Thai Muang Beach Golf & Marina

Thai Muang Beach Golf & Marina: GOLF COURSE WAS CLOSED IN 2011, on a permanent basis. The northern half of the old Thai Muang site is now occupied by Aquella Golf & Country Club, with a completely new Paul Reeves & Phil Ryan design, which opened in 2021 (see separate Where2Golf details).

[Original Where2Golf description for Thai Muang]: Here at Thai Muang, which sits just above Phuket, Perry Dye has crafted an intriguing golf course. Laid out on essentially flat and relatively open terrain alongside the majestic Andaman Sea, the layout contains many of the Dye-family's characteristic hallmarks. You may have to wait until the 17th and 18th holes for full-on views of the ocean, but prior to that the course serves up many challenging and entertaining holes.

The plentiful and varied array of bunkering will potentially play its part in proceedings, not least with several large sandy waste areas flanking the fairways. Dye has sculpted two wonderful par-3s (at 8 and 11), where small pot bunkers nestle in extravagant earthmounding, creating something of a grassy lunar landscape. At the 8th the bunkers are grass, on the 11th they are sand, and in both cases they are railway sleepered. It is rumoured there are more railway sleepers here than on the entire Singapore-Bangkok railroad!

Most Dye-designs are incomplete without water, and sure enough ponds and small lakes threaten on many occasions. At the long par-4 7th, a meagre sliver of fairway provides little comfort when weighed up against the wide and threatening water hazard that sits alongside it.

With a raft of design features incorporated into this always challenging layout, one hopes the renovation of Thai Muang will bring it back to its original "must play" status for golf visitors to Phuket.