Red Mountain

The verdict

For most of a century the Kathu valley in the middle of Phuket was strip mined for tin, and when the industry collapsed it left behind a scarred moonscape of red cliffs, spoil ridges and flooded pits. Morrow and Tikkanen's achievement, opened in 2007, was to see a golf course in the wreckage and to rout it so the scars became the spectacle: holes drop from jungle ridgelines into mine cuttings, fairways squeeze between oxidized rock walls, and the old workings now read as one of the most distinctive hazard sets in world golf.

It plays as boldly as it photographs. Elevation change is constant, the par 3s swing from drop shot theater to all carry intimidation, and the red rock frames demand commitment on nearly every tee. Conditioning and caddie service match the green fee, which has climbed to the top of the island's scale and is still worth it once per trip. Within Phuket the natural pairing is the more traditional championship test at Blue Canyon's Canyon Course and the breezy resort golf of Laguna Phuket; nationally it sits alongside Black Mountain in Hua Hin in the argument over Thailand's best.

The holes worth the trip

The routing uses the mine's levels like an amphitheater. Several tees sit high on the old spoil ridges with the hole laid out far below, so the first job on many holes is simply to trust the yardage over your eyes; the drops are big enough that a smooth swing with one less club is usually the play. Down in the cuttings, the red walls close in and the corridors tighten, and the contrast between the wide sky holes and the canyon holes gives the round a rhythm few modern courses manage.

Water is the other constant. The flooded workings supply lakes and ponds through the round, several of them pressed hard against greens so the approach is all carry with red rock behind, the single most photographed look on the course and the reason the 17th, a knee buckling short hole over water, fills Phuket camera rolls. The closing run brings the lakes and cliffs together for a finish that decides plenty of matches late.

It is not a long course on the card, and it does not need to be. The defense is the land itself: uneven stances, half blind angles where the mine refuses a clean line, greens with honest but quick movement, and the standing instruction every caddie here repeats, take the club for the number, not for your ego.

Where to stay nearby

Red Mountain sits in the center of the island, which makes almost any Phuket base workable. Patong is closest and loudest; Kata and Karon give beach mornings with a 25 minute drive to the tee; the Laguna complex at Bang Tao adds on site golf and the island's biggest spread of five star resorts. Groups who want quiet tend to base south at Rawai or Nai Harn and treat the driving as part of the holiday.

A proper Phuket golf week plays Red Mountain early, leaves room for a second crack at it, and fills the other mornings with Blue Canyon, Laguna Phuket and the coastal newcomer Aquella up the Andaman coast. Our 7 day Phuket itinerary sequences all of it, and our Phuket golf holidays page covers packages and pricing bands.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts in Phuket.