Vietnam - As Good As It Gets

Although not even a toddler – the clubhouse won’t open until March 2011 and it only started accepting fee-paying visitors at the end of April - this championship-calibre track is already playing like a much older vintage, which is to say, superbly. While the Great White Shark has been known to put his name to some extremely uncompromising courses (those who have played the Norman Course across the border at Mission Hills will know what I mean), the Dunes is a very different animal. With its artfully rugged bunkering, native grasses and beautifully-constructed greens incorporating swales and runoff areas, the course is a definite test for all. But here's the thing: it's not a brute. Decked out in a closely-mown strain of Bermuda grass, the course plays hard and fast, making its 7,000-plus yardage far more bearable than the scorecard might suggest. (With the breeze at his back, your average-hitting correspondent tackled the wonderful 437-yard eighteenth with a drive and eight-iron). Stray from the generally wide landing areas and your ball will come to rest in sandy scrub. You might not have a great lie - and nine times out of ten the best advice is to take your medicine and pitch it back to the fairway, rather than try anything too ambitious - but you will always have a shot. You really have to be pretty wild to lose a ball here, which is how golf should be.