Sporting Gestures

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There are seven main golf courses in the Hua Hin/Cha Am area, all ideal for a golfing holiday. Majestic Creek and Imperial Lake View are 27-hole courses while the others have 18 holes.

The Springfield Royal Country Club is an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus designed course located in Cha Am. All 18 holes are laid out in vast fields and the challenges expected in water hazard and bunkers of a course designed by such a golfing legend.

Opened in 1993, this intriguing course provides a challenge for golfers of all standards as they thread their way through well-placed hazards to greens of the highest standard. Accuracy is required at all times as the fairways are flanked by a series of hillocks and covered by a forest of small trees.

Imperial Lake View Hotel & Golf Club is a 27-hole course, located off the Cha-Am - Pranburi bypass road which branches off Route 4 just prior to Cha-Am town. The course is laid out on hilly country. Accommodation is available at the course’s 75-room hotel.

The course was designed by Roger Packard in 1993, and is truly absorbing. Although rolling fairways and spectacular mounds surround the greens (many of which are hidden by the trees) making some shots rather tricky, golfers are helped out by well defined fairways to get back on the right track. Particularly absorbing is the par three, 14th hole where the player tees off from one small island with the intent of landing their ball on another small island 207 yards away.

Palm Hills Resort and Country Club is an 18-hole course situated between Hua Hin and Cha Am, just off Route 4, which leads to Bangkok. The 18 holes are laid out on a large field and separated by tall palm trees. Wide fairways are featured. The course was designed by Max Waxler and opened in 1992.

Separated by a rocky outcrop that extends from the mountain range, the course runs from east to west with lakes at each end and incorporates fast greens with some tricky borrows. The clubhouse fits well with surroundings. It, too, is stunningly beautiful.

The Kaeng Krachan Country Club and Golf Resort is a remote course, lying on 14,000 acres of land, 40km inland from Hua Hin. The course layout offers a challenge for all golfers. Presently, the Kaeng Krachan Country Club and Golf Resort operates one championship course designed by the Thai golf course designer Cherd Boonyaratavej.

A second course designed by Jack Nicholas is under construction with front 9 holes having been scheduled for opening this year, while another 18-hole course designed by Greg Norman is in the pipeline.
The Sawang Resort Golf Club, opened in 1993, from an Isao Katsumata-designed concept, provides a good test for players of all levels. The resort also has a large clubhouse, a hotel, a number of condominiums and is situated in Phetchaburi's rolling hills. Water makes up more than a fair share of the courses hazards and on the par-4 17th players have to contend with water left and right guarding the approach to the green.

The Majestic Creek Country Club is the creation of Thailand's foremost golf architect, Dr.Sukitti Klangvisai. At 7,123 yards it is one of the longest courses in Thailand. It also claims to have the longest hole in the Kingdom at 770 yards; a par six! Dr.Sukitti along with an Thai/American team have produced a layout needed to be played with imagination and skill. Valleys in the nearby mountains supply water to the maze of streams snaking throughout the course. The course designers have been careful to preserve them as natural hazards.

The Royal Hua Hin Golf Club is one of Thailand's gems with royal associations going back since the 1930s. The course is very natural and is surrounded by beautiful scenery. Major renovations and improvements in the 1980s ensured that the course and its facilities remain on par with the newer generation of golfing clubs. This course affords glorious views of the Gulf of Thailand that players never forget. Most memorable is the par-three eighteenth hole with a beautiful Thai temple forming an exotic background. The clubhouse is situated alongside the charming old Hua Hin railway station on the Bangkok-railway line. This contributes to an aura of elegance of a bygone era in old Siam.

This is the oldest golf course in the Kingdom of Thailand. Construction began in 1922 during the reign of King Rama VI, and as completed in 1928 during the reign of King Rama VII. Mr.O.A. Robins, a Scottish railroad engineer, contributed to the design of this all natural course. The original clubhouse has been preserved, and is located near the present clubhouse between the 10th tee and 18th green.

Several years ago, the Boon Rawd Brewery took over management of the course and the Golf Inn Hotel from The Royal Thai Railway Corporation. Boon Rawd is dedicated to the improvement and professional maintenance of this beautiful historical course, and intends to provide many more years of natural beauty and pleasure for golfers. By the way, this 18-hole Par 72 course is 6,655 yards long.

Course contact info
•    Springfield Village Golf & Spa
Tel: +66 (0) 3270 9222
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•    The Imperial Lake View Hotel & Golf Club
Tel: +66 (0) 3245 6233 — 40
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•    Palm Hills Golf Resort & Country Club
Tel: +66 (0) 3244 2460 - 1
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•    Kaeng Krachan Golf and Country Club
Tel: +66 (0) 3242 2146, (0) 2618 7400 — 4
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•    Sawang Resort & Golf Club
Tel: +66 (0) 3256 2555 — 8
Web site: www.sawangresortgolf.com
•    The Majestic Creek Golf & Resort
Tel: +66 (0) 3261 9168 — 70, (0) 1942 3619
•    Royal Hua Hin Golf Course
Tel: +66 (0) 3251 2475, (0) 3253 1070
TAT Central Region Office — Region 2
Tel: +66 (0) 3247 1005 - 6
Fax: +66 (0) 3247 1502
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Hua Hin Golf Tours Co., Ltd.
2/136 Nabkahards Road, Hua Hin
Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand 77110
Tel: +66 (0) 3253 0119, (0) 3253 0476 — 8
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web site: www.huahingolf.com

Ed Note: Another course of note in the area is the Hua Hin Seoul Country Club (formerly the Milford Paradise & Golf Club), designed by Robert McFarland who has used one of the most interesting sites in Thailand to good effect. The course is surrounded on three sides by forested hills. The clubhouse's panoramic sea views give the course a "links" feel. The large variation in elevation allows many sweeping holes (and perhaps lost balls). The eighteenth is a great finishing hole played from an elevated tee and commanding a tee shot of 200 yards to reach the fairway (Tel. +66 (0) 3257-2441O).

Hua Hin Itself

Long thought of as the weekend retreat for Thais (the Royal Family maintains its Klai Kangwon residence here), more and more foreigners have started coming to Hua Hin as it only a short 3 & ½ hour drive from Bangkok and a refreshing alternative to the hustle and bustle of Pattaya. The Sofitel Centara Grand Beach Hotel & Villas is one of the nicest resorts in the country and served as the setting for Hotel Le Phnom in The Killing Fields. Further on up the highway leading to Bangkok lies Cha-Am, a magnet for young Thais and it is usually packed on the weekend similar to Jomtien Beach in Pattaya.