ASEAN NOW Golf

Golf is Very Reasonable Now in Phuket

Although parts of Phuket are very quiet, certain areas especially Bang Tao and the Laguna area were lively. So, in my video recorded at the end of my four-day trip to Phuket, I try to give you a quick overview of what state the courses are in plus our experiences staying in hotels and generally enjoying the island during Covid 19.

I also explain how you can benefit from some of the cheapest deals for golfers across Thailand, here on the Island of Phuket.

We flew with Thai Air Asia return from U Tapao to Phuket (in the video I said Thai Air!!!) and the planes were 75% full so people are taking advantage of some very low fares.

One hour and we were there and flying over the sea, actually felt like we were taking a break overseas.

Our Honda Jazz rent a car at the airport was only THB800 a day, so being their rainy season, we still managed to explore the island.

It will be wet most days until November, but I personally saw how quickly the greens and fairways drained and golfers were out again within 25 minutes after a tropical downpour.

I would certainly consider taking advantage of some great rates for air, hotels and golf and head to Phuket.

Mike Bridge,

Thaivisa Golf

Red Mountain Phuket - WAS 6,000 THB green fee - NOW 2,600 THB all in

Mike Bridge from Thaivisa Golf with news of an offer at Red Mountain Golf Course in Phuket

https://www.facebook.com/RedMountainGolfClub/

Thailand rated among the best golfing destinations for Indian golfers

“Thai Golf Passport” launched to offer Indian golfers a seamless golf experience in Thailand post COVID-19.

Bangkok, 02 September, 2020 – Indian golfers have rated Thailand among the best golfing destinations in a recent survey jointly conducted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) New Delhi Office and India-based golf management company, Sports and Leisure Worldwide (SLW).

Mr. Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director of the TAT New Delhi Office, said, “We conducted the survey to ascertain the impact of COVID-19 on golf tourism to Thailand and were happy to see the enthusiasm to travel for golf among the Indian golfers.”

A whopping 97% of Indian golfers who took part in the “Golfing in Thailand” survey rated Thailand as one of the best golfing destinations. They pointed out Thai hospitality, followed by value for money and affordable luxury, as the top three key factors for them to travel to Thailand to play golf.

Thailand’s close proximity to India was another key factor in influencing the Indian golfers mind in deciding Thailand as the premier destination for golf holidays, according to the survey.

The survey was conducted during 10-27 July, 2020. The sample group of 1,005 respondents were made up of golfers from all over India, including Delhi and NCR (65%), Chandigarh (5%) and others (30%).

Male golfers (98%) constituted the majority of the respondents with the remaining 2% being female golfers. Of the total, 93% were members of a golf club and the remaining were non-members. Their golfing handicaps ranked from 0-9 (12%), 10-18 (60%), and 19-26 (28%).

Almost 88% of the respondents said they were planning to travel abroad to play golf post COVID-19. Safety was noted as the prime concern for the outbound travel for 92% of Indian golfers.

Mr. Anil Dev, Managing Director, SLW Group, said, “Golfers are a little more demanding when it comes to hospitality, and Thailand wins hands down in that department. We expect Thailand would be the first destination where the majority of the golfers would travel to for their first golf holiday post COVID-19.”

Thailand is a dream destination for the golfers from all around the world, as it has amazing golfing facilities. With more than 250 golf courses ideally located throughout the country, these top quality courses also offer reasonable green fees, and friendly caddies to attract golfers to visit this amazing place.

To bring value to this offering, the TAT New Delhi Office and SLW Group have launched a “Thai Golf Passport” to offer Indian golfers a seamless golf experience in Thailand. Indian golfers can now be a part of this rewarding loyalty programme whenever they tee off in Amazing Thailand and redeem their points for products from more than 200 leading brands.

“Thailand is a spectacular choice and dream come true destination for golfers with a stunning and vast selection of golf courses. We look forward to welcoming international golfers to amazing Thailand once the COVID-19 situation improves,” Mr. Vachirachai concluded.

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Laguna Golf Phuket (Phuket Island)

Course: 18 holes - par 71. Length:  6,756yds Designer:  Paul Jansen 

Address: 34 หมู่ที่ 4 Choeng Thale, Thalang District, Phuket 83110

Location: 20 minutes from Patong Beach.

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More info: https://www.facebook.com/TprGolfAcademy/photos/a.548806158546615/3331504326943437/

TAT Promotes Thai Golf Internationally

International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) Chief Executive, Peter Walton, got up to speed with the current situation in Thailand by talking to the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Deputy Governor for Marketing & Communications, Tanes Petsuwan.

