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

North Thailand (Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai) Golf Scene

Here is a golf report from Chiang Mai by local resident Larry Fraser.

I first played here three years ago, and a large factor in my coming back for a few months each year is the golf. 

If you come to Chiang Mai in the "cool season" to play golf you will not be disappointed. Who could ask for more; playing in the refreshing air, surrounded by spectacular mountain ranges, and among some of the nicest people in the world?

There are about a dozen courses within 45 minutes of downtown Chiang Mai and they are all interesting.  Five are in excellent condition and very well designed.  The best are Alpine Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai Highlands, Summit Green Valley, Gassan Khuntan, and Mae Jo. The other golf courses are unique enough and worth a play or two. There are even a couple where for less than 10 Euros you can get in an enjoyable winter round of golf.

Tiger Woods' Last Thailand Golf Visit

Tiger Woods' last trip to Thailand as a golf professional in early 2000 was a bit of circus. Politicians, media and other VIP’s almost stormed his plane when it touched down in Bangkok even before he could get his seat belt off.

Tiger would describe it as the craziest week of his life but as usual gave one of his oh-so diplomatic answers he mentioned, "I always enjoy coming back to Thailand," continuing, "It's always neat to be back among family and friends."(ed. yeah right!)

A lot of Thai golfers don’t see Tiger in a favorable light. Even though his mother is Thai, very few Thai’s see Tiger as even half Thai. In typical Thai fashion they think he should be sharing some of his wealth for the country, as do other local Thai golf superstars like Thongchai Jaidee and friends.

"He basically has forgotten the Thai people," says Prasong Pathom, a medical doctor who watched Tiger Woods play at the 1998 Honda Classic at Thai Country Club and comments "He is a great golfer and has done some good with his foundation in getting equipment for young kids, but a number of Thais see it as nothing more than a token gesture."

In 2000, Woods received an appearance fee of $1 million to compete in Bangkok at the Johnnie Walker Classic at Alpine Golf & Sports Club. In fact, the yet-to-be famous and now-ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra is reported to have paid for the bill in exchange for a few photos with the reigning US Open champion. Being a council member of Kasetsart University, also located near many golf courses in Bangkok, Thaksin was also heavily involved in arranging Tiger Woods' receiving an honorary doctorate of philosophy in golf sports from this school.

Golf Score Card Man

What do you do back home in the cold winter weather either before or after your Thailand golf holiday?

Well how about sifting through all your golf memorabilia collected from past golf vacations?

Here is a letter from a fellow reader of the Thailand Golf Zone that you might find interesting, and just maybe you can help Bob out.

Hi Mark,

I always get a lot of pleasure from reading your interesting articles on your Golfasian website, and I thought that just maybe some of your readers of Golfasian might be interested in my quest.

My name is Bob Davies and I am Scottish but now live on the east coast of Australia and I am a collector of golf club scorecards from around the world.  I am trying to be the first person in the world to obtain a golf club scorecard from every country & island that plays golf, and at this point in time I have golf club scorecards from 226 different countries & islands, including some remote places like Antarctica, Ascension Island, Diego Garcia, Tristan Da Cunha, and Afghanistan to name a few. (ed. I did not even know there were golf course in most of these places.)

CAMBODIAN GOLF ADVENTURES - part 3 of 3 (Off the Course)

So, why would you combine a Thailand golf tour with Cambodia, that is aside from getting to play 2 great golf courses? In other words what else is there to do in Siem Reap?

Well the obvious thing (and the main reason most people go there in the first place), is take in the famous World Heritage Site ‘Angkor Wat’ and other ancient Khmer temples in the area.

Angkor Wat was built in the early 12th century for King Suryavarman II as his state temple and capital, though it didn’t become well known to the western world until a started French explorer came across it in the mid 19th century and described it as: "One of these temples, a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo—might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings.  It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome”.  Strong words, but one visit and you’ll understand.  Angkor Wat is the pride of Cambodia, as reflected by its image on the nation’s flag.

While Angkor Wat is the largest and most famous Hindu/Buddhist temple in the area, there are many more, each unique from the others.  Depending on your level of interest, one can spend anywhere from a half day to an entire week exploring these ancient wonders.

