Loch Palm Golf Club, Phuket, THAILAND

March 8, 2009

After a chance meeting at our hotel with a former colleague, we managed to arrange for a round at Loch Palm through his agent, Alee. He had arranged for a van to pick us up from the meeting place, Thara Patong. Alee was waiting for us at the golf club. He spoke fluent Malay.

The Clubhouse

The first tee box was congested with starting golfers. We asked to tee off from the 10th. to avoid the big crowd. Permission granted, we hurried and drove the balls out of bound. Zack sent his first shot OB. My drive headed towards the OB zone, ricocheted off a tree trunk and landed on the ladies tee box. Our jovial, elderly caddies advised us to slow down. I parred the next 2 holes.

Hole no.10. OB on the right

Loch Palm plays 6,555 yards from blue tees. It has a balanced mix of undulating terrains, bunkers and water hazards. The hills fringing the course make a good backdrop. The 168 metre par-3, Hole 14 struck me as the most scenic. It tees from elevated ground with bunkers in front and waters on the left and at the back. I overshot the green and ended in the back bunker just before the water. I managed to chip in for par after struggling out of the bunker.

Hole 14

It started to rain but we pressed on in the drizzle. After 2 holes it stopped and we had a beautiful cloudy weather for golf. The front nine was more forgiving. There were many holes that played straight from the tee boxes to the greens. No doglegs.

Palm trees, Lakes & Hills

Our caddies were very friendly and added much joy to our game. My caddy was talking non-stop throughout the game. She claimed to be a “kun Yai” (grandmother). We jokingly told her that we were “kun Po” (grandfathers). She would volunteer her advice for every single shot that I took. She deserved a fat tip.

The last par-3 on the front nine.

We were truly enjoying our round. Zack was mimicking Camillo Villegas’s antics, literally crawling on the ground while lining up his putt. The caddies couldn’t stop laughing. The weather was perfect for golf, the caddies were great and we had a good round.

Zack had a swinging time..