Planes, Trains and Golf Buggies

Earlier in the Summer, we went on a Golfing holiday to Thailand.  4 days and 4 Courses in the midst of the Thai Monsoon season saw us teeing off pre 9am on all 4 days, which, in hindsight probably wasn’t the best decision given the evenings refreshments were copious amounts of Tiger Light followed by Spicy Pork and Thai Basil at 2am.

We were collected from the hotel and we were on our way to the first course which was Seapines, an army course which is right on the coast and which has the prettiest 3 finishing holes I have ever played.  As a starter course for the Holiday, Seapines was great as it is fairly flat and the fairways are mostly generous although there are maybe 4 or 5 holes where and errant tee shot will involve either a scuba lesson or 3 off the tee.

Given that at 9am when we teed off, the temperature was already into the 30’s, we had booked buggies for the entire week.  Good Decision!!  The added humidity from the Monsoon Season only made it worse and I struggled to comprehend how we had managed to walk this course the previous year.  Sheer Lunacy!!  The front 9 was going fairly well with all of us hovering around handicap when it suddenly went a bit wrong for me on the Short Par 5 7th hole.  I had managed to avoid the water on the right but overcooked my approach shot to the green.

I then had a horrible chip from the back of the green on a raised garden area.  After walking away with a bogey, I can’t say I was disappointed.  The only other thing of note that happened on the first day was that we felt the full force of the monsoon season on the last 3 holes. Par 5, Par 3 and Par 4.  I hit the best 3 wood I’ve ever hit or likely to ever hit to make the green in 2 on  the 16th and left the eagle putt 1cm short.  I’m blaming the weather as at this point the green was a swimming pool.  By the time we got to the 18th, we had abandoned the buggies and swam up the fairway.

We managed to finish the round and all in all, good fun but after the round we had to get a shower to dry off.

This was the only day we encountered the monsoon season during our round and the next 3 days went by without incident. As usual, I started each of the rounds very well and collapsed on the back nine as the hangover and fatigue started to kick in.  I would thoroughly recommend Thailand as a Golfing destination as the golf there is cheap with each course having fantastic facilities and your are almost guaranteed the weather.  You’ll also get a beer for less than £1.20 which is always a good thing.

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