry on bamboo clappers, a three-string lute answers, and a connoisseur's praise drum becomes part of the conversation. With an introduction to the verses and rhythms beforehand, what can sound austere in a theatre becomes intimate, precise and unexpectedly moving.

These are not drop-in attractions; they are best arranged in advance, with time for conversation and the flexibility to follow each artisan's rhythm. Let us weave Hanoi's hidden side into your Hanoi golf holiday. For a tailor-made itinerary, please email us.

Sapa Grand Golf Course in the mountains of northern Vietnam

GOLF PACKAGE OF THE MONTH: Northern Vietnam Golf & Cultural Discovery

7 Days / 6 Nights · 3 Rounds · fully customizable

This is Northern Vietnam in full: Hanoi after dark, championship golf by lakes and mountains, Ha Long Bay by boat, and Sapa above the clouds. The journey begins with a Vespa night food tour before the road opens towards the northern highlands, all brought together in our Northern Vietnam Golf & Cultural Discovery

The golf changes character with every round. Play the Jack Nicklaus-designed Kings Course at Kings Island, cross into Vietnam's high country for Sapa Grand beside the Red River and the Chinese border, then finish among the mountains and lakes of 27-hole Yen Bai Star. Between rounds, cruise Ha Long Bay, ride the cable car towards Fansipan Peak, and explore the traditional villages of Lao Chai and Ta Van.

Four nights in Hanoi and two in Sapa are included, together with daily breakfast, the excursions shown in the itinerary, caddies at every course, golf carts where stated, and all airport, land, hotel and golf transfers. Private VIP transport, meet-and-greet service, daily drinking water, local assistance and Golfasian's 24/7 golf hotline keep the journey effortless from arrival to departure.

The itinerary is fully customizable, so we can adjust the hotels, golf, pacing and cultural experiences around your travel dates and interests.

Explore the full itinerary.

MEET OUR TEAM - Giang

Giang's path to Golfasian combines a degree in Finance and Banking with five years of hospitality experience. Since joining the company in 2023, she has brought that service-minded background to her work with guests in Vietnam, taking real pride in helping each traveler enjoy a smooth journey and return home with lasting memories.

What Giang enjoys most about golf tourism is the way the game opens a door to the destination around it. Golf brings travelers to beautiful places, but it also creates opportunities to discover local culture, history, and the rhythms of everyday life, the details that turn a golf holiday into a richer experience.

Outside of work, family time comes first. Giang and her family love taking short weekend trips to discover new places, experience different cultures, and seek out the local cuisine. Those small adventures keep her curiosity alive and give her an even deeper appreciation for what makes every destination distinctive.

Her food map of Vietnam has a favorite at every stop: bun cha in Hanoi, banh ram it in Hue, and banh canh in Saigon. It is a wonderfully local trio, and a fitting reflection of how she likes to travel, one destination and one delicious discovery at a time.

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Asian GOLF & More Magazine

The highly anticipated edition #4 of Asian GOLF & More has arrived!

We take a focused look at Asia's continued rise as a global golf powerhouse - now home to over 20 percent of the world's golfers and an estimated USD 7 billion in annual golf tourism. This issue highlights Vietnam's transformation into a leading destination, with insights from Greg Norman on the country's long-term vision, plus commentary from LIV Golf's Su Ann Heng on the modern professional game and golf's expanding international reach.

Beyond Vietnam, we cover Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, alongside practical features on jet lag management, cultural additions to golf trips, and the growing amateur tournament scene. Concise, informed, and forward-looking - designed for golfers who want context, insight, and ideas for where the game is heading next.

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