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Stop Trusting Thailand Golf Course Superintendents

Be wary of Thailand golf course superintendents! They can cost you strokes.

Thai golf course designers create fair, but challenging courses. However, the Thai superintendents sometimes play tricks on you, especially with tee boxes. I have seen at least one and in most cases up to 50% of tee boxes on golf courses in Thailand be aligned to the out-of-bounds or hazard rather than the fairway.

Take for example the Canyon Course at Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket. Look at where the tees point on hole 11, straight into the woods on the left side. Then take hole 14. Yes that is the par 3 that is in practically every advertisement about golf in Thailand. On that hole it is hard enough hitting onto the island green. Why does the course superintendent insist on placing the tee markers so that a straight shot will fly well left of the green and right into the lake?

This is not the only example. I was playing at Phoenix Golf Club in Pattaya last week and no sooner did my foursome get to the first tee of the Mountain Course then I found the tee markers aimed way to the right and into the fairway of the ninth hole. This was a poor start indeed.

There's nothing in the rules of golf that says course superintendents must help you. The way a superintendent mows the grass doesn't always give you a true aim down the course for example, so why should the tee markers? Take some time to study the hole before teeing off to assess the situation and select the true target line.

Cambodia Border Dispute Being Settled Thai Style: Peacefully On The Golf Course

Golf delegations from Cambodian and Thai defense ministries teed off this week in a spot of golf diplomacy ahead of talks aimed at resolving their territorial dispute.

Cambodia's defence minister Tea Banh and his Thai counterpart Prawit Wongsuwan played a round in the northwestern tourist hub of Siem Reap with other military officials ahead of their Wednesday border negotiations. The round was hosted by the Phokeethra Country Club.

General Neang Phat  said, “We are playing golf with the Thai delegation now. We will talk about the border issue later.”

Military officials from the two countries also golfed together in Siem Reap last October after fighting erupted between the two countries on disputed land around 11th-century Preah Vihear temple. Troops from the two countries have been in a border standoff since tensions flared last July, when the cliff-top temple was awarded United Nations World Heritage status.

Ownership of the temple was awarded to Cambodia in 1962, but the two countries are in dispute over five square kilometers of land around the temple which has yet to be officially demarcated.

The first golf match was won by Cambodia. In this week’s match the Thai’s won on a count back. Score Thailand 1 and Cambodia 1. 

I guess the border dispute will have to go on until clear winner can be determined in the next golf match. Other nations should take a cue from the Thai’s and use golf diplomacy to settle things. If golf works in business, then I see no reason it can’t work in government.