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

"U" Thailand Golf Tip

U is for Under Club. In terms of playing, this is what 90% of golfers in Thailand do throughout their vacation. I often hear Thai golfers bragging how they once hit their 7 iron to the green on the 160 yard par 3 16th hole at Thai Country Club or caught a great 8 iron that just made the front edge of the island green 145 yard 17th hole at Khao Kheow in Pattaya. Well of course these were their best shots, downhill and probably down wind, but they all come to think that’s their average distance. 

This is particularly true of male Thai golfers, whose ego seems to be more important than their score. If you have a greater than 10 handicap, try this. The next time you have an iron shot of 100 to 150 yards, use one more club than normal. I will bet you a round of golf at the Thai golf course of your choice, including Alpine or even the pricey Blue Canyon, that you will wind up closer to the pin that you thought possible, and will not be long! Why you ask?

"T" Thailand Golf Tip

T is for Television. Before coming on Thailand golf vacation you can improve your game by mimicking a few things that golf professionals do by watching golf on television. Anyway what better thing is there to do at your club after a weekend round and sipping a few cold ones at the snack shack? Of course watching an entire golf tournament is time prohibitive, as is using your TIVO to view record a tournament and watch each golfers’ swing in slow motion, so try to look for and emulate the following 3 good habits while avoiding one point especially applicable to Thailand golf.

1. I have already covered the pre-shot routine, but it’s worth mentioning again because golfers are always looking for quick and easy habits, and this is an easy trait to copy from the professionals and gain more consistency.

"S" Thailand Golf Tip

S is for Sixty degree wedge. More and more golfers coming on a Thailand golf vacation carry a 60 degree or lob wedge. However, I feel the sixty degree wedge in Thailand can actually add strokes to most people on a golf vacation. The tropical Thailand weather already lends itself to damp playing conditions, and the greens on the best courses such as Alpine Golf Club in Bangkok or the new Black Mountain Golf Club in Hua Hin hold the ball amazingly well, thus negating some of the normal lob wedge advantages.

Of course back home before staring any golf trip, most golfers watch tournaments on TV and when they see Phil Mickelson hit a spectacular flop shot with his sixty degree club, they try to replicate the shot when on the course themselves. Then, after some initial success, golfers start to use the 60 degree wedge for more and more shots around the greens.

"R" Thailand Golf Tip

R is for using a Routine. The first thing you should do even before coming to Thailand is to develop a set a pre-shot routine for use on your trip. You can do this from the comfort of your home or on the golf courses nearby in Europe or the USA. Then when you arrive for your Thailand golf vacation, and from the first tee at Blue Canyon or even Amata Springs, you will have much more confidence, consistency and ultimately enjoyment from your golf holiday.

It’s so simple to do, not requiring any physical abilities or special golf movements, yet so many golfers I see on vacation in Thailand neglect to incorporate this into their game.  Following a simple routine helps you be more consistent on each shot, gets your thoughts away from too many mechanical ideas, and makes it easier for you to hit a shot when you are playing an unfamiliar golf resort. 

"Q" Thailand Golf Tip

Q is for asking Questions. When planning a Thailand golf vacation always good to ask allot of questions. My posts can never answer everything about Thailand golf holidays, or those dicey questions about how to improve your golf game when in Thailand. Fortunately there are many golf websites that are good resources for getting information on Thailand golf and golf instruction.

My golf travel company has information and photos from the top 60 Thailand golf courses. For even wider Thailand golf course data Thaigolfer.com has information and comments on all 200 Thailand golf courses. For Thailand golf lessons, golfthink.com is a good site as well as a good contact if you are interested in finding information about what type of golf lessons are available, especially in Bangkok.

For more generic golf tips my favorite site is golfdigest.com. While not specific to Asian golf, there is an instruction section and tips from teachers including David Leadbetter, Hank Haney, Rick Smith, Jim Flick and Butch Harmon. Golf digest also has an impressive playing staff with tips from Tiger Woods and other great players. There is a index where you can find tips for specific problems such as curing your slice and hook, hitting it further, and improving consistency. A neat feature is the screen captures of different golf professional’s swings. Registration is required, but it’s free. Slow motion images of  Tiger Woods , Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Michelle Wie (not Thai, but at least Asian), Annika Sorenstam, and Karrie Webb to name a few. 

