HO CHI MINH CITY – The owners of Dalat Palace and Ocean Dunes, two of the premier golfing venues in Vietnam, have hired one PGA of America member to preside over both properties and appointed another to oversee the day-to-day operations at Dalat Palace.
California-born Kurt Greve took over as general manager of the Danao International Holdings-owned golf clubs last week, bringing with him certifications in retail, general management and golf operations.
Greve boasts years of senior-level experience. Most recently, he served as general manager at the Greg Norman-redesigned Blue Shark Golf Club in Nassau, Bahamas. Prior to that, he was corporate director of operations for IMG Singapore’s golf course services division, which has 12 courses in Asia.
Virginia native Kenny Saunders, who has served in several capacities with Danao including director of golf operations and head golf professional at Ocean Dunes Golf Club in Phan Thiet since February, assumes the same duties up at Dalat Palace Golf Club, where he plans to integrate some of the same initiatives that have been successful at Ocean Dunes.
“These moves signify our commitment to everyone who visits or is a member of the golf clubs,” said Baron Ah Moo, CEO of the hotels and resorts division for Indochina Land, the majority stakeholder in Danao International Holdings. “Kurt and Kenny are experts in their field and their knowledge of each position will result in the immediate elevation of both properties.”
Dalat Palace has been called a masterpiece of design. Gently crafted into the rolling hills of the Central Highlands town of Dalat and overlooking majestic Xuan Huong Lake, the club’s fairways weave through stately pine trees to oversized, undulating, bentgrass greens, a rarity in Southeast Asia.
Dalat Palace is also a course with one of the most fascinating histories in Asia. The layout first opened in the early 1930s – after being touched by the wand of famous Scottish architectural duo Colt & Alison – and has led several lives, first as the layout of choice for Vietnam’s imperial court and colonial elite, then as a playground for U.S. Army officers on wartime “R&R.”
Ocean Dunes is a Nick Faldo-designed links course that has garnered worldwide acclaim for its windswept dunes and singular holes, including the par-3 9th, which sits hard by the East Sea.
The bolstering of logistical capacity comes at a perfect time for Ocean Dunes. In the next five weeks, it will host the country’s longest running tournament –the 14th Annual GANNON Vietnam Open (July 24-26) – and the second installment of the Faldo Series Asia Vietnam Championship (Aug. 7-9), a competition open to talented youths from all Asian countries and sanctioned by the Asian PGA Tour.
Greve and Saunders will team to direct both events. Soon after, Saunders will relocate to Dalat, where his to-do list includes implementation of a junior golf development campaign similar to the one he launched at Ocean Dunes last September. A majority of the 20 students recruited from a secondary school in Phan Thiet not only remain in the program, they are eligible to play in the Faldo Series tournament.
Greve will station himself at Ocean Dunes in Phan Thiet for the foreseeable future, while making regular trips to Dalat. His immediate goal is to promote the “total guest experience” at both clubs by improving course conditions and customer service standards.
