Word: thailander
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...those living in Asia, Thailand makes for a great golf weekend. A Friday flight will get you in for a late afternoon round near Bangkok, then a three-hour train ride the next morning to Hua Hin will have you teeing off at the Royal Hua Hin, tel: (66-3) 2530 675, Thailand's oldest course, a mere 60-foot putt from the train station. World-class greens at Lakeview and Springfield lie minutes down the road. If you prefer to fly, Phuket's Blue Canyon Country Club, golforient.com/phuket/blue.htm, is a half-hour dogleg from Bangkok. Out of bounds...
...thinking. That's way too far left. What could Sawat, a village girl from northeastern Buriram province, know about putting? Caddies are mandatory in Thailand even if you opt for a golf cart, and I am happy for the assistance, but what I really need is a grizzled expert, not a polite servant. A two-stroke penalty for that line of thought: my putt curves like she said it would and plops in for a bogey, matching the Japanese who three-putt. As I learn on ensuing holes, Sawat knows what clubs to select, measures distances like a surveyor...
...Despite droughts, floods, snakes (another good reason to have a caddy) and 40?C heat, Thailand attracts thousands of golfers from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Europe each year. They come for the plentiful venues?more than 100 links across the country?and the low green fees: $14 for a cart, $12 for rental clubs and $8-$60 for 18 holes...
...THAILAND...
Gary Eisenberg has climbed mountains in Sri Lanka and scuba dived in Thailand. He has worked in a boatyard in Turkey and bartended in Portugal. He has roamed Egypt, Morocco and New Guinea. Yet this seasoned traveler--who globe-trotted for a decade before settling (at least for now) in New York City as a corporate lawyer--rarely takes a guidebook along. "As soon as a place gets listed," he explains, "everybody goes there. The quality drops, and it is hard...