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seventh heaven
Seven guys. Seven days. Seven courses.
Jon Underwood embarks on a golfing holiday around Thailand and discovers why the Kingdom is still a player’s paradise.
Giggling erupts as the minibus drops us off outside the magnificent clubhouse at Red Mountain Golf Club in Phuket. Not from us but from the waiting group of female caddies dressed in their eye-catching, cotton candy coloured uniforms. Forget overpaid coaches. These ladies can size up your game from 20 paces.
Our clubs are whisked away and placed on carts. I am introduced to my caddy who is young, inexperienced and has a long, unpronounceable Thai name. We settle on ‘Gift Shop’ and without further ado it’s off to the first tee. Welcome to golf - Thai style.
Opened in May 2007, Red Mountain is carved out of an old tin mine, although carved really isn’t the right word. The course has been lovingly and thoughtfully routed through the available space. And the result is sensational, with the volcanic red dirt, verdant surroundings and piercing blue sky affording stunning contrasts.
Intimidation on the tee is a big part of Thai golf and Red Mountain is no exception. Sometimes you’ll wonder just how and where to find the fairway. But follow the caddy’s advice and you should be safe. Just avoid the patches of thick, impenetrable jungle or wide expanses of naam – that’s Thai for water, a word you’ll hear repeatedly if you’re a sprayer of golf balls.
After a four, five, three start (that’s the pars, not my score, sadly), the course really starts to bare its teeth at the fifth. It’s a 398-metre par-4 with water down the entire left hand side. Playing from an elevated tee, the bigger hitters will be tempted to try and blast their way over the wet stuff but most will lay up and pitch onto a two tiered green.
But the hole that prompted most locker room debate was the par-3 17th. From tee to green the drop must be close to 80 metres and while the purists may call it gimmicky, I loved it. Watching the ball plummet to earth, hopefully hitting the putting surface several seconds after you’ve hit it, was a lot of fun.
Despite its relatively tender years, Red Mountain is a surprisingly advanced and challenging course. You’ll love the scenic beauty of the par-3 14th and the majestic walk home down the par-5 18th. A definite must-play on any trip to Phuket.
Now, there’s no easy way to put this. You have to walk the Canyon Course at the famous Blue Canyon Country Club (although the caddy DOES pull the trolley) and in the steamy, clinging heat and humidity it can turn into a battle just to reach the finish. But you’ll love the journey and take pride in completing this award-winning course.
A total contrast to Red Mountain, Blue Canyon has immaculately contoured fairways, most routed through rows of rubber trees. The surrounding mountains create a bowl-like atmosphere, and despite the occasional plane from the nearby airport, this really is a serene place to play.
The design here is simple yet effective. Tough par fives, a mix of cheeky and not-so-cheeky par threes and some jaw dropping par fours. All combine to make this one of the best courses in Thailand, if not the whole of Asia.
Much has been written about the 13th. Tiger Woods drove the green here in the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic. Not a bad feat when you consider it’s a 356-metre carry over a yawning chasm just to reach the green. But you can play conservatively and still tweak its nose. A drive across the pointy end of the hole, a flick with a short iron and a two-footer for birdie...eat your heart out, Mr Woods.
And if you like your par-3’s with a bit of extra spice, Blue Canyon has you covered. The 14th is similar to the 17th at Red Mountain, although the drop isn’t so severe…but the water surrounding the island green sure is. And the 17th is a brute of a hole, 193 metres off the blue tees (202 off the black) with water all down the right side. Fred Couples called it one of the best short holes in the world…and having won the Masters, I guess he would know.
While Blue Canyon measures 6,564 yards off the back tees, you can shorten it to 5,788 from the whites. So high handicappers can still enjoy this impressive championship course.
ACCOMMODATION
Nestled in the hills above Kamala Beach on the west coast of Phuket, you’ll find Andara Resort & Villas. Beautifully decorated, tastefully furnished and positively oozing luxury, Andara is a superb recent addition to Millionaires Mile.
