There are few mornings I enjoy more than a golf morning.

I love the whole ritual: getting dressed for the course, arriving while the grass is freshly cut, hitting a few balls at the range and looking down the first fairway with the optimism that today might finally be the day everything comes together.

Of course, golf has a habit of reminding you otherwise.

Montgomerie Links was my first round in three months and the opening stop on my golf journey through Central Vietnam. I had arrived in Da Nang several days earlier to mostly grey skies and intermittent rain. That morning, however, the skies finally cleared. It was beautiful, dry — and incredibly humid.

Arriving at the clubhouse felt familiar enough until I spotted groundskeepers and caddies wearing Vietnam’s traditional conical nón lá hats.

I knew I was golfing in Vietnam.

And fittingly, I was starting at the course that helped put this part of the country on the golfing map.

Opened in 2009, Montgomerie Links was the first golf course in the Da Nang area. The 18-hole, par-72 championship course was designed by Scottish golfing legend Colin Montgomerie, one of Europe’s most successful players and an eight-time European Order of Merit winner.

Montgomerie was also one of the great Ryder Cup competitors, famously never losing a singles match in eight appearances.

His course in Vietnam stretches to 7,100 yards from the tournament tees and incorporates plenty of sand, natural vegetation and strategically placed bunkers into a landscape that feels distinctive to this part of Central Vietnam.

Fortunately, there are friendlier tees for golfers like me.

I had arrived early and hit around 50 balls at the excellent driving range. Some went straight. Others less so. But after three months away from the game, I convinced myself I was ready.

My playing partners were a South Korean couple, both properly dressed for the occasion and possessing the kind of textbook swings that immediately suggested they knew exactly what they were doing.

I was out of my league.

My opening drive confirmed it, disappearing into the rough.

Then something unexpected happened. I somehow produced three very good recovery shots and walked off the first green with a bogey.

Not bad.

Golfers have a way of quietly sizing each other up during those opening holes. Perhaps my Korean playing partners thought I could hang with them.

I couldn’t.

My biggest problem was inconsistency and a downswing determined to arrive far too quickly. I consequently spent considerable time exploring parts of Montgomerie Links that Colin Montgomerie probably never intended me to see.

Fortunately, they were beautiful.

Pine trees, cactus plants, sandy areas and natural vegetation surrounded the fairways. Even while searching for another ball in the rough, I found myself appreciating the landscape.

At least I was getting plenty of practice with recovery shots.

By the back nine, my Korean playing partner had apparently decided that I needed some help.

“Jajangmyeon,” he kept telling me as I prepared to swing.

As I understood it, he wanted me to slow everything down — almost like counting one, two, three rather than rushing my downswing.

He was right.

I started striking the ball considerably better.

But before that improvement kicked in, I had spent enough time in the rough that even the Korean couple’s caddie was regularly helping my own caddie search for my ball.

The quote of the day belonged to her.

“You have two caddies today,” she told me.

Fair enough.

By the 13th hole, my Korean playing partner had also handed me a can of Tiger beer, which certainly helped the mood if not necessarily the score.

Towards the end of the round, he realized I was no longer particularly concerned about what was going on the scorecard. Whenever I faced a long putt, he would stand beside the hole, flagstick in hand, and position his Jordans in a V around the cup, giving me a considerably larger target.

Safe to say, I one-putted my final three greens.

I’m not sure those putts would survive particularly close scrutiny under the Rules of Golf, but by then nobody cared. We were just having fun.

And that, for me, is one of the great things about golf.

We had arrived from different countries, spoke different languages and played at very different levels, yet somehow spent several hours talking, laughing and enjoying the same course together.

Despite my score, Montgomerie Links was a wonderful introduction to golf in Central Vietnam.

Its location makes it particularly appealing for travellers. The course sits along the coastal resort corridor between Da Nang and Hoi An, close to many of the area’s leading hotels and resorts. From mine, it was just a seven-minute drive.

That’s my kind of travel day.

Book an early tee time, enjoy 18 holes before the afternoon heat really builds, then head back to the resort for lunch, the beach or a much-needed dip in the pool. You still have most of the day ahead of you.

I’ve been playing golf on and off since 2019. At my best I can break 100, although not consistently enough, and my longer-term target is to break 90.

Clearly, there is work to do.

But golf isn’t always about the number on the scorecard.

Sometimes it’s the smell of freshly cut grass in the morning, the sound of a properly struck ball, a beautiful course in a new country and a few hours spent with people you had never met before.

Montgomerie Links gave me all of that.

Not a bad way to start golfing in Vietnam.