Thailand: Setting the bar high for Southeast Asian golf
As l write this my golf gang is halfway through a four-round, five-day golf bender in Thailand. The eight of us arrived last Sunday and after checking in the hotel we went straight to Thaniya Mall in Silom, Bangkok.
This shopping center is largely devoted to golf, with stores hawking both new and second hand golf gear and apparel. There are at least two huge second hand golf club stores on the second floor that offer a vast array of pre-loved clubs. When I was checking out the multitude of woods, drivers, and wedges I could not help but think that the golf population in Thailand must be so huge to support stores like this. It made me think that the biggest priority for the game in the Philippines is to encourage more young people to play. That will only boost the golf economy in the country and help us catch up with Thailand.
After a good night’s rest we played our first round in Nikanti Golf Club in Nakhon Pathom, east of Bangkok. Nikanti is a concept that is not found much in the Philippines: a high-end, extremely well maintained golf course that is completely open to the public. The modern brutalist clubhouse is appointed to a five-star hotel standard inside, and when you play in Nikanti they put your name on the locker assigned to you.
After a hearty buffet breakfast that is part of the fee we ventured out to the stunning track designed by Pirapon Namatra. Every hole brings something unexpected, with water features, elevation changes, and inscrutable greens to bedevil even the finest golfers. There isn’t a single hole where the designer mailed it in, each is an architectural treat.
Nikanti is renowned for being a “6-6-6” course with three loops of six holes that all start and begin near the clubhouse. It also has the distinction of being an 18-hole par 72 that features six par fours, six par threes, and six par fives.
Excellent conditions, from the fairways to the bunkers and to the magnificent zoysia greens, only add to the joy of playing this course. In 2018 it won an award for “Best Golf Experience in Asia Pacific” and it’s easy to see why.
The finest courses of the Philippines are mostly private clubs. Hopefully developers start creating more high-end courses that are accessible to anyone so that the local golf tourism industry can start to thrive. Facilities like Mimosa Plus, Pradera Verde, and Hann Reserve are good examples of this.
The professionalism of the Nikanti caddies is second to none. Jane, my looper, was courteous, knowledgeable, cheerful and well-versed in the art and science of her job. Philippine clubs have some still need to level up to reach this standard.
Our second course was Robinswood Golf Club, a private and very exclusive club northeast of the capital. Only three years old, Robinswood has already staked its claim to being one of Thailand’s finest golf courses.
The club feels like a golfing Disneyland, with a massive clubhouse in the shape of a castle, and numerous other buildings scattered around the course representing plenty of other architectural styles.
The locker room, with its high ceiling, and practically six-star accouterments, is the finest I have ever been in. The dining room is warm and inviting.
But the course is the main attraction. The broad zoysia fairways are impossibly lush and green even in the dead of Summer, and the ball gets propped up perfectly, a real boost for middle and high handicappers. The greens are glorious Tifeagle dancefloors that ran around nine to 9.5 on the stimpmeter. They were staggeringly good, rolling pure and consistent. Every putt was a smooth Tokyo Drift to the cup.
Robinswood has the Sub-Air technology found in Augusta National and other top tier courses around the world. Sub-Air helps secure the ideal temperature and moisture underneath the greens no matter what the weather is.
While the layout for me was not as clever as Nikanti’s, there were plenty of scenic and challenging holes like the island green twelfth and the signature fifth, a long par-four with a waterfall beside it.
Course conditions were beyond belief. Almost no invasive species of grass could be found, almost zero bare spots, and a plethora of different ornamental vegetation could be found ringing every fairway.
Robinswood dreams big and succeeds. It’s truly a top 1%- level golf club, and we were incredibly fortunate to finagle tee times.
Philippine golf needs to reach for the stars as well. For me only the County Club of the Philippines comes close to this. Hopefully one day a club as good as Robinswood can be found on our islands.
By the time you read this we will have played two more highly regarded courses, Amata Spring Country Club and Summit Windmill. Sadly, an early press time will not allow me to describe those courses. But for sure we are going to have a blast.
Golf tourism is a promising industry for the Philippines that can create tons of great jobs. Thailand shows us the way, and we must take their lead.
Interested in a golf trip to Thailand? Message Carlos Palma on IG @carlospalmaaa and he might be able to rustle up an itinerary for you.
