BANGKOK, THAILAND – Muang Kaew Golf Club is the closest golf course to sprawling Bangkok, a city that feels like there’s no center and no end. It’s a pretty urban-feeling environment in most spots, which includes a walk under a freeway and teeing off on a par 5 over a net and house - how Thailand golf does the Road hole in St. Andrews, perhaps. It’s an older club, but received a facelift from Schmidt-Curley in 1998 and today is a good test of golf. Golf packager GolfAsian.com says it’s often the first course of an itinerary in Thailand given ...

PATTAYA, Thailand - Two days into our Thailand golf trip, and I’m already nervous about returning back home to the United States and the land of western prices. I can see it now: “Six bucks for lunch? Are you kidding me?” “Caddies are $60 plus $30 tip? C’mon!” In a lot of areas, from transportation to accommodation to services, Thailand is almost laughably inexpensive. I’m of the belief that those who take a vacation are going to end up spending a finite amount of money. It’s just that here, that allocated vacation budget is going to leave you spoiled. Daily ...

To get myself in the Halloween spirit for the weekend I was just reading William K. Wolfrum’s feature on haunted golf courses, from Willbrook Plantation in Myrtle Beach for its old plantation ruins to Trilogy at Vistancia. I’d like to add a couple more golf courses across the pond to the list, one of which I just played a couple weeks ago: Ballybunion’s Old Course in Ireland. Those who have played Ballybunion know exactly why: the cemetery to the right of the first hole. It’s a little eerie and quite a fitting way to kick off a round on a ...

It may be golf’s off-season to some, but there’s a pretty strong field in tow this week on the European Tour. Pros like Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen are competing at one of the most impressive new resorts I’ve seen in my golf travels this year: Finca Cortesin Golf Resort in Spain’s Costa Del Sol for the Volvo World Match Play Championship. The resort is set up into the hills a couple miles from the Mediterranean coast and just minutes from such prestigious older courses as Valderrama and Sotogrande Real Golf Club. Finca’s golf course is a Cabell ...

Lets all give a special thanks to Parker McLachlin, the “groundbreaking” professional golfer who is the first to have tweeted during an actual PGA Tour competition round Sunday at the Frys.com Open at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, thus setting the “Is golf a sport?” debate back to the time golfers were known for their beer bellies and being unable to climb out of a bunker without hyperventilating. McLachlin’s Twitter feed blessed us all with this wonderful insider knowledge of what goes through a professional athlete’s head in the heat of competition: “Just made birdie on 4. Waiting on 5th ...

Here’s a bit of news I came across this week that seems to represent a growing shift in the world of private golf and country clubs: The Detroit Athletic Club and Forest Lake Country Club have entered a merger agreement which would combine the downtown amenities of the Detroit Athletic Club and golf amenities of Forest Lake north of the city in Bloomfield HIlls. Private clubs all over, not just in Michigan are struggling to stay afloat. I think one of the main reasons is that the younger generation moves around a lot, so we’re not going to pay a ...

Machrihanish Dunes is one of Scotland’s most talked about new golf courses this year. Over on our sister site ScotlandGolf.com, we’ve got the most thorough review of the new course to date from Special Contributor Larry Olmsted. For those who have yet to make the trip down to out-of-the-way Campbeltown, this is a great primer on what to expect. Click here for the full review of Machrihanish Dunes. A few months ago, we posted a story here on WorldGolf.com on the reader feedback about Machrihanish Dunes. To summarize, the reviews weren’t all that great. In fact, it had strikingly ...

Reports from the European Tour this week reveal two tournaments are being added to their 2010 Race to Dubai schedule, while three existing events will be dropped. But one of the new events that caught my eye is by no means a new tournament: The King Hassan II Trophy in Morocco’s capital city of Rabat. Morocco’s largest sporting event, it was founded by the late King Hassan II along with the assistance American golf legend Billy Casper 35 years ago in order to help spread golf to new places. Since then, it’s been a tournament that’s slid somewhat under ...

For the first time since 1900, the Road Hole on the Old Course in St. Andrews will be lengthened. In preparation for the 2010 Open Championship, a new tee will be built about 35 yards behind the current tee box on the famous 17th, which requires a drive over the storage shed of the Old Course Hotel. Now pros will have to pick out a new target line on the shed from the new tee and will face a more dangerous approach shot into the green. Said R & A Chief Executive Peter Dawson of the switch: “Over the years, ...

Another 72-hole, stroke play golf event. Forgive me if I’m not giddy with excitement for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janiero, when golf will be on the menu for the first time in over a century. True, it’s no FedEx Cup format that requires M.I.T. math skills to track, but I don’t understand why the committee resorted to such a pedestrian format. Was is lack of creativity or pure laziness? This is going to leave a lot of golf fans with an about face. Most of whom will agree that omitting any kind of match play event is ...

I’ve yet to play all of Eire’s links courses, but I’ve played a good amount of the best in two trips in the last few years. And after a round at Ballybunion last week, I’m convinced I’ve seen the isle’s top links hole: The long, tumbling, seaside 11th. Most links courses tend to have a dynamite par 3, like Doonbeg’s 14th and nearby Lahinch’s wacky “Dell.” Ballybunion has several great one-shotters, including two back-to-back on the home nine. But I’m more impressed with a long, snaking par 4 that tumbles through dunes, and Ballybunion’s 11th has it all. The tee ...

COUNTY CLARE, IRELAND – After my first day back in Ireland since the spring of 2007, I’m already convinced that early October is a much better time to take a golf trip than the first half of March. For starters, I actually see golfers out and about here at Doonbeg, taking advantage of an un-Irish-like calm, sunny day where I was in short sleeves a full 18 holes. In March, the tee sheets are open and the green fees are cheap, but the pubs are dead and you can get turned away for dinner if you come after 7:30 ...

For what seems like the first time since Annika Sorenstam was dominating the tour, ESPN cares about the LPGA for reasons other than what Michelle Wie is up to. This event comes thanks to 14-year-old Alexis Thompson’s opening round 65 at the the Navistar Classic (which is being replayed on Golf Channel tonight). She was the leader in the clubhouse for awhile before Janice Moodie carded a 64. Wie, by the way, shot a 66, which was hardly even mentioned by the anchors. I’m speechless. Getting the LPGA more respect starts with getting a hold of the fair weather sports fan, ...

The final push for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games is on. The Olympic committee will vote on the host city October 2nd in Copenhagen, and also vote to determine if golf should make its re-entry into the games. President Obama and the First Lady are both in Copenhagen this week pushing for their hometown of Chicago. The three other finalist cities are Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janiero. Madrid and Chicago would make the most sense for golf’s entry in to the Olympics, with Cog Hill in Chicago available and numerous good courses surrounding Madrid. Tokyo and Rio have golf, ...

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem foreshadowed a little gloom last week regarding the future of some PGA Tour title sponsors, and we’ve already got our first casualty: The Verizon Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island, staged on Harbour Town Golf Links will not renew its contract after it ends in 2010. It doesn’t surprise me that the first stop to lose its sponsor is a one that Tiger Woods doesn’t compete in. The Heritage traditionally plays the week after the Masters, so many big names take the week off. It’s not Tiger’s doing the sponsorship is gone. Prize money has ...