Chee Chan Golf Resort sits in a shallow bowl of land at the foot of Khao Chi Chan, the limestone escarpment south of Pattaya carrying a colossal gold-lined image of the Buddha on its face. That view is why most visitors book it, and it earns the billing: the cliff looms over the property rather than sitting politely on the horizon. Underneath is a well-built modern course by Golfplan, opened at the end of 2018.
Below: the design and published numbers, the mountain and how to treat it, the holes that matter, airport transfers, and who should play it.
The course itself
The club credits the design to David Dale of Golfplan, the California firm trading as Golfplan – Dale & Ramsey; independent listings also credit his partner Kevin Ramsey. The grand opening was 12 December 2018, per the club’s own press release and coverage in the Pattaya Mail — worth stating plainly, because a number of booking sites give 2019 instead.
It plays to par 72 over four tee sets. The club’s scorecard lists 7,345 yards from the black, 6,881 from the blue, 6,527 from the white and 5,406 from the red; GolfPass rating data matches, at 75.0/138 off the back and 71.4/129 off the white. That black-tee figure is long by Thai resort standards; the white tees are a normal holiday length.
The site runs to around 550 rai, and its value is that it is not flat. Pattaya’s coastal plain generally is, but Golfplan found roughly 25 metres of elevation change here, hemmed in by partly vegetated escarpments that industry coverage puts at up to 150 metres tall. Dale has described “several cavernous valleys” separating the holes, and that is how it feels — separate corridors rising toward the rock and falling back, not one open field.
The grassing was the other launch headline: zoysia on tees and fairways (unusual here, where bermuda dominates) and TifEagle bermuda greens, with drought-tolerant bahia framing the edges. The intent was a firm, fast surface with collection areas around the greens rather than heavy rough, and that is broadly what players report years on. The greens are quick. This is no longer a young course finding its feet, and conditioning is consistently rated among the best in the Pattaya area.
The mountain, and what the club is known for
Khao Chi Chan is an active place of worship, not a backdrop. The image on the cliff — published under the name Phra Phuttha Maha Wachira Uttamopat Satsada — is a line-etched outline cut into the limestone with laser equipment in 1996 and then inlaid with gold leaf, made to mark the fiftieth anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s accession. It is commonly called the largest cliff-carved Buddha image in the world. Dimensions vary by source: Wikipedia and the Pattaya Mail give 109 metres by 70, golf-trade coverage says 110, some travel sites claim 130. Treat the height as approximate.
The shrine grounds sit next door, are free to enter, keep daylight hours, and draw Thai visitors paying homage. Neither the club nor the site publishes a formal visitor code that we could find, so ordinary Thai temple etiquette applies if you walk over afterwards: shoulders and knees covered, footwear off in sacred interiors, feet never pointed toward a Buddha image, voices down. From the fairways you are only looking at it, which asks nothing of you beyond not treating it as scenery alone.
The club has no professional tournament record; what it has is recognition for build quality: Golfplan’s project page records it being voted Best Course in Thailand for 2019 by Asian Golf Monthly, it was named Thailand’s Best Golf Course 2020 at the World Golf Awards, and operations were placed under IMG at opening.
The holes worth knowing
Dale has said the routing deliberately points holes 5, 6, 11, 14 and 17 toward the mountain, with 11 and 17 also framing a Buddhist temple on a separate hillside. Add the 1st, which trade coverage and course references both describe as playing toward the image, and the setting is plainly engineered in rather than stumbled upon.
- 1st, par 4, 398/360 yards (black/white). A centre bunker splits the fairway, deep bunkering guards the approach, the cliff sits straight ahead.
- 2nd, par 5, 555 black. Water down the left essentially tee to green.
- 4th, par 4, 424/379. Bends around water on the left to a green sources agree is tiered.
- 6th, par 3, 202/165. A short hole aimed squarely at the image.
- 12th, par 3, 161/132/99 (black/white/red). Shortest hole on the card by some margin.
- 14th, par 5, 585 black. The longest, and on Dale’s mountain-facing list.
- 15th, par 4, 340/295/225. Short enough to tempt a driver.
- 17th, par 3, 217/177. Across water, with the image and the temple in frame. Sources differ on the bunkering, so read it from the tee.
Location and getting there
The address is 108/18 Moo 6, Na Jomtien, Sattahip district, Chonburi — inland from the coast road in the Silverlake area, beside Silverlake Vineyard and near the Columbia Pictures Aquaverse water park, roughly 20 km south-east of Pattaya.
The club publishes about 30 minutes from Pattaya City, 20 minutes from Jomtien Beach, 90 minutes from Suvarnabhumi (BKK) and 25 minutes from U-Tapao (UTP). Independent operators are less optimistic: roughly 110 minutes from Bangkok via Motorway 7, “about two hours” in trade coverage, and 40 rather than 30 minutes from central Pattaya. Budget two hours from BKK. Don Mueang (DMK) sits on the far northern side of Bangkok and nobody publishes a figure for it; allow meaningfully longer.
The UTP figure is the genuinely useful one: U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International is a short run up the coast, making this one of the few Thai courses you can play on an arrival or departure day.
Practical notes
A caddie is compulsory, as throughout the Pattaya market, and so is a buggy — with a cart-path-only rule. That changes the round: you walk further between path and ball than you expect, in full sun, so treat the on-course kiosks on both nines as part of the plan. Our guide to the Thai caddie system, etiquette and tipping covers what to hand over. Dress code is standard Thai golf attire — collared shirt, no denim, no round-neck t-shirts, no sports shorts, no singlets or beach footwear — but the club’s own site does not spell it out, so check when booking.
On price, Chee Chan presents itself as a premium product but sits in the upper-middle of the Pattaya market rather than at the very top, and rates move sharply with season, day of week and booking channel. Compulsory caddie and buggy are charged on top. (verify current rates with the club or your agent before budgeting.) Our page on what golf in Thailand actually costs explains how the components stack up.
Fairways are generous with little conventional rough, so a mid-to-high handicapper will find room off the tee. The punishment comes on and around the fast, contoured greens, and from water on a few holes. Play the white or red tees. It is not walkable.
Is it right for your trip?
Play it if you want one Pattaya round that could not be anywhere else in the world, and would rather get it from golf than a tour bus. Play it if conditioning matters more to you than architectural reputation, if your group is mixed-ability, or if you are flying into U-Tapao.
Skip it if you are a design purist working through the region’s most celebrated layouts — the Siam Country Club Old Course has the deeper competitive pedigree, and with only two tee times that one comes first. Skip it if cart-path-only golf in the heat sounds like a bad afternoon. And do not book it as a stay-and-play: despite “Resort” in the name, the club’s own facilities page lists a clubhouse, restaurant, range, academy and meeting room but no guest rooms, even though several third-party listings claim on-site accommodation. Confirm directly; otherwise base yourself in Jomtien or Pattaya.
For how it sits against the region, see our Pattaya golf guide and the wider Thailand golf course directory. If the trip is still taking shape, start at the Golf in Thailand hub, settle timing with the best time to play golf in Thailand, then build the itinerary with our Thailand golf trip planner.