Back in HuaHin for a week to play golf, I took advantage of the Chaam Golf Festival (an event offering green fees at very attractive rates for all the golf courses around HuaHin) to play the Springfield Golf Course and the Lakeview Golf Course, then Palm Hills.
When I say great rates, I’m talking about 1000 baths a greenfee, and of course you have to pay extra for the caddie.
1000 THB = about €27
These three golf courses are very interesting with quite different levels of difficulty depending on the course.
Springfield Golf Course
I had the pleasure of playing with a very nice couple.
He’s from New Zealand, she’s Australian. They told me their rather unusual story:
They had hardly ever travelled in their lives before retirement, and had never been to Europe, for example. They had a high standard of living when they were working, but had no desire to travel.
When they retired, they still didn’t feel the need to, and it was only at the urging of their children that they decided to take a trip to try it out.
They came on their first trip to discover Thailand, but just as the Covid was about to begin, they found themselves stuck in Hua Hin by the Covid. They couldn’t go home, so they simply settled in and stayed.
And now they don’t feel the need to go back and visit other countries. They have decided to spend their retirement here to enjoy the golf courses and the pleasure they get from playing as a couple and with the caddies. It has to be said that the caddies here are indeed particularly cheerful, they have a good sense of humour and it’s a real pleasure to play golf so well accompanied, all the more so when they are good golfers, which happened to me at Lakeview.
As well as being a magnificent resort with a splendid hotel and an extraordinary swimming pool, Springfield Golf Course has the distinction of having been partly designed by Jack Nicklaus. Partly because he only designed nine holes, which strangely enough seemed to me to be the least interesting to play and the least difficult. However, the golf course is proud of this signature and there is a huge photo of Jack Niklaus at the entrance to the changing rooms, as well as his name in various places.
Some photos and videos of the Golf
The beautiful Springfield hotel
The caddies in their beautiful pink outfits
Several holes with long pieces of water
There’s no shortage of water in Thailand: the fairways are beautiful
Most fairways are very wide
Lake View
It’s also a resort with a hotel and splendid villas. I really enjoyed playing this course, which I did rather well thanks to the judicious advice of my caddie, who is ranked 19.
In fact, she invited me to come and play with her regularly, promising that I would improve, which I have no doubt I will.
Pont, an excellent player and friendly caddie
Lake View is an extremely hilly golf course, there’s a lot of play on sloping lies, especially if you get a bit lost.
Some photos and videos of the Golf course
View from the restaurant terrace
View of the restaurant terrace
Wide fairways here too
I took advantage of this month of local entertainment to sign up for my first golf competition in Thailand. It took place on the Springfield course a few days after I had played it for the first time.
From a golfing point of view, my game was particularly catastrophic. I haven’t played so badly for several years. There are a number of explanations for this, but none of them are relevant here.
On the other hand, it taught me or confirmed a lot of information about golf in Thailand and that doesn’t really encourage me to enter competitions again. I’ll have to think about it. It’s a shame because golf competitions really motivate me.
First of all, one of the rules that doesn’t apply in Thailand, even though it’s an international one, is that you have to play in matches with a maximum of four players. I knew that this could be the case in a friendly game, but I naively expected this rule to be respected in a competition. This competition was Shotgun: this means that games start from different holes on the course, at exactly the same time at a given signal, which generally makes for shorter competitions than if everyone took a turn starting from hole one.
But there were no foursomes. All the games were of five or six players. Suffice it to say that the day is extremely long and the wait immense. When you like to play fast, as I do, it quickly becomes unbearable.
A second rule that is obviously not respected in Thailand, even though it’s one of the basic rules of golf: in the bunkers, everyone does what they want: putting the club down before the ball, trial shots, etc. It’s disturbing to say the least. It’s disturbing, to say the least. Obviously, I haven’t done that. I just can’t do it.
The third surprising feature of a strokeplay competition is that each green has a 50cm circle drawn around the hole. And if the ball stops within this circle, it’s considered to be a putt. This also changes the game considerably, firstly because we all know that these 50 cm putts are not that easy to make, and secondly because, as my youngest daughter advised me, it’s no longer a question of aiming for the hole, but of getting your ball to stop in the circle.
It was all very unsettling and bizarre. On the other hand, wonderful dinner after the competition, followed by a prize-giving ceremony with some lovely prizes, including in particular two membership cards for the club.
