The memories of past shots hit came flooding back as I looked out at the picturesque panoramic view from the balcony of this award winning clubhouse. I fired off some questions to Jean-Pierre Schneider otherwise known as JP the clubs general manager. His life’s path has been well documented but just how this well organized Swiss from Geneva came to be at the helm of one of Thailand’s best golfing identities is an interesting tail.

     Having worked with a number of prestigious hotels such as the Peninsula Manila and the Kowloon in Hong Kong. He jumped at the chance of managing a new operation that the Peninsula Hotels group had just acquired in Thailand. He reflects of how lucky he was to host Tiger Woods on one of his rare visits back to his mother’s homeland which was the ‘Honda Classic’ in ’97---his win was well documented around the world and helped tremendously in getting the course recognized and ‘up-there’ as one of Asia’s best.

     He readily admits that one of the hardest parts of his job is balancing the necessity to optimize profitability while trying with his team of 480 staff, to consistently keep the ultimate golfing experience for members & guests. His honesty is refreshing whereby he pointed out to me that his greatest achievement is to be able to play the occasional round of golf while getting paid!

     It’s no coincidence that this particular club is seen as a role model by many of how a golf club should be run and its well oiled internal management is a credit to JP. It was with obvious pride that he showed me the backroom offices which would be taboo by the vast majority of others. Spotlessly clean and impeccably organized the offices mirrored his obsession of a ‘place for everything and every thing in its place’ which is clear to see as this attention to detail continues throughout the club.

     JP reminded me of my past dark schooldays when my French teacher had faced the impossible task of trying to get my repertoire past ‘Bonjour’---he was a character and was extremely well liked by all---as is JP, the self confessed ‘ashamedly useless player’! ---those who witnessed his presentation on the success story of ‘Thai Country Club’ at a resent Singapore golf conference, were all impressed at his honesty and the articulate & informative manner of the delivery.

     Thai Country Club is held in high esteem around the golfing world helped largely by continued televised tournaments, but also by a derived reputation as a smooth running perfect golfing machine, guaranteeing a golfing memory to remember. Experienced Tony Taylor and his faithful competent team take care of the hallowed course which is a dream to play, due to the incredible beauty & that continuing desire of always trying to improve the condition of the course. Its hard for a busy club not to give that feeling to a fresh visitor of not being that important and just another head to count, but one doesn’t have that feeling here is the whole procedure of getting you from the car park to the fist tee is flawless.

     British PGA professional and long time resident of the ‘land of smiles’ Daniel Wyborn brings PGA credibility to the establishment and has been stationed at the Country Club for a number of years now. This experienced, well known & respected professional golfer has helped tremendously in this Thai golfing institution’s progress to the elite ‘top’ end.

     The holes--nearly every single one --have that special rare golfing quality about them. A golf course can be judged several different ways---success at making money, great course, sublime service, super quality maintenance etc; ---but Thai Country Club seems to have it all. The world would have significantly fewer great courses if the sole motivation for their conception was to make a few people rich. This club makes an invaluable contribution to the game of golf in Thailand and full marks to those investors who were prepared to take a chance on this great property.

     One famous golf course architect was asked by the rather ‘snobbish’ committee of a distinguished British golf club the question “What do you think of the improvements to our course”? To which he answered the astonished committee “You mean the alterations.”------a bold comment indeed as many clubs feel that theirs is the best of the bunch. Not so ‘Thai Country Club’----for most informed golfers understand its pedigree!

     We are so lucky here in Thailand with so many wonderful courses that you must play in this golfing lifetime. Not to experience Thai Country Club, is to miss something that is an inspiration to all who love to play. One thing that needs to be said is that it is impossible to generalize about Thai golf courses. Thai Country Club is green, consistent, and fair because that’s what all members & guests demand. This is not a bad thing and it would be a mistake to assume that all golf clubs are built with the same principles. Many of the world’s best courses are not interested in holding big tournaments unless they happen to be major championships---but Thai Country Club looked closely into this phenomenon and their decision to hold some extremely good & prestigious evens has turned out to be astute decisions for the club’s reputation and business.

     This place just reeks of golf from the minute you drive pass security through the gate and up the long drive to the clubhouse. Like all endlessly fascinating courses, the questions asked of the player vary from day to day. Such courses are rare places indeed. Thai Country Club- as with all wonderful courses will produce a typically long, difficult examination which will certainly identify the best player.

     Strategically it is a brilliant course, as almost every hole presents a variety of options and like all great courses, it has fantastic short holes and epitomizes the old golf course architects beliefs that a course, where possible, should be arranged in two loops of nine holes and that there should be a large proportion of good two- shot holes, and at least four one shot holes. Rarely did the famous old architects refer to ‘par’ and were masters of building holes on the borderline of par.

     I will go on with the basic points that have stood the test of time because Thai Country Club has them all----“there should be little walking distance between the greens and the tees, greens and fairways should be sufficiently undulating, but there should be no hill climbing, every hole should be different in character, there should be a minimum of blindness for the approach shots, the course should have beautiful surroundings, and the artificial features should be so natural in appearance that the stranger in unable to distinguish them from nature itself., there should be a sufficient number of heroic carries but the weaker player should always have an alternative route open to him, there should be an infinite variety in the strokes required to play the various holes, there should be a complete absence of the annoyance and irritation caused by the necessity of searching for lost balls, the course should be so interesting that even a top player is consistently stimulated to improve his game however the course should be and arranged in such a way that the beginner should also be able to enjoy his round, that the texture of the greens and fairways should be perfect”.

     Please remember that these rules of golf course designing were written back in the late 1920’s and should be respected as the Thai Country Club has done.