Every golf trip to Pattaya eventually runs into Siam Country Club, and most itineraries stop at the famous Old Course and the dramatic Plantation. Siam Country Club Waterside, the estate’s third course, is the one visiting golfers underrate: an IMG-designed 18 from 2014, laid over flatter, lake-threaded ground — wide where its siblings are punishing, calm where they are theatrical — and, quietly, the layout the R&A and the Asian Tour have both trusted with serious championships. As the third round of a Siam stay, or the day a mixed-ability group plays together, it is the easy pick.
This profile covers the design and the published numbers, the tournament record most people don’t know Waterside has, the holes to think about before you reach them, and the practical side — access, caddies, carts and how the pricing positions against the rest of Pattaya.
The course itself
Waterside opened in 2014, designed by IMG Golf Course Design — a different hand from the Schmidt-Curley work on the renovated Old Course and the 27-hole Siam Country Club Plantation next door, and it shows. Where those two courses ride ridgelines and deep bunkering, Waterside spreads across roughly 200 acres of gently rolling, more open ground, with broad fairways, long sightlines and relatively few mature trees. The defining hazard is in the name: a series of lakes and ponds threads through the routing, and the club itself describes water as “a constant companion” around the course. Trade coverage reports that IMG returned in 2020 for a roughly three-month programme that widened fairways, reshaped every bunker and built new tee boxes — a single-source account, but one that fits the tee-set figures now on the club’s card.
It is a par 72, and a long one from the back: the club’s own scorecard gives 7,439 yards from the black tees, while where2golf and the GolfSavers listings publish 7,454 and Golfasian 7,407 — either way, a shade under 7,500. The club lists a course rating of 74.8 and a slope of 139 from the championship tees (some directories publish slightly different figures). That sounds fierce, but the tee spread is the point — the card runs down through five sets to 5,664 off the yellows and 5,301 off the reds (older listings still quote a 4,867-yard forward tee that predates the current card), and the width off the tee means mid- and high-handicappers lose far fewer balls here than the yardage suggests, provided they respect the water. The openness cuts both ways: with little tree cover, the prevailing wind is a genuine factor, and on a breezy day the course plays harder than its gentle looks.
A tournament record most visitors miss
First, the correction worth making: the Honda LPGA Thailand, the LPGA Tour’s long-running Pattaya stop, is not played here. Its home is the Siam Country Club Old Course (with a single 2009 detour to Plantation). If a booking agent sells Waterside as “the LPGA course,” they have the wrong lawn.
What Waterside does have is a championship résumé of its own, and a good one. In April 2022 it staged the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Series — two back-to-back events co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and the Ladies European Tour, with men and women in the same field. The first week produced one of the stories of the Asian golf year, when 15-year-old Thai amateur Ratchanon “TK” Chantananuwat won the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup at 20 under par, two clear of Joohyung “Tom” Kim, and was widely reported as the youngest male winner of a title on a main professional tour; Sihwan Kim took the Stableford Challenge the following week.
The R&A and the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation have used Waterside twice for the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific, the region’s flagship women’s amateur event, whose champion earns invitations into major championships. Chinese Taipei’s Ting-Hsuan Huang won the 2022 edition at 11 under; her compatriot Chun-Wei Wu won again on Waterside in February 2024 at a record 18-under-par 270. Elite fields keep shooting low numbers here — which tells you the course is fair — but the venue choice itself tells you the conditioning and infrastructure are tournament-grade.
The holes worth knowing
The club promotes two holes above the rest, both defined by water. The par-4 4th is the postcard — “beautifully framed by water and sky,” in the club’s own words, and pitched as “one of the most photographed short holes in the region.” Short par 4s with water tight to the target reward restraint; take the club that keeps you dry, not the one that flatters you.
The other is the 17th, a par 4 that in the club’s description “wraps around a shimmering lake” — the kind of hole where the direct line and the safe line diverge sharply, arriving with the match usually still alive. It headlines a finish that is Waterside at its most watery: course guides note that the closing three holes of each nine play along the lakes, so both the 9th and the 18th ask you to keep your nerve beside the hazard just when the card is adding up. The par-5 6th brings water into play too, early enough to set the tone for the day.
Location and getting there
Waterside sits on the Siam Country Club estate in the Pong area of Chonburi province, in the low hills east of Pattaya — alongside the Old Course, Plantation and the newest layout, Rolling Hills, which together make this an 81-hole property, the densest cluster of quality golf in the region. Waterside has a clubhouse of its own, a striking modern building with lockers, showers, a pro shop, a restaurant and putting and chipping areas alongside.
From Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), the club quotes roughly 90 minutes by car via Motorway 7, which makes Waterside workable as a first or last round of a trip that lands in Bangkok. From central Pattaya it is a 20–25 minute drive up Siam Country Club Road. There is no practical public transport; arrange a car through your hotel or a golf transfer service.
Practical notes
Siam Country Club runs a caddie-mandatory operation, as almost all Thai courses do, and its caddies are among the most experienced in the country — worth their fee on a course where the right side of every lake matters. Carts are listed as required at Waterside, in line with policy across the Siam estate, even though this is the estate’s flattest course; read our guide to how caddies work in Thailand before you go, including tipping etiquette.
One flag on a detail you may have read elsewhere: several booking platforms list night golf among Waterside’s amenities, but the club’s own website does not currently advertise floodlit play. If golf under lights is the reason you’re coming, confirm directly with the club before you build an evening round into the plan.
Green fees sit at the premium end of the Pattaya market, as they do on all the Siam courses, with the usual weekday/weekend gap and seasonal movement — (verify current rates with the club or your booking agent before you travel). Our overview of what a golf trip to Thailand costs puts that premium in context. Demand peaks in the cool, dry November–February window; in the hot months Waterside’s open, breezy ground is more bearable than most, but tee off early either way — see our guide to the best time to play golf in Thailand for the trade-offs.
Is it right for your trip?
Play Waterside if you are giving Siam Country Club more than one day — it is the natural third round after the Old Course and Plantation, and the contrast is the pleasure: subtlety, then spectacle, then space. It is also the smart choice for a group of mixed abilities, since the width and the tee spread let a 6-handicapper and a 26-handicapper enjoy the same course, and for anyone who simply likes the look of big water and big sky with a camera in the bag.
Skip it if you have exactly one Siam round in you: history says take the Old Course, drama says take Plantation, and Waterside is honourably third in that queue. Budget-focused travellers should note the premium applies across the whole estate — Pattaya has good golf for much less. And if you want elevation change and visual theatre from your Thai golf, this deliberately level, understated course is not where you’ll find it.
For the full local picture, our Pattaya golf guide covers the rest of the coast’s roster — including the cliff-face backdrop of Chee Chan Golf Resort if spectacle is what you’re after — and the Golf in Thailand hub has everything else you need to build the trip around it.