Golf Orient

Personalised and Tailored Golf Vacations

Phuket Golf Courses

Thai Muang Beach Resort

The first hole:

Charming caddies are just one of the attractions at Thai Muang:

Putting out on the 2nd:

Located on the mainland in Phang-Nga Province, 40 minutes via trunk road from the airport, about 75 minutes from Patong.

Pete Dye designed, dramatic holes, lush fairways, breath-taking scenery.

A very fine Championship standard golf course, Par 72, 7,028 yards. Golf Orient unofficial rating: 70.7 off the blue tees.

The layout is situated on islands and lagoons by the sea. As such 12 holes feature water carries and water comes into play on another four. Signature railroad ties abound, as do deep pits of sand and grass, some extending several metres above ground.

Thai Muang is the only true sea-side golf course in Thailand and offers great vistas and a wonderful atmosphere.

The course starts of with a great degree of difficulty, a diagonal carry over more than a hundred metres of sand on the right edge of the fairway. You must be able to decide how much you can cut to get onto the playing surface. Any hint of a fade and you will be in trouble. Slice and you will easily find the river running right of the sand traps. From the fairway, an unusually guarded green, partly hidden by a tall mound with a bunker in its recess, is the hazard to avoid. It tightens and toughens the approach and is your second indication that it will be a tough round ahead.

The 16th hole is a dog-leg Par 5, reachable in two by the very long hitters who can drive over the corner and take on the water running up the right hand side of the fairway, all the way up to just yards from the green side. This is the first of what are, in our opinion, as fine a finishing three holes as you will find anywhere.

The final two holes finish by the seaside starting with the extremely tough 17th. This is a par three that plays diagonally across an inlet bay. An accurate shot must be sent out into the crosswind coming in from the sea to find the peninsula green, nearly completely surrounded by water. The safest shot is to land it short on the small landing area leading up to the green but it is still a difficult shot. The green falls off quickly into water in the back and on both sides and with some really strong winds, "The Lady"   can be a nightmare of a hole.

The 18th is a superb long par 4, with the beach running all the length of the hole on the left side, OB on the right, and a well-guarded, raised green. Not the sort of hole you would want to play when needing a birdie to win the tournament!

 

Thai Muang's marvellous 18th hole, looking back down the fairway: