rene123 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I have two Canadian friends over on a visit and they like to play golf. They just played the Gymkana golf course and found it a bit narrow, but better than nothing. I've checked the Google map and see another golf course near the Airport Plaza. Any golfers out there with recommendations. I once heard there was a nice course north of Chiang Mai on the Mae Rim road. But, I'm not a golfer and know nothing about the courses here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nivram4491 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 I think Hang Dong Golf Course is the best value for money course in Chiang Mai. It is only a 9 hole course but there is a lot of variety and lots of water trouble. However, for this reason it gets very crowded. It is worth getting up early for to start as the sun appears in the early morning. A most enjoyable round of golf if you can start before the crowd arrives, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellodolly Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 Sorry to hear about your friends. I know what you are going through. I have a son who is permanently disabled with the game. I try to explain to him that Mark Twain put it best when he said golf was a good way to ruin a good walk. Part of the disease is bad hearing. Yes there is a golf course of the south west corner of the moat Starbowl. Have no idea of what the course is like as I have not been inflicted with the disease. If you are going west on the south side of the city it is straight ahead. Problem is the road does not go through it divides. Go to the left make a u turn and come back to it. It is about 300 meters in. They also have an archery range that has all kinds of camping equipment in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailand Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 It's actually Stardome. Very good 9 hole golf course,very challenging. As for Gymkhana, I have found that even low handicappers find it difficult with the narrow fairways,if you are not straight then you are in the trees and in trouble.main problem is they allow 6 players which completely disrupts the course. Try ChiangmaiGolfCourses .com for info on all 13 golf courses within 1 hour of ChiangMai Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellodolly Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 It's actually Stardome. Very good 9 hole golf course,very challenging. As for Gymkhana, I have found that even low handicappers find it difficult with the narrow fairways,if you are not straight then you are in the trees and in trouble.main problem is they allow 6 players which completely disrupts the course. Try ChiangmaiGolfCourses .com for info on all 13 golf courses within 1 hour of ChiangMai Thanks for the correction. Lots of old man moments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rene123 Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 Thank you for all your replies, and dolly's tongue in the cheek reply. I'll check it out for them. I think they are going to Hang Dong today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluweyze Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 If they want really good golf courses I recommend: Chiang Mai Highlands, Alpine, Royal Chiang Mai (all these 3 are a distance from the city); Summit Green Valley (near Maerim) and MaeJo . I think the best 9 hole course in the city area is Mezza Nine ( Hang Dong Road), but everything is a matter of personal taste (and price!!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartd1 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Golf in CM is getting ever more expensive with the average walk on fee around 2,400 baht for a good course. Places like hang dong are 9 hole and rather poorly maintained and more poorly managed, suggest you google golf chiang mai and arrange bookings and transport through one of the golf tour operaters you will find. There are also some golf societies that will welcome visitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailand Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 If they want really good golf courses I recommend: Chiang Mai Highlands, Alpine, Royal Chiang Mai (all these 3 are a distance from the city); Summit Green Valley (near Maerim) and MaeJo . I think the best 9 hole course in the city area is Mezza Nine ( Hang Dong Road), but everything is a matter of personal taste (and price!!!!) Certainly horses for courses, IMHO Mezzanine Nine is without doubt the worst and most expensive 9 hole course I have ever played,once was more than enough. The prime courses are well over THB 2800 walking for non Thai residents and not good value ATM. Low season prices will come in to effect in April and the THB 800 for even some of the top courses will likely be available in May& June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticklee Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 You will pay a great deal more if you use the services of a tour operator to arrange your golf, as suggested above. Yes, tourists will pay top dollar but as a tourist you should be expecting that. The best deal currently is at Gold Canyon, 800B includes caddie. Mezzanine is ok but pricey for nine holes. Night golf at Green Valley is cheaper, 900 for resident, not sure what the visitor rate is. Try to hook up with a member somewhere and get guest rate. It would be a shame to have nothing better than Gymkhana and Hang Dong to leave with an impression of golf in CM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticklee Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Further to the above, Lanna still has Sport Day Monday and Friday for 700, not the best conditions but a nice setting. Chiang Mai Social Golfers play there on Mondays and also at Mae Jo on Tuesday and Friday. You are welcome as a guest with the group and it's 1550 guest rate at Mae Jo. Sanuk Sabai Golfers play Alpine Tuesday and Green Valley Thursday and also welcome guests. Guest rate1350 at GV and 1700 at Alpine. You're welcome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rene123 Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Thanks again for the replies. The guys played at Lanna yesterday and thought was reasonable, but the greens were poor. One of the men lives right on a nice 9 hole golf course in Canada and knows how to compare courses. They both told me that golf is no longer cheap in Thailand because of the enforced caddy rule, and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Semper Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. What's to know, how to carry around some golf clubs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
