Thailand Golf Holidays, Phuket Golf Packages, Hua Hin Golf Vacations

"G" Thailand Golf Tip

G is for Gamesmanship. Whether or not you are ware of it, at every level of golf in Thailand and especially with Thai golfers, there is gamesmanship going on. Here are some tips if you trying to win a $1 Nassau or your golf club championship which you should at least be aware of!.

On the first tee take charge. Shake hands first, introduce yourself first, and ask them about any local rules (such as drop zones, red aunt mounds, lateral hazards, etc.), what etiquette you will observe, (perhaps you’ll play hit when ready), and tell them what ball you are using (Titleist Pro V1 users should also say what number ball). This shows your opponent you’re confident who the boss is even before a ball has been hit.  If you crush a drive and know your partner isn’t going to get it past you, make a quiet comment after you hit your shot and mention that you toed it, but be sure not insult your opponent.

I recently played a round at Bangkok Golf Club for the first leg of match play of my golf society. My opponent was playing badly. However, each time I hit a good shot, my opponent didn’t just say good shot (as one should), he went on sarcastically saying things like “your handicap is too high”, “what magic”, “look at this guy, he’s all class”. Before the first hole was over I knew who was going to win. In fact, my opponent giving all the compliments was perhaps the one who knew the best who was going to win, and it wasn’t him. Give credit when credit’s due, but making your opponent feel invincible isn’t the way to go.

“F” Thailand Golf Tip

F is for having Fun. Yes, golf in Thailand is supposed to be fun. What frame of mind are you in when having fun? Relaxed, and when you’re relaxed, swinging the club is easy.

Therefore, I wonder why, when golfing in Thailand, I always see some players walking the golf course without smiling the whole day and don’t seem to be enjoying it at all.

Golf professionals may look a bit stiff on television, but deep down most of them are enjoying it when they’re in contention. The fact that most of us aren’t professionals and golf is a game, should make it even more compelling that we play golf for fun.

Next time you go any golf course in Thailand, just make up your mind, that whatever happens, how many bad shots you hit on the course, how many bad breaks you get, how many putts that lip out, you are going to have fun. Yes, it’s difficult when things aren’t going your way, but what else can you do? 

"E” Thailand Golf Tip

E is for Endless improvement. Golf in Thailand is a never ending journey of getting better. I’m sick of hearing Tiger Woods say it, but it’s true. Most golfers take one or a series of golf lessons in Thailand and expect to find some magic formula that will transform them into a lean mean golfing machine. When golfing here in Thailand, and other parts of the world, there are no secrets.

Once you understand that there are no golf shortcuts, and your only realistic goal is to listen to Tiger Woods and try to get better everyday, then golf in Thailand becomes a lot more bearable. This is one of the attractions of golf in Bangkok.

Players, especially successful businessmen, get frustrated because they want the answer and solution that will fix everything for them. Unfortunately, we can all only accept the fact that we will never be perfect golfers and the only way to maintain sanity is to accept that we can only get better. The only way to get better is to practice while golfing in Thailand and to practice smart.

"D" Thailand Golf Tip

D is for dead aim. The late Harvey Penick, one of golf’s greatest teachers, in spite of never managing to play golf in Thailand, used to say “take dead-aim”. Golfers I see at Thailand golf courses moan to themselves when they hit it far left or right of their target. When I watch these golfers closely, I am often surprised at how much time they look at their club and ball and how little time, if at all, they look at where they are trying to hit their golf ball.

I figure that this is because most Thai golfers are so wrapped in thinking of what to do (or what not to do) in the their golf swing, that they forget one of the single most important factors needed to make the golf ball go straight, aligning yourself at the target.

Here are my tips for taking dead aim on all Thailand golf courses.  While standing behind your ball, pick an intermediate target a few feet in front of the ball, a divot, leaf, or dead piece of grass will do fine. Then select a second target in the distance, either the pin, or tree, or even better a branch in a tree. I like to pick something as small as I can see. Think about it, if you are playing darts, you don’t just aim for the board, you aim for the bull’s eye. Then line your club and stance so the form a straight line with the intermediate and final targets.

“C” Thailand Golf Tip

C is for Chipping It In. Most people golfing in Thailand can easily improve their scores by improving their chipping to facilitate getting up and down in two stokes, thus savings many pars or even making birdie.

To chip well in Thailand  make sure you set up correctly. Stand with you feet and shoulders parallel to the target (or square), play the ball back in your stance to help you make solid contact, and put 60-70 percent of your weight on your left foot, leaning forward to help promote a descending blow. 

If you’re close to the green, say within 5 yards, and you have a lot of green to work with, then try a putting stroke. You can even take your putting grip. This is one of the easiest ways to be assured of winding up near the hole and is much preferred in Thailand golf over the more difficult lob or flop shot.

