Nguyen Duc Son, chairman of the state-run Hanoi MTV Housing Development and Management company, was banned for a year after he beat the caddie on the head with a golf club.

A Vietnamese official has been banned from playing golf for beating a caddie unconscious, the head of the national golf association said Monday.

Nguyen Duc Son, chairman of the state-run Hanoi MTV Housing Development and Management company, was banned for a year after he beat the caddie on the head with a golf club.

"His behavior can't be accepted," Doan Manh Giao, chairman of Vietnam Golf Association, said. "Our decision was widely supported."

The incident occurred September 13 at Tam Dao Golf Course, popular among government officials and businessmen.

Son, a member of the Hanoi Communist Party Committee, hit 28-year-old Truong Tien Cong on the head after Cong told him he had missed the 13th hole, local media reported.

Son agreed to pay Cong's expenses for hospital treatment.