Golf Course Architecture: Issue 57 - July 2019

26 Second course opens at FLC Quang Binh The second course designed by Brian Curley at the FLC Quang Binh development on a stretch of Vietnam coastline has opened for play. The Ocean Dunes layout is located within the 2,400-hectare development in Hanoi – just south of Dong Hoi – that runs along a six-kilometre beach. It is the second of a possible ten courses for the complex, with the first – Forest Dunes – having opened last year. “It is a very dramatic contrast of white sand, emerald green paspalum turf, dark green pines, multi- coloured wetlands, and sparkling blue waterways, all overlooking the ocean,” said Curley. Ocean Dunes begins playing into a native forest from elevated tees that make up part of a man-made dune complex that includes the first, tenth and fifteenth tees, as well as the ninth and fourteenth greens. “This area had been the flattest portion of the site, but excavation of nearby irrigation lakes created the material to create the dune and raise the clubhouse pad,” said Curley. “The site offered plenty of natural casuarina pine vegetation along with the white sand base. These sandy expanses were also covered with wispy showings of native bunch grasses and pine needles, creating a rugged look. Much of the sand is incorporated not as typical formal bunkering, but as wide swathes of open sand and as up-dunes. “Ocean Dunes plays along the natural terrain, tying into the surrounds. This pattern is broken in some instances, including the created dune complex for the large double green for the second and fifth holes and the tees for the third. The third plays from atop a high point that was expanded during construction into a large dune and features a deep gouged out low, with a prominent centreline dune slightly blinding the wide fairway.” The par-three fourth and seventh TEE BOX