Black Mountain Golf Club
Phil Ryan of Pacific Coast Design carved Black Mountain out of jungle and pineapple plantations in a valley of black granite hills 10 km west of town; the first 18 opened in April 2007 and a third nine, the West, followed in 2016. From the championship tees the main course is 7,202 yards, par 72, Seashore Paspalum fairways and big, well-bunkered greens kept in tournament condition.
The tournament record is the deepest in Thailand outside Bangkok: Asian Tour events in 2009 and 2010, the Royal Trophy (Europe against Asia) in 2011, European Tour co-sanctioned events in 2015 and 2016, the International Series Thailand from 2022 to 2024 and the Black Mountain Championship in 2024. Golf Digest has listed it among its 100 best courses outside the United States since 2012, the first Thai course to make that list.
Rates from the club's own page: green fee THB 2,500, caddie 350, cart 750 and compulsory, rental clubs 1,500. Expect fast greens and water on the par-5 2nd of the East nine three times.
Pineapple Valley Golf Club (formerly Banyan)
The course most golfers still call Banyan was renamed Pineapple Valley. It was designed by Thai architect Pirapon Namatra on former pineapple fields 5 km south of Hua Hin; the club dates it to 2009, Golfasian to 2008. Par 72 and 7,361 yards, it rolls through natural contours with mountain views on one side and the sea on the other, and was named Best New Course in Asia in 2009.
It is the friendliest of the big three in one respect: carts (THB 850, with GPS) are optional and the club recommends one per player with the caddie driving. Caddie fee is 400 and the club's own etiquette page sets a minimum tip of 400. Green fee on the agent table: THB 2,200. Tee times are at 10-minute intervals, four players maximum, and the dress code is enforced down to socks.
Springfield Royal Country Club
Jack Nicklaus's only Hua Hin design opened in 1993 north of town toward Cha-am, about 30 minutes from the centre. Two Nicklaus nines (A and B) make a 7,043-yard par 72 of parkland, water and more than 130 bunkers; a third nine (C, 3,501 yards) by Lee Schmidt was added later. The closing hole plays to an island green.
Green fee THB 1,600, and it is the one Hua Hin course with a published twilight rate: 900 for a 14:00 to 15:30 start. Cart 750, rental clubs 900.
Royal Hua Hin Golf Course
The oldest 18-hole international-standard course in Thailand sits beside the town's ornate railway station. The first nine was built in 1919 and opened in 1922; King Rama VI inaugurated the course in 1924; the back nine was completed in 1928. The designer was A.O. Robins (the club spells it Robin), a Scottish railway engineer, which explains the location. Par 72, 6,678 yards by the club's card.
It plays like a British parkland course that has been in the tropics for a century: tight tree-lined fairways, elevated greens, a temple behind the par-3 14th and macaques around the 13th. Greens are slow and conditions vary with the season. Green fee THB 1,300; cart 750, clubs 800. Worth a round for the history, not the conditioning.
Majestic Creek Country Club
Dr Sukitti Klangvisai, who also built Loch Palm and Phuket Country Club, laid out Majestic Creek in 1993 in the foothills 18 to 20 km west of Hua Hin (the club says 25 minutes, Golfasian 40). Three nines, Creek, Lake and Waterfall, combine into a 6,982-yard par 72 from the back tees; the par-3 5th on the Waterfall nine plays to a waterfall. Greens were rebuilt with TifEagle in 2012. Green fee THB 1,350, the cheapest serious 27 holes in the area.
When to go
Hua Hin's wet season is shorter and gentler than Phuket's. Monthly rainfall peaks in October (251 mm) after a wet September (130 mm), then drops sharply to 74 mm in November and 13 mm in December and February. The classic season is November to April; April is the hottest month with highs of 33°C. From May to October afternoon showers are the pattern, and even then morning golf is usually fine.
Getting there and around
Drive or take a private transfer from Bangkok (two and a half to three hours). Once in Hua Hin, Royal Hua Hin is in town, Pineapple Valley 15 minutes south, Black Mountain 25 minutes west, Springfield 30 minutes north and Majestic Creek 30 to 40 minutes inland. Four rounds in four days without a single transfer over 40 minutes is the point of the place.
