Sustainable Golf Course Development 10:50, 15/08/2022

Andrew Bowles, CEO of Nova Golf Clubs

How do you evaluate the importance of maintenance? 

Maintenance practice and the presentation of the golf course are some of the most critical factors to the club’s success in the region. Well maintained firm, fast, smooth fairways and greens highlight the course’s key features and overall philosophy. Providing good fair playing conditions also maximize a golfers’ chances of playing well. Golf is hard enough without playing from bad lies all day. Quality presentation of the golf course can be likened to delicious food at a restaurant. When the golfer’s experience is positive, they will likely come back to play again and promote the course to other golfers. Positive word of mouth is very priceless!

What is the investment cost for maintaining the course? 

With it being our aim to present an exceptionally high PGA standard of maintenance at PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet, the annual investment is around USD 2 million for 36 holes. This not only includes the maintenance of both the PGA Ocean and PGA Garden Courses but also the practice facilities that are kept to a minimum standard all year round for our members and guests to experience.

What are the maintenance costs of the type of grass used on the course?  

Most golf course expenses are turf-related. Choosing the right or wrong grass only amplifies this. It should be remembered that it is not only the expense categories that are affected by turf choice, but also the quality of maintenance and overall budgets for the Club. These decisions also have a major impact on the number of golfers that come to play, the green fee rates and total revenue made throughout the year. Year after year the selected grass type affects key aspects of the maintenance such as water use quantities, fertilizer and chemical rates, in addition to mowing frequencies and renovation tasks. All of this has a ripple effect on staff numbers, materials used & spare parts available for maintenance. Therefore, it is always best to carefully choose the right grass for the environment as it can often benefit a club in main areas.

What has the course done to protect the environment?  

PGA Novaworld Phan Thiet is focused on long-term sustainability which means balancing good business practices while making decisions that are in the long-term interest of the environment, wildlife and surrounding residential communities. There are a number of key criteria points that we often work towards on a daily basis. 

There are three reservoir lakes installed at the Club, each holding 100,000m3, making a total of 300,000m3 of irrigation water storage capacity to be used across both golf courses. Irrigation is adhered to through a cycle and soak principle, where requirements are split into three cycles to allow water in targeted locations time to soak into soils rather than it run off the slopes and surfaces. Since the start of this regime, the amount of water used has been reduced by up to 40%. 

We have also fully invested in enhancing the facility to provide for diversity of suitable habitats to welcome back local fauna. The resort has invested heavily in this programme with the addition of some 10,000 trees, 30,000 shrubs and 200,000 native grasses set to be added around courses. In addition, our extensive lake and stream systems have been buffered with a variety of aquatic plants to attract and reside habitual water frequent bird types.  

The Club also uses Electric Rechargeable Golf Carts with Lithium Battery technology that has seen a 50-75% saving vs the forecast amounts for energy usage at the Club, as well as specifically designed Toro Lynx Smart Hub Central Control System with individual sprinker control that are strategically positioned alongside a state-of-the-art computer system to monitor the evolving landscape of the natural environment. Therefore, helping to understand which areas of the courses need greater amounts of irrigation at certain times during the schedule.  

What are the plans towards achievement of environment-related certifications? 

PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet is also working towards GEO certification that will take a couple of years to achieve as both golf courses are relatively new. By implementing many of the above sustainable practices and inputting data into GEO Foundations OnCourse Programme we are confident that the Club will achieve certification when the time is right.

Nguyen Duc Long, Maintenance Manager of Hoiana Shores Golf Course 

In your opinion, what are the benefits of maintenance for a golf course? 

PGA NovaWorld Phan Thiet is also working towards GEO certificI consider golf course maintenance is a critical aspect and it takes a lot of effort. Most of golfers look forward not only to playing, but to the tranquility of golf course scenery. Doing routine maintenance and inspections to ensure beautiful, well-kept property for establishing satisfied customers and members who will keep returning to golf course. Keeping up with maintenance will put the club in the best possible position for attracting routine customers. By conducting maintenance, the results of highly functional facility will likely increase positive ROI that will be an indication of the efficiency and advantages of maintenance investments. Keeping up with maintenance will put the club competitive with other courses in the area or outside club’s location.

How to choose the right grass for golf? 

In my opinion, choosing correct grass type could affect roughly 40% to 50% of maintenance cost. Choosing grass type depend on environment, water quality, amount of play, standards expected, budget, etc.... that other categories cost may vary. Example: If Hoiana Shores with soil base is pure sand that picked Passpalum grass, maintenance cost could increase 40% to current cost. This increase will be use on major subject such as more frequent mowing and cultural practices, weed control, fungicide, pesticide, and fertilisers cost to maintain healthy Passpalum.

How about the maintenance cost?

Among many other attributes of golf course maintenance, caring for the greens will be top priority. We have total 22 greens (19 greens plus 03 practice greens) at HSGC with the size of 2.61ha. The greens at HSGC are unique and greens size even bigger than regular green size of 36 holes golf course. Also, with pure sand soil base at HSGC, we need to keep spoon feeding frequently. To secure the kind of maintenance, most of maintenance cost at HSGC will go to the greens. Most essential and costly items are mowing equipment, fuel, fertilisers, fungicide, pesticides, and sand (some areas need to buy sand from outside for maintenance). Also, another item that can’t get by without is staffing. A decent size staff will help to prevent issues that may cause downtime, as well as maintain the course and recover quicker from any problems that arise.

