Today we treated ourselves to a round at the Nikanti Golf Club. Steve has played there a couple of times before and had said how much he enjoyed it so we played it on our way to Bangkok.

Nikanti sits in the fresh air among former rice paddies about an hour from Bangkok proper and was established in 2014. Nikanti is a reasonably short course but uses water and elevated and undulating greens to give those that play the course a bit of a challenge.

It also has a unique routing. Rather than having a traditional front and back nine, Nikanti is made up of three loops of six, each one starting and ending at the main clubhouse. Finally, each circuit comprises two par-3s, two par-4s, and two par-5s. Having an equal number of par-3, par-4 and par-5 holes is somewhat controversial, but why not? Par-72 is still on offer, and it gives golfers the chance to play a wide variety of holes through the round.

I loved the course and played OK – I only lost 5 balls 😉. Steve played really well and it took him until the last hole to lose his first ball. Our caddies were sweet but boy did they have some lungs on them when they were yelling ‘four’ while standing right behind you 😡. The facilities are impressive and very modern and we made the most of them.