Choose the club that will land the ball on the green and get it rolling like a putt, most likely an 8 or 9 iron. Hit the shot exactly as you would a putt, swinging your shoulders back and through, trying to make sure your follow through is approximately the same length as your back swing. This last point is where most Thai golfers error, as they “give up” or decelerate in their downswing.

"B" Thailand Golf Tip

B is for buying a diver.The driver, the big dog, the big stick, whatever you want to call it, its one of the most important clubs in Thailand. The old saying “Drive for Show, Putt for Dough” is outdated and whilst it still carries some truth, if you can’t get off the tee and into the fairway when playing golf in Thailand then you’re going to be struggling just to make bogey or risk worse for that hole.

Think of your most skilled golfing friends. I bet most of them are good drivers. Unless you are a complete golf beginner, learn to hit the driver and you’ll find your scores go down. Thailand golf simply becomes a lot easier the longer and straighter you hit off the tee. All of those out of bounds and penalty strokes from going into the many water hazards in Thailand will be avoided. Also, the days of hitting a 3 wood off the tee are numbered as courses get longer and technology makes it easier for you to hit a driver.

“A” Thailand Golf Tip

A is for attitude. A good attitude is vital to shooting low scores and achieving a high level of satisfaction at all Thailand golf courses. Think of your best rounds, and I’d bet you that on those days, you were relaxed, didn’t have much to complain about, and in general had fun out on the course.

How many players have you played with that seem to spend most of their time complaining about the course, the caddies, their bad play, the weather, their clubs or some combination of above?  A good attitude is accepting a bad shot bad moving on the next shot without any thoughts of what just happened.

For most Thailand golf travelers one bad shot spells the end of a respectable round, and/or remains with them for the entire day, on their way home, and probably into the night. One good example of how to improve your attitude is taking this golf tip I heard on a recent itunes golf podcast.

"A to Z" Thailand Golf Tips

In most golfing countries, spring is here or just around the corner. Therefore, I thought it good timing to start a series of posts, each a unique alphabetic letter and covering interesting, sometimes serious or sometimes light hearted, Thailand golf tips. These will be my original golf tips I have collected or came up with over the years playing golf in and traveling to Thailand. They should be useful for both persons here on Thailand golf packages as well as Thailand golf residents.

I would love to hear about any golf tips that any of you may have developed for getting the maximum enjoyment from golf in Thailand, and can incorporate some into the blog. Therefore if you have any golf tips you would like to share with the Thailand Golf Zone community, please let me know by dropping me an email at at my Thailand golf company and I will take care of the posting duties.

Starting tomorrow, I will post Thailand golf tip “A”. Each successive post will cover another letter of the alphabet, unless of course I can not think of something and then may skip that letter. Anyway TIT,   who says things have to follow common logic anyway?

A 3 Country Golf Comparison: Thailand, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong

Last week I had dinner with an acquaintance who used to live here in Thailand, but who is now residing in Wales, where he is a member of his local golf club. He spent over 10 years living, working and golfing in Thailand but, before that, he spent a similar length of time in Hong Kong. I asked him how golfing in the three locations mainly differed.  Here are his views.

The first difference is in membership. In Hong Kong it is exceedingly difficult and expensive to become a member of a golf club, and it can be a lengthy process. Unless you are wealthy enough to afford a debenture, or lucky that your employer has bought one or more for its employees, you face a long wait to get to the top of the waiting list to become a member.

I was in that fortunate position that when I was first in Hong Kong, my employer awarded me a debenture at the, then The Royal Hong Kong Golf Club. It was a further twelve years before I could become a member in my own right, and the joining fee was $6,000 US$, and that was in 1991! Apart from the HK Golf Club, which has three 18-hole courses and one 9-hole, there are only three other golf clubs, only one of which, the 36-hole Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Course,  is open to HK residents. This for a population of over seven million!

Ladies Golf in Thailand

Whenever I am traveling overseas and extolling the attractions of golfing in Thailand, sometimes I hear men whining, “Oh, my wife would not let me go on a Thailand golf trip”.  In fact, I am seeing a growing trend where couples are favoring a Thailand golf tour over more traditional destinations. Also, my Thailand golf travel company is hosting more and more dedicated lady golf groups.

Thailand is indeed a 'Paridise For Lady Golfers', not just because of its wide range of golf courses, but also thanks to all those other pluses that most ladies enjoy - fabulous spas, world-class cuisine, lots of value-for-money shopping. Plus, contrary to the old days in Europe and the USA, there’s little golf sexism here. Ladies are very welcome everywhere! Clubhouses have changing facilities for ladies, there are ladies only spas and beauty salons, plus ladies are not only welcome but encouraged to eat/drink at all 19th holes.