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Ronald Fream In Thailand Golf

Today’s posting about the Thailand golf courses that have been designed by the world’s best golf course architects features another lesser known name, Ronald Fream. But it is also about the rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of one of Thailand’s most prolific entrepreneurs, “Mr Panya” and the partnership between himself and Fream.

Ronald Fream, the founder of Golfplan, began his golf course architecture career in 1966 with Robert Trent Jones. The Golfplan team has provided golf course architectural services on six continents, under almost every imaginable climate, from the Arctic Circle in Finland to the tropical heat of Singapore and of course, Thailand.

This is Fream’s philosophy, which sums up what golf course design should be all about: “The art of excellent golf course architecture is creating, designing and building unique courses within a client’s specified budget, enabling the client to make a profitable return on their investment.”

Schmidt-Curley In Thailand Golf

Here is a company that re-designs golf courses in Thailand as well as developing their own creations. Schmidt-Curley Design, Inc. was founded by partners Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley. Brian Curley resides in the USA, while Mr. Schmidt calls Thailand his second home. Schmidt-Curley is a full service, international golf course architecture and master planning firm with more than 100 golf courses in 24 countries, including the U.S., China, Vietnam, Mexico, Egypt, Sweden, Korea and, of course, Thailand. 

The firm is responsible for crafting 10 of the 12 courses at Mission Hills Golf Resort in Shenzhen, China – the largest golf complex in the world. Schmidt-Curley’s style is to team up with partners such as Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, David Duval, Annika Sorenstam, Vijay Singh, David Ledbetter and Jumbo Ozaki to create challenging yet beautiful and enjoyable courses. Schmidt-Curley strives to create golf experiences that stir the senses and elevate golfers' appreciations for the land, water, and the game. By balancing classic golf course architecture with ever-changing contemporary technology, Schmidt-Curley place an emphasis on site-adaptive courses designed for cost-efficient maintenance and operations.

Siam Country Club, Pattaya: Site Of Honda LPGA Thailand 2007

The new Siam Country Club in Pattaya, a par-72 that will play at 6,469 yards, will be showcased during the Honda LPGA Thailand, October 25-28.This will be the first professional golf tournament held at the Siam Country Club, Pattaya after renovations were completed in 2007.

Siam Country Club, Pattaya, one of the best golf courses in Thailand, has been opened for more than 35 years and is the oldest golf course in Pattaya. It is situated among breathtaking views on an 800 rai land pl only 15 minutes from Pattaya Beach, Thailand.Major renovations to the course and clubhouse were completed in May. The original layout has been preserved, but modifications were made from tees to greens to be ready to host international tournaments.

Greg Norman In Thailand Golf

Thailand’s golf courses have been designed by some of the world’s best golf course architects including Greg Norman.

Norman won The Open Championship twice, in 1986 and 1993, and also won The Players Championship in 1994, averaging less than 69 strokes per round. However, Norman may be regarded as an underachiever because of by his myriad near-misses in The Masters, the U.S. Open, and the PGA Championship.

Perhaps the most famous and embarrassing Norman meltdown of all occurred at The Masters in 1996, where he blew a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost the tournament by five strokes.

Greg Norman Golf Course Design was established in 1987 in Sydney, Australia. Now headquartered in Jupiter, Florida, it has grown into one of the leading golf course design companies. Norman's hands-on approach is invaluable to the design process. He utilizes his playing experience in each design, with the goal of creating tournament-quality courses that maintain an enjoyable sense of playability for all skill levels. Nowhere is this more evident than three Norman designs that regularly draw acclaim from both the world's top professional and amateur golfers -- TPC at Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia, home of the PGA Tour's BellSouth Classic; Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, Florida, host of the PGA Tour-sanctioned Franklin Templeton Shootout; and The Grand Golf Club in Queensland, Australia, site of the 2001 Australian Open.

Thailand Professional Golf Update

Congratulations to the Thailand team that won the Fortis International Challenge at the Kota Permai Golf and Country Club, Malaysia two weeks ago. Thai hotshots Thongchai Jaidee and Prayad Marksaeng put on an outstanding exhibition of golf with a final round eight-under-par 64 to win this prestigious event. Thailand had a great start to the tournament by firing an 11-under-par 61 for the joint first round lead.

The pair then produced a battling two-under-par 70 to take a one-stroke halfway lead, and carded a bogey-free 63 in the third round, thanks to a sparkling performance from Prayad who sank eight birdies. They finished the qualifying event for the Omega Mission Hills World Cup with a staggering 30-under-par 258 aggregate, three shots in the lead.