Our three-bedroom Pool Suite Penthouse had fantastic views across the Andaman Sea and a private staircase up to our own infinity pool. The modern kitchen was almost bigger than my unit while the slightly sunken lounge room was a great place to unwind with golfing buddies.
But the piece de resistance? Definitely the bed. Huge, ridiculously comfortable and with more throw pillows than you could throw a pillow at. And let’s face it, after a long, hot day on the course, a good night’s sleep is better than a birdie…well, almost.
You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to accommodation in Phuket but two other options to consider are the Andaman White Beach Resort and The Sarojin. The former is sited on a secluded stretch of sand on Nai Thorn Beach while the latter is some 70 kilometres from Phuket in Khao Lak, offering a luxury, couples-only retreat.
PATTAYA
One of the joys of playing a new course is that occasionally you stumble across an absolute gem. For me, Siam Plantation was the pick of the courses we played during our visit. Consisting of three nines (Sugar Cane, Tapioca and Pineapple) it’s essentially a links course - minus the sea, sand dunes and annoying seagulls. It only opened in 2008 but has already hosted the Honda LPGA in 2009, won by Lorena Ochoa.
While the driving areas are fairly generous, that merely offers false hope. Like most top courses, missing the fairway is exactly what it’s supposed to be – penal. Our mindset was established on the first when one of my partners took five shots to escape the tangled rough and get back onto the fairway - just a metre from where his original drive finished.
But the fun really starts when you try and get the ball anywhere near the flag. Because the greens at Siam Plantation are as tricky as long division. Miss them in the wrong spots and you face the kind of chip shot or twisting putt that brings grown men to their knees.
The 8th on Sugar Cane (a 381-metre par-4) is a case in point. When we played the hole, the pin was cut back left, with a greenside bunker guarding the flag. The ridged green runs perpendicular to the fairway and slopes savagely downhill from left to right. So anything short goes back down the slope leaving a monster uphill putt; anything long leaves a treacherous downhill shot. The only spot to safely land the ball was about the size of a tablecloth, which you had to hit from about 150 metres away. You get the idea…
The only saving grace is that the putting surfaces are so good you’ll want to take them home to meet your mother.
Okay, there are a couple of slightly tricked-up holes. The par-five fifth has 26 bunkers on it, 18 of which are in the driving zone. From the tee it looks like a jigsaw puzzle with most of the green pieces missing. But these are few and far between. This is a course you’ll love to hate.
And if it does bring you to your knees, at least you can still admire the scenery. With such exotic names as Love Grass and Yellow Peanut Grass, the local flora adds yet another colourful dimension to this marvelously designed golf course.
Just down the road from Siam Plantation you’ll find Burapha Golf Course. Designed by Australia’s David Graham and his American cohort Gary Panks, the 36-hole facility opened in 1995. Split into the East and West courses, we tackled the former, a 6,713-metre, par-72 layout that at first glance seems like an attractive, fairly open, parkland-style course. There are swans in ponds and you settle in for a fairly amiable stroll around a quaint, residentially-lined course – think Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast and you’ve got the idea.
A couple of easy par fours, a gentle par three…and then things start to go a little pear-shaped.
While there’s no noticeable change in the overall width of the holes, the fairways start to get narrower and narrower. A bit like going down a funnel. For example, at its narrowest point, the 15th fairway was only seven-and-a-half paces wide (about 8 metres). So if you can hit a drive 200-odd metres through an opening the size of a soccer goalpost, this is the course for you.
As one of my playing partners remarked, it was like trying to put an oyster into a letterbox.
While Siam Plantation was hard but fair, I found Burapha hard but slightly unfair, with seemingly good drives ending up in rough that, for an added bonus, was as long and wiry as a Rastafarian’s hair. The kind of stuff that breaks hearts and ruins rounds in equal measure.
Another couple of tips if you are heading to Burapha. Watch out for the red ants and even though there are 36 holes, avoid weekends when most of South East Asia seems to head out for a game. Our round took five hours...and that was with carts and caddies.
