The Imperial Lakeview Hotel
& Golf Culb
36 Holes | Par 72 | By Roger Packard
| Opened 1993
About
the course
With four distinctly different 9 hole courses (the fourth
opened mid 2007), Lakeview is an excellent facility that
helps make this region a prime draw for golfers. The desert
course is unique in Thailand and is great fun to play; the
older more established championship 18 holes is an interesting
test of golf, laid out with just the right amount of water,
bunkers and forest to keep the golfer's concentration high.
The new 9-hole course will feature in the 2009 edition.
Play the championship course in the
morning, then sample one of the most interesting 9 holes
of golf in Thailand. It certainly has the feel of a course
in New Mexico or Arizona. Even the drinks stops have a desert
feel about them!
Playing
the course: White tees
The 3rd 392 yards par 4 on the Mountain
Course looks quite innocuous at first sight but, with bunkers
protecting the left and right and a stream 30 yards short
as well as a wickedly sloping green, you need to hit two
good shots and leave your ball below the hole. Above or
to either side of the cup will test your green reading ability.
Don't be surprised if there's a hold-up on this hole, as
the groups in front of yu will probably have spent a little
time 3 putting it.
On the Lake Course, the 10th
381 yards par 4 can be a beast. There's a stream
across the fairway just at the point most people would hit
a drive, so 5 wood or 3 iron off the tee is sensible. However,
this often leaves the sort of distance many people struggle
with, the 170 to 200 yards range, and the rouble does not
end there. The green is narrow in the neck and both sides
are protected by bunkers, the one on the right side being
large and deep enough to cause some strife.
The 16th 352 yards par 4 on
the Lake Course is a nice easy hole if you get it right.
Again, there's water at drivng distance, so take a 5 wood
and then hit a mid iron to the green. The water runs both
sides of the fairway on the second part of the hole and
a nasty little bunker protects the right of the green, but
two gookd shots will see you home. In an amateur tournament
recently a 20 handicap golfer put his second in the water,
dropped out for three and then sank his fourth from 160
yards out for an easy par net birdie.
The 19th
hole
The clubhouse, with a covered veranda, adjoins the hotel
and serves an excellent breakfast, especially the pancakes
and syrup, as well as lunch. There's also a swimming pool,
squash court, tennis court, snooker room and TV room, making
the facilities family-friendly. The hotel has well appointed
rooms overlooking the course which, together with the rest
of the facilities, makes Lakeview a superb destination.
If you do stay here and feel the need to go out in the evenings,
Cha Am and Hua Hin are not too far away.
