WP Golf Society Humour

A little light humour for our TEFL/TESL/TESOL course trainees to ease the strain of lesson planning and studying those TEFL Course modules!

WECI teacher Monte Webb, a keen but “amateur” golfer recently wrote a series of articles, featuring a number of well known and lesser known local golf courses. Monte has kindly allowed us to include these on our WECI TEFL website, as a little light relief, and to provide an “amateurs” viewpoint, proving to TEFL course trainees that golfing in Thailand can be fun, no matter what your handicap!

Together with fellow WECI teacher, Gary, they formed the WP Golf Society of Thailand. To find out what is stands for read on…

Amateur Golfing in Thailand – Lake View – Article 1

By: Monte Webb Cofounder of the W.P. Golf Society of Thailand

During our recent rainy season it has become necessary to add a few things to the ol’ golf bag. Wading boots, snorkel and swim fins just to name a few. And that’s just for the fairways. How many times have you ever seen a diver come out of a water hazard holding your recently lost ball?

Here in the beautiful Seaside City of Hua Hin we are surrounded by six well-known golf courses and one not so well known. I will try to focus on each course individually as I go. The one that leaps to mind is the aptly named “Lake View”.

Located just 30 kilometers from downtown. Some of the more well to do amateurs and pros toss their clubs in pick-ups or cars and drive while others rely on one of the many shuttle services in town. My friend and society cofounder Gary and I grab the bungi cords and strap our clubs and girlfriends to the back of our motorbikes (the most popular mode of transportation here in Thailand), fire up those all powerful 125cc engines and away we go.

A derriere pounding 20-30 minutes later we roll into the mist of a bevy of beautiful (and some not so beautiful) ladies dressed like field hands at harvest time called caddies. I’m still not sure how they keep from passing out from heat exhaustion because they usually have on about 3 layers of clothing counting the caddie suit that covers them from head to toe. It’s not unusual to see only a pair of eyes blinking out at you for the duration of the game.

Since the courses were all designed by famous professional golfers the first stop you will need to make is the pro shop to buy an extra bag of balls and tees. If you lose only 1 ball every 2-3 holes you’re winning no matter what your final score is and if you play a course often enough you’ll probably end up buying your own balls back from a previous game.

Another rare treat playing in Thailand is that when the caddie goes foraging of into the woods to locate your last shot she will most likely come back bearing some kind of native fruit or plant to nourish you along the way. There are also well-stocked kiosks at most tee boxes where you can sit back in the shade and have a cold beer or other beverage. Some stock snacks and others carry a small 1 or 2 course meal. All in all it’s a very relaxing and enjoyable way to play.