Green Fees

[Kim Jong Il]

I'm starting to plan my trip to Pattaya at the back end of the year and I'm planning for a 5 or 6 month trip. I'm just wondering what the typical cost is for a round of golf these days? Should I bring my own clubs or rent when I'm there? Any info much appreciated.

[iron]

golf is not cheap anymore in thailand,even playing with an organised golf society, typical game will cost 2500bht add to that caddy tip,300thb,and sometimes pay 600 for caddy car,(if its not built into the price) approx 100 euro, thats what i paid in march this years,i bring my clubs as i feel more comfortable with them,but club hire is available at most golf societys.

[maxtroy]

Here you go. Latest info from Pattaya Sports club.

http://pattayasports.org/sports/golf/golf-rates/

Now keep in mind green fee is only half the cost in some cases .

eg.  Greenwood week day .

Green Fee -    700 baht

Caddy Fee-     350 baht

Caddy Drink - 30 baht 

Caddy Tip -     300 baht

Golf cart    -      600 baht

If you play with PSC golf bar

Transport  -     250 baht

Competition fee- 250 baht

This is just approximation of what you will pay to golf in Pattaya .

2000 baht is a cheap day of golf these days . 

2600 baht with cart .

There are deals available like Treasure Hill that includes a cart but it is a beast of a golf course and can dry out over night .

[alphageek]

Thanks for this. I was entertaining the idea of playing golf on my next trip, but at these sort of prices, I'll give it a miss. 

[farcanal]

8 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

I'm starting to plan my trip to Pattaya at the back end of the year and I'm planning for a 5 or 6 month trip. I'm just wondering what the typical cost is for a round of golf these days? Should I bring my own clubs or rent when I'm there? Any info much appreciated.

5 or 6 months will put you in the range of high season to low season.

Golf is more expensive in December than July

One of my trips every year is in August and you can play many games under 2000 baht including a cart....Emerald , from memory, was 1250 baht all up last August.

If you're planning to play a lot bring your own clubs , but get them shrink wrapped at the airport before checking them in.

[Lok Jit]

On Line Pattaya Sports Club list all current Prices and sports days for over 25 Golf courses..This incl Carts--Caddys Fees--Green Fees then you decide which you want to play..They list all Phone Numbers as well

[brutox]

11 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

I'm starting to plan my trip to Pattaya at the back end of the year and I'm planning for a 5 or 6 month trip. I'm just wondering what the typical cost is for a round of golf these days? Should I bring my own clubs or rent when I'm there? Any info much appreciated.

 

2 hours ago, alphageek said:

Thanks for this. I was entertaining the idea of playing golf on my next trip, but at these sort of prices, I'll give it a miss. 

Men .. pay attention to the local golfers here .. they understand the golf course discount system, which is deep and wide .. pay zero attention to the rates posted on the golf courses' web sites .. exactly z-e-r-o!

We bought 3 bankrupt golf courses here in the mid-00's, which I spent 2 years recapitalizing, rehabilitating, repositioning and returning to profitability, before we exited.

My recollection is that less than 5% of our golfers paid the full rates we posted on our web sites .. they were virtually all tourists who were unaware of the generous discounts available here.

The local golfers on the forum can vector you in on the golf organizations that have very attractive discount cards which are good at most every course.

Drill down a bit deeper .. you will find an entirely different rate card than what the golf courses post.

[alphageek]

So after reading all that, my take is, much like the p4p situation, you have to negotiate?

[brutox]

1 hour ago, alphageek said:

So after reading all that, my take is, much like the p4p situation, you have to negotiate?

Yes, alphageek.

If you go it alone, which I do not advise, call the course and ask what 'special' discounts are available.

They will likely easily recognize that you are a tourist and they will allow you only a minimal discount .. you are an amateur, with little local market intel, playing their game, in their back yard.

Golf outings organized by the streetside local travel agents and hotels are also not a best bet .. this is not what they do best .. they have no idea of the quality of the golf courses they are selling, and will likely steer you to wherever they can get the best deal for themselves, which generally correlates to a crappy, or grossly overbooked course .. as a local, they get the local's discount (which you can get elsewhere), which they will then mark-up to resell to you.

There are some tourist agents that purportedly specialize in golf .. same as above, but they are probably a bit more expensive, probably more knowledgeable about the golf courses, take care of everything (from pick-up to drop-off), and less likely to deal you a crap day.

Best bet is to go through any of the golf groups there in Pattaya, which have volume buying power; and/or, buy a local's discount card (ask around).

All the negotiating is done for you by knowledgeable locals.

Tee it up, my man .. Pattaya is a great place for golfers.

The quality of the courses range widely, in terms of layout, maintenance, and service .. the local guys can steer you.

Incidentally, the cheapest golf in town is likely to leave you pissed off .. it can be pretty bad.

That's some of what I learned about the revenue side while investing into this asset class a decade+ ago .. there are guys on the forum who are more current on whether it has changed much since then.

[farcanal]

1 hour ago, brutox said:

 

Men .. pay attention to the local golfers here .. they understand the golf course discount system, which is deep and wide .. pay zero attention to the rates posted on the golf courses' web sites .. exactly z-e-r-o!

We bought 3 bankrupt golf courses here in the mid-00's, which I spent 2 years recapitalizing, rehabilitating, repositioning and returning to profitability, before we exited.

My recollection is that less than 5% of our golfers paid the full rates we posted on our web sites .. they were virtually all tourists who were unaware of the generous discounts available here.

The local golfers on the forum can vector you in on the golf organizations that have very attractive discount cards which are good at most every course.

Drill down a bit deeper .. you will find an entirely different rate card than what the golf courses post.

".......pay zero attention to the rates posted on the golf courses websites".......

What about Pattaya Sports Club rates?......plenty of "sport days" during low season, even the Big 3 at Siam have a massive discount in May

[maxtroy]

1 hour ago, brutox said:

 

Men .. pay attention to the local golfers here .. they understand the golf course discount system, which is deep and wide .. pay zero attention to the rates posted on the golf courses' web sites .. exactly z-e-r-o!

We bought 3 bankrupt golf courses here in the mid-00's, which I spent 2 years recapitalizing, rehabilitating, repositioning and returning to profitability, before we exited.

My recollection is that less than 5% of our golfers paid the full rates we posted on our web sites .. they were virtually all tourists who were unaware of the generous discounts available here.

The local golfers on the forum can vector you in on the golf organizations that have very attractive discount cards which are good at most every course.

Drill down a bit deeper .. you will find an entirely different rate card than what the golf courses post.

I'd  be interested to know which three golf courses . Places like Mountain Shadow and Crystal Bay are in serious need of a change in management .

[Kim Jong Il]

Thanks to everyone  for the helpful information above.

Prices do seem high but I guess I'll have to put with it and maybe just play once a week instead of twice.

Could always give up the golf and save some money taking helicopter flying lessons I suppose ;-)

When I worked here in 1997 I played a few times......I won't upset you with the prices then, not to mention the exchange rate as well.....the good old days.

Thanks again guys.

[George810]

Wow, that's expensive, and going through all the hassle for getting discounts, just not worth the time.  Thanks for the info, I need look into this matter no further.

Note-I am not that serious and fanatical about golf, just a leisurely player, so back to only in my hometown...the only course here is a annual fee of 100 USD.  Nope, not joking-but it is not a perfect condition course.  

[brutox]

On 4/10/2017 at 11:36 AM, brutox said:

 

.... We bought 3 bankrupt golf courses here in the mid-00's, which I spent 2 years recapitalizing, rehabilitating, repositioning and returning to profitability, before we exited ....

 

 

On 4/10/2017 at 1:22 PM, maxtroy said:

I'd  be interested to know which three golf courses . Places like Mountain Shadow and Crystal Bay are in serious need of a change in management .

If you've been around awhile, you might recall new investors buying from the bank the then bankrupted Natural Park golf courses, now known as Mountain Shadow (formerly Natural Park Hill) and Crystal Bay (Natural Park Resort) in Chonburi, and the Legacy course in Bangkok (formerly Natural Park Ramindra).

When they went under, they pissed off about 13,000+ former golf course members, whose memberships were stripped out in the bankruptcy .. maybe even some forum members here.

Yup .. that was us.

Long, long story to this investment, and a fascinating chapter in my book of life.

Once rehabilitated and profitable, we sold them to 3 high net worth Thai investors who I understand returned to operating the courses as before .. high volume, low quality, cheap golf .. a race to the bottom.

[maxtroy]

3 hours ago, brutox said:

 

If you've been around awhile, you might recall new investors buying from the bank the then bankrupted Natural Park golf courses, now known as Mountain Shadow (formerly Natural Park Hill) and Crystal Bay (Natural Park Resort) in Chonburi, and the Legacy course in Bangkok (formerly Natural Park Ramindra).

When they went under, they pissed off about 13,000+ former golf course members, whose memberships were stripped out in the bankruptcy .. maybe even some forum members here.

Yup .. that was us.

Long, long story to this investment, and a fascinating chapter in my book of life.

Once rehabilitated and profitable, we sold them to 3 high net worth Thai investors who I understand returned to operating the courses as before .. high volume, low quality, cheap golf .. a race to the bottom.

Thanks for pulling back the curtain and confirming what me and other people have suspected . I am only familiar with Mountain Shadow and Crystal Bay and each time we visit we question who is mis managing this golf course . At least Crystal Bay has maintained the golf course while letting the facilities slowly decline . Mountain Shadow hasn't even bothered to maintain the course as bare lies are much to common .

They have the cheap golf going for them but it's been a few years where we have seen very many auto's in the parking lot . 

Understandable when you tell us high net worth Thai's bought the courses as they are clearly run as hobbies and not as businesses.

Be nice to see someone(s) return them to their former glory .

[Harve]

On April 10, 2017 at 1:10 PM, farcanal said:

".......pay zero attention to the rates posted on the golf courses websites".......

What about Pattaya Sports Club rates?......plenty of "sport days" during low season, even the Big 3 at Siam have a massive discount in May

Siam Old course is not having a sports day this year. Waterside & Plantation will have as usual

[brutox]

17 hours ago, maxtroy said:

Thanks for pulling back the curtain and confirming what me and other people have suspected . I am only familiar with Mountain Shadow and Crystal Bay and each time we visit we question who is mis managing this golf course . At least Crystal Bay has maintained the golf course while letting the facilities slowly decline . Mountain Shadow hasn't even bothered to maintain the course as bare lies are much to common .

They have the cheap golf going for them but it's been a few years where we have seen very many auto's in the parking lot . 

Understandable when you tell us high net worth Thai's bought the courses as they are clearly run as hobbies and not as businesses.

Be nice to see someone(s) return them to their former glory .

Ashamed about Mountain Shadow .. all three courses were repositioned to maximize their unique competitive advantages .. but, of the three, Mountain Shadow was the pearl that the previous owners did not recognize .. it gave us the greatest uplift in value .. once it was cleaned-up, properly positioned and promoted, it was the best performing of the trio .. better even than our Nicklaus-designed Legacy course in BKK.

The MD the new owners brought in was a typical Thai manager, with no notable history managing other courses at a high standard .. nice guy, but very old school .. within a short period, the three golf course managers I trained-up and had running the three courses left him .. they were young next-gen Thais to whom I introduced a more progressive management system under which they bloomed .. during the transition, I could tell my guys would not stay around for long, and they didn't.

About a year into the rehabilitation, my CFO called me, all in a panic, to report that the Thai Revenue Department wanted to meet .. he was freaked .. we were operating all above board, conforming to Thai GAAP, reporting profit and paying taxes, no messing around, so I told him to open the books .. we concealed nothing, which kept the extortionists out of our business .. (the Chonburi mafia tried us, though .. could get nothing on us).

So, I met the Revenue Department agent, with my CFO, tax consultant, and lawyer .. surprise, surprise, she was on a fact-finding mission .. she didn't want to talk about 'negotiating' our taxes at all, but wanted us to explain to her about how the business works .. she said we were the only course of the 15-20 within her jurisdiction that reported profits and paid taxes, in like forever .. she wanted to understand why .. so I dumped on her the whole business school case study .. margins, operating ratios, budgets, all of it.

So, maxtroy, when you suspect the new owners might be in it as a hobby only, that might be so .. ummm, but not exclusively so .. while there is surely a vanity to owning your own golf course (similar to owning your own hotel here), based on the Revenue Department agent interview, many golf courses here apparently operate to launder money .. it can be an all-cash operation, if you want .. reasonably several hundred thousand THB daily, and a course's revenues can probably be deceptively inflated quite a bit higher for tax auditors who know nothing about the business.

Another interesting factoid .. during my acquisition due diligence, I discovered that fully 40% of the trailing 3-years of golf rounds for all three courses were non-revenue rounds .. plus, huge complimentary F&B numbers .. go figure.

[maxtroy]

Well those alterior motives would never have occurred to me but it does make perfect sense as it is generally a cash business .  

With your knowledge can you put a percentage on what the chances would be of opening a golf course where caddy's were not mandatory . As you know they dramatically increase the cost .  Is there a legal requirement to employ caddies or is it an unwritten rule . I once played a 9 hole course on the navy base in Sattahip and there were no caddies .

[Kanga]

3 hours ago, brutox said:

Ashamed about Mountain Shadow .. all three courses were repositioned to maximize their unique competitive advantages .. but, of the three, Mountain Shadow was the pearl that the previous owners did not recognize .. it gave us the greatest uplift in value .. once it was cleaned-up, properly positioned and promoted, it was the best performing of the trio .. better even than our Nicklaus-designed Legacy course in BKK.

The MD the new owners brought in was a typical Thai manager, with no notable history managing other courses at a high standard .. nice guy, but very old school .. within a short period, the three golf course managers I trained-up and had running the three courses left him .. they were young next-gen Thais to whom I introduced a more progressive management system under which they bloomed .. during the transition, I could tell my guys would not stay around for long, and they didn't.

About a year into the rehabilitation, my CFO called me, all in a panic, to report that the Thai Revenue Department wanted to meet .. he was freaked .. we were operating all above board, conforming to Thai GAAP, reporting profit and paying taxes, no messing around, so I told him to open the books .. we concealed nothing, which kept the extortionists out of our business .. (the Chonburi mafia tried us, though .. could get nothing on us).

So, I met the Revenue Department agent, with my CFO, tax consultant, and lawyer .. surprise, surprise, she was on a fact-finding mission .. she didn't want to talk about 'negotiating' our taxes at all, but wanted us to explain to her about how the business works .. she said we were the only course of the 15-20 within her jurisdiction that reported profits and paid taxes, in like forever .. she wanted to understand why .. so I dumped on her the whole business school case study .. margins, operating ratios, budgets, all of it.

So, maxtroy, when you suspect the new owners might be in it as a hobby only, that might be so .. ummm, but not exclusively so .. while there is surely a vanity to owning your own golf course (similar to owning your own hotel here), based on the Revenue Department agent interview, many golf courses here apparently operate to launder money .. it can be an all-cash operation, if you want .. reasonably several hundred thousand THB daily, and a course's revenues can probably be deceptively inflated quite a bit higher for tax auditors who know nothing about the business.

Another interesting factoid .. during my acquisition due diligence, I discovered that fully 40% of the trailing 3-years of golf rounds for all three courses were non-revenue rounds .. plus, huge complimentary F&B numbers .. go figure.

Very interesting. Is their however a practical reason why courses (all I think) insist on the caddie fee being paid in cash even if the green fee and cart are paid by card? 

[brutox]

2 hours ago, Kanga said:

Very interesting. Is their however a practical reason why courses (all I think) insist on the caddie fee being paid in cash even if the green fee and cart are paid by card? 

The caddie fee goes to the caddie .. a fraction of which is paid by them to the caddie master.

Cash eliminates the delay in getting money into the pocket of your caddie .. when money is passed through too many hands here, temptation is great and bad things happen .. these gurls do not have a lot of money.

So, be generous to the good caddies, especially during the low season .. they live and die by high season golfers and they work their asses off, in the heat, hauling around a bag of clubs weighing half their own body weight .. (give that a try yourself some day).

[brutox]

4 hours ago, maxtroy said:

Well those alterior motives would never have occurred to me but it does make perfect sense as it is generally a cash business .  

With your knowledge can you put a percentage on what the chances would be of opening a golf course where caddy's were not mandatory . As you know they dramatically increase the cost .  Is there a legal requirement to employ caddies or is it an unwritten rule . I once played a 9 hole course on the navy base in Sattahip and there were no caddies .

Caddies are mandated by no government regulation .. they are overwhelmingly demanded .. by the market .. one of the features that make Thai golf so much fun.

Talk to some of the regular duffers here .. when you have a regular caddie (you can reserve them in advance) who knows your capabilities and knows the course, they will take strokes off your score .. and once they get to know you, some of these caddies are an absolute scream.

Percentages on opening a course with no caddies? .. I wouldn't even think of it.

C'mon, maxtroy .. for what they do, a good caddie is a best value for your entertainment spend .. really .. and their added cost is not so dramatic.

I can see how a mandated cart, plus a caddie is a concern to discount golfers.

We mandated carts during peak play days to speed the throughput .. and, to stoke the coffers during high demand periods .. ours was a dynamic demand-pricing calculus.

Price sensitive golfers could play on days when carts were not mandated, but we did not really focus on discount golfers .. we charged higher fees in return for a better quality round .. fewer golfers .. no waiting on tee boxes, or fairways .. 4 hours and 15 minutes on and off was our gold standard .. no 5-somes .. miss your tee time, you get pushed off .. course masters (and caddies) pushed slow golfers, or directed faster golfers to play through.

That separated us from other courses that fought over high volume, cheap golf.

[farcanal]

8 hours ago, brutox said:

Caddies are mandated by no government regulation .. they are overwhelmingly demanded .. by the market .. one of the features that make Thai golf so much fun.

Talk to some of the regular duffers here .. when you have a regular caddie (you can reserve them in advance) who knows your capabilities and knows the course, they will take strokes off your score .. and once they get to know you, some of these caddies are an absolute scream.

Percentages on opening a course with no caddies? .. I wouldn't even think of it.

C'mon, maxtroy .. for what they do, a good caddie is a best value for your entertainment spend .. really .. and their added cost is not so dramatic.

I can see how a mandated cart, plus a caddie is a concern to discount golfers.

We mandated carts during peak play days to speed the throughput .. and, to stoke the coffers during high demand periods .. ours was a dynamic demand-pricing calculus.

Price sensitive golfers could play on days when carts were not mandated, but we did not really focus on discount golfers .. we charged higher fees in return for a better quality round .. fewer golfers .. no waiting on tee boxes, or fairways .. 4 hours and 15 minutes on and off was our gold standard .. no 5-somes .. miss your tee time, you get pushed off .. course masters (and caddies) pushed slow golfers, or directed faster golfers to play through.

That separated us from other courses that fought over high volume, cheap golf.

Re caddies...could not agree more.

The caddie experience is one of the many things I (and my group) look forward to when we play golf in Thailand.

4 hours with a cute lady who gets golf, is willing to sledge with the best of them, has a wicked sense of humour.....who would want to play golf in Thailand without a caddie?

[farcanal]

16 hours ago, brutox said:

Ashamed about Mountain Shadow .. all three courses were repositioned to maximize their unique competitive advantages .. but, of the three, Mountain Shadow was the pearl that the previous owners did not recognize .. it gave us the greatest uplift in value .. once it was cleaned-up, properly positioned and promoted, it was the best performing of the trio .. better even than our Nicklaus-designed Legacy course in BKK.

The MD the new owners brought in was a typical Thai manager, with no notable history managing other courses at a high standard .. nice guy, but very old school .. within a short period, the three golf course managers I trained-up and had running the three courses left him .. they were young next-gen Thais to whom I introduced a more progressive management system under which they bloomed .. during the transition, I could tell my guys would not stay around for long, and they didn't.

About a year into the rehabilitation, my CFO called me, all in a panic, to report that the Thai Revenue Department wanted to meet .. he was freaked .. we were operating all above board, conforming to Thai GAAP, reporting profit and paying taxes, no messing around, so I told him to open the books .. we concealed nothing, which kept the extortionists out of our business .. (the Chonburi mafia tried us, though .. could get nothing on us).

So, I met the Revenue Department agent, with my CFO, tax consultant, and lawyer .. surprise, surprise, she was on a fact-finding mission .. she didn't want to talk about 'negotiating' our taxes at all, but wanted us to explain to her about how the business works .. she said we were the only course of the 15-20 within her jurisdiction that reported profits and paid taxes, in like forever .. she wanted to understand why .. so I dumped on her the whole business school case study .. margins, operating ratios, budgets, all of it.

So, maxtroy, when you suspect the new owners might be in it as a hobby only, that might be so .. ummm, but not exclusively so .. while there is surely a vanity to owning your own golf course (similar to owning your own hotel here), based on the Revenue Department agent interview, many golf courses here apparently operate to launder money .. it can be an all-cash operation, if you want .. reasonably several hundred thousand THB daily, and a course's revenues can probably be deceptively inflated quite a bit higher for tax auditors who know nothing about the business.

Another interesting factoid .. during my acquisition due diligence, I discovered that fully 40% of the trailing 3-years of golf rounds for all three courses were non-revenue rounds .. plus, huge complimentary F&B numbers .. go figure.

Thanks Brutox for this interesting revelation on Crystal Bay and Mountain Shadow.

For many years these courses were ones we played regularly, we play 10 games in our 2 week trips and always played these at least once, sometimes twice.

Sadly , their condition has deteriorated to such a level that now we don't even consider them now.

In particular we loved MS, so much potential.

I feel for the caddies....can't be much work for them out there

[maxtroy]

17 hours ago, brutox said:

Caddies are mandated by no government regulation .. they are overwhelmingly demanded .. by the market .. one of the features that make Thai golf so much fun.

Talk to some of the regular duffers here .. when you have a regular caddie (you can reserve them in advance) who knows your capabilities and knows the course, they will take strokes off your score .. and once they get to know you, some of these caddies are an absolute scream.

Percentages on opening a course with no caddies? .. I wouldn't even think of it.

C'mon, maxtroy .. for what they do, a good caddie is a best value for your entertainment spend .. really .. and their added cost is not so dramatic.

I can see how a mandated cart, plus a caddie is a concern to discount golfers.

We mandated carts during peak play days to speed the throughput .. and, to stoke the coffers during high demand periods .. ours was a dynamic demand-pricing calculus.

Price sensitive golfers could play on days when carts were not mandated, but we did not really focus on discount golfers .. we charged higher fees in return for a better quality round .. fewer golfers .. no waiting on tee boxes, or fairways .. 4 hours and 15 minutes on and off was our gold standard .. no 5-somes .. miss your tee time, you get pushed off .. course masters (and caddies) pushed slow golfers, or directed faster golfers to play through.