Peter: TAT has focused on making Thailand’s tourism product safe for visitors through the Amazing Thailand Safety and Health Administration (SHA). How many tourism facilities in Thailand have so far qualified for SHA Certification and how widespread do you think this will be by the end of the year?

Tanes: It is estimated that about half of all major tourism establishments including hotels, resorts, golf courses, restaurants and other attractions have already qualified for SHA Certification and the remainder are in going through the certification process at the moment which also includes on-site inspections.

Peter: Is the prioritisation of safety also reflected throughout Thailand's golf tourism industry?

Tanes: The golf industry as a whole is in line with the tourism industry with about half of all golf clubs and golf facilities having already received their SHA Certification. All golf clubs were quick to implement safety measures because of the high demand for local play that we have experienced throughout the past few months.

Peter: Describe the experience of visiting and playing golf at an SHA Certified golf course in Thailand?

Tanes: Thailand is focusing on testing and tracing, so most golf courses require players first to have a temperature check before they are given a ‘Health Kit’ in a clear recyclable bag. The Health Kit usually includes a mask, hand sanitizer, gloves and a Covid-19 safety guide for golf.

If not already known to the golf club, personal details are taken and every player is required to download personal tracking software if they do not already have this app on their smartphone. All changing rooms, toilets and showers are managed in accordance to the Ministry of Health’s strict guidelines, as are all public areas of the club house.

The actual experience of playing golf is fantastic as the courses are in great condition and the caddies have all been extensively trained on the new operational guidelines. In each golf cart there is usually 1 player and 1 caddy with a curtain between the two.

TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing & Communications, Tanes Petsuwan

Peter: Thailand has worked incredibly hard to minimise Covid-19 cases – what is the current situation?

Tanes: We are proud of the fact that, as of today, Thailand has enjoyed a zero rate of Covid-19 infection among resident Thais for the past 100 days. Anyone returning to Thailand from overseas must stay 14 days in a recognized quarantine facility, such as a government appointed hotel, and is regularly monitored. So I can say that the local situation is under control and life feels as if it is almost back to normal.

Peter: Can we expect to see ‘air-bridges’ or ‘corridors’ open up with neighbouring countries with low Covid-19 cases, and when do you think that might happen?

Tanes: Although this was considered likely earlier this year, it is now unlikely to happen any time soon.

Peter: What conditions will have to be in place to see international travel return to Thailand, and when do you think that might happen?

Tanes: It is important to maintain the health of our nation and to ensure that international visitors, when they do return, have both a safe and amazing experience. The best case scenario would see some international travel return in the 4th Quarter of 2020, with the 2nd Quarter of 2021 currently envisaged as the worst case scenario. Whenever it happens, Thailand will be ready!

3 in a row: Teenage golf sensation Yin Ruoning continues astonishing start to pro career

There’s just no stopping teenage sensation Yin Ruoning. Continuing one of the most astonishingly successful starts to a professional golfing career, the Shanghainese starlet eked out a hard-fought one-stroke victory in the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Orient Masters. It was her third win from three starts since relinquishing her amateur status last month. 

Displaying skill and poise in equal measures, the 17-year-old closed with a bogey-free three-under 69 for a 54-hole score of 10-under 206 at Fujian Province’s Orient Xiamen. The former China national amateur representative is believed to be the first player to post three straight wins to start a pro career.  

“Three straight wins definitely is a great achievement. It’s an incredible start for my professional career,” said Yin, a member of the bronze medal-winning China team at the Asian Games in 2018, the year in which she placed equal 16th individually in the Queen Sirikit Cup at Thailand’s Thana City.

“Last week, Chris Feng [China LPGA Tour, Operations Director] told me to step on the gas and try to win back-to-back. I said I wanted three straight wins. He said ‘no one ever did that’. I’m really happy I did it. I proved that,” added Yin, who earned RMB100,000 for her latest triumph.

Zhang Weiwei, last year’s China LPGA Tour Order of Merit winner, shot a tournament low six-under 66 to finish one stroke back at the RMB500,000 event that was played without spectators. Zhang Yunjie, who led the tournament with three holes remaining, ended third on 208 following a 70. Liu Yan (69) was fourth, a shot further back. 

Yin Ruoning will soon be joining the stars on the LPGA for sure! 

Do Airlines Still Need to Charge Us to Carry Our Golf Bags?

