We left just before 8am and took along the receptionist from the office, who was going to Lopburi. We drooped her near the turn off and proceeded down the Bangkok road rather than go through Saraburi and a short distance later turned off and headed West. The road was still 2 lanes in either direction but was in poorer condition so we had to slow down. It seems this area specialises in making the Thai equivalent of gravestones. Cremation is the norm here, but brightly coloured pointed, structures are used for the ashes. I’d seen them along the wall of the Wat we pass going to work. We also weren’t sure where it was so again the driver wasn’t going as fast. In the end we found the turn off which was well marked after all, and headed up the road for another 5 or so km before reaching the hotel and golf course. It was then about 10.30. Once I was checked in, the driver left and I dropped of my bag in my room, although I didn’t bother to unpack. My room is on what we’d called the second storey although following the American numbering its 3 on the lift. I have a great view over what I later realised was the 18th hole.
It wasn’t too much later before I headed to the pro shop. After a bit of pantomime and some stilted Thai and English, they finally realised I wanted to hire clubs and bought out a set of Callaway X18s. Not too shabby for rentals. My green fees were include with the room as part of the package but by the time I’d bought a glove, 8 second-hand Pro-V1 balls, some tees and organised a cart and a caddy it was another $70.
They said I could hit off straight away, even though my tee off time was an hour away, but I decided to do some chipping and putting.
When I was ready to tee off, there was a group of 4 in front of me. I was playing on my own with a cart, so I was quite speedy and quickly caught up with them. On the second we decided to skip past them but saw more groups on the holes ahead so went back and decided to just put up with it. They in fact let me play through on the par 3 3rd but the next 3 or 4 groups were actually playing in 5s, so were even slower. In the end I played through 4 or 5 groups and took just over 4 hours to complete the round.
The course is very picturesque, which is almost a given for courses in Thailand. This one is located at the base of the mountains some most holes have them as back drops. Surprisingly the course itself is pretty flat overall although most of the holes have mounds and hollows. You just don’t have to climb any hills to speak of. There is plenty of water about and as you play down the 14th you can see the huge dam in the distance. The greens are quite hard a fast and most have definite slopes, sometimes several.
As for the golf, I played my strokes pretty well but didn’t have a very good score. Didn’t even break 100. I had no 1-putts and 5 3-putt holes and in the end got pretty tired and had some lazy shots. I really only got into trouble off the fairway on a couple of holes and lost only 2 balls. I hit 11 fairways and also 5 greens in regulation, which wasn’t bad with strange clubs.
After I finished, I headed over to the pool, which is near the golf course rather than at the hotel. It has a strange situation where the Jacuzzi is actually colder than the pool.
About 5 I headed back to the hotel and had a Thai massage for an hour. Then I headed back to the golf area and had dinner in the café near the pro shop. I met the 4-some that let me play through first. I think they were Korean or Japanese but one spoke very good English with an American accent. He said they’d played 45 holes today – 2 and half rounds. They were just getting into the hotel about 6-30 and were in the café as well.
As I headed back from the restaurant I saw 3 buses like this in the car park. There were obvious a lot of people on golf tours since they are double deckers. It started to rain as I was eating but not as heavily as it was a few days earlier in WB. Hopefully it will be dry again tomorrow.
I had dessert – icecream cake – and a margarita at the café by the hotel before getting back to my room.
MY shower was cold after golf so I thought I’d better get that sorted and a maintenance guy came and actually had to fix something, so it wasn’t just me. At least it won’t be cold in the morning.
Sunday 6th
I got up about 7-30 and headed over to breakfast. It was packed. All the people from those huge buses had stayed the night and they were all there, it seems. They headed back before lunch as I saw them departing while I was playing golf. I think I am literally the only Westerner here. At least I have not seen any others since I arrived.
I hit off about 9:20 this morning, again a bit earlier than my booked tee off time. A pair – a man and a woman were partway down the first fairway, and not playing very well. I played through them on the 4th and through another 2 or 3 groups later on. At least there weren’t any groups of 5 today and the course was a lot less busy. Usually when I played through, I had 2 or 3 holes before I caught up with the next group. In the end it only took me 3 hours to finish today. That’s pretty good going. I wouldn’t mind rounds that quick back home.
My golf was a bit better today with some improvement on putting. I lost 3 balls for 5 penalty shots today. Without them I would have broken 100, bit only just. I hit a lot of good shots again and didn’t have too many tee shots that put me into trouble, than the lost balls. In both cases my second shot was on the fairway. If I knew why I didn’t do that the first time I wouldn’t still be on 14.
I had already organised a late check out so I headed over to the pool then for a brief cool off and a short time in the sun reading a book. Then it was back to the room for a nice long shower. It’s now approaching 2 and I have 3 hours till my driver is due. I’m just about ready to check out.
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