Golf in Samui - Going next week, looking for Green Fee advice

[Gsxrnz]

I'll be in Samui the first week of September and am looking for advice from anybody living there about green fees at the Santiburi course.

There are several booking agencies on the web with varying prices that seem to be circa:

4,750B for green fee, cart, caddie.

1,000B for return hotel transport.

900B club hire. (I'm taking my own clubs so not an issue).

My questions are:

1. Are these the "going rates" or am I likely to get better prices by making a direct phone booking with the course myself upon arrival?

2. Is it essential to book a tee-off time at this time of year or can I just rock up without booking and not expect a huge delay?

3. Can anybody recommend a good caddy that knows the course and can read the greens? (Hasn't got to be Miss Thailand, but if she is it always makes the round more enjoyable.)

Thanks to anybody who finds the time to reply - and if anybody local is having a round after next Tuesday and wants to drag me along , there's obviously a beer in it for you. My golf is random, shooting anywhere from 82-100 depending on the degree of hangover.

[Upnotover]

From the course website;

Green Fee is THB 3.000 for hotel guests, plus mandatory THB 750 for the cart and THB 300 for the personal caddy. (For non-hotel guests green fee is THB 4.000 per round plus mandatory THB 300 for the caddy and THB 750 for the cart).

For your personal caddy THB 400 is recommended as tip.

[Qman]

I played there in a prior year and suggest you ask if they have sports days now in low season. That will be the best pricing. If unable to play on a sports day the second best option is to play 9 holes in the early afternoon and then a second 9 at twilight rate. The man in the pro shop recommended this to me and it was a good outcome which save me some money.

[samuijimmy]

I know two Caddies, who are in high demand and often booked with regulars .... 1000 baht tip is their average on top of everything else.

Santiburi spend s lot of time training their staff, many have worked there for years and all would know the course and English better than average,.

PM me if you want names / caddy numbers.

[Can samui]

Wednesday is sport day, 3,100 all in for green fee, cart and caddy.

Part of the fun there is caddy roulette, sometimes you get a sweety who isn't the best caddy but is a lot of fun. Sometimes you get a caddy that knows your game better than you do!

It is also really slow here now so make your own tee times or just drop in. Sport Wednesday is recommended for a tee time but every other day.....not much of an issue.

Lots of rain here lately so greens and fairways should be in decent shape.

Have you ever played Santiburi before? Reason I ask is that it is quite a difficult track. Miss the fairway and you are in deep trouble. Lots of elevation changes and very few level lies. If you are an average, say 15 handicap, golfer you should be well pleased to crack 100 on your first visit!

Hope this helped.

[billythebrick]

Santiburi golf course is the best course I have seen in the world all the caddies are beautiful than girls about 60 pound for a round in the day time the course is empty enjoy

[Gsxrnz]

Wednesday is sport day, 3,100 all in for green fee, cart and caddy.

Part of the fun there is caddy roulette, sometimes you get a sweety who isn't the best caddy but is a lot of fun. Sometimes you get a caddy that knows your game better than you do!

It is also really slow here now so make your own tee times or just drop in. Sport Wednesday is recommended for a tee time but every other day.....not much of an issue.

Lots of rain here lately so greens and fairways should be in decent shape.

Have you ever played Santiburi before? Reason I ask is that it is quite a difficult track. Miss the fairway and you are in deep trouble. Lots of elevation changes and very few level lies. If you are an average, say 15 handicap, golfer you should be well pleased to crack 100 on your first visit!

Hope this helped.

Thanks to all the posters for their advice.

Don't think the Missus will be happy if I dump her on the first free day of the holiday to play golf so may have to give Wednesday sports-day a miss and play Thurs/Fri.

Can Samui - thanks for the advice. No I've never played Santiburi before so I'll do what I often do at a new course and just play a 3,6,8,PW,SW, Putter. This usually keeps me out of (too much) trouble for a halfway decent score and I get a chance to figure the course out for next time.

I'll play roulette with the caddies and see what happens - from your comment about the training, whoever they give me should be more than acceptable.

Once again - thanks for all the help to everybody.

[Can samui]

Good luck and have fun.

Oh yeah.....man up and let us know how you shot.

You will need more muscle than a 3 iron on a few holes, 16, 11 and 15 come to mind.

Let the big dog eat!

[Gsxrnz]

Good luck and have fun.

Oh yeah.....man up and let us know how you shot.

You will need more muscle than a 3 iron on a few holes, 16, 11 and 15 come to mind.

Let the big dog eat!

Yeah I'll enter the confessional after the round and let you know - no witnesses so I'm guaranteed to be honest!! I'll take my shoe wedge as well.

Thanks for the tips.

I've learned in my dotage to bogey or double bogey a par 5 (with the occasional par) rather than get in serious bother by trying to make up yardage with the "big dog". My driver and woods have been getting me in too much trouble so I've reverted to a 3 unless the fairway is super wide. Driver goes 250+ but it's anybody's guess which direction it's going to go so I'm either OB, in the jungle, or in the water. 3 iron goes 200-220 so no need for a 3 wood either, and they go "reasonably" straight, so I'm usually better off.

If I play an old mans game (nudge, nudge, nudge, chip, 1 or 2 putt) I always get a better score than playing my natural game (which is bash OB, bash off the tee for 3, bash sand, bash over the green, rubbish chip on from frustration and 2 putt), resulting in a badly abused TaylorMade Spyder that has had a fair bit of "air time" and more than one dunking in the closest water hazard).

Cheers

[brd]

why not to try this other golf course on Samui Lamai side !

[Can samui]

Uhhmm.....because it is a waste of space?

No grass on the fairways and out of the bunch there are maybe two real golf holes. The rest are short, gimmick holes.

Not worth the effort in my humble opinion.

[Gsxrnz]

As promised, here's the confession. Actually it wasn't too bad - with the aid of two extremely fortunate birdies on par 3's, managed to score 93. As there were no witnesses I had two dubious "free drops" and a mulligan at the first tee. So in reality it was probably 100. I tell lies about fishing as well !!!

Truly though, what a magnificent course! There was only one other bloke on the course at the same time so it was virtually private. Well maintained, well laid out, the only problem was walking to/from the cart with all the hills. I usually play/walk a flat course at home, but after all the walking at Santiburi I felt like I'd got some exercise.

The blind drives were interesting. My plan to play it safe soon went out the window - I ended up renting clubs and the driver gave me a draw, which is vastly different to my usual fade. So having to aim right was something new to me. The caddie did her best to advise me where to aim and I got very lucky on 17, actually got a par. The greens are challenging and much faster than I'm used to.

Overall, a very nice course, ruined only by the exorbitant fees.

[Can samui]

Ah yes...first tee jitters, everyone gets them.

93 not too bad with the odd foot wedge thrown in, which two par threes did you birdy? Best chances are on the front nine par threes if your caddy clubs you properly. Speaking of the caddy, how was she?

Good that you enjoyed your round and as a local I agree with you 100% about the fee ruining everything. Want to golf more but not at those prices.

Anyway, hope you took lots of pictures for the folks at home.