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

Arnold Palmer In Thailand Golf

One of my prior posts about the world’s best golf course architects’ presence on the Thailand golf scene featured Jack Nicklaus. This post and the next are about two of his fiercest tournament rivals, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson.

Few names in the world of golf enjoy such widespread and instantaneous recognition as the name Arnold Palmer. This colorful character earned and maintains today the title “King of Golf”. His brilliant career in tournament golf - which includes the winning of virtually every major golf tournament in the United States and around the world, gave him the opportunity to create and expand a vast golf business enterprise. Today, he is among the leaders in the area of design and construction of outstanding golf courses. The Palmer Course Design Company has been involved in over 300 golf course projects including the USA, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Guam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Costa Rica, India and, of course, Thailand.

Palmer’s aim is to design the kind of courses that are requested by their clients, not one that just satisfies Palmer and his company, whether the course is private, resort, or public. All of their courses blend in naturally with the existing environment and they preserve the existing terrain and environment as much possible.

Robert Trent Jones Jr In Thailand: His Courses

Robert Trent Jones Jr has built golf courses around the world including the Rocky Mountains, French forests, Palm Springs desert, Russian parkland, Japanese hills, Australian coastlines, and former rice paddies and coconut plantations in Thailand.

The four Thailand Trent Jones golf courses in Thailand are Navatanee Golf Course in Bangkok, Eastern Star Golf & Country Club in Pattaya, Green Valley Country Club in Bangkok, and Santiburi Golf Club in Chiang Rai. Here is some background  and updated playing information on each one.

Navatanee Golf Club was commissioned by the Thailand government to host the 1975 World Golf Championship. The course is kept in excellent condition and has the best Bermuda grass greens I have ever played on. The fast and receptive putting surfaces, I guess, are the result of proper care and ageing, which is by far the longest of all the top Thailand golf courses. Playing Navatanee last month I found again some great holes including the Par 5 9th which makes a 180 degree loop around and twice crosses over water. The club house has a true rustic feeling reminding me more of a town restaurant in a small western USA city than a club house in Bangkok, Thailand. With a C&W band on hand, I felt as if I was in Colorado or Wyoming!

Robert Trent Jones Jr. in Thailand Golf

My postings about Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus set me thinking. Many of Thailand’s over 260 golf courses have been designed by some of the world’s best and most famous golf course architects. Today I shall begin a 2 or 3 part series about Robert Trent "Bobby" Jones, Jr. influence on the Thailand golf scene.

Robert Trent Jones Jr. was the international golf course architect that put golf in Thailand on the world map. Born in 1939 and the son of legendary golf course designer Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and the brother of golf course designer Rees Jones, Robert Trent Jones Jr. joined his father's firm, Robert Trent Jones Incorporated, after studying at Yale and Stanford Universities.

He become vice-president of the company and, in the 1960s, began designing courses. He is responsible for the design or remodeling of more than 200 golf courses worldwide. Today, Jones continues to design courses and currently resides in Woodside, California. He has also served as the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and has even published a book to help players understand golf course layout entitled “Golf by Design”.

Thailand Golf Zone Goes To Mauritius

For those of you who have been following this blog, you know that I having been posting Thailand golf articles around 3 times a week for the past one and one half year. Well this past week , as you must have noticed, I was totally silent and I bet you wonder what happened to the Thailand Golf Zone and it’s author, me.

Well last week and for the first time in years my family and I took a real vacation. Not one of those to visit family or a long weekend, but a real holiday. Not only that, it was a golf vacation, my first in over 5 years and since moving to Thailand. You see when I had the good fortune to get invited to the Air Mauritius Golf Classic 2007 by Scott Edkins at Greenside Golf in South Africa; I jumped at the opportunity and made it a family affair to boot.

The golf tournament took place over 4 rounds and included some of the most spectacular golf courses in Mauritius. Golf quality at Golf du Chateau and Tamarina was comparable to Thailand’s best, such as Thai Country Club and Blue Canyon. Even the grasses used were the same latest Sea Isle Paspalum varieties imported from Australia that are found at Thailand’s new courses like Red Mountain in Phuket and Black Mountain in Hua Hin.

