Golf in Thailand

Black Mountain Golf Club is regularly ranked the best course in Thailand: a demanding 7,300-yard par 72 laid out against forested hills west of Hua Hin, with natural creeks running through the routing and greens kept immaculate. It has hosted Asian Tour and European Tour events and has since grown to 27 holes. Expect the highest green fee in the region and book ahead in high season.

Banyan Golf Club winds through former pineapple plantations and rolling hills towards distant mountain views. The par 72 balances playability and challenge, the conditioning is excellent and the clubhouse is one of the best in the country, which is why it collects “best in Thailand” awards almost every year.

Springfield Royal Country Club, a Jack Nicklaus design near Cha-am, spreads 27 holes across rolling ground with views of the hills and the sea. It is fairer than Black Mountain for higher handicaps and has rooms on site, so it suits a stay-and-play week.

Hua Hin itself is a genteel royal resort with a long beach and a famous night market, three hours from Bangkok by road or about four by train. Most golfers base themselves in town and take a hotel transfer or taxi to the courses, none more than 30 minutes away. Right behind the railway station, Royal Hua Hin, opened in 1924, is Thailand’s oldest golf course: cheaper, hillier and full of character. The Gulf coast here is also drier than the Andaman in the wet months.

Siam Country Club, inland from Pattaya, is one of the most highly rated golf destinations in Asia and home of the LPGA’s Honda LPGA Thailand. The Old Course, open since the early 1970s, has been completely renovated; the Plantation, Waterside and Rolling Hills courses add four very different modern tests. Conditioning and service are as good as anywhere in the country.

Pattaya works as a golf base because it is only 90 minutes from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and has dozens of courses within an hour, from championship clubs to cheap local layouts. Golfers who stay in Bangkok often play here as a long day trip.

Bangkok’s best courses sit on the edges of the city, 45 to 90 minutes from the centre depending on traffic.

• Amata Spring Country Club: east of the city in Chonburi province and one of the most exclusive courses in Asia. It has hosted the Royal Trophy and televised skins games and is famous for the floating island-green 17th, reached across the lake. Visitor tee times are limited and expensive; book through your hotel or a golf operator.
• Thai Country Club: off the Bangna-Trat highway east of the city, where Tiger Woods won the 1997 Asian Honda Classic. Generous fairways lead to well-defended greens, and the service is famously polished.
• Alpine Golf and Sports Club: north of the city in Pathum Thani, a Ronald Garl design that has hosted big professional events. Tight fairways, water and fast greens reward accuracy rather than length.

Leave early: a 6:30am tee time beats both the heat and Bangkok’s morning traffic.

Blue Canyon Country Club is Phuket’s most famous golf address, near the airport in the north of the island. Its Canyon Course, where Tiger Woods won the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic, plays across deep ravines, water and mature trees and needs precise, strategic golf. The second course, the Lakes, is more forgiving but just as scenic.

Phuket Country Club in Kathu is one of the island’s oldest courses, 18 holes carved around former tin-mine lakes with plenty of water in play and tight, well-guarded greens. A separate nine-hole course on site is good for a quick round, and the clubhouse has wide views. Red Mountain, next door on another old tin-mining site, is the island’s most dramatic modern layout. On the west coast, Laguna Golf Phuket winds between the lagoons of the Bang Tao resort complex, handy if you stay there.

Phuket’s courses are 20 to 40 minutes from the beaches at Patong, Kata and Karon, so a morning round and an afternoon by the sea is easy. Green fees here are among the highest in Thailand.

Alpine Golf Resort sits in the San Kamphaeng countryside east of Chiang Mai and is among the finest courses in the north: perfect fairways and greens set among hills and rice fields, with a good clubhouse and a relaxed pace.

Royal Chiang Mai Golf Club, north of the city, was designed by Peter Thomson, five-time Open champion. The mature 18 holes are thoughtfully shaped with sweeping mountain views, and the on-site hotel makes it easy to combine a round with a night in the countryside.

Chiang Mai’s courses are generally cheaper than Phuket’s and Hua Hin’s, and from December to February the mornings are cool enough to walk. Avoid March and April, when smoke from crop burning often hangs over the valley.

Santiburi Samui Country Club, above Mae Nam on the north coast of Ko Samui, is the island’s only full 18-hole course and its holes climb the hillside to wide views over the sea. The par 72 is short but dramatic, with big changes in elevation that make club selection the main challenge. Carts are effectively compulsory. It pairs well with a beach stay on Chaweng or Bo Phut.

Caddies are almost always women, carry your bag or ride with the cart, read the greens and know every hole; tip them in cash at the end of the round. Many courses charge more at weekends and in high season, and some fold the caddie fee into the green fee. Twilight rates after about 2pm are cheaper but run into the late-afternoon heat.

The best season is November to February, when it is dry and mornings are around 22 to 25°C (72 to 77°F) in the south and cooler in Chiang Mai. It is also high season, so book popular courses a week or more ahead. March to May is very hot; tee off at first light and drink more than you think you need. From June to October the rainy season brings short afternoon storms, softer fairways and the lowest fees. The Gulf coast around Hua Hin stays drier than Phuket in these months, and Ko Samui’s wettest season comes later, in October to December. See our best time to visit Thailand guide for the regional weather.

Book direct by phone or email, through your hotel, or through a golf operator for packages with transfers. Few courses ask for a handicap certificate, but some top clubs restrict visitor times at weekends. Dress codes are strict: collared shirts, tailored shorts or trousers and soft spikes, no jeans or vests. Most clubs have showers and a restaurant, and lunch at the halfway house is part of the day. Airlines treat golf bags as sports equipment, often within the checked allowance; check your fare before you fly.