Banyan Golf Club Hua Hin

The Banyan Golf Club Hua Hin will be nestled in the mountains just south of Hua Hin and is scheduled to start construction in the end of 2006 and be completed by January 2008. The Banyan Estate group is using the Golf East Company and Pirapon Namatra, GolfEast Managing Director and top designer, to take this project from inception to completion.

Golf East is a Thai golf course design and construction company based out of Bangkok and has undertaken many course construction projects in the Kingdom and also renovations of existing courses. Their list of clients is very impressive and they have just finished a renovation of the greens, all new cart paths, some fairways and bunkers at the extremely prestigious and world famous Blue Canyon Country Club Lakes Course in Phuket. They also count both the Santiburi courses, one on the island of Samui and the other in Chiang Rai, on their impressive resume.

The Banyan Golf Club Hua Hin just south of town will be created out of an existing pineapple plantation tucked in between one small mountain and a large mountain range that will be the backdrop to this 7030 yard to 5310 yard par 72 course with four sets of tees. The course will have many dramatic and panoramic views of the gulf, the lush mountains and Hua Hin. Khun Pirapon expects his design and the course to be one of the best in the Kingdom and since he has a vast experience of working on the best, his thoughts and ideas are well respected and eagerly awaited.

He has emphasized a natural approach to building this course and has spent many days walking the site to refine his design. Because of this thorough assessment he has developed a design that will be able to use the natural contours of the existing terrain and be minimally invasive to this nearly perfect setting. He feels that he will be able to construct the entire course and only require about 5 to 10% of the normal amount of excavation and land-moving that is normally done in most construction and a high percentage of this will be for the tee boxes and greens. The more he set foot on the site the more he knew that his choice of working with nature was the correct choice as he found many large and beautiful indigenous trees that made him slightly alter his plan so that they would be part of your golfing experience and not in the path of a bulldozer. His choice of native zoysia grass for fairways and rough was due to the fact that it is native and disease resistant and requires much less water than most other turf grasses, in other words it is very ecologically friendly in many ways. This is the same turf that you find at Majestic which has the best fairways in the area. He is very excited about the many fantastic views that he will be able to give the golfers. You may find it extremely unique to see pineapples growing along the outside of the course as he is determined to impact this site as little as possible due to its natural beauty. There will be a few lakes on the course but they will not be a predominate factor in the design and will be a pleasant respite from their normal emphasis on most Thai golf courses.

Sometimes the phrase "only in Thailand!" comes up in the local expatriate conversation and this must have been used when the news of the clubhouse became public. The course is just getting ready to break ground and the clubhouse is already built. The only thing about this is it is about 100 kilometers away, in Petchburi. A beautiful 22,000 square foot all teak wooden building with gorgeous Thai roof designs was found and the Banyan Golf Club Hua Hin has decided to buy it and dismantle it and bring it out to Hua Hin, reassemble it, and make it the clubhouse, pro shop and a 5 star restaurant. The upstairs veranda will offer views of the 9th and 18th greens and the 1st and 10th tees. "Only in Thailand"!

Next winter you should be able to watch your friends sinking a putt as you sink your teeth into a scrumptious giant gulf prawn sitting on the veranda as the sun starts to set behind the mountains and turn the gulf a lovely shade of pink.