Review of Mission Hills Phuket (Long Post & Picture Intensive)

Folks,
I just wanna share my experience with you, when I played at the Jack Nicklaus designed Mission Hills Phuket, in my recent trip to Phuket. It was a Monday afternoon and I pretty much had the entire course to the wife and I.

Here is a picture of the clubhouse. It looks fine and dandy.

I did not take a picture of the pro shop but it is very well stocked on its Puma line of apparel and accessories. Thankfully, I am not a Ricky Fowler wanna be... else... the wallet will suffer!

Here are a couple of pictures of the course while we wait for lunch to be prepared



BTW, food is nice, we had thai shrimp cake as starters, a sandwich, Thai fried rice, and ice cold coconut. Price is equivalent to what you pay in SG club house.

I was cautioned to keep my expectations low on the course condition. If you go to http://phuket.com/ you can check out the Golf section and book return transfer, plus green fee, plus caddy fee. So, I just need to pay 700bhat for golf cart (one per golfer to be shared with your caddy) and recommended tip is 400 bhat as a min (about S$16)

Anyway, a view of the first hole from the wide friendly fairway

. Thankfully I found the centre of the fairway with a decent drive. btw, everything is measured in yards here

Here is a close up picture of my ball sitting in the middle of the 'fairway'

it is a shame, they let all these type of grass overrun the fairway, so there will be patches where the ball is sitting down and not sitting up. I feel that it is unfair as I expect the ball to be sitting up to reward good drives. After all, this is a resort type of golf course. Anyway, the fairway is firm and dry, and I noticed my ball runs more than what I get in SG courses

Greens? they are slow... not as bad as OCC type of slow greens... but they can trim down the grass a bit more to speed up the greens. I took a while to get used to the green speed. You can still stroke the ball, just down expect the ball to roll that much. Here is a close up of my ball on the green


One characteristic of this course is the liberal use of waste bunkers that the golf cart can drive in. But regardless if it is waste bunkers or green side bunkers or fairway bunkers, they are hard-panned, compact sand. You cannot open your club face to blast the ball as the bounce of the wedge will bounce off the hard sand and thinned your ball. You need to clip the ball cleanly... They got a lot of work to do replacing the sand. I can even see the drainage pipe at the base of many sand bunkers... it is that bad. I didn't take any pics of the bunkers, cos IMHO, its FUGLY!

The course is very scenic. At times, the backdrop is stunning with mountains and oceans in the background

The way the course is laid out reminds me of Jack Nicklaus' Seaview Course at Bintan Lagoon for certain holes

How did I fair? I played off blue tees, well, I started ok... then there was a 15mins rain delay after 5 holes and blew 3 holes... I ended my front nine with a score of 51. I steadied the ship in the back nine and got a respectable 43 (by my standards lah!) Missed many putts due to the slow green. But since it is the first time for me playing this course, I only take away the positives.


Overall, it is a good experience playing golf in Phuket. I wish the course condition is better to do justice on the great layout that Jack Nicklaus has designed. The staff are all very friendly and polite, taking care of your every needs. Perhaps the next trip, I'll take on the Red Mountain course which many who played there has nothing, but good things to say about that course. I hoped you enjoyed the pics.

Nice review! Much appreciated but it looks like I will be giving this course a skip.

tks u bro pocketace!

wa!! this place look very nice i wish i can go too

Pocket bro, you lucky guy! Wife so pretty and can play golf with you... envy you...

Great pictures btw!

Thanks guys.
@Rocky, pictures are taken from a 35mm point and shoot auto camera. I think if it's a DSLR, pictures will turn out better!
Just didn't wanna lug another camera bag this time.

Thanks for the FR !!!

Thanks Bro pocketace...Nice to know that you had a wonderful trip.