Urban Legend-ary

by Vic Williams | posted November 13, 2009

With one-sixth of Thailand’s population of 65 million living within its almost undefinable borders, Bangkok is truly one of the world’s biggest and busiest cities. For an American abroad used to plenty of roadway options to almost anywhere, it’s a maze that quickly humbles my best Daniel Boone instincts. If I lived here, I’d be lost continually. Major highways are clogged in and out of the city and seem to circle in on themselves. There’s no one “downtown” area, but several pockets of high-rise bustle where gleaming scrapers share precious space with tin-roof shacks and tens of thousands of street vendors. Western brands are everywhere — McDonald’s, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Lexus, spelled out in English and the Thai derivation of Sanskrit that serves as the written version of its singsong verbal language — right alongside tiny local business. It’s a jarring jigsaw puzzle for the western mind, but pretty much standard for Asian urbanism. And since there are no geographic landmarks to orient a newcomer to direction — the city occupies a flat alluvial plain with the Gulf of Thailand some 40 kilometers to the south — it has the same feel as, say, Florida, as if the Miami metroplex expanded exponentially to the Gulf Coast, swallowing the Everglades in its wake.

Many of the greater Bangkok area’s 60 golf courses have a distinctive Florida feel to them, too. They’re flat, lined with thousands of palm trees and riddled with ponds and canals. They’re also packed on weekends, mostly with golfers visiting from Japan and Korea as well as locals for whom the game has caught on in a big way (one retail section of the city boasts five dozen golf-centric shops).

When a gaggle of writers pulled up to Muang Kaew Golf Course in what I would guess is the southwest portion of the city, somewhere near the massive airport (I could be wrong), they saw an overflowing parking lot with an obviously busy golf course beyond — it looked almost like there was a tour event going on — and an army of broad-hatted, diminutive female caddies heading their way, as is the case at every resort track in Thailand. They descended on our bus with single-minded efficiency as we stepped out into a blast of breezeless humidity so intense, I thought for a moment that we were indeed in Florida … in August.

Muang Kaew bills itself as “The Golfing Oasis in Bangkok,” and that moniker fits, if only because the  city’s ever-evolving culture-clash sprawl surrounds it. At one point on the back nine, players must cross under a major highway to reach the next tee, though with its fairly traditional parkland routing, there’s little distance between most holes. Western architect Lee Schmidt’s recent redesign, which brought salt-resistant Paspalum fairways and improved Bermuda Tif Eagle greens into the equation (it’s Southeast Asia’s preferred turf cocktail these days), stresses straightforward strategy over any fancy tricks or modern contrivances. Small creeks and canals define several holes and there are a few other water features, but well-placed fairway bunkers and trees of varying sizes serve as main framing device for tee shots and approaches. And, as with all courses on Golf Asian’s main Thailand circuit, conditioning is superb, the clubhouse is a spacious launch and finishing point complete with massage services and a fine restaurant serving native and Western cuisine (try the Pad Thai), and the attitude is decidedly private-club in tenor.

That special member’s vibe is even more prevalent across town at Thai Country Club, which makes perfect since, because it’s fully private with play privileges for tourists and others who make prior arrangements, in the best Asian tradition. If that sounds like a contradiction, think again: Though it carries an initiation fee of around $30,000, a circuit around this excellent, watery track which has hosted the Johnny Walker Classic the past four years — and where Tiger Woods won the 1997 Asian Honda Classic, the only tournament in which he’s competed in his mother’s home country — can be had for around $100. The course starts strong with a slight dogleg-left buttressed by bunkers, and never lets up. No. 3 is a great mid-distance par 3 over water; No. 4 is perhaps the best of four very good par 5s, reachable in two with a gambling drive down the right side. From there it’s one well-thought-out hole after another that takes the fullest possible advantage of, again, a flat canvas. By the time you reach the final stretch — our was interrupted by a spectacular downpour that left rivulets of rain striping the final two fairways for the briefest of moments, a testament to great drainage and good design — you realize that Thai Country Club merits its de facto standing as the nation’s top private course. It would play well in Florida or anywhere in the United States, just as Bangkok itself, with its myriad enchantments and crowded charm, plays well in the memory, and the soul.

Next and final stop: The lovely seaside “village” (not) of Hua Hin.

www.muangkaewgolf.com | www.thaicountryclub.com

To book your Thailand golf excursion, visit www.golfasian.com.

Vic Williams is editor and publishing partner of Fairways + Greens, a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to golf, travel and lifestyle for the West and beyond. He has written thousands of stories on golf and will cover every facet of the game right here, primarily travel but also the major tours, equipment, personalities and more. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it