Golfing around Pattaya

A lot of people come to Pattaya for the nightlife but if you’re a golfer as well you will be in seventh-heaven. There are more than 20 first class courses within half-an-hour or so, ranging from the very cheap to the very expensive. Green fees start at 300 baht /$7.5 /£4 and go up to $2500 plus caddy and cart. This is considerably cheaper than you would find anywhere in Europe and the courses are brilliantly diverse.

Most people like to practice at the many driving ranges in the city itself, or one of the putting greens dotted around.

I met a couple of blokes the other day when I was doing my monthly visa run. They’d come to Pattaya to check out the nightlife and play a lot of golf. They had played all over Chonburi and south to Rayong’s many courses only an hour away, and so far they had been in Pattaya for 5 months. They said they’d stay another month or so because there were a few more they hadn’t tried yet.

You can find the best, most difficult courses or find the one with the best clubhouse for your companion. Sometimes these are the same, but at the other end there are some good beginner’s courses as well with good clubhouses.

If you want to learn how to play or to improve your swing Harold’s Golf - Driving Range on the way to Jomtien has a good PGA professional to improve your stroke and will give you probably the best quick guide to courses locally. It’s only a hundred yards or so from the beach.

To get someone to play a round or two with, if you are new to Pattaya, a lot of people join The Pattaya Golf Society known as (the bunker boys). These jolly fellows who can be found at the OK Corral Bar, Rungland village, just off South Pattaya Road will allow you to enter their bi-weekly competitions if you have proof of your handicap.

Your membership will cost the princely sum of 200 baht for two years and you will certainly make some friends (unless you’re really-really good in which case you may perhaps make a couple of bob and a lot of enemies!). Anyone on holiday here can take advantage of the ex-pats knowledge of courses, costs and travel.

The courses around Pattaya have been built by such famous names as Desmond Muirhead & Nick Faldo, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Jack Nicklaus and Pete and Perry Dye, and vary enormously. Some are in the mountains, with unusual hazards; some are pretty flat, whilst others involve difficult water features or beautiful sea views.

Many courses will provide transport to and from your hotel or apartment and all hire out clubs if you didn’t bring your own. Golf equipment is also very cheap to buy in Pattaya for the westerner and several specialist shops have bargains.

A lot of serious golfers like to play in the very early morning, but many others find that the rigours of the previous evening will ensure a late afternoon, tee-off at one of the many golf courses near Pattaya.

Submitted by : Rod Edwards
10-Mar-06

Golf Courses and Country Clubs in Pattaya

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