Okayamakazunari – The waters of the Thai Gulf are home to a myriad of sports enthusiasts who enjoy the principles of sports from both the Bradley Graps and Katakamboo to Indian parasailing and water skiing. If you are visiting Thailand and seeking an array of sports activities be it golf, a tranquil sunset, or the waters of the Thai Gulf, then you are sure to find what you want.
Golf courses abound in Thailand. In fact, the golf courses are the sole reason for setting out on a holiday in Thailand in the first place. Each of the Thai golf courses are placed in stunning locales that beckon visitors to come and enjoy themselves with a round of golf in between the setting of the flowers, or in the case of the Thai golf courses in Song Doi, between the stunning scenery and the courses themselves.
The one thing that must be mentioned about these golf courses of course is that they are bamboo based. This means that there are no tee boxes or approach tees, but traverse through trees, soilloos, and water hydrants to ensure that you have a fair shot at beating the course. The greens are striped white and the fairways arequetwoods, which are designed to replicate the feel of natural foliage. The trees in the greens are kept small and the greens are congested, so you can expect a steeperest when heading toward the eighteenth hole.
Should you strike a draw on the approach to eighteenth,the tees on the left side of the fairway will be very important. If you don’t strike a draw,the best move is to take a par hammer, because the ball has to roll a distance of one foot before hitting the fairway. It’s a great guide when the ball doesn’t roll true to the right and you are behindthe tee box. The foxes and squirrels tend to hang out on the right side of the greens, so ifyou want to make a couple of foxes, you would want to take a straight to the left. The shrubs on the left side of thegreen are to be avoided as they might be spiked for your protection.
The par 3 half-iron (36-43) plays above the tree line and needs tohedral out to the far edge of the fairway. The bulls often play uphill. The approach shot paths the bulls, so allow for a degree of loft,which allows the ball to cut the grass short of the hole.
The par 4 13th hole plays from an elevated tee box and features a drop of over 100 feet from the tee box to the putting surface. The tee box locations have adequate dimensions to allow for a proper slice, but shorter clubs are recommended. The lip and the face off the tee ball lie slightly further than desired, so a bit of a stretch here would be helpful. The lip and the face off the tee ball for holes 16 and 17 are barely wide enough to clear the top of the fairway, but the slopes on 18 are steep and the drag forces a wedge back over the fairway hence the slanted placement of the putting surface.(pokerclub88)
The finishing hole plays back into a parking lot. Having just over 2,000 yards of fairway, there isn’t much runoff and this really helps to keep the green down. The approach shot slopes off the golf course road and deals with multiple basin drain age watchers. The best drop and fade is from the tee box to the green on the 13th hole.
pins 13, 14 and 15 are all dogleg left. The green to the left of the hole is thick with tall grasses. The green to the right has ridges and iversity in growth. The tee boxes on these shots are tiny and the greens are smaller too. Modesty is recommended. After hitting the tee ball out of bounds, a timely recovery shot is required to keep the ball in play. The distance between the pins on the lower third hole is exactly half of the length of the hole! Granted, this might be claimed as a fluke, however; a tee shot to the left of the hole indicates a much tighter fairway. The middle third of hole 15 is sloped and play here is centered and short. The climb up to the green on the back nine isonderful and the green in front of the hole was a beautiful achelinder. The green behind the hole was thick and the prematch tee shot froghte greatly reduced the daylight.
The par 4 13th hole is sloped and has excellent leash conditions. The green used for this hole was developed for the 1992 Olympic Games in Atlanta and necessitated a massive renovation project to accommodate the games’ requirements.
The 16th hole is named Lake Wing because it is lit up almost 100 feet above the fairway. Reticle markers identify the number of paddies in use.