Chiang Mai Highlands Golf

Today I discovered how relevant stiff shafts are and how it's important to slow down your rhythm to maximise enjoyment.

All of these facts could have been answered in the bars outside our hotel each night. Our hotel is ok but does appear to have a whole host of massage bars 'with extras' all along the road outside. Loads of middle aged white westerners in the bars with young thai girls - in defence of the English it's a full representation of EU member states.

First game of golf this trip for me. I was planning to play in Phuket. However, the golf course was a bit plain and expensive and to play I would have had to leave my £400 private luxury villa to play. Here in Chiang Mai it's slightly cheaper and all I miss is a busy city and a £40 hotel.

Chiang Mai Highlands is 35 miles out of town up in the hills. A typical American style golf course with plenty of lakes and greenside bunkers to capture errant swings. The greens were very quick and undulating making tricky putting. The fairways were very soft and seemed to be sand based so very little run on the ball. But in excellent condition as after every shot my caddie repaired the divot with sand.

13 hole, downhill 280yd to the lake. 2nd shot is the challenge as lake wraps the green.

I hired a car and driver for the day £40 , and turned up 1 hour before my tee time. Green Fees £60 but you also have to pay £10 for a buggy and £6 for a caddy ( both compulsory). And so to stiff shafts. I hired some clubs, they said they had stiff shafts but they had ran out. So regular shafts it was. There was a corporate day about to start and I was due to follow. I thought I'd get to practise the new clubs but they asked me if I'd like to go first so onto the first tee, new clubs no practise..

My caddie, Lik, surveys another hole for me to block the ball right -:)

So the thing I found is that the flexi shafts can't keep up with my swing , as I'm swinging too quickly so block the ball out to the right. The solution is to swing slower which means the ball doesn't go as far. I'd elected to play off the blue tees ( single figure golfers) so the decreased length and longer course made it hard. But I love golf so it was good fun. I'd also only taken 5 golf balls with me. Dumped 1 in the water on 10 and then 2 on 11, so as well as trying to swing slowly I was concentrating on not hitting the lakes on 12, 13 & 14. Made it fun! There were lakes to contend with on 9 of the holes and often the greens were shaped into the lake to make you think

But a really beautiful course, well maintained hard but fair. And I scraped in on 89 which on a SS 74 is ok. Not good but ok.

Ang and I are off to Mae Jo golf resort to stay for 3 nights tomorrow and then Phnom Penh on Sunday. Golf wise am hoping to play the Faldo course in Siem Reap -:)

 

 

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