Why is golf in Thailand different?

[@paulhorrocks4868]

Great video Simon and thank you for taking the time to make it whilst you were on your holiday 👍🏻. An insightful golfing experience of playing in Thailand 🇹🇭. The weather looked fantastic but must have been very humid. Now looking forward to your next video👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@paulhorrocks4868]

Hi Simon, I’ve just watched this video for a second time. You hit a lot of great shots in this round. Have you played this course before?

[@thehairygolfer]

Hello Paul, it was very hot. The next round is even hotter. This caddy looked after me, the next one didn't. You'll see what I mean. Not much roll out on the drives, not every fairway was wet but most were, the ball just plugs. Cheers

[@thehairygolfer]

@@paulhorrocks4868 Yes, I've been to Phuket one time before and this is one of my all time favourites. It's only 5571 yards but all the water makes it play a little longer as well as the drive going splat. So it plays longer than 5571. My last round here on the last trip was a 69. It's on youtube somewhere.

[@ianburton9223]

Thank you for this really informative impression of golf holidays in Thailand. Well presented and edited.

[@thehairygolfer]

You simply have to make different decisions, lots of fairway bunkers and water everywhere. You are forced to play a different game to at home, or lose balls. Cheers

[@stuartcaldwell2262]

Not a bad knock for 2 hours sleep. Well Done. Merry Christmas.

[@thehairygolfer]

I ran out of energy in that heat. The following day I was much worse but then so was the caddy. I rarely had my umbrella as she ran off with it every time we got out of the cart. I was cooked. Merry Christams Stuart. Hope we will meet up next year.

[@Muadib223]

Enjoy golf heaven in Thailand... I live in Chiang Mai and there are 22 golf courses within one hour drive from my home... Playing here is different than in the west from conditions to customs... Enjoy...

[@thehairygolfer]

I should of gone to Chiang Mai last year. Had it all booked, quiet hotel in the old city. Then I guy wants to come with me and he doesn't have enough money so we switched to Pattaya and playing with the golf bars. Big mistake. I should of just said too bad. Sadly I wont get there now. Stupid mistake. Cheers

[@divotor147]

Didn't think there were that many courses, maybe a dozen.

[@divotor147]

@@thehairygolfer Yes you are right about the golf bars/societies in Pattaya. Ok for holiday/expat hackers but more about business for the bars than serious golf.

[@thehairygolfer]

@@divotor147 Chiang Mai? I think there are a good dozen and then some inner city ones Golf Sidekick said to avoid. I don't know the total. I suppose if you count it as a 2 centre holiday including Chiang Rai that adds a few more.

[@thehairygolfer]

I did play with one golf bar that went to the mid price courses and a few of the expensive ones. You certainly don't want to get hooked with one who goes to the 1800 Baht courses.

[@golfinginthailand]

I miss Thailand. You make me jealous.

[@thehairygolfer]

You will be back. Sadly I wont. Just don't try and play 5 times a week, I'm getting a bit old for that now.

[@neilfarmer6609]

Well played - especially with jet lag! Great to see golf in the Sun while we are cold and damp in the UK.

[@thehairygolfer]

I got pretty cooked but my caddy was great for keeping me as cool as possible. The following day I had a bad caddy and I was beyond cooked. I'd rather be there than here, at least the rain is warm and the sea is warm.

[@Golfing-AddiCt]

Good work all things considered, it just looks beautiful wherever you look. 👌🏼

[@thehairygolfer]

The limestone mountains covered in jungle are something else. I just love looking around at the birds and butterflies almost as big as your hand. It's so pretty.

[@leemeadows5764]

Nicely done, Simon on 2 hrs sleep and temperature change. I can not get my head around how the speed changes sooo much with the grain.

[@thehairygolfer]

Neither can I Lee. Fast greens are better than slow then it's closer together but slow greens the difference is huge and hard to comprehend. That's why the Pros play 13 on the stimp, it's a whole lot easier than 7. When it's on the side I have no idea how much to borrow. As you can see the caddy was very very good. They aren't all that good. Cheers

[@CarlBroadbent]

Wow. That grain is crazy, if you have slopes and grain to deal with. I bet that’s super hard

[@thehairygolfer]

That's why you get a caddy Carl. Hopefully one who has seen hundreds of putts from every direction. This one was brilliant, some of the others are brilliant. Some not so much. My score is always based on the caddy assuming I strike the irons okay.

[@davidcollier9267]

Im really interested in this series of videos. Im currently away in Egypt playing golf. Can i ask hiw you booked your golf? Was it through a company or did you book privately?

[@thehairygolfer]

Hello David, I used a company called Golf Asian. They can arrange holidays all over Asia. All your transport and book hotels from an approved list. It does come at a price. It is possible to do all of the above yourself. Booking a Bolt taxi, booking tee times, booking hotels. I use them to reduce stress and worry and for that it's worth the extra. Hope that is of some use to you. Oh. Phuket does not have a huge number of courses, you get more choice round Pattaya or Bangkok or even Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai. If you stick to expensive courses you will do okay, the cheaper ones are cheap for a reason. Simon

[@davidcollier9267]

❤thanks​@@thehairygolfer

[@thehairygolfer]

@@davidcollier9267 No worries. They have a great website to explore. Best of luck.

