It’s not easy to beat Pattaya as a destination for the sun, sand and sea and unmitigated revelry. It is even harder, if not impossible to beat, if you need golf to be included as an alternative or necessary daytime pursuit. Mind you, Pattaya is not the only destination that offers the highly sought hedonistic mix of golf and revelry, but the quality does set it apart. Of the golf, we mean. There are about two dozen golf courses in the whereabouts of Pattaya, which itself is just about an hour and a half from the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, the primary gateway to Thailand. Not all these 24 golf courses in Pattaya are comparable to each other, so for those looking to play the best courses in Pattaya, a top 10 list would surely help.
We expect there will be hardly any divided opinion on the top 5 golf courses in Pattaya – i.e. to say the block of five which make the top 5. So, in no particular order, it is safe to say these are the 5 best golf courses in Pattaya – the three courses of the Siam Country club – The Old Course, the Plantation Course and the Waterside Course, the 27 Hole Jack Nicklaus classic Laem Chabang and the new entrant – the fabulous Chee Chan Course. This list could very well have been of the top 6 golf courses in Pattaya had the 4th golf course of the Siam Country Club already opened for play.
We do expect some golfers to argue that the Pete Dye designed Khao Kheow with its fabulous layout and undulating fairways presents a challenge like no other and therefore must feature in Pattaya top golf courses. And if its challenge we are talking about, many golfers would come to defend St. Andrews 2000 as one of the best golf courses in Pattaya. Conversely, it’s the friendliness of the layout with gentle elevation changes and forgiving greens, that drives the popularity of the Phoenix Golf Golf Resort. The added bonus of green fees that do not break the bank, makes it a compelling choice in the list of top 10 golf courses in Pattaya. One space in the top 10 has to be reserved for a hidden gem which in this case has to be the fabulous Chatrium Golf Resort in Soi Dao, close to the Cambodia border with some spectacular mountain and forest scenery. It is the 2-hour drive which keeps putting it out of favor, but for the discerning golfer, distance is not an object. The remaining, if not the last spot must go to the C & D courses of Burapha Golf Club to complete the list of the top 10 golf courses near Pattaya.
The list again
Top 5
Siam Country Club (Old)
Siam Country Club (Plantation)
Siam Country Club (Waterside)
Chee Chan
Laem Chabang
Next 5
Chatrium Golf Resort, Soi Dao
St. Andrews 2000
Khao Kheow
Phoenix Gold
Burapha C & D
