Golf In An Exotic Land

Filed in archive Golf Travel on April 9, 2007

Thai Muang golf club, Phuket, Thailand

The Masters is over for another year; the first major of the season, done. And it was a good one.

As much as it is the first major, the Masters has always signified the true beginning of another golf season for millions of amateur golfers in North America.

Spring has been with us for several weeks, now. Some of us have experienced it more than others in North America where much of the continent has been subjected to cold temperatures.

So, it's not feeling a lot like the true beginning of another golf season.

Not so in Thailand. Spring has arrived in full force, there. In fact, southeast Asia is only weeks away from the start of its monsoon season.

Thailand is an exotic country. I recently wrote a story about the extent and quality of golf in that country and pointed readers to a golf site called Golfasian.com, maintained by Mark Siegel.

Mark also maintains another site called Thailandgolfzone.com.

He's a specialist on golf in Thailand and, in fact, operates a golf travel company in Bangkok that organizes tours throughout the country.

He's an avid golfer himself.

Mark is an interesting cat. He is American but hasn't lived in the States for 20 years or more.

He fell in love with southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, when working for an international corporation.

I arranged an interview with Mark last week. Thailand is 11 hours ahead of me (eastern time zone, North America), so when we spoke it was nine o'clock at night in Toronto and eight the next morning in Bangkok.

A cool rain was falling outside my office window; in Bangkok, the early sunshine was already nudging the temperature into the upper 20s Celsius or low 80s Fahrenheit.

Click below to listen. As always, allow a couple of minutes for the download from Creative Weblogging's servers in California.

Comments are welcomed of course and questions answered! Enjoy.

Siegel.mp3