|
If you insist on humbling yourself and attempting to play golf there are few better places in the world to try than Thailand. Lessons and green fees are comparably cheap. There are a multitude of courses around the kingdom to choose from, many in spectacular settings, with new courses seemingly being built daily. Golfers from Japan, Korea and Taiwan take golf vacations here where a week of golf costs less than one round in their home countries.
 |
Beware where a week of golf costs less than one round in their home countries. Beware though, as golf in Thailand has its idiosyncrasies in rules and etiquette that a new players here will need to adapt to. Unless you play at big time resorts and country clubs in your home country you probably schlep your own clubs around the course. There are no caddies at my home course in Seattle. In Thailand most courses won’t let a non-Thai play without a caddie, I’m not sure of the reason behind this rule. |
Could be from the same rulebook that says a farang (foreigner) must pay many times what Thais pay when we visit places like national parks. I’ve kind of gotten used to caddies now though, especially when they yell out the three most common words after I hit: “naam” (water), “sai” (sand), and “OB” (out of bounds). Water hazards are sometimes filled with ball divers who resell balls they retrieve…usually mine.
Caddies are inexpensive though, helpful in finding lost balls, and usually keep me in good spirits by forgetting to count a stroke for that ball I just hit into the rice field. Don’t forget to tip, as tips are a big part of a caddy’s income. |
|
Remember, no matter where your ball lands, it’s not your caddie’s fault.
The caddy might ask you where your ‘putting ball’ is. The first time I heard that question I had no clue what was asking about. Here is common for golfers to use a special ball just for putting. |
 |
Back home the limit to a golfing group is four as it is in most places in the world. Not so here. Five and sometimes six players can make up a group. With caddies, that could come to a dozen people in one group on the course at the same time. |
I sometimes see a group where each player has two caddies, one for the clubs and one for hold the golf umbrella. A golf group like that coming down the fairway can begin to resemble the Charge of Light Brigade. |
 |
On par 3 holes, Thailand, like some other countries, has a custom called ‘call holes’. When you are standing on the green the people on the tee can ‘call the hole’. That is you have to stop playing and wait while they tee off. After they all have to hit you can resume putting. It supposedly helps speed up the game. |
This becomes exciting when you have six in your group and six more drive for the green. You could easily have twelve balls on the green at the same time. Let the 24 caddies sort it all out. By the way, on most of Thailand’s public courses you can forget about calling for a tee time. It’s first come first served.
|
There are lots of complaints that the basics of golf etiquette are ignored here in Thailand. In many cases that is so. People here might talk through your backswing, play out of sequence, or step on your putting line. But who cares? You’re still out there playing golf in an enchanting place. |
 |
And no matter how many times your caddy call out “naam”, “sai” or “OB”, remember the golfer’s mantra: the worse day of golf is far better than the best day at work.
Information from "Citylife Chiang Mai”by Hugh Leong |
|
