Golf Encounters

You've watched courses like this on television. Now a caddie hands you a 7-iron, reads the wind off the bay, and waits quietly while you decide.

Halong Bay's limestone karsts rise in the distance, the fairway stretches green and unhurried in front of you, and there's no rush to your next shot. Your caddie has walked this ground hundreds of times. She knows where the grain runs on the greens, which bunkers are deeper than they look, and exactly how the breeze behaves when it lifts off the water in the late morning.

It's a different kind of round. Quieter. More attended. Every club is wiped clean before it's handed back, every line read before you ask. On our Vietnam tours, this is the standard across the courses we play, from Ha Long Bay to Montgomerie Links. Helpful caddies at your side, every round, every day.

By the back nine, you stop thinking about logistics and start noticing things you'd otherwise miss. The colour of the light on the bay. The rhythm of a game played the way it was meant to be played. Slowly, beautifully, and in very good company.

Our third golf round was played at Seta, north course, the home of the LPGA Toto classic. There are two other courses there as well, hence the huge carting area!

Our next course in Japan was the stunningly beautiful Golden Valley course. Note the air conditioning unit on the top of the golf cart!