Golf in Hanoi

I'm a avid, but average, golfer. My favorite local course in the D.C. area is Rockville's Red Gate Golf Course, a municipal facility. Good rates, decent conditions for the price and challenging enough for my game.

So far, I've only found two golf courses near Hanoi, King's Island and Chi Linh Star. The facilities look pretty nice from pictures, but one can never judge just based on website photos. Here's what Chi Linh advertises on their site:


The membership rates at the two facilities are $28k and $15k USD respectively; they are open to the public and the weekday rate is $70 and $55 respectively. Chi Linh is, according to their site, an hour away from Hanoi, along the way to Ha Long, while King's Island advertises that it is 36KM from the city center. With the speed of traffic in Hanoi (or the lack thereof), 36KM could take 1.5 hours.

These greens fees are more than what I'm comfortable with around here at home, but I imagine the courses should be on par with nice Stateside resort courses (that are $100+ easily). I guess I won't play as often then, but I am definitely taking my golf clubs with me.

The only question is whether I should take along my current stand/carry bag - I'm young enough to hoof it around the course now, even in the D.C. summer (for 9, at least) - or opt to bring along a cart bag. Caddies at both course are $15 and $10 per round. I don't think anyone there carries their own bag.

P.S. Found another course, this one a bit cheaper ($30 weekday), but 65KM from the city in Tam Dao. It's called, naturally, the Tam Dao Golf & Resort.