This is the course you play when the golf has to fit around a holiday rather than the other way round. It sits inside Laguna Phuket, a resort estate of “over 1,000 acres of lush parkland and beachfront” at Bang Tao on the island’s west coast, hosted within the Banyan Tree Phuket property. Paul Jansen’s reconstruction, finished in January 2015, gave an unremarkable resort layout real strategic content without making it punishing. That balance is the point of the place.
Below: what Jansen changed, why the published yardages disagree, the holes that decide your score, getting there, the caddie and buggy rules, and who should play here.
A Former Tin Mine, Rebuilt Twice
The land came first, and it was a mess. Laguna Phuket’s founders bought 222 hectares at Bang Tao Bay in 1984 — an abandoned, polluted tin mine that, by Laguna Phuket’s own account, was “considered a waste land.” A seven-year rehabilitation followed, including 7,000-plus trees planted to cleanse acid-laden soil. Banyan Tree Phuket opened in 1994, and the old mining pits became the lagoons you play around.
The course opened in 1992 as Banyan Tree Golf Club, designed by Max Wexler and David Abell (Golf Course Architecture reports 1992; Golf Asian gives 1993, and no club statement settles it). Two decades on, the Canadian architect Paul Jansen ran an 18-month reconstruction, reopening the course in early January 2015. The scope was broad: front and back nines reversed, new contours and water features added, fairways regraded and raised for drainage, tees, bunkers and greens rebuilt. “We have designed and graded the ground to help with surface drainage and to create strategic interest,” Jansen said.
Sustainability drove much of it — zoysia on the fairways, maintained turf giving way to woodchip and native-grass rough, the sprinkler count down from around 1,400 to under 800. Cart paths were built, meaning buggy golf here for the first time. The result reads the way Jansen’s work usually does: fairways generous but tilted, few bunkers placed where they matter, undulating greens with big run-offs, built to USGA specification. The nines differ — the outward half among the old mining water bodies, the inward half through mature trees and coconut groves.
Par is 71 everywhere you look, 35 out and 36 in. Length is where published figures fall apart. The club’s own layout page shows “6,770 yards” in its summary panel and “measuring 6,756 yards” in the paragraph beneath it; Golf Course Architecture reported 6,719 at the reopening; directories go as short as 6,654. We trust the January 2025 scorecard, whose nine-by-nine totals reconcile.
| Tee | Yards | Par |
|---|---|---|
| Black | 6,778 | 71 |
| Blue | 6,167 | 71 |
| White | 5,751 | 71 |
| Red | 5,232 | 71 |
The 2025 Enhancement Programme
Work is ongoing, and the club publishes it. From June 2025 the plan covers resurfacing all on-course tees with Zeon zoysia, rebuilding every bunker with synthetic faces, liners and drainage, exposing the water hazard on the 5th, rebuilding the 6th as a risk-reward par 4 of roughly 300 yards with tees on the lagoon edge, and dredging the lagoons between the 5th and 8th. If your scorecard predates your tee time, numbers will have moved.
Awards and Tour Pedigree
At the travel-award end the post-renovation record is strong: World Golf Awards lists Laguna as Thailand’s Best Golf Course in 2015, 2016 and 2019.
Tournament pedigree is thinner but real. The course hosted the Laguna Phuket Championship on the Asian Tour from 2 to 5 December 2021, a US$1 million event set up to par 70. Phachara Khongwatmai took his first Asian Tour title at 10 under (270), holing a 12-foot par putt on the 18th to beat Denwit Boriboonsub, Panuphol Pittayarat and Bio Kim by one, in wind reported at 25–30 km/h. It has not returned since — though the Asian Tour had been here before: Golf Business News notes the pre-redesign layout hosted the Singha Thailand Open in March 2009. Read the 2021 score as a professional would: 10 under over four windy rounds says a course that holds its dignity without being frightening.