Jack Nicklaus' Other Thailand Golf Courses

This is the final post about the great Jack Nicklaus golf courses in Thailand and covers the other, non-Mission Hills, courses.

Legacy Golf Club (formerly Winsan and before that Natural Park Ramindra Golf Club) at over 7,000 yards is a tough course, heavily bunkered around most greens and with huge water hazards. The conditions are well kept and the golf course being located only around 30 minutes from town is a good choice for those in Bangkok wanting to play a top course and not travel too far.

Laem Chabang International Country Club is the best course in Pattaya, and one of the best five in all Thailand. It is a world championship golf course made up of 27 holes on 700 acres and features three types of terrain which characterize each of the nine holes. The Lakes and Valley courses meander along pristine natural waterways while the Mountain nine provides commanding views of the surrounding area and is the most challenging of the three nines. This top course is a must play for anyone in the Pattaya area and I include Laem Chabang in all Pattaya golf packages.

Jack Nicklaus' Real 3 Mission Hills Golf Courses

This is a follow up to the Jack Nicklaus designed Thailand golf courses post.

I bet you thought Mission Hills was in China right? Well the 3 original Mission Hills golf courses are actually in Thailand, all being Nicklaus designs as well.

It seems that the creator of the Mission Hills brand, the wealthy Thai businessman, Suraphan Ngamjitsuksri, commissioned Jack Nicklaus to build him 3 golf courses across Thailand. Then later on, together with other investors, they brought the concept to Shenzen and created the 12 golf course complex known globally as Mission Hills China. Since that time Khun Suraphan, sold his shares in the China venture and now, together with his aptly named son, Khun Golf, is solely is devoted to his 3 original Thailand Mission Hills courses, which are also the topics of this post.

Jack Nicklaus in Thailand Golf

This posting is the latest in my series about the world’s golf course architects and their presence on the Thailand golf scene. Today, I feature Jack Nicklaus, probably the most prolific of the Thailand golf course top designers.

The name Nicklaus has long been associated with greatness on a golf course: twenty major championships, electrifying finishes and the sheer will to win. Jack's achievements are legendary. However, the name Nicklaus transcends his dominance as a player. Today, Nicklaus also stands for superior golf course design, a result of Jack's more than three decades as a renowned golf course designer.

The result is over three hundred golf courses worldwide. Each design shares the Nicklaus' philosophy of enhancing the natural environment and creating courses that are both challenging and enjoyable for players of all levels.

Pete Dye in Thailand Golf

Here is the first in a series about famous golf course architects and their activities in Thailand.

Pete Dye, through Dye Designs Inc., is associated with three golf courses in Thailand: Subhapruek Golf Club in Bangkok, Khao Kheow Country Club in Pattaya, and Thai Muang Beach Resort in Phuket.

All three feature Pete Dye trademarks: tough par 4’s (especially the closing holes) where you need to hit straight, tricky par 3’s, the subtle use of water hazards and, of course, the railway sleepers (tires) in and around the bunkers.

Pete Dye is reputed to have never finished a golf course. His courses may be open to play, they may host major championships, but he continually returns to these famous designs to fine-tune them – improving the playability for the typical resort player while ratcheting them up for the tour professional.

Thailand Golf Course Architects: A Series

Most people coming for a Thailand golf holiday are surprised by the golf course quality and list of the major golf architects who are represented at Thailand golf courses. In fact you can find golf courses built by Pete Dye, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Ronald Fream, Ron Garl, Schmidt-Curley, Peter Thomson, Desmond Muirhead, and the list just goes on as a who’s who of famous world-class golf course designers.

Over the next few articles I will highlight and summarize some of the better golf course architects' masterpieces around Thailand and give you an update on the architects’ status and design principles, current projects (if any), and the current conditions of the existing Thailand golf courses that they each have designed.

If anyone has any particular or favorite golf course designer who you would like to see represented. Please drop me a line at at my Thailand golf vacation company.