Extend the golf season in Thailand – Guide to the country’s best golf courses

Every year, over 400 000 tourists visit Thailand to play golf. The beautiful scenery, pleasant climate and top-class golf courses encourage many people to combine a beach holiday with practising their swing. Thailand is a fantastic destination for players of all standards.

Thailand has so much more to offer than clear blue skies, turquoise water, and lazy days on the beach. If you want to play golf while on holiday, there are many fantastic courses to choose from, regardless of whether you are a professional or an amateur. The golf clubs are rarely far from the popular tourist resorts, which make them ideal for a day out.

The Nordic climate makes playing golf in winter difficult and less enjoyable. Many Nordic golfers have therefore started to escape the northern winter and travel to Thailand to play.

“It’s great to see that the tourists have found their way to the golf courses in Thailand. The first course was opened as long ago as 1924, but it is really only recently that Thailand has become a genuine golf nation. For the past three years, the Thailand Tourist Office has arranged a popular golf tournament, The Thai Nordic Cup. The competition takes place over seven days on seven different courses,” says Mrs. Nalinee Pananon, Director of the Tourist Authority of Thailand for the Nordic countries. 

At the start of April 2014, the Nordea Tour gets under way at the Black Mountain course in Hua Hin. This is the second year in a row that the tour has chosen to start the season in Thailand.

In Thailand there are around 260 golf courses. Here are some of our favourites. 

Bangkok

Thai Country Club, Bangkok
This delightful course lies just one hour from central Bangkok, The course has been ranked best in Thailand and in the top five for the whole of Asia. The club is run by the renowned hotel chain, Peninsula, and there can be no doubt this is a top-class course.
www.thaicountryclub.com

Phuket and Koh Samui

Blue Canyon Country Club (Canyon Club), Phuket
One of the world’s most beautiful golf courses lies just a stone’s throw from the airport in Phuket. Several international competitions have been staged at the course, featuring top players such as Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Greg Norman. After an exciting round, wind down in the club’s resort, which offers facilities such as a spa, hotel and restaurant.
www.bluecanyonclub.com

Santiburi Samui Country Club, Samui
Santiburi Samui can be best described in a single word. Spectacular. Situated on the north coast of the island, this course runs through a magnificent landscape, and is lined by waterfalls, streams and tropical jungle. The view over the sea is, to say the least, breathtaking. The club also houses a resort with all the facilities you could wish for.
www.santiburi.com

East Coast

This lush course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, lies just 30 km from Pattaya. The carefully-planned 27-hole course blends naturally into the local scenery.
www.laemchabanggolf.com

Siam Country Club (Old Course), Pattaya
This is the course where Thailand’s first LPGA tournament was held in 2007 – the Honda Classic. With top players from all over the world, the course was certainly put to the test. Today, it is regarded as one of the country’s finest courses and is very popular, particularly with players from other countries. One of the many reasons for this is its perfect location, little more than 12 km east of the tourist resort, Pattaya.
www.siamcountryclub.com

Hua Hin

Banyan Golf Club, Hua Hin
In 2008, this golf resort was opened, just a stone’s throw from central Hua Hin. The resort comprises an 18-hole course, and a hotel with detached villas. Banyan has been voted one of the leading golf resorts in the whole of South-east Asia. Definitely worth a visit.
www.banyanthailand.com

Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin
Surrounded by rain forest, this Swedish-owned golf course lies just 20 minutes from Hua Hin. In November 2011, the course was named best in the country in the Asian Golf Monthly Awards. Apart from 18 beautiful holes, there is also a resort where you can relax after a tiring round.
www.blackmountainhuahin.com

Springfield Royal Country Club, Hua Hin
Just 25 km north of Hua Hin lies this golfing pearl, which is also the home of the renowned Heartland Golf School. The course has many highlights, but holes three, four and five really are something special. The holes meander round a beautiful lake, and the tropical backdrop is like something out of a natural history film.
www.springfieldresort.com

North

Santiburi Country Club, Chiang Rai
A fine combination of attractive design and beautiful scenery, and just over 10 km outside Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, this beautiful golf course awaits you. This is a challenging course, unforgiving of too many slices and hooks.
www.santiburi.com

Chiangmai Highlands Golf & Spa Resort, Chiang Mai
Northern Thailand is famous for its deep valleys, high mountains and lush forests, and that is precisely what this course offers. Add 100 bunkers and a few glistening water obstacles and you have a golf course of the highest class. The holes at Chiangmai Highlands blend smoothly into the beautiful surroundings.
www.chiangmaihighlands.com