THAILAND SOCIAL

Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Social Golf 2024 in Sriracha brings out the best of golf in the region.

- YQ CHEN

It has never taken much to convince me to go on a golf trip to Thailand. Beautiful courses, great weather, and amazing food are just a few of the attractions. And when you throw in great value and easy access to and from golf courses, it’s a no brainer.

To make an easy thing even easier, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) puts together allinclusive packages once or twice a year that completely takes all the work out of planning and organising a golf trip. Of course, TAT takes the opportunity to introduce travellers to different parts of this golf-mad country, which only makes the trip all the more interesting.

I’ve had the good fortune to go on many of TAT’s trips, and in recent times, they’ve introduced the Social Golf series that is opened to the public. These are typically four or five-day itineraries that include three to four rounds of golf, hotel accommodations, breakfasts, all golf-related fees, and most importantly, all transfers including airport pickups and drop-offs. TAT Social Golf events also end with a grand gala dinner where prizes may be won.

The recent TAT Social Golf trip took us to the small city of Sriracha, halfway between Bangkok and Pattaya. It was a real eye-opener and I immediately fell in love with this charming town with its many value-formoney food scene. Interestingly, there is a large number of Japanese restaurants in Sriracha catering to the high number of Japanese – reported to number around 10.000 - living in the area. I was told that the city is home to some of the best izakaya in the country, attracting diners from as far away as Bangkok.