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The Montgomery Links a Links-style course consisting many features such
as wide and hard fairways. The greens are generally large and undulating,
and the bunkers are deep and challenging, and look appealing as their
white color offers an interesting contrast to the green colors of the
fairways and greens. The sandy-soil, wind-blown dunes and indigenous vegetation
such as the pines and casuarinas combine in creating a nice landscape.
Many water hazards & deep bunkers are strategically placed throughout
the course, so the accuracy is important on this course.
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very short par four with a dogleg bend to the right. With a downhill tee
shot, long hitters will be able to carry the ball very close to the green.
At around 235 yards from the tee ground, there is a pond that appears on
the right side. Accuracy is more important over distance off the tee. The
further the ball flies, the narrower the fairway guarded by bunkers becomes.
Players can use a driver or lay-up by a utility or iron. The green is guarded
with a lake to its right. A birdie is possible as long as players can hit
a successful and accurate tee shot. This is a nice risk/reward hole. |
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Beautiful over-the-pond par three, which is not so challenging due to the
short distance. The green is vertically wide and is protected by a bunker
running along its entire front side, awaiting any miss shots. Since the
green is only 20 yards deep, players need be careful of hitting over the
green.意したい。 |
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| A relatively straight hole, which is a short par 5 with a
downhill tee shot, making hitting the green in two shots possible. The wide
green swings to the right with its front side facing a pond. On the second
shot, players will have to decide whether to courageously aim for the green
over the pond, or to play it safely and lay up. |
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A very long par four with a dogleg to the right. From the tee shot, players
will notice that the bunkers on both sides of the fairway will come into
play. The green is long and is guarded with a bunker on the left and a pond
on the right. The hole is demanding as it requires both distance and direction
on both the first and second shots. Putting will be quite a challenge as
well since the green consists of multiple mounds and slopes from back to
front. |
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An uphill par three. The green is elevated and guarded by five bunkers in
its front. Players need to spin a ball and to land it directly onto the
green. Although slightly different in shape, there are some similarities
with the fifth par 3 at Royal
Melbourne (West). |
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| A straight par five with a total of 18 bunkers. These bunkers
look intimidating from the teeing ground. The landing areas off the tee
shots are reasonably wide, although A pond and a series of fairway bunkers
on the left come into play on the slightly uphill tee shot. However, players
will face much narrower landing areas squeezed by the fairway bunkers on
both sides. A birdie will be possible as long as players can avoid hitting
the second shot into the fairway bunkers. The wide green is strongly elevated
and slops from left to right, with two bunkers to its right and three bunkers
to its left. |
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A straight, difficult, and long par four. The second shot will require a
very demanding uphill shot. The dense trees come into play on the left sides
of the green, sloping steeply from left to right. When the pin is positioned
to the left side, it will make the approach shot more difficult. The right
side of the green is guarded by a sloping dune with a small pond strategically
located just under the dune waiting for any errant shots. |
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A beautiful par three with a pond to the right, which is downhill but long.
The elevated green is surrounded by three bunkers. While it is difficult
to see off the teeing ground, the South China Sea is located at around 500
yards beyond the green. |
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A short par four with a dog leg to the left along a pond. The shortest distance
is to carry the ball over the pond onto the fairway very close to the green
will require a carry of arounds 250 yards, which allows only big hitters
to attempt to use this route. It is generally safer to hit the ball towards
the right side next to the pond off the tee. However, be careful of a cluster
of bunkers placed on the right side of the fairway. The green slopes to
the left. |
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It is a 20 minutes’ drive to Montgomerie Links from both Da Nang city
and Da Nang airport. The nearby Da
Nang GR is a short few minutes’ drive. Public course.
The Top 100 Golf Courses (top100golfcourses.com)
ranked Montgomerie Links as the 11th best golf course in 2020 Vitetnam Top
30. There are around 70 courses in Vietnam up to now. The other works of
Colin Montgomerie in Aisa are Golden
Gulf GC, Meishi
Mayflower Internationa GC in China, and Raon GC in Korea.
During my time here, we stayed at Intercontinental San Peninsula Da Nang
which is located 30 minutes by car to the golf course. This beachfront
hotel has a villa-style atmosphere and is surrounded by rocks as its located
at the foot of a mountain. Overall, this hotel turned out to be a fantastic
resort leaving guests with a satisfying feeling. While the on-site French
restaurant La Maison 1888 was highly recommended, we decided to dine at
the Vietnamese restaurant CITRON. The restaurant had six seats that protrude
into the air from the building, allowing for an excellent dining experience
with a wonderful view of the sea.
After our play at Montgomerie Links, I took a 20-minute drive south to visit
Hoi An, a World Heritage Site which was designated due to its stunning old
cityscape. Hoi An is a 40-minute drive from both Da Nang city and Da Nang
airport. Hoi An prospered as a transit point for East-West trade for 100
years starting from the end of the 16th century. Chinese, Dutch, and Portuguese
merchants, as well as over 1,000 Japanese people, lived in this area and
built a covered Nihonbashi (commonly known as Kitohashi Bridge) in 1593.
It is a port town where the old town is a multi-cultural blend of inviting
nostalgia. In the evening, lanterns were hung from the eaves of the homes,
offering a landscape in which the dim lights illuminated the entire small
town. This allowed for an exotic and fantastic view during the nighttime.
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Hole 4 Par 4 321 yards (2)