Santiburi Country Club was the first Chiang Rai golf course. The Chiang Rai Robert Trent Jones Jr designed Santiburi Country Club is laid out over vast fields with excellent placement of holes and an abundance of water hazards and bunkers. The golf course is widely regarded as one of the best conceived and maintained golf courses in Asia. Golfers living in Thailand will tell you that Santiburi in Chiang Mai is one of their favorite golf courses in Thailand, and this is no small compliment!
The golf course is championship caliber, yet it is playable and enjoyable for golfers on every skill level. Set into the contours of a valley, it offers a superbly landscaped golf course that winds beneath a canopy of magnificent shade trees, across crystal clear lakes and streams, reflecting turquoise skies and pearl white clouds above, and the lush green foothills and mountains of Chiang Rai in the distance.
Santiburi Country Club features great holes with undulating fairways and perfectly rolling fast greens. Four different tees offer every level of golfer a fair chance. Eleven long par 4’s makes Santiburi particularly challenging for all golfers. Most of the holes characterized by rolling greens guarded by countless sand and grass bunkers, trees and substantial water hazards. There are varied options for many longer holes including conservative approaches for the novice and challenging routes over danger for the more experienced golfers.
As the course weaves its way around natural rolling hills and lakes, the first nine plays up and downhill while the back nine holes sweep through steep valleys and a chain of 3 lakes.
The Santiburi fairways have a wide range of sloping lies, are long, and are lined with natural hazards. At holes 2, 3 and 4, you have to play alongside a considerable lake which runs the length of the holes. Most greens protected by bunkers and there are several good dogleg holes.
Closing holes at Santiburi Country Club – Chiang Rai
The 17th is a do-or-die short par three with water all the way down the right side. The wide and relatively narrow green abuts the lake and if the course manager is feeling evil, he may cut the flag on the right side of the green which means you’ll have to play either a high fade or a bold shot straight across the water at the pin. A double doglegged par five home hole is perhaps the best closing hole in Thailand. With water on the left, which then cuts across the fairway to form a large lake on the right, adroit fairway bunkering and a dual tiered and dual bunkered green, a par here on the 18th is no mean feat.
The Santiburi Country Club Chiang Rai course is kept in excellent condition year-round, as the Singha Beer family owners continue to invest in good maintenance practices. If coming to Thailand, like to golf, and part of the time will be in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai, then every golfer should make time to play this course.
The beautiful and fully functional clubhouse dominates the highest point of the club area and is first class in every way, including clean locker rooms, a well-stocked pro shop, and a lovely restaurant serving a range of local and international dishes, and of course cold Singha beer!