What's in a name? Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail won't exactly excite American vets

When I went to Vietnam on a golf trip a few months back, I met several veterans of the “American War,” as the Vietnamese refer to it.

Some were Americans, who appeared largely to have forgiven the Vietnamese people and were eager themselves to make amends. I also met some Vietnamese who had fought in the war, and they seemed to have a much easier time forgetting the bitterness. To them, the war was just one in a long succession of struggles.

Then again, I also received letters and e-mail from U.S. vets who said they believed giving tourism money to Vietnam was tantamount to treason.

If Vietnam was hoping to cash in on golf tourism, particularly from the U.S., then the naming of the new Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail is a blunder.

It’s a loaded name. The naming may seem natural to the Vietnamese – after all, the country is still Communist, though its economic policy-makers don’t exactly shun capitalistic ideologies. And Ho Chi Minh is one of their most revered figures.

Still, I don’t see the Ho Chi Minh Trail – which includes some excellent courses I played while there – doing much to draw those many Americans who still harbor grudges. It isn’t exactly a warm invitation to forgive and forget, no matter how good the golf and the beautiful country is.

How about the less emotionally-charged Vietnam Golf Trail?