Do you want to be admired and respected by golf club staff, caddies and other local Thais on your Thailand golf vacation? Here’s a tip: learn a few words of Thai golf vocabulary!
Aside from hello and goodbye (sawadee), are you well? (sabai dee mai), and what is your name? (khun chue arai), good luck (chok dee) is a nice thing to say when you are leaving someone, or when having a drink and raising your glass to someone (like “Cheers!”).
Remember, though, to be polite by ending with krap if you are male (even if this grates on western ears), or kaa if you are female.
Thailand golfing terms include: golf course (sanam golf), go to play golf (bai len golf), wood (maai), iron (lek), left (sai), right (gwaa), straight (trong), uphill (tee lum), downhill (tee soong), and small or little (nid noi).
Golf being a numbers game it is useful to have some idea of the numbering system in Thailand and it is relatively easy to pick it up (if you forget for a moment that Thai is a tonal language and if you don’t get the tone exactly right then you might be saying a completely different word!).
Thai Numbers:
1 neung 11 sib-et 21 yee-sib et 31 sam-sib et
2 song 12 sib-song 22 yee-sib song 32 sam-sib song
3 sam 13 sib-sam 23 yee-sib sam 33 sam-sib sam
4 see 14 sib-see 24 yee-sib see 34 sam-sib see
5 ha 15 sib-ha 25 yee-sib ha 35 sam-sib ha
6 hok 16 sib-hok 26 yee-sib hok 36 sam-sib hok
7 jed 17 sib-jed 27 yee-sib jed 37 sam-sib jed
8 bad 18 sib-bad 28 yee-sib bad 38 sam-sib bad
9 gow 19 sib-gow 29 yee-sib gow 39 sam-sib gow
10 sib 20 yee-sib 30 sam-sib 40 see-sib
100 roi
1,000 paan
Thus, 5-iron would be lek ha, 3-wood maai sam, and four hundred baht see roi baht.
So then what is the meaning of?? Wannee bai len golf krap. Chok dee krap. Sawasdee krap!!
Of course it is: Today, we go and play golf. Good luck and goodbye!!
This post has already been read 229 times!
2 Responses
The Golf Expressions will be great for the group to brush up on before our arrival many thanks.
I’d like to golf in Thailand some day.