"P" Thailand Golf Tip

P is for Putting well. In my opinion, putting is the most important aspect of playing golf in Thailand. If you putt well at the new golf resorts you will be playing at, then I am sure you will get maximum enjoyment from your golf holiday. Even if it is the flattish greens like those found at the Royal Golf Club or the more challenging ones that are shaped like potato chips such as the greens at the Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed Green Valley Golf Club, putting well is critical to having a good time on a Thai golf package.

Most high handicappers on a Thailand golf vacation hardly ever make a birdie because they lack the technique and confidence to putt well, especially under pressure. However, if you remember the last time you were playing at a new golf course and you were able to convert a putt into a birdie,  then I am sure that memory was a happy one or even the highlight of your golf trip.

The three keys to improved putting in Thailand are as follows:

1.  Light grip pressure. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the tightest, hold the putter with a grip pressure about 6 at most.

"O" Thailand Golf Tip

O is for Off day. Learning to manage your game on an off day when golfing in Thailand is one of the most difficult things to do. Anyway, after the anticipation and excitement of planning and spending a large amount of time and money to get to Thailand, the last thing you want is to have a poor golf game ruin your trip. Yet if you can successfully learn to get the most out of your golf  when you don’t have you’re “A” game, your scores will be a lot better and your golf trip will be much more successful, I guarantee it!

A large part of all great players’ success, including the to greatest players ever to play the game; Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, is they get the most out of their game when their swings may be off.  Nicklaus said, “One of the reasons I won so much was because I learned to win when not playing my best.” He went on, “Each time I went out my swing was different, my tempo was different, and once I accepted this, I improved my golf, and my love for the sport.”

"O" Thailand Golf Tip

O is for Off Day. Learning to manage your game on an off day when golfing in Thailand is one of the most difficult things to do. Anyway, after the anticipation and excitement of planning and spending a large amount of time and money to get to Thailand, the last thing you want is to have a poor golf game ruin your trip. Yet if you can successfully learn to get the most out of your golf  when you don’t have you’re “A” game, your scores will be a lot better and your golf trip will be much more successful, I guarantee it!

A large part of all great players’ success, including the to greatest players ever to play the game; Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, is they get the most out of their game when their swings may be off.  Nicklaus said, “One of the reasons I won so much was because I learned to win when not playing my best.” He went on, “Each time I went out my swing was different, my tempo was different, and once I accepted this, I improved my golf, and my love for the sport.”

"N" thailand Golf Tip

N is for Not the same game. There is golf and there is golf the professionals play. The professional golfer whether on the PGA tour or playing in a tournament in Thailand on one of the Asian PGA tour stops, plays a completely different game than most Thailand golf visitors. Golfers in Thailand wonder why they don’t score like the professionals, in spite of trying to swing like them and even buying the latest “professional” model and endorsed clubs.  Well there are at least four main differences between the golf the professional play and what is being practiced at most golf clubs in Thailand.

1. Golf professionals on tour use clubs that are custom built and their equipment is certainly not available in any golf shop in Thailand. Mass marketed clubs involves trade offs in length, shaft, swing weight, lie, loft, and possibly even head design as equipment manufactures have to cater to “average” build and swing types.

"M" Thailand Golf Tip

M is for Mulligan. The Mulligan is a Thai golfer’s best friend and just like the history of the word Mulligan, the use of it is always a great debatable subject. The TGA (Thailand Golfers Association), offers three ‘stories’ on how the Mulligan began. The most widely accepted one is a Canadian golfer named David Mulligan once teed it up (in the 1920’s in Montreal, Canada), hit a bad shot, and took another one. He referred to it as a ‘correction shot’ but apparently his golfing partners thought it more appropriate to name it after him. He then brought himself and his mulligan to the famed Winged Foot Golf Club and according to the TGA; it became widespread in the 1940’s.

Whatever the history and origin, the Mulligan is used by golfers all over Thailand, even more so, would you believe, at a famous courses like Blue Canyon in Phuket or Thai Country Club in Bangkok, then in lesser known courses like Dragon Hills in Ratchaburi or Thai Muang in Phang Na.

I am not ashamed to admit that I give myself a Mulligan off the first tee and justify the award by claiming my golf score should be the number of continuous shots needed to finish 18 holes of golf in Thailand.