Photo: Anton Zelenov, CC BY-SA 4.0 · commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=114202429
The Holes That Decide Your Score
- 2nd, par 3, 195 yards (black). Water wraps the right side and runs behind, and the green tilts toward it. The safe miss is left, and taking it costs nothing.
- 7th, par 5, 486 yards. The shortest par 5 and the clearest go/no-go on the front nine, water down both sides. The 2025 plan moves the blue, white and red tees back to add distance here.
- 10th, par 4, 321 yards. The inward half opens with one of the two shortest par 4s on the card — decisions rather than distance.
- 11th and 14th, par 5s, 569 and 573 yards. The two longest holes here, and the only places power converts cleanly into a score.
- 16th, par 3, 233 yards. The longest short hole, downhill with water right to a heavily contoured green that does not want to hold a long iron.
- 18th, par 4, 457 yards. A long dogleg forcing one last decision off the tee, and where the 2021 title was settled.
Location and Getting There
The address is 34 Moo 4, Srisoonthorn Road, Cherngtalay, Thalang, Phuket 83110 — Bang Tao, on the central west coast.
Phuket International Airport (HKT; ICAO VTSP, run by Airports of Thailand) sits at Mai Khao in the same Thalang district. Laguna’s own site puts the resort “just a 25-minute drive” away, with published distances of roughly 16–18 km — an easy arrival-day round.
Patong is about 18–20 km south. Golf Asian quotes 20 minutes from Patong Beach; treat that as a best case, because the west-coast road is slow whenever Phuket is busy. Stay inside Laguna and the transport question disappears: the six hotels on the estate — Banyan Tree, Angsana, Dusit Thani, SAii, Homm Suites and Cassia — are linked by a complimentary shuttle bus and boat, and the club’s Stay & Play page routes golf packages through Angsana Laguna Phuket and Cassia Phuket. That is the argument for basing a trip here rather than visiting.
Practical Notes Before You Tee Off
- Caddies are compulsory. The rules are blunt: “Each player must have his own set of clubs and must have his own caddie.” New to Thailand? Read our guide to the Thai caddie system, etiquette and tipping.
- Buggies are optional — the rate card lists carts separately, single or shared. Cart paths date from the Jansen work, but the ground is gentle and it walks easily.
- Groups and pace. Four players maximum, a four-hour target stretching to four and a half when busy. A single player “has no standing on the course.”
- Dress code and families. Collared shirts, golf slacks or Bermuda-length shorts, proper footwear; the clubhouse code is looser. Under-12s must be accompanied; junior and 9-hole rates are published.
- Pricing. A premium resort round rather than a bargain, but below Phuket’s priciest tee times. The published green fee is quoted with the caddie fee included; buggies are billed separately, and everything moves with season and channel. (verify all three with the club before you commit.) See what golf in Thailand costs.
- Timing. Early tee times, always; green-season afternoon showers are a real scheduling factor, and our guide to the best time to play golf in Thailand covers the trade-offs.
Is Laguna Right for Your Trip?
The resort-friendly reputation holds up, and that is not a criticism. Under 6,800 yards from the tips, wide-ish fairways, few bunkers and a par of 71 add up to a course where a mid-handicapper posts a number and a beginner survives; the interest sits in the green complexes, the run-offs and the water on the outward nine. Play it if you are based around Bang Tao, if your group’s handicaps are spread wide, if you travel with non-golfers, or if you want a round that will not beat you up.
Skip it if you have one round on the island and want the biggest test — that is Blue Canyon Country Club, on its own stretch of old tin-mining ground and a far more serious examination. Skip it if you measure a course by how often you pull driver, or if you are based far south in Kata or Karon.
Laguna is the sensible anchor for a Phuket golf trip rather than its highlight, and that is no bad thing. Pair it with the tougher options in our Phuket golf guide, fit it into an itinerary via Thailand golf packages, browse the rest in our Thailand golf course directory, or start at our Golf in Thailand hub.
Photo: Anton Zelenov, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · commons.wikimedia.org/?curid=114202430