Artitaya Golf&Resort Chiangmai

Artitaya Golf & Resort (former Gold canyon) is an hour outside Chiang Mai in a tranquil, rural setting of orchards, canyons and woodland. This is an unusual course that sits in contrast to most courses in Chiang Mai: it's rather open, with not much in the way of water or sand to inconvenience you. Instead, it's challenges lie in its length (at over 7,200 yards it's quite a trek) and the trees that are often unconventionally placed in the middle of fairways or on occasion right in front of the tee box.

While some may consider this a design flaw that is only likely to become exacerbated as these trees mature, other will delight in the need to play some unconventional shots off the tee.  Overall, the front nine is fairly straightforward, although a pair of par-4s bordering a lake, the 3rd and the 5th, involve tough approaches over water to peninsula greens. The back nine is better and more difficult, with tighter fairways and the aforementioned trees causing most of the problems. Water comes into play memorably on a couple of holes, notably the double dog-leg par-5 13th where you must drive over water to a fairway that zig-zags past a second lake that will punish sliced second shots. The short par-3 17th features water short and left, and when the pin is placed on the back left of the large green you really have to flirt with danger. The greens are in generally good condition, with enough undulations to keep the danger of the dreaded three putt ever present, although the greens on the back nine are occasionally sanded which is disappointing.