What does golf course do to archieve the environmental criteria? 

HSGC was the first golf course in Southeast Asia that received certification for designed and built to enhance nature, conserve resources and support communities certified by GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf 2020. HSGC is the one and only golf course in Viet Nam that using “ePar” – a smart application to manage environmental matter more efficiently and cover all facets of environmental stewardship. To archive this, Hoiana Shores Golf Club is committed to reducing its impact on the environment. We are committed to: Comply with all applicable environmental regulations; Prevent pollution whenever possible; Train all our staff on our environmental program and empower them to contribute and participate; Communicate our environmental commitment and efforts to our customers, staff, and our community; Continually improve over time by striving to measure our environmental impacts and by setting goals to reduce these impacts each year.

Vu Minh Son, Maintenance Manager ofVinpearl Golf Nam Hoi An

How does the course assess the importance of maintenance? 

In most kind of out-door sports, the sport field has always played an important role, directly affected to the playing experience. And this is no exception to golf. The course condition is the soul of a golf course, whether the golf course is properly set up and up to the standard or not, the experienced maintenance crew handles it all. Being aware of that, Vinpearl Golf has always dignified the importance role of golf course maintenance. Therefore, we have the right investment orientation and focus on upgrading and training GC maintenance staff as well as infrastructure, updating the most advanced GC maintenance practices in the world. 

Does the type of grass used on the field determine maintenance costs?  

Nowadays, there are three main types of turfgrasses planted on golf courses in Vietnam as following: Bermuda, Paspalum and Zoysia. Each of these grasses has different growth rate, characteristics and maintenance practice requirements. If you choose to plant a turfgrass that is not suitable for the climate and soil of the golf course area, you may have to pay a high price in maintenance costs. Moreover, the determining factor for high or low maintenance costs depends on how you set up the golf course standards. 

What are the criteria to evaluate an eco-friendly golf course? 

In my opinion, a environmentally-friendly golf course must ensure the following criteria: Golf course construction and maintenance has a very slight or no change, disruption of the existing ecological system and natural landscape around the golf course. Golf course has natural living creatures, animals, fresh air and clean and tidy appearance. 

Does the course have any environmental certifications? 

 We have a work quality control system and always comply with the provisions of the law on the environment, performing periodic environmental monitoring and having the proper waste collection, classification and treatment procedures in accordance with regulations. Vinpearl Golf’s future plan is to continue maintaining and updating advanced maintenance programs, prioritizing using modern machines and products of biological origin that are good for the environment. 

Nguyen Van Phap, General Manager of SAM Tuyen Lam Golf Course

In your opinion, what role does maintenance play in the development of a golf course? 

The maintenance of the golf course in a sustainable way, in some respects can be understood as the friendliness of the golf course with the environment. When you do that, it means you have contributed to protecting the planet, demonstrating social responsibility, through which your business will be noticed by many customers, employees will live in an environment. better and in the end you will gain the trust and loyalty of your customers as well as employees. Therefore, for golf courses, besides people, maintenance is the most important thing that needs special attention. 

How much does a "green" golf course need to invest in maintenance? 

The cost used for golf maintenance is usually not fixed. but will depend on each golf course and the desired quality orientation. For example, when a new golf course is put into operation, the maintenance cost is likely to be lower than the golf course that has been in operation for a long time. Members are members. Usually it will vary from 20-30% of the total cost per month. 

Irrigation, fertilizers, grasses and tractors determine the percentage of maintenance costs? 

There are many types of golf course maintenance costs, in which grass maintenance costs usually account for the highest proportion. Different types of grass also have different requirements to ensure stable growth, so maintenance costs also vary. However, it is easy to see that later varieties are less expensive to maintain. For example, as far as I know, if the yard uses Zoysia grass, the maintenance cost will be about 20-30% lower than using Bermuda grass, which includes the costs of irrigation, mowing, pests preventation, weeds and labour.

What are the criteria to evaluate an eco-friendly golf course? 

There are many factors that can harm the environment, in my opinion, an environmentally-friendly golf course will usually be shown through evaluation criteria on issues such as: using toxic chemicals that cause pollution, contaminating water sources and causing harm to humans and wildlife, depleting water supplies in arid regions or during periods of water shortages, waste of energy and resources and negatively changing the natural ecosystems of the land. 

What plans does the golf course have for sustainable development?  

At the "Southeast Asia Tourism Forum - ATF 2022", Da Lat was honoured as "ASEAN Clean Tourism City 2022". This is a very meaningful recognition for the "city of thousands of flowers", so promoting this content is also the long-term orientation of the locality and businesses in the area, including SAM Tuyen Lam golf course. To do that, SAM Tuyen Lam will focus on the following main content such as: Minimize the use of fertilizers and toxic chemicals; Efficient use and reuse of water resources; Switching to equipment and machinery using more environmentally friendly energy sources in operation; Established "Green Club" - Green Clubhouse to gradually eliminate plastic waste and use land effectively.