Presentation of a membership card
Very local cups
Prize-giving at the end of the meal
Some nice prizes
I’m back in HuaHin again for a week on 18 September and I’m taking advantage of the Low Season promotion to discover a new golf course, Palm Hills Golf Course.
First of all, to take stock of my knowledge of the golf courses in and around the city: I’ve now played (last year) at Banyan and Golf Mountain, 2 ’mountain’ golf courses a little inland, at Royal Golf which is really right in the middle of town just behind the station, at Korea Golf, a little further south, at Sea Pine, a beachside links course just outside the town to the south, and most recently at Springfield and then Lake View, which are both very close to each other, about 25 km north of HuaHin on the Cha-am road, also slightly inland.
So, for the moment, I’ll end my discovery of the golf courses in this plethoric city with ...
Palm Hills
This is really my favourite golf course here, for several reasons.
Coconut trees everywhere
First of all, it’s closer to the city than the other golf courses, which are located a little inland. This is important for two reasons:
- It’s quicker to get there
- You can easily get back by ordering a taxi on Grab or Bolt (Uber equivalents here), which is not the case at the other golf courses, which are too far out of town for that.
Another reason why I really fell in love with this golf course is that I particularly enjoyed the clubhouse with a magnificent restaurant terrace, from which you can have lunch really with a view of the green on the 10th.
Panoramic restaurant with a view of the 18th
And for purists who prefer to have a view of the Green of 18, don’t worry, it’s all taken care of (it’s Thailand), as at the very other end of the building, there’s a second terrace with obviously another bar offering that view of 18.
The second terrace, at the other end of the clubhouse
All the facilities in this clubhouse are beautiful and functional. The changing rooms are magnificent.
Luxurious changing rooms
I was delighted with the course: it is very varied, undulating, with water in play on several holes and areas where you can lose your ball if you don’t stay on the fairways, which are really beautifully maintained.
There is a good alternation of very wide fairways and areas where you have to be much more precise, as well as several long dogleg holes that are very interesting to play.
The caddies always gives the right directions
Superb fairways and greens
The greens are of very nice quality with a not very obvious roll and slopes that are difficult to read, the bunkers and trees are very well placed to put the player in difficulty. The only slight downside concerns the quality of the sand in some of the bunkers. It is sometimes a little hard, but it must also be said that this is the monsoon season with rains that can be very violent and I don’t think this is the best time to have perfect bunkers.
Not so obvious starts
The caddies are allowed, as is done at some golf courses in Thailand (but not all), to play every late afternoon.
They are therefore real golfers who not only have a learned knowledge of the course, but a practised knowledge.
My caddie of the day, Pon, handicap 25
**The caddie is also required to help with the upkeep of the course
In short you understand, I loved this golf course in which I would appreciate being able to be a member all year round. I don’t think that’s possible given the membership fees. That’s where the problem lies.
Finally, this golf course is surrounded by magnificent villas, each more beautiful than the last, as well as condominium flats that must be very pleasant to live in, such is the charm of the place.
Only holiday villas," says the caddie.
Some of the "small" villas
This is definitely the Golf course I’ll be playing most often.
I wrote a little earlier that I didn’t think it was possible to become a member here, because of the membership fees. Finally, I decided to find out for myself in the Proshop.
The result of my investigations was rather astonishing: the normal green fee for this magnificent Palm Hills golf course is not cheap: 3,500 baths in high season, or around €90. It has to be said that the foreign clientele who come here on holiday to play golf are generally quite well off.
However, in the low season, green fees can drop to around 1,200 baths, or around €32.
But there are relatively few year-round members. No doubt this is why the membership fee is not so high.
The membership card consists of a double fee. The first is a fixed fee of 30,000 baths, or around €780.
This payment gives you two choices:
Pay an additional fixed sum of 20,000 baht, i.e. around €520, and play as much as you like.
Pay 600 baht (around €15) for each green fee, which may be a solution for more occasional players.
Finally, this gives an annual fee (allowing you to play as much as you like) of around €1,200, which is very low compared with the quality of this golf course and the real possibility of playing every day of the year in Thailand.
For the sake of completeness, I should point out that the caddie is never included, whatever option you choose. You therefore have to add the sum of 350 baths (less than €10) for the caddie to each round (excluding tips).