Now that's a golf course!

A gloomy Saturday in Pattaya got a whole lot better with an invite to try out a few holes at the new Chee Chan Golf Course at Silverlake. Excited at the prospect I turned up nearly 2 hours before the tee off time, fortunately Brodie (the GM) was there to show me around and have a general chat about how things were going. Construction has been delayed slightly as expected here in Thailand, Brodie tells me that Songkran had almost a 1 month impact on their schedule, which I think we can all relate too. You can now enter the grand entrance to the course, albeit a little muddy at present, the clubhouse changing facilities are complete, as is the best part of the restaurant but the pro shop and downstairs coffee shop are still under construction.

As my playing partners arrived (John, JJ and Mike) we were told the holes we would be playing today, which were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 13th,14th, 17th, 18th (twice) the other holes were either being worked on or not quite ready for play.

The first hole is a tricky par 4 driving straight at the Chee Chan mountain, truly spectacular, I won’t talk you through every hole we played as it’s a course you really need to go and view to get an idea of what is at stake.  Fairways, tees and green were all in great shape as you would expect, plenty of water that only punishes a really bad shot and large undulating greens with plenty of pins positions.

It’s shaping up to be a great course that will rival the likes of Siam and Laem Chabang, it’s just a 20 minute drive from Pattaya and the good news for our Birdie members is that Brodie is very open to talks about supporting the local expat golfers as well as catering for the holiday makers when the time comes……...