The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram has been recognized as the Best Golf Destination in Southeast Asia by the Luxury Lifestyle Awards in 2026. In this conversation, Alexander Chetchikov, President of the World Luxury Chamber of Commerce, speaks with Ian Cording, General Manager of The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram, about the enduring appeal of authentic links-style golf, the role of thoughtful course design, and the importance of delivering a consistent golfing experience that reflects international standards.

Alexander Chetchikov: The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram has been recognized as the Best Golf Destination in Southeast Asia. From your perspective, what distinguishes the course within the region’s golf landscape?

Ian Cording: The land, first and foremost. Southeast Asia has a great many fine golf courses, but most of them sit on ground that had to be created. At The Bluffs, the dunes were already here — shaped by wind off the East Sea — and the routing simply found its way over and around them. That gives us something quite rare in this part of the world: a genuine links canvas.

What follows from that is a different kind of golf. Firm ground, a real run-out on the fairways, and wind that arrives from two distinct prevailing directions depending on the season. Our par-71 layout stretches to just over 7,000 yards, but yardage tells you very little here — the same hole can ask for a 9-iron one morning and a hybrid the next. That variability is what our guests remember, and I think it is what sets us apart regionally. 

AC: Greg Norman’s design philosophy is closely associated with The Bluffs. How has his vision influenced the identity of the course?

IC: Greg’s team begins every project with what they call a least-disturbance approach, and at The Bluffs that principle was followed with real discipline. Very little earth was moved. The holes go where the dunes allowed them to go, which is why the course feels discovered rather than constructed.

His second influence is restraint in strategy. Greg tends to present options rather than dictate a single line — a wide fairway with a clearly preferable side, a green that can be approached along the ground or through the air. Our opening hole shares a fairway with the ninth, in the manner of the Old Course at St Andrews, which tells you a great deal about the intent. Then you reach the tenth, a par five of some 651 yards falling away from the tee, and you understand that the course is more than capable of asking a serious question. That balance — generous off the tee, demanding around the greens — is the identity he gave us, and we have been careful not to dilute it.

 AC: Authentic links golf is relatively uncommon in Southeast Asia. How does this influence the expectations and experiences of your guests?

IC: It resets them, and I say that with affection. Many golfers arrive in Vietnam expecting soft, tropical, target-style golf — carry the ball to the number, land it, stop it. Their first round at The Bluffs is often a humbling one. The ball runs. The wind is a genuine participant rather than a detail. Balls that appear perfectly struck finish thirty yards from where they were aimed.

We invest heavily in our caddies — many of whom have been here since we opened in 2014. They are trained to brief players properly, to encourage the low running shot, and to explain why the sensible line is rarely the shortest one. The result is that a substantial share of our play is repeat play. People return to see whether they have worked the course out. Very few of them have….. including myself!! Which is why it is such a fun course to play.

 AC: Maintaining a championship course in a dynamic coastal environment requires careful stewardship. How do you balance performance with respect for the natural setting?

IC: We treat least disturbance as an operating principle, not only a design one. The course occupies roughly two miles of coastline, and only a portion of that is maintained turf. The dune faces, the scrub, the native vegetation between corridors — those areas are deliberately left alone. They are habitat; they are what makes the place beautiful, and leaving them wild also means we are not irrigating or feeding ground that no golf ball should be visiting anyway.

On the maintained surfaces, the priority is precision rather than volume. Salt-tolerant turf suited to a coastal profile, moisture monitoring so that we water where the plant actually needs it, and a great deal of hand-watering in place of blanket irrigation. We are also trialling Turflogic, an AI-based system for analysing turf health, which helps the team see where attention is genuinely needed rather than treating a whole fairway by default. Firm, fast conditions are both the correct presentation for links golf and, as it happens, the more responsible one — a dry course consumes less. Our greenkeeping team, led by Jason Batterham begins before sunrise every day of the year, and the credit to him and his team for the condition of this golf course as this belongs belongs to them.

 AC: Recognition through Luxury Lifestyle Awards highlights excellence on an international stage. What does this acknowledgment represent for your team?

IC: It represents consistency, which is a far harder thing to achieve than a single good day. Awards of this kind are not won by a golf course; they are won by the caddie who reads a putt correctly at four in the afternoon, the agronomist who catches a problem before anyone else sees it, the young server in the Infinity Restaurant remembering how a guest takes their coffee.   The FO team remembering a guest’s name and what their preferences are before they’ve even checked in.

The great majority of our team come from the surrounding communities here in Ho Tram. Many joined us with no previous exposure to international hospitality and have grown into genuine professionals over the past decade. When recognition arrives from an international body, it confirms to them that the standard they are holding is a world standard. That, to me, is worth considerably more than the plaque.

 AC: Looking ahead, how do you see The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram contributing to the continued development of golf tourism in Southeast Asia?

IC: Vietnam is no longer an emerging golf destination — it is competing directly with Thailand, Malaysia and Japan for the same travelling golfer, and that golfer books a region rather than a single course. Our contribution is to be the anchor round that makes a Southern Vietnam itinerary worth the flight.

The infrastructure is moving in our favour. Long Thanh International Airport and the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway will materially change how quickly an international golfer reaches this coastline, and we are planning for a Ho Tram that is a multi-day destination rather than an excursion from Ho Chi Minh City. Beyond that, I believe the region benefits when we hold the line on standards — agronomy, caddie training, pace of play, tournament capability. Every course in Vietnam that performs to an international level makes the next one easier to sell. We would like to keep setting that reference point.

AC: What leadership principle continues to guide your approach to managing a destination of this caliber?

IC: Look after your team, and they will look after your guests. It is not an original thought, but I have yet to find a better one. Nothing a general manager writes in a standard operating procedure survives contact with a guest unless the person delivering it feels genuinely valued.

Beyond that: the standard you accept is the standard you walk past. I am on the property daily, I play the course, and I ask the caddies what they are hearing — they know more about the guest experience than any report will tell me. Excellence at this level is not a project with a completion date. It is a decision you make again every morning.

This conversation highlights the strategic role that thoughtful course design, environmental stewardship, and consistent operational standards play in shaping a world-class golf destination. Under Ian Cording’s leadership, The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram continues to demonstrate how an authentic links-style experience can strengthen Vietnam’s position within the international golf tourism landscape while reflecting the standards recognized by Luxury Lifestyle Awards.

Discover more about The Bluffs Grand Ho Tram:https://thebluffs.com.vn