On the occasion of this first stay in Hua Hin, I played 3 golf courses out of the 12 golf courses in Hua-Hin.

I started with the golf that I was advised, that of

Black Mountain

It is the most travelled course, especially since it was voted the best golf course in Asia by Golf Digest magazine.

Yes, not only the most beautiful golf course in Thailand, but in Asia.

My opinion: It is a magnificent golf course, with a very beautiful clubhouse, a beautiful restaurant, a huge and very chic pro-shop, a course with impeccable maintenance, an army of very elegant caddies in their yellow outfit.

Let’s add that the golf is in a very beautiful mountainous environment, and that it is surrounded by splendid villas, with a superb view, swimming pool, etc...

So why did I stay hungry?

I like difficult golf courses. The one from Black Mountain is not.

• Almost no water in play

• No lateral obstacles

• Very wide fairways surrounded by thin rough, so it is almost impossible to lose a ball or be in difficulty

• Greens certainly perfect but relatively flat, without great technical difficulty once the speed is measured.

The youngest who was assigned to me

We have no choice, the presence of a cadet is mandatory; she knew the course, she was very helpful, but she never played golf (she told me). Finally, she knew by heart the indications to give, on the trajectories in particular, but was wrong most of the time on the putt lines.

I found the note rather salty

• Greenfee: 1950 baths, or 53 euros

• Manual trolly (managed by the cadet): 350 baths, or 10 euros

• Bag rental: 1500 baths, or 40 euros!! Ouch, it really hurts, even if it’s beautiful new equipment

• A box of balls: 795 baths, or 22 euros

• Cadet: 300 baths, or 8 euros plus the minimum tip 300 baths.

Total: 4400 baths just to play (plus the balls), that represents 117 euros. It’s probably about, or even more than what I would have paid in France or Spain for a greenfee, a bag and a manual trolly

The problem is that knowing the labour costs in Thailand where wages are very low, I expected a much cheaper overall rate. The same scenario will be repeated with a few nuances in the second golf course, that of Banyan. But I will discover a few days later that it is still possible to play golf with a small budget. I’ll come back to it later in this article.

Finally, a very beautiful golf course, Black Mountain, which leaves me a little hungry. This is not the one where I will return to play as a priority, if I go back to Hua-Hin.

Banyan Golf Club

Banyan looks a bit like Black Mountain. It is also a golf course located in the small mountains of the interior, very close to the beach and Hua-Hin, but still count about 15 to 20 minutes by taxi from the city; in Thailand the very cheap taxi remains the best way to access the golf courses from the beach. The round trip by taxi cost me, for example, about fifteen euros for Banyan.

The very modern clubhouse is a bit confusing. Objectively quite ugly from the outside, he is rather nice in it, especially the locker rooms. Compared to the locker rooms of the Saint-Cyprien golf course in which I was a member for 7 years, it is day and night. Here, there is space and services, and it’s beautiful.

The building, quite ugly as I said, completely masks the golf when you arrive at the parking lot.

A small office welcomes us and directs us either to the pro-shop, small but properly stocked, or to the caddies, who wisely wait their turn. Once the equipment is requested and the greenfee paid, obviously we don’t take care of anything, the caddy waits wisely with the cart (I took one here because it was raining at the beginning and finally this golf without a cart would still be very very physical) and the bag, again very beautiful equipment. This time, I thought of asking for stiff, which I had forgotten in Black Mountain. It had played tricks on me, I had trouble adapting to clubs that were too flexible for me.

The golf is beautifully maintained, the caddies always elegant, the fairways perfect and the greens even more.

I clearly preferred Banyan to Black Mountain for two reasons:

• The course is more difficult. Even if my younger sister told me that the new golf director had many roughs cut, the course remains more technical. There is more water at play, delicate areas that are better to avoid, greens have more varied and more interesting slopes.

• My caddy, Dada, is a golf player. She plays pretty well apparently, knows the course perfectly. In addition, she proved to be a very pleasant career partner. Always laughing, including laughing at me when I missed a ball, she gave me sound advice on club choices and putt lines. She has a strong sense of humour and a very good level of English, which was not the case with my caddy in Black Mountain.

On the other hand, I did not appreciate the continuous presence of stray dogs on the course, almost on all the greens.

The rate is substantially the same as in Black Mountain. The course with greenfee, bag rental, cart. and cadet results in an invoice of 4300 baths, about 116 euros.

Again, it’s very expensive.

Note that in these courses, I did not ask for the annual rate to be a member but I assume that the price is related.

Korea Golf Club

We change the atmosphere with this last course in every way. It starts with a long, completely smashed access road, which moderately amuses taxi drivers. The large and potentially beautiful (it must have been) building that appears then seems almost abandoned. Nothing is maintained and as in the two previous golf courses. Here there is equipment in more or less good condition that is lying around everywhere. It’s really messy.

It is also a journey into a hilly universe, surrounded by a very thick forest populated by monkeys and countless peacks.

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The course obviously suffers from a lack of maintenance.

The fairways and departures are very rustic. Amazingly, the greens are rather in good condition.

Note that there are no real bunkers on the entire Korea Golf. There are the shapes of the bunkers but not the slightest grain of sand in them.

Everything seems old and poorly or not at all maintained. Even the buffet meal I take before playing is very ordinary, it’s very rare in Thailand.

On the other hand, I retain two positive aspects of this journey.

• The price (see below)

• The course seemed much more interesting to play than the 2 very beautiful previous courses.

The first 9 holes, better maintained, near the club house, are not very difficult but the length of some by 3 or 4, and the slopes and slopes bring a certain interest. It seems that most members only play these 9 holes; the caddy was very surprised, and a little angry, that I asked her after the 9 to go to hole 10.

I quickly understood why.

Holes 10 to 18 are really sporty. We move far away from the club house for a fairly steep environment, with holes that are very complicated to play with water at play in various places, ravines to cross, impressive lengths, large slopes, narrower fairways. I really liked this game... and lost several balls

The caddy was a little exhausted from pulling the trolly into these slopes. By the way, we enjoy rather nice views of the sea.

On the other hand, this part of the course is almost abandoned.

It’s really a shame. With some investments and improvements, I think this course would be exceptional.

Yes but the price: I played this game for the sum of 1100 baths, including the greenfee, the bag of equipment (certainly older than in the other two golf courses, but complete), the manual trolly, the cadet and the meal. That’s 30 euros. Again, I imagine that the annual membership rate must be proportional. If I had to live in Hua-Hin, it is certainly in this type of course that I would take a contribution. Because I don’t think the low cost of living in Thailand is enough to compensate for the budget to play in the other 2 clubs.

Finally, rather a positive vision of golf in Hua-Hin. It would take me time to discover the other courses, but there seems to be something for all tastes, and all portfolios.