Golf In A Kingdom Members Scoop Thailand Golf Awards

Bangkok, November 8, 2011 – Members of the prestigious Golf In A Kingdom destination-marketing program were named the top three courses in Thailand at last week’s Asian Golf Summit in Pattaya. Black Mountain Golf Club, Hua Hin was declared best course in Thailand and the top championship course in Asia/Pacific in the Asian Golf Monthly awards. Thai Country Club near Bangkok was named second best course in Thailand, with Pineapple Valley Golf Club at Hua Hin third. Adding to the Golf In A Kingdom domination of the awards was the win by Siam Country Club’s Plantation layout as best-maintained course in Asia/Pacific. Thai Country Club was also named second best course in Asia/Pacific behind Kingston Heath in Melbourne, Australia, where Tiger Woods scored his most recent tournament victory almost exactly two years ago. Thai Country Club has a strong link with Tiger, who won the 1997 Honda Classic there – just his fourth professional victory – and whose nameplate adorns the number one locker. All four Thailand winning courses were founding members of Golf In A Kingdom (www.golfinakingdom.com), established in 2009 and which comprises the kingdom’s leading golf courses, resorts and hotels. In an emphatic endorsement of the quality of golf in the kingdom, Thailand took the gold award for the best golf destination in Asia/Pacific, followed by Indonesia and China. “These prestigious awards have been one of our long term goals from the beginning. To receive the top award after only four years is fantastic and we will keep working hard to retain this status,” the general manager of Black Mountain Golf Club, Harald Ellison, said. Black Mountain Golf Club, which opened in 2007, was named in its inaugural year as the best new course in Asia and the following year as the second best course in Thailand. This latest award reinforces Black Mountain’s stature among local and inbound golfers as an outstanding layout, designed by Phil Ryan, a partner in Pacific Coast Design in Melbourne, Australia. The championship layout, which hosted the 2009 Black Mountain Masters, an Asian Tour event won by Swedish star Johan Edfors, features stunning mountain backdrops, wonderful downhill and uphill holes and several with difficult water carries. The clubhouse and expansive dining terrace is one of the best in Thailand. On December 1, Black Mountain is opening a new par-3 course adjacent to its main layout. Visit www.bmghuahin.com This year’s awards to Thai Country Club are among many the championship layout has won since opening in 1996. The course, on the outskirts of Bangkok, was designed to USPGA standards by Denis Griffiths and has hosted six Asian Tour events and is widely regarded as the best conditioned course in Thailand, if not all of Asia. Visit www.thaicountryclub.com Pineapple Valley Golf Club, which opened in 2009, is a testing mountainside course set in natural surroundings near the seaside resort of Hua Hin. The property also includes Banyan Resort, a complex of private villas and pool villas near Hua Hin, a few minutes’ drive from the golf course. The golf clubhouse, situated on the highest part of the property, offers stunning vistas of the Burmese Mountains, while the course itself takes golfers on an undulating journey than can be made as difficult as they wish. Local Thai designer, Pirapon Namatra, provided four sets of well-spaced tees, allowing the course to play from 5087 yards up to an imposing 7361 yards. Visit www.banyanthailand.com Siam Country Club’s Plantation course opened in 2008, and a year later hosted the Honda LPGA championship, won by then world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa. The 27-hole, Schmidt-Curley design is situated on a former pineapple and tapioca plantation and is home to Asia’s first triple green, shaped like a clover. The sleek, ultra-modern birdwing clubhouse is worth visiting in its own right. Large ravines, multi-tiered greens, superb conditioning and spectacular views of the surrounding countryside are among many features of the course. Visit www.siamcountryclub.com —————————————————————————————————— For more information, contact: Paul Myers, Asian Travel Media, Bangkok Email: paul@asiantravelmedia.com Tel: +66 (0) 84 125 1894 (Thailand) or +61 407 738 453 (Australia)