Fair weather, lush greens and a royal heritage have made golf a number one attraction for visitors and locals across the region. Golf is the new goldmine and anybody who can wave a mashie niblick is welcome to replace their divots on some of the finest fairways in the world in Southeast Asia – where there are no class or money barriers. 

With few exceptions – the Royal & Ancient in St Andrews, Scotland, is one in that it welcomes local players – the world’s best golf courses are private affairs. They are created for members only, and no amount of money will enable you to jump the waiting list. Golf in Indochina is different in that most courses are an integral part of resort complexes. In that nebulous Asian manner, the gatekeepers are also entrepreneurs, and they are more than happy to accept your green fee in exchange for 18 holes. So, you pay your money and take your pick. 

Led by Thailand, Indochina has become a Mecca for golfers, largely because the green fees for a round are relatively inexpensive, the year-round tropical climate is a guarantee of good weather and the 19th hole isn’t going to break the bank for the celebrating winner. Add to that the breathtaking scenery, fantastic coastlines, courses designed by some of the game’s most famous names and luxurious accommodation and you have a potent mix for every golfer – from the seasoned professional to the cack-handed dabbler. 

While the development of new courses has flagged the table in North America, Europe and Australia – thanks to the worldwide economic slowdown – today there are more than 260 golf courses in Thailand, with 19 in Vietnam and another four in Cambodia. And the trend is showing no sign of letting up, with more than 70 new courses planned for Vietnam alone in the coming years.

Indochina’s golfing tradition is distinct from those in other Asian nations, especially that in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. The game here owes very little to British influence. This explains, in part, the small number of private clubs – the British brought their own private club tradition with them to Asia, and so the best golf venues in Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur remain off-limits to all but the privileged few. 

Golf in Thailand grew along very different lines. In the early part of the last century, when travel by steamer and rail was just emerging in what was then the Kingdom of Siam, a village called Samoriang lost its anonymity. Soon after a train station was erected there in 1911, Prince Nares and other members of the Thai Royal Family began visiting the seaside outpost, drawn back time and again by its pristine beaches and massive rock outcroppings. 

By 1916, the name of the town was changed to Hua Hin and it became a firm favourite with travellers, who routinely spent a night or two there. The state railway even recommended it as a good place to break up the long journey from Bangkok to Singapore. 

The town was unprepared for the invasion and far from luxurious in terms of the accommodation it offered. Enter Prince Purachatra, who wanted to elevate the standard of lodgings. In 1922 he commissioned  A Rigazi, the state railways’ Italian architect, to design a luxurious European-style resort hotel. In turn, King Rama VI hired A O Robins, a Scottish engineer, to bring golf to the region. In 1923, the grand Railway Hotel opened. Less than a year later, so did the 9-hole, 3,000-yard Royal Hua-Hin Golf Course, just across the street. 

Golf in Thailand was born. 

Okay, so Robins was a Scot, but golf in Hua Hin was very nearly a Thai creation. It’s one of the factors that continues to distinguish the golf culture here. Yes, Koreans, Japanese, Europeanss and Australians routinely book their golf holidays in Thailand – but there are 260 golf courses in this country because the Thais love their golf. 

Some estimates peg the native golfing population at nearly 2m, and they are spoilt for choice when it comes to those courses, which range from simple “daily-fee” affairs serving locals and tourists to international calibre resort tracks, such as the Jack Nicklaus-designed Springfield Golf Club, the Pete Dye-designed Thai Muang and Robert Trent Jones-designed Santiburi CC. Even though these courses are at the top of the regional rankings and regularly host professional tour events, anyone with the time can stride out on their immaculate greens.

Golf in Vietnam took hold very differently and did not have any royal connections, at least at the beginning. Although 1922 is often reckoned as the year the Dalat Palace Golf Course course opened, this is not likely. Nor is it likely the course was the inspiration of Bao Dai, the last emperor of feudal Vietnam — as is often asserted. Bao Dai was born in 1913 and spent much of his youth in France. He did not return to Vietnam until 1932, at which time the golf course in Dalat was already open for play. 

In about 1930, golf course architects Colt & Alison listed the Ville de Dalat in “Indo China” as one of the top courses in its worldwide portfolio. As a passage from an English-language brochure published in 1933 said: “The Lang-Biang Palace and the Grand Hotel de Dalat . . . offer every modern comfort, and diversion, including concerts, tennis, golf, walking tours and motor excursions.” 

At about the same time the Go Vap golf course opened and was celebrated by National Geographic magazine in October 1935 with a report that: “The late Governor-General Pasquier drove the first ball on a new golf course and aviation flourishes in Saigon.” 

Bao-Dai, Vietnam’s last emperor, who abdicated in 1945 when the communist Viet Minh seized power, is said to have loved golf. He enjoyed vacationing at several royal villas in Dalat, partly for their proximity to Vietnam’s big game and partly for the proximity to its golf club. Today his clubs are on display in his former villa near the end of Trieu Viet Vuong Street. 

Go Vap GC is long gone, but Dalat Palace GC remains. It closed during the Second World War, reopened in the 1950s and hosted Billy Casper, the US Open champion, in 1966. It closed again in the mid-1970s but reopened in the early 1990s, followed closely by clubs in Hanoi (Kings Island CC), Phan Thiet (Ocean Dunes GC) and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam G&CC). 

The impetus behind course development in Vietnam has always been tourism – the same reason that four 21st century courses have been built in and around the Cambodian tourist centre of Siem Reap. The Phokeethra Country Club was the first, established in 2006, followed by the Nick Faldo-designed Angkor Golf Resort, which opened in 2008. Last year saw the construction of the Korean-financed Siem Reap Lake Golf Resort, which hopes to capitalise on the huge number of Korean tourists that visit Angkor’s famous temples. 

The Thai golf story is a model for Vietnam and Cambodia, where there are as yet few indigenous players. But national associations and access to courses are a start on the road to promoting golf as a national game. 

While private clubs rarely feature extensive practice facilities and golf academies – the presumption being that only experienced golfers join a club – resorts are different. They cater to serious golfers and novices alike. As such, every modern resort built today (or founded in the last 15 years) boasts not merely an extensive practice facility but more than likely a serious golf academy – where new players can learn the game. This bodes well for the creation of top quality Cambodian and Vietnamese golfers in the future. 

In Japan and Korea golf is a mostly private affair and there are few resorts or public golf courses. It is hard to ignore the results: they have, despite the lack of accessible courses, created millions of golf lovers. The result: golf tourism from both countries that keep the cash registers busy across Southeast Asia.