Golfers who have never played floodlit golf in Asia often picture dim yellow stadium lights from the 1990s, where the ball disappears the instant you hit a high driver.
Modern floodlit courses in Vietnam use overlapping, high-mast LED arrays angled down the fairways and green complexes. At clubs like Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Na Hills in Da Nang, and Long Bien in Hanoi, you can track a high wedge or driver from the tee box all the way to where it lands, and you play in a 25°C breeze instead of 35°C midday sun.
Booking a twilight tee time also lets your group play an arrival-day round right after landing, rather than losing the first afternoon to hotel check-in.
Three floodlit night golf courses in Vietnam compared
| Golf course and city | Layout | Best twilight tee time | Main advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tan Son Nhat Golf Course (Saigon / HCMC) | 36 holes (A, B, C, D) | 15:00 to 16:30 | 10 mins from SGN airport; play right after an afternoon flight |
| Ba Na Hills Golf Club (Da Nang) | 18 holes, all floodlit | 14:30 to 15:45 | Mountain valley setting with calm evening winds |
| Long Bien Golf Course (Hanoi) | 27 holes (A, B, C) | 15:00 to 16:15 | 25 mins from Hanoi Old Quarter; large dining clubhouse |
1. Tan Son Nhat 36-hole night golf in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City stays warm year-round, and April and May afternoons regularly top 35°C. Because of the heat, afternoon and evening tee times at Tan Son Nhat Golf Course are often harder to get than 8:00 AM slots.
If your flight from Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, or Melbourne lands at SGN between noon and 2:00 PM, your van can drive 10 minutes around the airport perimeter straight to the clubhouse. You leave your suitcases with the bag drop attendants, tee off at 3:30 PM, finish 18 holes under the lights by 7:45 PM, shower in the locker room, and check into your District 1 hotel with Round 1 already finished.
Courses A/B and C/D switch on their floodlights around 5:30 PM. Your personal caddie stands directly behind the tee box to watch your ball flight on every swing, so losing a ball in the rough is rare even after dark.
2. Ba Na Hills Golf Club in Da Nang
Coastal links courses in Central Vietnam like Hoiana Shores and Legend Danang close at dusk, whereas Luke Donald's Ba Na Hills Golf Club was built with full 18-hole floodlighting. See how it compares with the coastal layouts in our guide to the best golf courses in Da Nang.
Teeing off around 2:45 PM lets your group play the front nine in late-afternoon sun. By the time you reach the 10th tee around 5:00 PM, the air has cooled, the valley breeze calms down, and the LED towers light up the greens against the dark hillside. Mid-week twilight slots at Ba Na Hills also frequently carry lower green fees than peak weekend mornings; we include this option in our 5-Day Da Nang and Hoi An Golf Itinerary.
3. Long Bien Golf Course in Hanoi
From May through September, daytime humidity in Northern Vietnam climbs above 80%. Local and visiting golfers beat the heat by booking 3:30 PM tee times at Long Bien Golf Course, a 27-hole Nelson & Haworth layout 25 minutes from Hoan Kiem Lake that keeps playing under lights well into the evening. Ask your operator to confirm which nines are lit on your date, because the club rotates them.
Four practical tips for playing night golf in Vietnam
Pack a sleeve of yellow or lime-green urethane golf balls. White balls are easy to see once the sky is completely dark, but optic yellow balls (like the Titleist Pro V1 Yellow or Srixon Z-Star Divide) are much easier to track against grey clouds during the 5:15 PM to 5:45 PM dusk transition.
Keep a small bottle of insect repellent in your bag. Courses with water hazards, particularly Long Bien and Tan Son Nhat Courses C and D, get a 30-minute wave of mosquitoes near the reed beds right as the sun sets.
Trust your caddie on approach club selection. Overhead floodlights flatten shadows around elevated greens, making pins look half a club closer than they really are, while cooler evening air trims a few yards off your carry distance. If your caddie hands you a 7-iron when your eyes say 8-iron, swing the 7-iron.
Finally, confirm whether floodlight fees are included in your booking voucher. Pre-booked twilight packages through a local operator bundle the lighting fee automatically, whereas a morning or midday walk-in booking that spills past 6:00 PM can incur a US$15 to US$25 night-light surcharge at the cashier desk.
To pair an arrival-day night round in Saigon with coastal championship golf, see our Saigon Golf Course Drive-Time Guide and our 5-Day Saigon and The Bluffs Ho Tram Itinerary.