Prayad Marksaeng, born January 1966 in Hua Hin is one of Asia's finest players. He was a member of Thailand's winning golf team at the 1987 South East Asian Games and turned professional in 1991. He has been a member of the Asian Tour since it began in its modern form in 1995. He has won five events on the tour and was one of the first ten men to reach a million U.S. dollars in career earnings on it.

Nick Faldo's Thailand Golf Courses

Perhaps surprisingly, Nick Faldo’s contribution to golfing in Thailand is relatively sparse and, maybe like his career, somewhat controversial. So far he has been associated with only three golf courses in Thailand.

Century Rayong , Banchang to the locals,  was designed by Faldo on a piece of property which makes every hole spectacular from the tee. Although not long on the score card, 6,048 off the white tees, the elevation changes add to the difficulty in club selection. You never seem to have a flat lie. The four par three holes will make you think and challenge you on both short and long shots. Century Golf Club was one of the premier golf courses in the Pattaya area when it came on line in 1992 and it still remains a favorite among locals. While green fees are among the least expensive in the area (probably why locals like it so much), poor management have led to steadily declining conditions at Century Rayong. With so many modern Pattaya golf courses in top form, the Century Rayong golf course is hardly worth playing anymore.

Nick Faldo In Thailand Golf

Previous postings in my series about some of the world’s best golf course architects who have designed some of Thailand’s golf courses featured fierce tournament rivals, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Peter Thomson. Today’s post and the next is about two other golfers who often competed head to head in majors and who subsequently built up successful golf course design businesses: Nick Faldo and Greg Norman.

Turning 50 just last month, Nick Faldo is, unquestionably the greatest British golfer of the modern era, winning 39 titles worldwide including three British Open Championship titles, and a hat-trick of US Masters crowns. Appointed European Ryder Cup captain for 2008, Nick Faldo still holds the record as Europe’s leading point’s winner in the biennial contest against the USA.

Faldo established his own golf course design company, Faldo Design, in the early 1990s, right at the time when he was the world’s number one golfer. He has now worked on projects in more than a dozen different countries in five continents and there are award-winning Nick Faldo designed courses in such contrasting places as the United States, China, Germany, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, England and Australia, and projects underway in Russia, The Dominican Republic, Ireland and Portugal. Despite the impressive and very internationally oriented expansion, ‘Faldo Design’ continues to place the emphasis firmly on ‘quality’ as opposed to ‘quantity’.

Peter Thomson In Thailand: His Golf Courses

Peter Thomson is credited with 3 Thailand golf courses; Greenwood Golf in Pattaya,  Rayong Green Valley in Pattaya, and Royal Chiangmai Golf Resort.

The golf course at Greenwood Golf & Resort (formerly Noble Place) in Pattaya is located among tree lined hills and this very scenic course with extensive fauna and landscaping. It is a thinking man’s, British style, course with many pot bunkers, fairway undulations and waste areas of ’native’ lemon grass which require particular skills to hit out of. Unlike other Pattaya golf courses there are not a lot of water hazards. Noble Place has been a personal favorite of mine since I first played it. Unfortunately, it was poorly maintained and fell into disuse. So, I was delighted when, in December 2006, the former Noble Place Golf Resort was officially changed to Greenwood Golf Resort. The owners have been upgrading the facilities and the course now sports new white sand bunkers and a revamped clubhouse. This relatively lesser know golf course is now one of the best deals in the Pattaya area.

Peter Thomson In Thailand Golf

Peter Thomson, five times British Open Champion from 1954-1965, three times Australian Open Champion and nine times the New Zealand Open Champion, has won a hundred tournaments worldwide, including the World Cup for Australia, twice. His record on the PGA Seniors Tour is scarcely less impressive; in 1985 he set the standard by winning nine tournaments out of a possible 27. Born in the working class suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne, Thomson began his professional career in 1949 and won his first New Zealand Open in 1950. Initially, Peter concentrated on the European tour playing on the British courses he so loved, and which have heavily influenced his golf course architecture and those of the courses he designed in Thailand.

Then in the 60's he put his weight behind the fledgling Asian tour. His forty year playing career takes in the Open titles of ten countries, winning several more than once, ending in 1988 on an up note with the British PGA Seniors title. Thomson captained the International Team three times in the President's Cup: 1996 and 2000, and also the successful team which defeated the USA in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1988.