Summit Green Valley is the Chiang Mai course you can play on the day you land. It sits 14 km north of the city on the Mae Rim road, one of the shortest transfers to a championship-length 18 in the north, and every hole is floodlit, so an evening round here is a normal booking rather than a favour. The golf earns the slot too: a 7,202-yard Denis Griffiths layout from 1990, built six years before the same architect produced Thai Country Club outside Bangkok. Conditioning is the variable, and we will be straight about it.
What follows: the design and numbers as the club publishes them, the holes that decide your round, what the place is really known for, and who should book it.
The course itself
Griffiths routed the course across the flat valley floor at Mae Sa, in Mae Rim district, and it opened in 1990 — a date Where2Golf and GolfPass give, though the club’s own site does not print it. Where2Golf describes the land honestly: “the originally flat terrain has been sculpted and mounded to produce gently-rolling palm-lined fairways, often flanked by water”. The club’s hole notes confirm it from the inside — split-level fairways on the 1st, 4th and 8th, elevated greens throughout, ridges and moguls the full length of the 11th. This is engineered ground, and it plays that way. The Ping River runs about a kilometre east, going by map data, but never enters the golf.
The club’s card sums exactly to its advertised totals:
| Tee | Out | In | Total | SSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 3,555 | 3,647 | 7,202 | 74 |
| Yellow | 3,384 | 3,491 | 6,875 | — |
| White | 3,211 | 3,279 | 6,490 | 70 |
| Red | 2,704 | 2,805 | 5,509 | — |
Par is 72, 36 out and 36 in; Where2Golf lists 7,205, 6,485 and 5,300 yards instead, and supplies the standard scratch scores above. At 7,202 yards off an SSS of 74 this is a long course by Thai standards; no shame in playing white. Character comes from water and palms rather than contour: the club promises water in play on nearly every hole, and greens that are large, receptive and “moderate to slightly fast”.
Conditioning is where opinion splits. Where2Golf is blunt: “Maintenance standards can vary from good to indifferent, but the layout will always provide a pleasing and challenging test.” GolfSavers’ 35 reviews average 3.7 overall but 4.1 for condition, and recent visitors lean positive — a January 2026 reviewer found “Fairways and greens in excellent condition”. The dissent is real: a January 2025 reviewer called it “Mediocre and there are better golf courses in Northern Thailand that are reasonably priced and the condition is so much better than Summit Green Valley”. Ask what is under maintenance when you book. The club does claim the course “drains exceptionally well during the wet season” — useful between June and October.
What it is known for
Not professional tournaments. We found no tour event of record here, and will not invent one: the Chiangmai Golf Classic the Asian Tour staged in 2013 and 2014 was played at Alpine, and 1995 SEA Games golf in Chiang Mai was held at Chiang Mai–Lamphun. What this club has instead is continuity. Its own site records that “This is the second golf course in the Summit Group, the first being in Bangkok”, and Where2Golf adds that the group also owns Summit Windmill Golf Club in the capital.
The architectural claim checks out. The club calls itself “Designed by Dennis Griffiths, the same architect as Thai Country Club in Bangkok” — the architect spells it Denis — and Thai Country Club, which opened in December 1996 and hosted the 1997 Asian Honda Classic that Tiger Woods won, is indeed his. Chiang Mai got him first, by six years.
Its present life is club golf: an academy opened in May 2024, the 4moles Golf Rendezvous PRO-AM League grand finale was played here in December 2025, and in August 2025 the club signed a partnership with Mission Hills in China. Societies and corporate days, not grandstands.
The holes worth knowing
- 1st, par 5, 610 yards — a huge opener and stroke index 2, up a split-level fairway with a lake down the left. The higher right shelf sets up the better second shot but demands accuracy past two bunkers.
- 6th, par 3, 186 yards — a wide green on an elevated peninsula, nearly ringed by water, bunkered front and left. Carrying the front is the whole hole; the club advises an extra club.
- 9th, par 4, 416 yards — the signature, and Where2Golf’s pick. The fairway is an island with sprawling bunkers both sides, and the approach carries more water to a steep, elevated green in front of the clubhouse.
- 13th, par 4, 467 yards — stroke index 1: a dogleg left with a lake down the left and into the approach, uphill to a small elevated green. Lay up and take five.
- 16th, par 3, 236 yards — a long one-shotter over bunkers and a steep upslope, trees and sand right. The club’s own note: “Par is an excellent score here.”
- 18th, par 5, 536 yards — curls left around a lake to a green under the clubhouse: reachable in two over the water, straightforward via the fairway right.
Location and getting there
The club sits at 186 Moo 1, Chotana Road, Mae Sa, in Mae Rim district. Chotana Road is Route 107, the highway north; Where2Golf puts it 14 km from the city. Routing over OpenStreetMap data gives roughly 18 km and 26 to 27 minutes from the old city, free-flowing, and 21 km and 35 minutes from Chiang Mai International Airport (CNX), on the far south-west side of town. The club advertises 20 minutes from the centre; optimistic, but even the realistic figure beats the resort courses we profile — Highlands 45 minutes from CNX, Alpine 30 to 40, Royal Chiang Mai an hour. In-town options such as Lanna and North Hill are closer still, if not on this scale of course.
Practical notes
Caddies are used by all players here, as across Thailand — our guide to how caddies work in Thailand covers fees and tipping. Carts are for hire but not compulsory: Where2Golf records walking as permitted and describes “Gently undulating terrain – easy to walk”, making this one of the few Chiang Mai courses a fit golfer can walk. Non-metal spikes only, practice facilities rated good, and a three-floor clubhouse with dining, pro shop and spa — though reviewers call the building dated rather than smart.
Two things to plan around. First, night golf: all 18 holes are floodlit, and the club’s promotions advertise “Day Golf, Twilight & Night Golf available every day” — in the hot months, the sensible way to play. Then crowds: Where2Golf calls it “one of the busiest courses around the northern city of Chiang Mai” and says you must book ahead. Pace of play is the weakest GolfSavers sub-score at 3.7 out of 5, so take an early or late tee time.
On money, Summit Green Valley sits in the upper-middle of the Chiang Mai market — in the same conversation as the resort courses, never the cheapest way to fill a day. At least one reviewer felt the rate outran the product, which is the risk when conditioning wobbles. Check current green fees, cart and caddie charges with the club or your operator (verify before booking); see our Thailand golf cost guide for how the tiers compare.
Is it right for your trip?
Book it if your Chiang Mai time is short and transfers matter: an arrival-day or departure-day round works here in a way it does not at the mountain clubs. Book it to play under lights, if you are without a car, or if you want a long, honest test where the trouble is visible and the fairways wide. Ball-strikers and walkers will enjoy it.
Skip it if you only have one round in the north. That round belongs to Chiang Mai Highlands for scenery and variety, or to Alpine Golf Resort Chiang Mai for tournament pedigree and conditioning. Skip it if mountain views are why you came north — the hills here are distant scenery, not terrain underfoot — or if presentation must be immaculate. Higher handicappers should tee it forward: 7,202 yards in the heat is nobody’s idea of a holiday.
As a second or third round it is a strong pick, pairing well with Royal Chiang Mai, the other designer-pedigree value play up north, or a quick nine at Chiang Mai Gymkhana Club in town. Build the week around it with our Chiang Mai golf guide, then plan the rest of the country from the Golf in Thailand hub.