Hoiana Shores Reaches Great Milestone on its Sustainable Golf Pathway 

Hoi An, Vietnam – June 2026

Hoiana Shores Golf Club, the 18-hole championship course designed by Robert Trent Jones II, has become the first in the world to hold both GEO Certified^® Development and GEO Certified^® Facility status.

Sustainability sat at the heart of this project from day one, shaping nearly every decision the development team made. As Bruce Charlton and Mike Gorman ASGCA, course designers noted: ‘The original landscape we worked with was a mixture of abandoned shrimp farm lakes, invasive plant species, and widespread dumping grounds. One of the more unknown parts of the design process was transforming and restoring these areas back into native dunes land to create something truly unique to Vietnam, with an emphasis on playability and fun. ‘

The course's opening coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, an unlucky bit of timing, but the team kept the course in top condition regardless, ready for the day golfers could finally arrive. Once they did, Hoiana Shores wasted little time establishing itself as one of the leading courses in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, picking up multiple awards and ranking placements along the way.

After achieving GEO Certified^® Development status in 2020 — the first course in Southeast Asia to do so — the club kept pushing forward. Course Manager Long Nguyen Duc enrolled the club in the OnCourse^® sustainable golf platform soon after, and began collecting data and developing the team’s course management practices.

In late 2024, the Hoiana Shores team reconnected with GEO to work alongside Long Nguyen and his team to build a long-term Sustainable Golf Roadmap, mapping out and prioritising the projects that would carry the course to the next stage of its sustainability journey.

Jonathan Smith, Founder and Executive Director of GEO, describes the Foundation's mission as "a comprehensive, credible and innovative approach to sustainability." It offers tailored platforms accessible to golf facilities of every type, making sustainability practical and achievable. GEO works with national and regional golf associations, professional tours, tournaments, individual players, and course facilities alike.

"The certification of new golf developments has been something the Foundation has always focused on," says Sam Thomas, Director of Developments at GEO. "We firmly believe that building sustainability into a project from the beginning gives it the best chance to succeed long-term and be resilient to future change.

"True sustainability relies equally on protecting the natural environment, smart resource use, making a positive impact on the surrounding community, and taking robust climate action. They all work together. We worked with the project team at Hoiana Shores to make sure those foundations were built into the design and construction process from the start."

Visiting the site again in 2024, Thomas noted: "Since I was last here during construction, it's clear the team has worked hard to keep the course as resource-efficient and nature-positive as possible. Hoiana Shores is really leading the field here in Vietnam, and I'm glad they came back to us to help with their continued improvement and push forward over the years ahead."

He added: "Sustainability isn't a start-stop process, it's continual. As the environment around courses — and their communities — changes, golf needs to adapt with it, to keep serving both the land and the people who use it. Hoiana Shores is a great example of a course that isn't content to rest on past achievements, but determined to keep leading the industry in Southeast Asia."

In 2025, Hoiana Shores achieved GEO Certified® Facility status for its course operations, becoming the first course in the world to hold both the facility and development certifications. It's no small achievement, and the club's recent Sustainability Roadmap with GEO sets out its commitment to sustainability for years to come.

Independent verifier Brad Revill, who carried out the recent certification visit observed: “Hoiana Shores is an absolutely stunning property located on the beaches in Vietnam. It is a pleasure to visit a site with such a high percentage of naturalised areas and with so many great sustainable initiatives in place. I look forward to seeing the continued development of this beautiful golf course and the new initiatives that the team have come up with.”

Long Nguyen summed it up: "Achieving both certifications, for our development and now our approach to club and course management, has been a huge milestone for everyone at the club. We want to be at the forefront of the industry, and we hope others can see how sustainability has helped our course, our people, and our business."