[@dpmiam]

Great video. I always enjoy your content. Are you going to play any rounds with Matt @golfsidekick ?

[@thehairygolfer]

I dropped him a line a couple of months back but he said he was going to be playing golf in Japan then off to South Africa to see family for Christmas. Shame, but there it is.

[@dpmiam]

Too bad. Enjoy your holiday and thank you for your videos. Our golf season is about done here in Virginia 🥶

[@thehairygolfer]

@@dpmiam It would of been nice to have played with him but that's life. I'm looking forward to any videos he makes in Japan. I always wanted to play golf there but it was beyond my reach.

[@frankodozi5349]

Very good golf overall Simon and you seem to be enjoying yourself. Your attitude regarding the last hole was disappointing criticising it. It is the way it is unless it is redesigned and if you played it again on your holiday you have to find a better way of navigating the hole instead of coming out with excuses of fatigue, jet lag etc. there was not much criticism when you made the birdie with the great shot on 17

[@thehairygolfer]

Hello Frank, 18 used to be a par 5. They have made it harder with the par 4 and reduced the landing area. It's pretty narrow. It's also very hard to club off the tee, you've got out of bounds down the left and water down the right. I can't begin to describe how tired I was or how hot I was. The following day was worse for tiredness and heat. 17 is a good hole, I've hit it close before and despite the water to the right it's only a mid iron in so not a problem. Every course has a bad hole somewhere. I've never played a course with 18 good holes. The course I have played 5 different ways they ruined one hole by moving the tee 75 yards to the right and it became a stupid hole when it used to be good. My next round there is a tee that is 85 yards left of the original and it's ruined it even though I got a birdie it's still a ruined hole. I'll tell you what. Tonight stay up all night as if you're on a plane. Then the following night stay up until 5am, set the alarm for 7am and go out and play golf in 32 degrees and high humidity. Then come back and tell me you aren't tired beyond belief.

[@frankodozi5349]

@ Hi Simon, I have done that journey to south east Asia many times over 30 times there and back. If I didn’t feel up to it or thought there could be a risk of fatigue or illness upon flying. I wouldn’t book to play golf the day I arrived into the country especially travelling that far and I would play the next day or the day after. You knew what you were potentially getting yourself into when you booked the itinerary. I have done it when I have been to the Middle East but I rolled with it. I am also an insomniac myself and woken up early and gone to sleep late. If that is the case there are sleeping tablets or do something that would help send you to sleep

[@thehairygolfer]

@@frankodozi5349 I suffer very badly from jetlag and the heat. My first week I live on immodium and ibuprofen. The heat really messes up my insides. That last hole has a fairway 23 yards wide. It doesn't have any forgiveness in it at all. It's a poor hole. As a par 5 the landing area was different and the seond shot more friendly than the tee shot from that tee. If you do lay back in the widest part you are a very long way from the hole. The bit I'm aiming at is as little as 19 yards wide. Especially as the big tree on the left blocks out part of the fairway.

[@finbar481]

Did you take your own clubs with you Papa? Or hire clubs?

[@thehairygolfer]

I always take my own clubs Max. Hiring is now £35 a round. You have plenty of weight allowance on international flights anyway plus a carry on and a laptop bag. Weight isn't a problem and I take 4 days clothes and push them through the laundry several times which is cheap out there. It's not the flight to Spain with a 12 kilo allowance and you have to pay each way for your clubs extra. Cheers

[@nevillehubbard7347]

Wow! 1st hole birdie!!!! And an awful lot of good golf! But the last few holes are disappointing. No, not your golf, but 18 in particular seems a little "thin"! Well done though, that's really good golf in the circumstances!!!

[@thehairygolfer]

I ran out of energy Neville, I've got to give credit to the caddy for the score she was brilliant on the greens and looked after me in the weather. 18 is a poor hole, the fairway is about 23 yards wide. There isn't much space for any club and if you go too safe you have a long second shot. I think it played better as a par 5 as they added a bunker when they made it a par 4 and even tighter. 10 is okay, that is a huge amount of fun but 18 is a mess.

[@nevillehubbard7347]

@thehairygolfer yes, that's what 18 looks like, a mess! Your caddy was excellent! That should be what you should expect, a caddy to show you the lines on grainy greens! But, well done, decent golf, good score!!!!

[@thehairygolfer]

@@nevillehubbard7347 It's amazing what a good caddy does for your confidence and when you get on the green you feel like every putt has a chance of going in. From 16 onwards I was seriously out of steam. I got to 17 and after a long break in the shade summoned enough energy for one last shot on a hole I enjoy playing. After that I couldn't hit my hat, I was buggered.

[@foodtravellife9456]

How come you never made it to Chiang Mai this year?

[@danielowen5889]

Golfsidekick has his caddies cheering him on.. full shots in are money..

[@thehairygolfer]

Some caddies will play to the camera right up to the moment you switch them on, then they run away. They are a huge amount of fun and good company. Matt can also speak very good Thai and that helps a lot. His sense of humour is pure Thai as he has been there for so many years. Imagine playing golf out there all the time? I certainly change out there, I can't imagine what it must be like living there full time. Amazing I expect.

[@andrewquinn6634]

Music sounds like David Gilmore ish.

[@thehairygolfer]

I just got some free stuff off the internet. Some I bought, I must use that more often seen as I've paid for it!