femi fan Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Thanks again for the replies. The guys played at Lanna yesterday and thought was reasonable, but the greens were poor. One of the men lives right on a nice 9 hole golf course in Canada and knows how to compare courses. They both told me that golf is no longer cheap in Thailand because of the enforced caddy rule, and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. I've played golf in thailand since 1999. There were always caddies, always required. Prices were good then, the price rises have nothing to do with caddies, and everything to do with the good old rampant version of capitalism: if you get successful and you get more customers, charge them more. It's a pity because many of the courses are truly amazing. Chiang Mai has excellent courses too, but all expensive, except perhaps gold canyon and inthanon which often have decent deals although i think they're normally for residents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rene123 Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. What's to know, how to carry around some golf clubs? I'm not a golfer and even I know the answer to that question. A caddy should know the course intimately and know the distance from the ball to the green from any position on the golf course. A caddy should also know every hazard on the course and what club to choose to get around it. A caddy should also have good eyes and be able to spot where a ball lands or where it goes out of bounds. Anyone but an invalid can pull a golf cart around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeverSure Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 (edited) Sorry to hear about your friends. I know what you are going through. I have a son who is permanently disabled with the game. I try to explain to him that Mark Twain put it best when he said golf was a good way to ruin a good walk. Part of the disease is bad hearing. Yes there is a golf course of the south west corner of the moat Starbowl. Have no idea of what the course is like as I have not been inflicted with the disease. If you are going west on the south side of the city it is straight ahead. Problem is the road does not go through it divides. Go to the left make a u turn and come back to it. It is about 300 meters in. They also have an archery range that has all kinds of camping equipment in the area. Well. You know how it goes. Basketball is the game of the poor in the inner cities. Football is played by young and immature ruffians. Baseball is the game for staff managers. Tennis is the game for middle management. GOLF is the game that's played by top management and businessmen! This just proves that the higher you go in life, the smaller your balls are. Do you play a lot of marbles? Edited February 22, 2013 by NeverSure 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryBird Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 If your friends love golf, they should play Alpine and Chiang Mai Highlands. The guest rate at Alpine is 1700 baht, probably 1900 baht if you go through Standard Tour. Highlands is coming in around 2100 baht for residents. If I flew all the way here, I wouldn't mind spending a few extra bucks to play a top course. The difference between Lanna and Highlands or Alpine is immeasurable. Alpine is having a big Asian Tour event there next month, you may want to mention that to your friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
femi fan Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 You will pay a great deal more if you use the services of a tour operator to arrange your golf, as suggested above. Yes, tourists will pay top dollar but as a tourist you should be expecting that. The best deal currently is at Gold Canyon, 800B includes caddie. Mezzanine is ok but pricey for nine holes. Night golf at Green Valley is cheaper, 900 for resident, not sure what the visitor rate is. Try to hook up with a member somewhere and get guest rate. It would be a shame to have nothing better than Gymkhana and Hang Dong to leave with an impression of golf in CM I will have to play Gold Canyon next week then! I can't remember very well how to get there, and a year or so somebody gave me very good directions. I can't find that post or thread. Can you help out?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skills32 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Thanks again for the replies. The guys played at Lanna yesterday and thought was reasonable, but the greens were poor. One of the men lives right on a nice 9 hole golf course in Canada and knows how to compare courses. They both told me that golf is no longer cheap in Thailand because of the enforced caddy rule, and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. Either a bad caddy experience or your friends know nothing about caddies. Or they are just another lot of know it all falang visitors. 95% of Lanna caddies fit your description of a caddy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMan Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 (edited) Chiangmai Highlands and Alpine are by a wide margin the best courses in the area. Unfortunately they stay packed full on a daily basis from mid December through the end of February. Alpine will be closed the entire month of March to prepare for the Asian Tour's Chiang Mai Golf Classic the last weekend of the month. By the way, Alpine is owned by the Thaksin Shinawatra family and his youngest daughter is Executive Director. Green Valley in Mae Rim is good too, though stays full on a daily basis year round. Many people included me like Royal Chiang Mai and it is usually not as busy as the above courses. They have though raised rates significantly this year, at least for High Season. Inthanon and Gold Canyon are a long drive (an hour or more) though less expensive. Mae Jo is close and a decent course - though the design will not appeal to all (many sharp doglegs and you need to know how much to cut off or else risk driving through the fairways). The one thing you will find with about all the Chiang Mai courses this time of year... packed full of Koreans. Gold Canyon Golf Resort has it's own bus, with the wording on the sides of the bus in both English and Korean. The Koreans are golf crazy, and draw many complaints from western golfers. Mainly about slow play and lack of course etiquette. I assume it is because their golf experience comes mainly from going to the driving range rather than playing on courses, as the courses in their country are few and extremely expensive. Edited February 23, 2013 by MMan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikekim1219 Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Can anyone tell me golf course sports day for Monday and Tuesdays in Chiang mai? What are the fees.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beau thai Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. What's to know, how to carry around some golf clubs? The good caddies, and there are many of them, know the putting lines (not easy to read for a visitor), the yardages, and after watching for 3-4 holes will know better than the player, what club he/she should take for the next shot!. But many golfers dont listen to the caddy or moan when the golfer gets the wrong pace on the right line and misses the put! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicog Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 and very few if any of the caddys really knows anything about golf. What's to know, how to carry around some golf clubs? I'm not a golfer and even I know the answer to that question. A caddy should know the course intimately and know the distance from the ball to the green from any position on the golf course. A caddy should also know every hazard on the course and what club to choose to get around it. A caddy should also have good eyes and be able to spot where a ball lands or where it goes out of bounds. Anyone but an invalid can pull a golf cart around. Not to mention giving you the line for your putts. Some of them are absolutely awesome, others might as well not be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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