ACCOMMODATION
As its name suggests, The Ravindra Beach Resort & Spa is a four-star resort connected to Jomtien Beach, which is slightly quieter than the main Pattaya Beach. It has a spa and massage centre, fitness centre and kid’s club, and one of the largest resort swimming pools I have seen, stretching the length of the property and right down to the beach.
My bedroom was clean and comfortable with a balcony affording views over the aforementioned immense pool. I particularly liked the louvre doors in the bathroom that allowed me to sit and relax in the tub while watching the TV in the main room.
For sheer opulence, sneak a peek at the behemoth that is the Centara Grand Mirage, a 555-room, five-star resort that wouldn’t look out of place in Las Vegas. We popped in for the ‘all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet’ and you could have fed a small village with the amount and variety of food on offer. I thought of asking for an elephant’s ear on a bun but was worried it would probably arrive.
HUA HIN
The rain had just eased from monsoonal to torrential as we arrived at Black Mountain Golf Club. Our chances of playing looked as remote as an outback sheep station but just an hour later, we were making our way to the first. Steam was still rising off the dense rainforest surrounding the club and from the towering Black Mountain ranges that lend their name to the course.
Just three years old, Black Mountain is a superb addition to Thailand’s golfing stocks. It has already hosted a major tournament, the Black Mountain Masters in 2009 won from start to finish by Swedish PGA Tour star Johan Edfors. He must have liked the course – he now lives here.
There’s an Australian tie up here as well. The course was designed by Phil Ryan, who has transformed this former pineapple plantation into a really juicy test.
Having survived the first hole, where the fairway was just 11 paces wide, the test really began at the fourth, a par-4 of 345-metres. A long-iron or 3-wood is needed off the tee to set up a short-iron approach to an undulating island green in the shape of a four-leaf clover well protected by water and sand. A great hole and one that also affords great views of the entire course.
I particularly liked the attention to detail. From the beautiful stonework around some of the greens (notably the par-3 11th) to the ‘BM’ initials intertwined on the flags, this course is lovingly maintained. And even though the rain had left the water the colour of rum and raisin ice cream, it didn’t detract from the overall beauty of the layout and the surrounding countryside.
Two words spring immediately to mind when discussing the attributes you’ll need to play The Banyan Golf Club. Long and accurate. Some 6,730 metres off the black tees, this is a par-72 course that takes no prisoners. I mean, how many layouts throw back-to-back par fives at you? But despite the degree of difficulty, they still had 37,000 rounds here in 2009. Little wonder it was voted best new course in Asia by readers of Asian Golf Monthly last year.
This is a course where local knowledge is a big advantage. The driving areas are scarily narrow with plenty of hidden dangers so just trust the caddy and swing away. The suicidal and masochistic will head straight for the black or blue tees but high handicappers should probably stick to the whites – the carry from tee to fairway is at least 170 metres on some holes from the backs.
You just can’t drop your guard or relax for a minute. Some fairways are 80 metres across while others are only 10 metres from side to side. For extra measure, the wind blows all year round and there are some par threes where you will need the biggest weapon in your arsenal (the 17th is 216-metres from the back blocks!). Elevation changes, roller-coaster fairways, water and bushes nipping at the sides of the fairway all day. You’ll need to bring the A-game to score well round here.
Signature hole is the par-3 15th that has an ocean view out to the left. But make up your own mind because there are so many cracking holes here, you really are spoilt for choice.
ACCOMMODATION
Now I know how a goldfish feels. My room at Baan Laksasubha was ceiling to floor glass on two sides with a large bed in the middle of the room. It was like going to sleep in the front window of David Jones. But the resort is like the town of Hua Hin itself. Classy, quiet and elegant. This is the place to bring the kids or if you don’t want to be bothered with the slightly hectic, seedier parts of Thailand. That may have something to do with the fact the king of Thailand’s summer palace is here. Breakfast and lunch is served in a restaurant 30 metres from the sea and Baan Laksasubha is everything you’d expect from a small operation…considerate, welcoming and comforting.
