When the Asian Tour brought a full-field professional event to northern Thailand, it chose this course — twice. Alpine Golf Resort Chiang Mai, 27 holes laid across a wooded valley southeast of the city, hosted the Chiangmai Golf Classic in 2013 and 2014 and remains the closest thing the north has to a true tournament venue. It is long, water-strewn and maintained to a standard few provincial Thai courses match, with a 78-room resort on the property. On a golf-first trip to Chiang Mai, this is a must-play.
Below: the club’s two-name history, how the Ron Garl rebuild plays, the tour pedigree (and the Bangkok namesake it keeps getting confused with), the holes that decide your score, and the practical side — transfers, caddies, timing and cost.
The course itself
The club opened in 1990 as Chiangmai-Lamphun Golf Club, named for the two provinces whose border it sits on; one course guide credits the original layout to a local golf enthusiast rather than a name architect. The transformation came under new ownership carrying the Alpine name, which commissioned a full rebuild: American architect Ron Garl — working, by the club’s account, alongside Thai designer Pirapon Namatra of GolfEast, the architect who later built Nikanti (the club’s own site spells the name “Nanatra”) — reworked the property, and it relaunched in its current form in 2008 as Alpine Golf Resort.
Today there are 27 holes in three named nines — A (Morning), B (Valley) and C (Sanctuary) — spread over some 450 rai (roughly 72 hectares) of valley floor and low wooded hills in the San Kamphaeng forest country. The A and B nines form the championship eighteen: par 72 and, by the figure most guides publish, 7,541 yards from the black tees; the Asian Tour set it up at 7,471. Published yardages vary between sources, but from the tips this is one of the longest examinations in Thailand. The regular men’s tees are listed at around 6,800 yards and the forward markers under 5,900, so everyone else has somewhere sensible to play from.
The character is rolling parkland: tree-lined in stretches, open in others, with creeks and lakes threaded through contoured ground and green hills ringing the horizon. Conditioning is a point of pride — the club advertises tournament pace on the greens, a Stimpmeter reading of 10 by its own account.
The Sanctuary nine, added in 2016, is the change of scenery. Its holes run through three distinct zones — a pine-lined parkland stretch, a wetland section played over marsh, and a stretch through working rice paddies, where the club claims the first paddy-field green in Thailand. It is a genuine third act rather than nine spare holes — a 27-hole day here never repeats itself.
Tournament pedigree
The property’s big-event history predates the Alpine name. As Chiangmai-Lamphun Golf Club it staged the golf competition of the Southeast Asian Games in December 1995, the year Chiang Mai hosted the Games. The rebuilt course then landed the Asian Tour’s Chiangmai Golf Classic, a US$750,000 event, in both 2013 and 2014: Australia’s Scott Hend won the inaugural edition at 20-under-par 268, and India’s Rashid Khan took the 2014 title by a single stroke before the tournament left the schedule. The club also collected a run of best-golf-resort awards in those same years.
One warning: this is not Alpine Golf & Sports Club, the storied course in Pathum Thani outside Bangkok. The two share an owner and a brand — the Chiang Mai property was acquired and rebranded by the group behind the Bangkok club — but nothing else that matters to your scorecard: different provinces, different layouts, different tournament histories. Aggregator sites blend their facts constantly. If a claim about the Chiang Mai course sounds like it belongs to a Bangkok major, it probably does.
The holes worth knowing
The fourth on the A nine is the headline act: a 652-yard par five that one operator bills as the longest in Thailand. Nobody reaches it in two; it is a three-shot exam in placement, longer still into a breeze.
The ninth on the A nine is the thinking hole — a par four routed over an island fairway, so you cross water twice — onto the island off the tee, then off it into the green. Take the club that guarantees the island, not the one that flirts with the far edge.
Early on the B nine comes the card-wrecker: the second hole of the Valley loop — the eleventh of the championship routing — a 524-yard par four that doglegs left with water running the entire left side. For most visitors it plays as a de facto par five; walk off with a five and feel no shame.
And on the Sanctuary nine, the hole you will photograph is the paddy-field par three, its green sitting amid planted rice fields — an image you will not find on another course in Thailand, if the club’s claim to the country’s first paddy green holds.
Location and getting there
The resort lies about 25–26 kilometres east-southeast of Chiang Mai’s old city, off the San Kamphaeng–Ban Thi road (routes 1317 and 1147 locally). It genuinely straddles border country: the club’s own mailing address reads Chiang Mai, postcode 50130, while hotel platforms list the property under Ban Thi district in Lamphun province — the original Chiangmai-Lamphun name was the accurate one. Practically, none of this matters: treat it as part of the Chiang Mai rotation, and see our Chiang Mai golf guide for how it fits alongside the city’s other courses.
From Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX) the club advertises a 30-minute transfer; operators list the resort about 38 kilometres from the airport and quote around 40 minutes from downtown, and the longer figure is the safer plan — the airport sits on the far, southwestern side of the city. From hotels in the Old City or Nimman, allow 35–45 minutes depending on traffic through San Kamphaeng. This is private-transfer territory: hotel car, Grab or golf-package pickup.
Practical notes
Caddies are mandatory, as at nearly every Thai club; budget for the fee and tip on top of the green fee, and read our guide to the Thai caddie system and tipping before you go. Carts are effectively part of the deal — booking operators list the buggy as compulsory here — and over ground that rolls this much in the hot months you would not want to walk it anyway. The gates open at 6 a.m., and early times are the smart ones; our page on the best time to play golf in Thailand covers the seasons, and in the north you should also plan around the smoky season (roughly February to April), when agricultural burning can dull the views and the air quality.
On cost, expect the premium tier of the Chiang Mai market — though even peak-season rates in the north sit below what Bangkok’s marquee courses charge. Green fees move with season, tee time and booking channel, so confirm current rates directly with the club before you commit (verify); our breakdown of what golf in Thailand costs explains the moving parts. Higher handicappers are not shut out — the forward tees are listed under 5,900 yards and the caddies are used to visitors — but there is a lot of water on the championship eighteen, so pack a generous supply of balls.
Is it right for your trip?
If the golf matters more than the postcard, yes — this is the strongest all-round test in northern Thailand, and the combination of 27 holes with an on-site resort (78 rooms, spa, pool, driving range) makes it the region’s natural stay-and-play base. Book it if you are a single-figure or ambitious mid-handicap player, if playing a course with genuine tour history appeals, or if you want 27 holes in a day without repeating a nine.
Who should skip it: if you have one casual round in Chiang Mai and want scenery first, Chiang Mai Highlands is the prettier morning out — elevation, mountain backdrops and a gentler examination — while Alpine trades on length, water and green speed. True beginners will find the championship eighteen punishing even from the forward tees. And if your base is the Old City with a packed non-golf itinerary, the 40-minute each-way transfer is a real cost. Alpine rewards the golfer who comes for the golf.
Treat Alpine as one pillar of a northern swing rather than the whole trip. Build the rest of it with our golf in Thailand hub and the Thailand golf trip planner — and if the north anchors your itinerary, give this course two days: the Sanctuary nine deserves more than a hurried loop.