With low cost Airlines looking at all the tricks to fleece us poor travellers, by charging us to book a seat, a meal or to charge us for any over weight luggage, now is the time perhaps for some help from the government.

How many times have you paid more in overweight surcharges to carry your golf bag, than the actual fare to fly internally around Asia?

The alternative is to hire the clubs from the golf club when you arrive, however that can set you back up to THB1,000 a round, which is impractical and expensive.

With the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) trying to encourage us resident expats to take holidays in Phuket or Chiang Mai, surely, they could get the local airlines to accept our golf bags for free as well. 

Remember it is the government funds that are keeping these low cost airlines in business at the moment.

Alternatively, cannot the TAT subsidize the golf clubs, so they can provide us with a free set of golf clubs for our round of golf.

Golf Clubs in these resort areas cannot rely on just locals to book rounds, so the many Thai and expat residents already in Thailand are their key targets.

We all like to go away with our friends to play some great courses in other areas of Thailand, but can we afford to go?

I am off to Phuket this week, so will report back on the state of the golf courses there, and will find out how much they are charging to play and possibly to rent out golf clubs too.

Mike Bridge

Thaivisa Golf

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

Survey misses the most important questions, optional caddy required and cheaper annual membership options. Disappointing survey, try again with decent questions, bin that one.

 

I'll make it simpler, add these:

 

1) should caddies be optional?

 

2) should courses offer annual membership with no additional fees as standard?

Good point which we will try to address in one of our future topics.

Thaivisa’s resident golf expert Mike Bridge is at Emerald Golf Club in Rayong which offers some of the best value golf in region.

Watch the video for information on the latest offers. 

No play, no pay: Asian Tour golfers suffer while rest of world swings

Image: AFP

While the world's top golfers play for an almost obscene $45 million prize fund at the PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta on Friday, many of their fellow pros in Asia will not have swung a club, or earned a cent, for six months.

Players from India to Australia have been idle since the Asian Tour was halted after the Malaysia Open on March 7, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some haven't even been able to practise. 

They should have been teeing off next week at the Shinhan Donghae Open in South Korea, the first of three restart events.

But along with tournaments in Japan and Taiwan it has been cancelled, with little prospect of the circuit resuming before 2021.

Asian Tour CEO and Commissioner Cho Minn Thant had been hoping to stage 10 to 12 tournaments before the end of 2020 in the sort of bio-secure "bubbles" that have enabled the US, European and LPGA tours to resume. 

"We've approached countries with the same protocols that the US, European tours and other sports have employed -- testing, players kept in a bio-secure bubble," Cho told AFP.

Full story: https://sports.yahoo.com/no-play-no-pay-asian-015836693.html

Do you really believe golf carts should be optional?

Well we know a lot of you prefer to walk, not only as you maybe on a reduced budget at the moment, but it is also good exercise to walk 18 holes.

Continue reading: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1180956-do-you-really-believe-golf-carts-should-be-optional/

Do you really believe golf carts should be optional?

Well we know a lot of you prefer to walk, not only as you maybe on a reduced budget at the moment, but it is also good exercise to walk 18 holes.

However, some courses are hilly and it is hard to take a trolly, and on a hot day walking is tough as well.

Also, some commented in our forums that they even wanted to go without booking a caddie. 

Well whatever you think, please let us know by completing our Golf in Thailand 2020 Survey now. Here is the link and it only takes a couple of minutes to complete:

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1178945-thaivisa-golf-survey-have-your-say-on-golf-in-thailand/

We plan to publish all the results in mid-September, and of course not only will all you golfers be able to read the results, so will the golf clubs too.

Some of you maybe surprised by the results.

PGA TOUR announces full schedule for 2020-21 season

'Super season' features 50 tournaments, the most in a season since 1975

Aug 30, 2020; Olympia Fields, Illinois, USA; Jon Rahm reacts to making over a 60 foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win in a playoff against Dustin Johnson during the final round of the BMW Championship golf tournament at Olympia Fields Country Club - North. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR today announced the complete schedule for the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season, featuring 50 official FedExCup tournaments – including 14 tournaments that were postponed or canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic – culminating with the crowning of the FedExCup champion Labor Day weekend in 2021.

The schedule, which reflects a net increase of one tournament over the original 2019-20 schedule, features the most tournaments in a season since 1975 (51). Three events postponed in 2020 – U.S. Open, Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and Masters Tournament – will be played in the fall portion of the 2020-21 season and again in their traditional dates during the 2021 calendar year, along with 11 tournaments that were canceled and not rescheduled as a result of the pandemic, including THE PLAYERS Championship. In addition, with the postponement of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, the men’s Olympic Golf competition will take place July 26-August 1, 2021, as a standalone event for the first time.