That separated us from other courses that fought over high volume, cheap golf.

We have diametrically opposing views on caddies or as I call them companions (lol) because 99 % are no where near being a caddie . I actually find golf to be fun and have no need  to interact with an simple village girl who has next to no knowledge of basically anything remotely interesting to a westerner .  Really do not look forward to " How old you , how long you caddy , where you stay , how many babies ,.  I am paying to be allowed to be bored senseless by a woman (not always sure she is female, 555,  not judging just saying ) with the added treat of speaking a bastardized Thai/English that she has made little to no effort to improve in the years she has been companioning for Westerners .

I have been golfing in Thailand for several years and have seen some of the rudest behaviour exhibited on golf courses from Westerners but it is often from exasperation as once again a companion moves into their line of sight when putting , steps on their line , doesn't announce there is a hidden OB marker, places the ball a cm. in front of the marker on the green , and the list goes on and on .

There is clearly no training given to these people . It is unfair to them and poor service to the customer.  In my opinion it is the poorest value for money and becomes laughable on courses with mandatory buggies where you also have to take a companion .

In a recent outing I had a companion (aka as caddie just in case someone thinks it was a playing partner 555)  , 50 year old , slow moving . toothless wonder trying to tweak my nipples and rub my crotch in the fucking fairway of the first hole .  I had to immediately put a stop to that and was left with an ugly face that now was overlayed with a sourpuss . 

The week before we were at Crystal Bay , where I had written down the companion number on a previous outing as she was pleasant to look at .

Regretably when I phoned to book her I was told Crystal Bay no longer takes caddy bookings . On arrival we were faced with 4 of the ugliest collection of companions I had seen , ever. I ended up with the least objectionable of the 4 . On entering to pay we were greeted by the hot cashier at check in . This girl is very attractive and the lads make a point of saying hello whenever they play Crystal Bay . She informed us that it was now the golfers responsibility to get the phone number from the companion so we could book directly with the lady . Wonder how long before this trend catches on .

For the record i have companions  ask me to book them next time because . with me , one of the easiest jobs , for what they are paid , in Thailand is easier still . I let them know I don't want the handsome man crap. Just be pleasant and keep up . 300 baht tip , money to buy their own drink and they usually put the money in their pocket  and we part smiling . They are smiling because they had a stress free relaxed day and I don;t feel like I paid to look an unattractive , wrinkly old face all day . I have a few caddies I book at select courses and it is probably the only reason i don't give up on golf in Thailand . Being an Ex-Pat golf is my main recreation for the months I winter here so I am pretty much a guaranteed round twice a week . 

You would think that more companions would catch on to the value of golfers booking them on a regular basis . I have never seen a companion give out some kind of business card so the golfer could easily book them next time . Usually they write down their number for you . a few have asked to put their number in my phone but I explain  Tilak  might have an issue with that 555. 

I may be in the minority when it comes to companions but it sure would be nice to have the option of not taking one . 

 

 

[Harve]

On April 14, 2017 at 6:12 PM, Kanga said:

Very interesting. Is their however a practical reason why courses (all I think) insist on the caddie fee being paid in cash even if the green fee and cart are paid by card? 

Correct Kanga the only courses I know for sure that allow you to pay for the caddy by card is the 3 Siam courses , I know as I always pay by my card there. I think maybe Laem Chabang as well but cannot be sure. The girls at Siam receive their money from the course after the round even if you pay by card. After the round you are asked to rate your caddy by just placing their card in a box provided..They receive a bonus of between 500 to 1,000 baht if they receive an exceptional rating throughout the month.

 I have had the same caddy at Siam Old Course since it was redone some 10 years ago. She is now 27. To me for what it costs I would not want to play a round without her or another caddy I know there . They are  friends & we have a great day when out there together have many times been out to lunches & dinners with them & their families. ( no i don't pay for the meals  all the time ). Personally to me it is just part of playing golf in Thailand. Guess I am easy to please 555