Raising the Bar

Which, aptly, brings us to Robert Rock. The Englishman, who is most notable for eschewing head gear (he has turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship in order to keep his pristine barnet on full display) and for holding off both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in winning the 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, is The Bluffs’ playing ambassador. At first, it seems an unlikely relationship. Rock, from the English Midlands, has never been a huge name, and despite possessing one of the most pleasing-to-watch actions in the game, he’s not the type of player that you’d immediately think a flagship Asian golf destination would choose in terms of collaboration. But it makes perfect sense when you talk to both Rock and the club’s Australian General Manager, Ben Styles, a bear of a man who is Vietnam savvy, having been in the country for nearly a decade, and who speaks with a straightforward eloquence that makes you listen.

To cut a long story short, both Styles and Rock, who tutors many tour pros back at his academy in the UK and who was a last-minute playing replacement for course designer Norman at the official opening back in October, are committed to growing the game in Vietnam - and not in some half-baked way that marketing types think would make for good PR. Make no mistake, it costs to play a course of this calibre - although there are packages to be had, the cheapest visitor green fee comes in at close to HK$1,500 per round - but you’re rather better served if you’re a local and young. Rock, who has established a golf academy on-site, and Styles have created structured programmes for local junior golfers to enjoy both tuition and the golf course itself for nothing. Zilch. Yes, it’s a way of giving back, but it’s also a way of finding the first bona vide Vietnamese golf star. The country, unlike, say, Thailand, is relatively new to the game and with the blessing of the Vietnam Golf Association, the academy, under the lead of Australian teaching pro Patrick Kelly, has of its own volition given itself the task of developing Vietnamese youngsters and creating future champions. We wish them well.