“We are excited to present the full 2020-21 PGA TOUR schedule – a ‘super season’ of 50 fully sponsored events and capped off by the 15th edition of the FedExCup Playoffs,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “If you’re a golf fan, this is a dream season with more significant events than ever before, including the Olympic Games. Building our schedule is always complicated, but never more so as over the past several months as we continue to navigate challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. We appreciate the extensive collaboration with our title sponsors, tournament organizations and golf’s governing bodies that has brought us here – to the exciting conclusion of an extraordinary 2019-20 season this week, and on the brink of a season of 50 events, beginning next week.”

As previously announced, the 2020-21 season will begin September 7-13 at the Safeway Open in Napa, California, which will serve as the season-opening tournament for the sixth time in seven years since the TOUR went to a wraparound schedule. The U.S. Open (September 14-20) at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, follows, being played in the month of September for the first time since 1913, as well as the rescheduled Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship (September 21-27), which will award full FedExCup points (500) for the first time.

The Sanderson Farms Championship (September 28-October 4) will precede a three-event swing on the West Coast with the relocation of two of the TOUR’s Asia Swing events. Following the TOUR’s annual stop in Las Vegas for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (October 5-11), THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, annually played in Jeju Island, Korea, will be played at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, and will be renamed THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK (October 12-18) for 2020. The following week, Japan’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP will be played at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, and renamed the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD (October 19-25) for 2020.

The final event of the traditional Asia Swing and the season’s first World Golf Championships event, the WGC-HSBC Champions has been canceled, with the Bermuda Championship (October 26-November 1) occupying the week on its own and awarding full FedExCup points.

The Houston Open moves a month later on the 2020-21 schedule (November 2-8) and precedes the Masters (November 9-15). The fall portion of the schedule concludes with The RSM Classic (November 16-22), the week prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, and the Mayakoba Golf Classic (November 30-December 6) the week after.

The TOUR returns at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (January 4-10) with the same sequencing as the 2019-20 season until March, as there have been adjustments made to a number of Florida-based tournaments. The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (March 1-7) and THE PLAYERS Championship (March 8-14) will follow the WGC-Mexico Championship and Puerto Rico Open (both February 22-28), while The Honda Classic (March 15-21) moves to the week after THE PLAYERS. The Valspar Championship (April 26-May 2), traditionally played the week after THE PLAYERS, will now conclude on May 2, between the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (April 19-25) and the Wells Fargo Championship (May 3-9).

After the 40th playing of The Honda Classic, the TOUR’s longest-running title sponsored event dating back to 1982 – an eight-week stretch begins that includes six tournaments that were canceled and not rescheduled during the 2019-20 season prior to the PGA Championship, beginning with the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play (March 22-28) through the AT&T Byron Nelson (May 10-16), set to be contested for the first time at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.

Additional tournaments that return to the schedule include the RBC Canadian Open (June 7-13), John Deere Classic (July 5-11), The Open Championship and the Barbasol Championship (both July 12-18).

The men’s Olympic Golf competition (July 26-August 1) will be played the week after the 3M Open (July 19-25) as a standalone event for the first time and will be followed by the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and Barracuda Championship (both August 2-8), before the FedExCup Regular Season concludes at the Wyndham Championship (August 9-15).

The FedExCup Playoffs will consist of three events: THE NORTHERN TRUST returns to Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, which will host the event for the fourth time; the BMW Championship will be played for the first time at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Maryland, outside of Baltimore; and the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta will conclude on September 5, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.

In addition to Caves Valley Golf Club, host of the 2021 BMW Championship, the 2020-21 season features several new or familiar venues. As previously announced, Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas and Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, will host tournaments for one year only. For the first time, the Houston Open will be played at Memorial Park Golf Course in downtown Houston; TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, will host the AT&T Byron Nelson for the first time; and St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Canada, will return as host of the RBC Canadian Open for the first time since 2010.

Rotating major championship venues in 2021 include The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort at Kiawah Island, South Carolina (PGA Championship), Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California (U.S. Open), and Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England (Open Championship). Kasumigaseki Country Club in Japan will host the men’s Olympic Golf competition.

2020-21 FedExCup Regular Season (50 events)

The best shots of the year so far during the 2020 European Tour season. Enjoy!
 

Sometimes you're lucky,  sometimes you're not. Here we run through the the luckiest golf shots of the year.

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