Another interesting way to spend a half day or so is a tour of Lake Tonle Sap, where your guide will take you on a boat trip among the floating villages and fishing communities of locals who live a timeless lifestyle farming the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia (its actual size varies from 2,700 – 16,000 square kilometers, depending on the season).  During the trip you can even dine and drink on a floating restaurant complete with its own live crocodile pit!

CAMBODIAN GOLF ADVENTURES - part 2 of 3

Siem Reap’s second championship golf course opened in early 2008.  The 7,279 yard Nick Faldo designed Angkor Golf Resort is conveniently located near the airport and close to all area hotels. 

Carved out of land that was previously flat, featureless rice paddies, Faldo was able to use all his imagination at the Angkor Golf Resort, with the end result being a fun and challenging course that is very playable, though will play you if you are careless.

This is one course you can’t just grab a club and rip away at.  Numerous strategically placed bunkers and water in play on every hole force the golfer to play within his game.  Play it smart though and the thinking golfer will find generous fairways to hit to (or so I’ve been told by thinking golfers).

While I for one believe Captain Nick got a bum rap from the media over his handling of the 2008 Ryder Cup matches, after playing Angkor Golf Resort’s signature 13th hole, an s-shaped par five, I wanted to give the old boy a few raps of my own!  The hole basically resembles the Sahara desert with a few oasis fairway sections scattered about.  A big drive gives you a tempting shot to go for the elevated green in two, but miss and the chances of finding your ball lying on anything green are remote.  Play your second shot safe and you’ll have a more favorable approach angle, though one that is still well guarded with a narrow opening and sand all around.

CAMBODIAN GOLF ADVENTURES - part 1 of 3

Golf in Cambodia can easily be combined with golf in Thailand and now more than ever golfers from around the world are discovering this new golf destination.

The fabulous Buddhist temples of Siem Reap, Cambodia date back nearly 1,000 years and are one of the true wonders of the world.  When constructed Cambodia was home of one the world’s great civilizations.  Angkor Wat is by far the largest and most famous of the temples, though there are numerous others and each is unique, with its own themes and stone carvings depicting the story of the Buddha and of ancient Cambodia.

And now golf travelers have a great reason to go there too, as Siem Reap has become home to two first class golf courses within the last three years.

Phokeethra Country Club, Cambodia’s first international standard course, opened in 2006.  It is affiliated with and under common management of the 5.5 star Sofitel Royal Angkor Golf Resort, which gives you an indication of what to expect.

Beginners Golf in Bangkok

Golf can be a daunting game for even the most experienced (not necessarily good) golfers in Thailand.  Luckily Bangkok is an ideal place for beginning golfers in Thailand to tee it up.

With the helpful caddies at all Thailand golf courses, beginning golfers are able to play with experienced assistance at their side for the whole round.  For example, golfers in Thailand sometimes forget the basic things that a new golfer struggles with, for example finding the next hole, observing basic golf etiquette and knowing distances to the hole.  The caddies in Thailand can help with all these things and more.

Another reason why Bangkok is a good place for beginning golfers is that most of the golf courses do not require you to have a handicap card or be able to play the game to any level.  This can be quite frustrating if you happen to be caught behind a group of new golfers, who might not even know the etiquette for letting people through.  For the beginning golfer, you can show up at most courses in Bangkok and it doesn’t matter if you shoot 160!  Alpine Golf Club is one of the few courses in Thailand that does not allow beginning golfers to play and requires a 24 handicap for golfers to be able to tee it up.

Golf 2009 & Political Situation In Thailand

As you have probably heard Bangkok airport has been closed for one week due to political demonstrations. This has obviously greatly inconvenienced many golfers who were here at the time and others who had been planning to visit Thailand in November and December.

Fortunately, yesterday the Thai Constitutional Court ruled that the Thai Prime Minister must step down and the ruling party leaders are banned from politics for 5 years due to vote buying and fraud in last year’s elections. The government has said they will honour the court’s decision. As a result, the anti-government demonstrators ceased their protests and today have left the airports. The airport is actually already operating cargo flights, and passenger flights are to resume over the next 1-2 weeks, if not sooner.

What does all this mean for the 2009 Thailand Golf Season?