Toscana Valley is the Khao Yai round you book for the spectacle and then find yourself concentrating hard on. An 18-hole Bob McFarland design opened in 2009, it drops into a steep valley beside Khao Yai National Park, inside a Tuscan-themed estate of villas, five hotels and a full-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa behind the 12th green. The theming is the hook; the golf is the surprise. Elevated tees, raised two-tier greens, deep bunkers and water on most holes make it one of the sternest tests in the area — and, on every rate sheet we checked, the most expensive. A one-round treat, not a base for the week.
This profile covers who built it, why the yardage comes in two versions, the holes to know, whether visitors can play a course still described as private, the road trip from Bangkok (Khao Yai has no airport), and how it compares with Kirimaya and Rancho Charnvee.
The course itself
The club’s own page credits Bob McFarland “together with Chanat Ruangkritya”; its 2022 newsletter says the course was “built by Chanat Ruangkritya, famous for creating several great Thai courses including St Andrews 2000”. Golfasian agrees: McFarland “provided initial drawings”, and the course was finished “after extensive local inputs and modifications to McFarland’s plans”. So: a McFarland routing with a strong local hand, and it plays that way — more forced carries and sterner greens than McFarland’s Rancho Charnvee down the road.
Par is 72 everywhere. Length is where the record splits: the club’s newsletter puts the back tees at 7,103 yards; Golfasian, GolfSavers, Where2Golf, golfscape and the club’s operator listings say 7,007; one listing’s text says 7,087 (its own spec box says 7,007). The forward figures agree, so this looks like a re-measured tee rather than an error.
| Tees | Yards (as published) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Back (blue) | 7,007 | Club newsletter: 7,103 |
| Yellow | 6,250–6,520 | Sources vary |
| White/yellow | 6,020 | |
| White | 5,605 | Three sources agree |
| Red | 4,831 | One listing: 4,825 |
The land is the point. Golfasian’s summary: “Raised greens, deep bunkers, and razor sharp fairway drops-offs” on every hole, and “Several of the par 4’s include 200 plus yard water carries.” The 18 greens are the real defence — heavily contoured, often two-tiered, usually perched above the approach. The newsletter lists zoysia fairways and Champion greens, and one oddity: yardage is marked by trees planted at 200, 150 and 100 yards rather than posts.
Conditioning reports are consistently good — a GolfSavers reviewer in February 2026 found it “very green and very well maintained” — with one recurring caveat: a Golfasian reviewer in May 2026 said “the recent green sanding and coring took away from the overall experience”, and coring also appears in a May 2023 review. Ask whether the greens have just been worked on (verify).
What it is known for
We found no professional event of record here and will not invent one; its standing is reputational. Golfasian’s listing calls it Khao Yai’s most challenging and exclusive course, Top 100 Golf Courses currently ranks it 24th in Thailand, and a Golfasian reviewer wrote in August 2023: “Best course in Khao Yai. Worth playing more than one time.” The other draw is the setting: an estate built as an Italian hill village, with the Pisa replica in most photographs of the back nine. As the club’s newsletter puts it, the course was created for the estate’s owners and hotel guests, which explains both the polish and the price.
The holes worth knowing
- 8th (par 3, 148 yds from the blue tees) — an island green; regulars told the newsletter’s writer “there are a lot of golf balls in the water here”.
- 12th (par 4, 379 yds per the club newsletter; 346 on the blue card) — the signature hole. Multi-tiered tees high above the valley, two water hazards below, then up to a raised green with, in Golfasian’s words, “a severe back-to-front and right-to-left slope that rejects anything not aimed close to pin” — the Leaning Tower behind it. Going long into the back bunkers “almost certainly prevents par”.
- 15th (par 4) — the second signature hole: a water carry of around 190 yards from another elevated tee, then pot bunkers around a raised green.
- 18th (par 5, 590 yds from the blue tees) — stroke index 1, a long dogleg climbing past two water hazards to a two-tiered green under the clubhouse; the longest hole on the blue-tee card.
The pattern, as a Golfasian reviewer noted in May 2024, is that the back nine is the harder half: “Very challenging 2nd 9. Every hole has water in front.”
Location and getting there
The address is 2 Moo 11, Ban Nenthong, Pong Ta Long, Pak Chong district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, beside the national park by the club’s description. Khao Yai has no commercial airport. Fly into Suvarnabhumi (BKK) or Don Mueang (DMK) and drive: published distances run from about 150 to 200 km, and the honest planning figure is two and a half to three hours, treated as approximate. Operators quote two hours; a Bangkok–Khao Yai driving guide gives two to two and a half via the M6 motorway, more on the older Highway 2, and warns that the Rangsit exit congests after about 7 am. Leave early.
By the club’s reckoning Kirimaya is about 10 km away, Rancho Charnvee 21 km and Khao Yai Golf Club 22 km; Lacol Khao Yai, a Chatrium hotel nearby, lists it at roughly 25 minutes.
Practical notes
Carts are compulsory — Golfasian explains the green-to-tee distances through the estate “are too far to walk” — and caddies are standard, as across Thailand; the club’s published visitor rate bundles green fee, caddie and cart. Fees and tipping are covered in our guide to caddies in Thailand. The course opens 6 am to 5 pm; the 18-bay range, in its own small valley with no perimeter fence, runs 8 am to 5 pm.
On access: Where2Golf calls it a private club taking limited visitor play by advance booking, and some listings still say residents only. In practice the club publishes a per-person rate on its own website with a separate Friday-to-Sunday and public-holiday price, and booking platforms were selling tee times, Sunday included, into late August 2026 — visitors are welcome, but book ahead. A few operator listings still say weekdays only; treat that as stale, but if a weekend round is the whole point of the trip, confirm it when you book (verify). On price, it is the top of the Khao Yai market, clearly so on weekdays and in the premium tier nationally; our Thailand golf cost guide explains where that sits, and you should confirm current rates with the club or your operator (verify). Friday to Sunday is priced above Monday to Thursday, and hotel packages on the estate advertise a special golf rate for guests (verify).
The estate runs five hotels — Hotel Portofino, Toscana Piazza, Castello Della Valle, Town Square Suites and Hotel La Casetta — and Castello Della Valle, the hilltop hotel, looks straight down onto the course. The clubhouse has a pro shop, the Club Cucina restaurant, an infinity pool, a gym and changing rooms. For the cool-season window that suits these hills, see our guide to the best time to play golf in Thailand.
Is it right for your trip?
Play it if you are coming to Khao Yai at all: it is the one course in the area that is also a sight, and the golf stands up without the theming. Low and mid handicappers get a genuine examination from the back and middle tees. Higher handicappers are not excluded — the newsletter’s 70-year-old writer played the 5,605-yard whites and called the course “fine for players of all ages and standards” — but from the wrong tee the 8th, 12th and 15th will take balls. Play forward and take the caddie’s line.
Skip it if value is the priority. A Golfasian reviewer in February 2023 put it plainly: “Considering the green fee, I don’t think it is value for money.” For the same money you could play Rancho Charnvee, McFarland’s more relaxed course and Golfasian’s number one in the area, and Kirimaya, the 2004 Jack Nicklaus layout about 10 km away, and still have change. Skip it too if villas around the fairways spoil the mountains for you.
Our shape for a long weekend: Kirimaya and Rancho Charnvee for the golf, Toscana Valley for the finale and the photographs. Slot it in with our Khao Yai golf guide, use the Thailand golf trip planner for the Bangkok leg, and build the rest from the Golf in Thailand hub.