Photo by:

TRACEY SHELTON

Improve your swing at the Golf International Driving Range and Sport.​​​​​​​

IN 2005, the road to Northbridge International School was a dusty, bumpy ride with cows and goats roaming freely along the thoroughfare. Ramshackle homes dotted the fields.

Today, the International School Road off Ring Road 271 is paved, and a number of businesses, apartments and private homes have cropped up. There is neither hide nor hair of cows or goats, but commerce is booming, and no one knows this quite like Golf International Driving Range and Sport owner Duong Ngeap.

The 250-yard driving range is situated on four hectares of land about 400 metres west of the Northbridge communities on a road made by and named after Duong Ngeap.

In addition to owning the driving range, Duong Ngeap is in the preliminary process of developing an entire community based on the highly successful urban designs of Ho Chi Min City's District 7, a self-sufficient development that offers a wide variety of living arrangements as well as supermarkets, stylish bars and restaurants, recreational activities, schools and a world-class hospital.

Networking

The first stages of this development will include a nine-storey apartment building and a five-hole practice course that will be followed by a 27-hole course built to the west of the existing range towards the airport, due to get started sometime next year.

Golf International Driving Range and Sport offers beautiful views of wide-open spaces and is an excellent place to practice your long and short game. There is a putting green and the range itself has water and sand obstacles. It is also a good place for business meetings as there are always a number of land speculators and developers working to improve their game.

The driving range is open from 7am to 9pm daily and prices vary according to the number of balls. There is also an US$80 monthly membership.