We had a game booked at Rooks Khorat Golf Club (note the spelling of Khorat varies, so both are acceptable). I read some reviews yesterday and they were not good. I looked at the map on Hole 19 (great program if you don’t already use it) and the course looked dubious. We drove down the pothole rutted road to get to the course and Deb and Rosie doubted there was a course at the end of the road.
Finally we got to the course and were surprised to see a quite substantial (but old) club building. In we went and paid for our game ($60 per person with caddy and shared buggy), bargain. The locker room was clearly run down, but we don’t use them so who cares. They were doing them up so who knows what it will be like in the future.
Bruce drove the golf buggy and the caddies stood on the back. Off we went. Very dry and dusty cart paths where you could see people just drove where ever they like. You could happily drive on the fairways, so no long walks in the hot humid conditions to get to your next shot. What more could you ask for.
The fairways were very good with excellent coverage of couch. The ground was a bit dry so your ball bounced and ran a long way. The greens were relatively flat and good pace. Some of the pin placements were a bit tough, but otherwise all was good.
Deb had a great game, she was getting good distance on her drives and her caddy helped her a lot with lining up her putts. Rosie shared the cart with Deb and gave her a few hints, her confidence improved greatly.
After the game we had a couple of beers and some spring rolls, everyone was very friendly and we also met up with a group of ex-pats who got together a couple of times a week to play golf. They all had Thai wives, couldn’t speak Thai themselves and enjoyed a free flowing chat in English. They were all loving life living in Thailand.
That night we walked down the road looking for a restaurant. Bruce saw a few on Google Maps that were all on the main road, so we walked down this until we found one that we would like. Deb was very supportive while we trudged along the road, but Neil and Rosie were very much of the “are we there yet” mindset.
We did find a very popular place so stopped there. We got our beers quickly, but it took us 15 minutes of using Google Lens to translate the menu until we could finally order. Once we ordered we excitedly waited for our food to be delivered.
A small robot came to our table and then beeped at us to take our meal off the tray, you then waved you hand in front of the screen and off it went to bring back the next dishes. We loved it.
The next day Bruce had planned on going to another Khmer ruin, but there was dissension in the ranks and during dinner that evening a coup took place and the group decided to bugger Bruce’s plans and go play golf again. Bruce sacrificed his plan for the greater good. Off to Korat CC again.
Bruce’s caddy was a lovely older lady who put the rest of us to shame. As we drove around in our buggy, she jogged to his ball carrying the clubs she thought he might need next. I asked her why she did this and said her knees needed the exercise. I think she only got on the cart about three time in the whole round.
I really like the uniforms of the caddies, they were quite modern compared to all the other uniforms we had seen. They looked good on the caddies as well.
The course played well again so we had another enjoyable game. Deb continued to improve, Rosie played her best game so far, as did Bruce. Neil played some excellent holes but also goes for shots that Bruce wouldn’t even consider. When they come off it is great, but unfortunately this only happens about 50% of the time.
We we got back to our accommodation, we are greeted by the doorman, who is very well dressed in his uniform. We love it.
This is our last night in Khorat, so we all took a walk through the shopping centre, which is decorated like an airport terminal, with each floor representing a different country. When you get to the top floor, you can walk through to an airport control tower and then catch the elevator to the top (for free) and get a great view over Korat.
Rosie and Bruce went off to the robot restaurant again tonight for a quite date, Deb felt we needed some privacy.