BANGKOK
With more than 80 courses in and around the Thai capital, golfers are spoilt for choice. The last stop on our tour was the Lam Luk Ka Golf Club about an hour from the city centre (depending on traffic, which can be horrendous).
A gentle parkland setting encompassing 36 holes, Lam Luk was not as grandiose or spectacular as some of the layouts we visited. Make sure you head to the dining room when you arrive and borrow a tablemat. This has a course planner on it and believe me, with water on all 18 holes of the championship East Course, it pays to know where the naam is.
Because when you’re out there – and due to its completely flat topography – it’s almost impossible to see just how and where the water pinches in on most of the holes. To make matters worse, we played after several days of heavy rain and it was hard to tell where the fairway ended and the water began. Several times I hit my tee-shot, turned to my caddy expecting a smile and found her shaking her head, reaching for a re-load. Very disconcerting and somewhat expensive.
The best hole is probably the last, a dog-leg par-five measuring 534 yards off the yellow tees. You’ll need to muscle up off the tee without going too far right (water) before threading a shot down the narrow fairway. A simple pitch to a large green and you can exchange salutes in front of the clubhouse with those who have already finished watching you from the balcony.
Host of the 2002 Thailand PGA Championship, Lam Luk Ka is starting to show a little bit of wear and tear around the edges but still provides a challenge. Just make sure you have a caddy, plenty of balls and that tablemat.
ACCOMMODATION
In a city with more than a thousand hotel options, you need to provide something special to get punters through the door.
Less than an hour from the airport, The Rembrandt Hotel does just that, providing service that goes above and beyond the normal city hotel fare. It has 407 rooms and suites and mine was perfectly appointed and comfortable but let’s face it, you just want to drop the cases and head to one of the five award-winning restaurants.
We dined at the Rang Mahal and enjoyed one of the best Indian meals I have had in a very long time. We didn’t have time to try out the spa or fitness centre (after seven days of golf I don’t think I would have been able to open the door) but relaxing in the executive lounge with a cold Singha was just as good.
at a glance
Getting there: Thai Airways flies to Bangkok three times daily from Sydney, twice daily from Melbourne, daily from Brisbane, five times a week from Perth and four times a week from Auckland, with connections throughout Thailand. www.thaiair.com/
Green Fees: Red Mountain: Bht5,000 for 18 holes. Carts & caddies are compulsory. Cart: Bht700; Caddy; Bht250.
www.redmountainphuket.com
Blue Canyon: Canyon Course, Bht5,600 for 18 holes. Caddies are compulsory. Bht250.
www.bluecanyonclub.com
Siam Plantation: Bht2,750 for 18 holes. Cart & caddies are compulsory. Cart: Bht650;
Caddy: Bht300.
www.siamcountryclub.com
Burapha: Bht2,000 for 18 holes. Cart is compulsory. Bht500. Caddy: Bht250.
www.buraphagolfthailand.com
Black Mountain: Bht3,000 for 18 holes. Cart Bht600. Caddy. Bht300.
www.bmghuahin.com
Banyan: High Season (Nov 1 – Apr 30) Bht3,600 for 18 holes. Low Season (May 1 – Oct 31) Bht2,650. Includes cart, caddy and practice balls.
www.banyanthailand.com
Lam Luk Ka: Weekday Bht1,000 for 18 holes; Tue & Wed (except public holidays) Bht700; Weekend & Holidays Bht2,200 (until Oct 31).
Accommodation:
Andara. www.andaraphuket.com
Andaman: www.andamanwhitebeach.com
Sarojin: www.sarojin.com
Ravindra: www.ravindraresort.com
Baan Laksasubha: www.baanlaksasubha.com
Rembrandt: www.rembrandtbkk.com
More information: Tourism Authority of Thailand, phone (02) 9247 7549 www.thailand.net.au
* All prices in Thai Baht
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