You do not play Royal Hua Hin for the turf. You play it because this is where Thai golf effectively began, and because it sits in the middle of town hard against the railway station. Mature trees, small raised greens, macaques that steal balls, temple views from the high ground. The round is closer to a walk through Hua Hin’s history than a test of your game. Not the best course here — the most interesting one.
Below: the published numbers, the tangled history, the holes, the access, and who should skip it.
The course itself
Eighteen holes, par 72, both nines at par 36. The scorecard published by the club’s booking partners lists 6,678 yards off the men’s white tees (3,332 out, 3,346 in) and 5,713 off the red, rated 72.6, slope 130. GolfSavers publishes 6,077 metres, about 6,646 yards, so read it as roughly 6,650–6,680 yards rather than a precise figure. The 1928 layout was brought up to a standard 18-hole par 72 in the late 1950s, per Hua Hin Today, and remodelled in the 1980s.
That is mid-length, nowhere near a modern championship setup, and the defence is not yardage but trees, angles and greens. The ground is moderately hilly and works around limestone outcrops; fairways thread through mature timber, some over a century old according to Hua Hin Today. Holes dogleg, corridors are tight, and the greens are small, circular and often raised — defended by their perch rather than water, which barely features. From the high ground, views of the Gulf of Thailand and the town.
Be clear-eyed about conditioning: it is not groomed to the standard of the area’s newer resort courses, and it swings with the season — muddy through the rains, firm and quick when cool. The greens are the part most consistently reported as well kept year-round.
The history, and where the sources disagree
The club’s own history page gives no single opening date, and neither should we. It says the first nine were constructed in 1919 and opened in 1922 under King Rama VI, the King inaugurated the course in 1924, and the last nine were finished in 1928 under Rama VII. Hua Hin Today dates that first opening to 26 October 1922 and the royal inaugural round to 28 June 1924. Elsewhere the same page says flatly “opened in 1924” — the year the club counted from for its 2024 centenary. All four dates are real; anyone quoting one is compressing.
The club credits the project to Krom Phra Kamphaengphet Akarayothin under Rama VI’s approval — Prince Purachatra Jayakara, a son of King Chulalongkorn who ran the Royal Siamese Railway from 1917 to 1928 and is remembered as the father of Thai railways. Not decoration: the southern line made Hua Hin Thailand’s first beach resort, and the course was laid out beside it by the men who built the line.
On the designer we can confirm the role but not the name. The club’s site calls him “A.O. Robin, the Phetchaburi Railway Officer” and a “Senior Engineer with Thai railways,” and elsewhere “a Scottish railway engineer.” Hua Hin Today writes “Mr. A. O. Robin”; golf references print “A.O. Robins”; GolfSavers reverses the initials to “O.A. Robins.” Nothing settles his first name or the spelling, so trust the role — a Scottish engineer in Siamese railway service — not the name. The club credits input on the second nine to an unnamed Italian architect.
Then the claim you see everywhere: Thailand’s first golf course. Note how carefully the sources word it. The club says “the first standard golf course in Thailand”; Hua Hin Today, “Thailand’s oldest international standard golf course.” The qualifier does real work. The Royal Bangkok Sports Club was founded in 1901 and added golf in 1906, and Wikipedia, citing Erik Cohen’s 1995 study of Thai golf, calls the RBSC course only the second oldest in the country — implying something older again. Call it a strong claim to Thailand’s first full-size, standard course. The flat version fails a chronology check.
Tournament pedigree
Real, if modest. Thailand PGA staged the SINGHA-SAT Hua Hin Centenary Championship here from 26 to 28 June 2024, purse three million baht, won by Janpat Skulpaipisol at 14 under par, 202, closing with a six-under 66. Hua Hin Today reports the club has also hosted the King’s Cup, Queen’s Cup and national amateur, mixed foursome and junior events. No tour history, none claimed.
The holes worth knowing
- 3rd, par 5, 535 yards. First of the temple views, up at the tree-clad hills.
- 7th, par 4, 385 yards. Where2Golf records small owls in a big tree left of the green.
- 13th, par 4, 356 yards. Uphill, macaques in the vegetation alongside. They take balls and move them, with no relief.
- 14th, par 3, 149 yards. Usually named the signature hole, for the views rather than the difficulty.
- 17th and 18th, par 4s of 413 and 440 yards. The back nine’s longest two-shotters, back to back — only the 444-yard 6th is longer, and the finish has teeth.
Location and getting there
Hua Hin sub-district, Hua Hin district, Prachuap Khiri Khan 77110 — immediately beside Hua Hin railway station, in the town itself. Agents quote five to ten minutes from the centre; from beachfront hotels, a short taxi ride. Hua Hin is 199 km by road south-southwest of Bangkok.
The rail option is the real quirk, and a good one: nine trains a day from Bangkok’s Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal (Bang Sue Grand Station), which took over Southern Line services from Hua Lamphong, in three to four hours. With the course next door, you can step off a train and reach the first tee faster here than anywhere else in Thailand. Trains now use the new station opened on 11 December 2023; the much-photographed old building, rebuilt in 1926, and its royal waiting pavilion stand alongside.
By road from Suvarnabhumi (BKK) it is about 208 km and a little over three hours without bad traffic; Don Mueang (DMK) adds a city crossing. Hua Hin’s own airport, HHQ (ICAO VTPH), sits about 7 km north of town but as of July 2026 runs domestic routes only: Phuket, Hat Yai and Surat Thani with EZY Airlines, Chiang Mai with Thai AirAsia. No international service and no Bangkok flight listed — useful for adding Hua Hin to a southern or northern leg, useless for arriving from the capital (verify current schedules).
Practical notes
- Caddies. Standard at Thai clubs and in every listing here; listings that state a policy mark them compulsory (verify). Take one — on blind angles and raised greens, local knowledge pays.
- Buggies. Optional, per the listings we read. The site is compact but genuinely undulating: walking works early, hard labour by mid-afternoon.
- Dress code. The club publishes none. Agents list the standard Thai code — collared shirt, no round-neck t-shirts, knee-length shorts fine (verify).
- On course. Drink and snack kiosks about every three holes, per two references. Driving range, pro shop, lockers and the club’s Golf Inn on site.
- Price. We do not publish green fees; they move by season, tee time and channel. Positionally this is the value end of the Hua Hin market, below the modern resort courses (verify current rates).
Is it right for your trip?
Book it if history is part of why you travel to play; if you want a round with no transfer from a town-centre hotel; if you are a mid-to-high handicapper who would rather shape shots between trees than carry forced hazards; or if a non-golfing partner can be on the beach minutes after you tee off. A good arrival-day round: no car needed.
Skip it if you judge a course on turf quality and modern design and the trip has room only for the region’s best. If one big round is all you get, put it at Black Mountain Golf Club and keep Royal Hua Hin for the extra day. Skip it too if you need wide fairways and soft greens, or travel in the wet months.
Start with our Hua Hin golf guide, the Golf in Thailand hub and the Thailand golf course directory. Then read when to play golf in Thailand — it matters more here than at courses with big drainage budgets — plus what golf in Thailand costs and how the Thai caddie system works. Our Thailand golf trip planner will slot this one where it belongs: the round you will remember, if not the one you scored best on.
Photo: Baybay1901, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=126538391