Next year’s Centara World Masters Golf Championship is the perfect excuse to mark your return to international golf travel
We get it – you can’t wait to pack the passport and golf clubs together again after a tiresome two-and-a-half years navigating the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hard part now is picking a suitable destination that’s going to meet all your logistical and leisurely needs, right? Perhaps a place bursting with cultural significance and incredible hospitality? Maybe some mouth-watering food and otherworldly scenery is an absolute must? Oh, and golf courses… really good golf courses. That’s mandatory.
Well, for a location that showcases Thai culture and great golf, it’s hard to beat the refined seaside setting of Hua Hin. Located on the western side of the Gulf of Thailand, Hua Hin has been the Royal family’s preferred holiday destination for more than a century. It’s also become the home of one of the world’s premier amateur golf tournaments – the Centara World Masters Golf Championship – set to be staged from June 11-17, 2023.
Hundreds of players, including many from Australia, will tee off at three award-winning courses: Banyan Golf Club, Black Mountain Golf Club and Springfield Royal Country Club. Most of the competitors will be accommodated at Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Hua Hin, the five-star beachfront heritage hotel which dates from the 1920s.
Asia’s biggest tournament for amateur golfers, this six-day festival of sport will offer incredible prizes across a range of age groups and handicap divisions. It really is the perfect tonic for travel-starved golfers looking for a return to normalcy in their lives.
Black Mountain Golf Club [featured] has been rated in the World’s Top 100 Golf Courses by Golf Digest and played host to several European and Asian Tour events. Australian architect Phil Ryan designed an impressive 27 holes named after the surrounding black granite-covered mountains.
Banyan Golf Club may be even better. Also built on a former pineapple plantation, its Thai architect has taken advantage of natural topography through a valley with breath-taking mountain and ocean views.
And then there’s Springfield Royal Country Club – Jack Nicklaus’ gift to Hua Hin, boasting 27 holes with all of the Golden Bear’s trademark bunkering and green complexes.
While Hua Hin boasts many leading international hotels, one in particular stands out. Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas is one of the great hotels of south-east Asia. The original Railway Hotel built in 1923 for Thai and visiting royalty and restored to its old colonial glory in 2005, this incredible hub is set among tropical gardens on a four-mile beach in the centre of Hua Hin.
The central Hua Hin location makes it a perfect base for any golf holiday as all the region’s golf courses are located within 25 minutes of the Centara. Dining is available in seven on-site restaurants, three bars, a tea room or at any of the six enticing swimming pools.
To register for the 2023 Centara World Masters Golf Championship, visit thailandworldmasters.com. For more information about the Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas, visit centarahotelsresorts.com/
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