Phuket is home to thousands of expats and retirees who choose to live here for a luxurious and affordable lifestyle. Residents can enjoy the beautiful beaches, dozens of amazing small islands, the strong infrastructure in schools and hospitals, delicious fresh food, world-class restaurants and nightlife, wonderful climate, the blend of traditional Thai culture mixed with modern western comforts, an international airport offering direct flights around the world, the strong boating community and the diverse ex-pat community. How about golf? Can we add golf to this list of things to enjoy in Phuket? Here is some information on Phuket golf to help answer these questions.
Phuket has seven 18-hole golf courses with rumors of another in the pipeline. The courses are spread out on the island with 3 up north (Blue Canyon x 2 and Mission Hills), 1 on the west coast near Bang Tao Beach (Laguna), and 3 further south in Kathu (Phuket Country Club, Loch Palm, and Red Mountain). These are the seven courses and each offers something a little different in terms of location, landscape, scenery, course design, difficulty rating, service standards, membership opportunities, course condition, and price.
Loch Palm and Red Mountain Golf Club
Loch Palm is a very nice course located in Kathu, over the hill from Patong and not too far from Phuket Town and the Central Festival shopping centre. Loch Palm is open for membership. The annual fee is relatively cheap but members pay each time they play; 700 Baht on a weekday and 900 Baht on a weekend. A friend of mine just bought a second hand membership for 260,000 Baht + transfer fee. As the name suggests, there is a large lake in the middle of the course that features on around half of the holes. They are currently redesigning parts of the course as they will lose 2 holes due to land encroachment. The 14th is an interesting par-3 of around 150 yards playing downhill over a lake. Members of Loch Palm can play Red Mountain with 50% discount.
Properties available at Loch Palm
Golf in Phuket
Many golfers regard Red Mountain as Phuket’s best golf course. It is the sister course of Loch Palm owned by MBK group. I always enjoy playing Red Mountain for the superb course design, wonderful scenery, fast greens and well-presented fairways, good caddies, the 17th hole tee shot and it rarely gets too crowded. Some of Phuket’s best holes can be found on the back 9 of Red Mountain and its hard to find a weak hole on the whole course. Carts are compulsory and you’ll see why after some of the steep climbs, especially to the 16th tee where your cart battery life will be pushed to the limit. Red Mountain isn’t a members club although they did offer 2-year memberships. The majority of golfers pay green fees which are quite high at 6,000 Baht + cart + caddie fee. Keen golfers visiting Phuket should play Red Mountain at least once.
Properties available at Loch Palm
So in summary, you can definitely add golf to the long list of lifestyle attractions in Phuket. With the fine choice of courses and various social groups and societies there is something to offer golfers of all abilities, whether playing 2 or 3 times a week or once a month.
This Phuket golf blog was written by PGA Pro Blake Ellison who has lived in Phuket for 10 years and is a partner in Prime Real Estate. You can contact Blake for advice on golf and real estate at [email protected]
