Golf Course Review: Siam Country Club is the perfect intro to golf in Bangkok

After a 12 hour flight across the world, the last thing you want is a gruelling experience on the golf course. That’s why Siam Country Club, near Bangkok airport, is the perfect place to go when you need to dust off some cobwebs.

This modern course, part of the large Siam franchise, was playing host to the Thailand Golf Travel Mart. This celebration of golf in Thailand is attended by media from across the world, so understandably, there’s no desire to punish them too hard on a US Open style course during their first round in this part of the world.

While the golf course here might not be the most challenging in the country, it makes a really enjoyable setting for a game of golf.

The course is just a 30 minute drive from Bangkok airport, and while I would recommend resting up after the 12 hour direct flight from London to Bangkok, if that’s not an option, then you can easily head here.

Never before have I played a round of golf so far away from Scotland. So, it was a strange quirk that I ended up paired with Michael Moir, who grew up in Aberdeen, a short drive from where I was born. Michael moved to Bangkok, like many other ex-pats in the Asian giant, where he set up Fenix Xcell, a golf clothing brand that kits out the likes of Paul Lawrie and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

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Michael rightly told the rest of the group that getting to grips with the huge putting surfaces at Siam was going to be key, and that was evident from the start. The first hole is an inviting par-5, but even if you hit the green in two (I did not), if you’re on the wrong side of the putting green, you might not walk off with an improvement to your score.

This a theme that continues throughout the round. Not only are the greens huge, but some of them are pretty undulated too.

The 14th hole is the perfect example of this. It was probably my favourite hole on a course where there’s plenty par-4s that are pretty similar in style and length. This one, however, requires a big decision on the tee. You can do what Michael did, and take it over the water that hugs the right side of this dog-leg, or do what I (reluctantly) did, and play it safely to the left.

No matter how far you have to the green, though, you’ll need to navigate wild slopes on this green. I found myself on left edge of the putting surface and barely had to breathe on the ball to get it moving towards the hole.

Other noteworthy challenges come on the eighth and ninth holes. These play adjacent to a huge water hazard, with the par-5 eighth in particular a brilliant challenge. The water is in your mind all the way up this hole, so if you can stay out of it, count it as a success.

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This course opened in 2022, so as you would expect, there are still parts of it bedding into the surroundings. There are plenty of trees here, but you’d need to be very unlucky to be blocked out by them. If you’re beside one of them, many are staked, so you’re going to get a free drop.

One thing I really enjoyed about Siam, something that I had never seen before, was the fact that the tees blend seamlessly into the fairways. While most of the time you’d head back from the tee to your buggy, if you fancied a stroll down the fairway, you could stay in the short grass all the way.

Another positive aspect of the course being so modern is the on-course facilities. Back home, you might be lucky to find a halfway house on the course, but Siam has food and drink provisions after every few holes.

The final one that we used was on the 14th hole, as not long after that, the heavens opened. That’s an unfortunate reality of rainy season in this part of the world. When the rain did come, it was probably the heaviest I’ve ever seen. Best enjoyed while watching it from the excellent clubhouse with a Chang beer in hand.

However, before the heavens opened, I saw enough of this course to know how fun it is. If you’re looking for your first round of golf after touching down in Thailand, you won’t be disappointed here.

For more information on tourism in Thailand, head to tourismthailand.org.

Lewis Fraser As bunkered’s Performance Editor, Lewis oversees the content that’s designed to make you a better player. From the latest gear to tuition, nutrition, strategy and more, he’s the man. A graduate of the University of Stirling, Lewis joined bunkered in 2021. Formerly a caddie at Castle Stuart Golf Links, he is a member of Bathgate Golf Club where he plays off four.

Performance Editor