Disc golf course owner hopes his site will join Pattaya’s ‘soft power’ list

Pracha Pliensri launched his disc golf course in 2020 and it now has 30 members, though all of them are foreigners. He added that interest in the golf course is growing, especially after he organised several international tournaments.

The last tournament was held in December 2023 with 45 contestants, of whom only eight were Thai, Pracha said.

Disc golf is like golf, but players throw frisbees at targets instead of using clubs and balls. Like golf, the aim is to cross every hole with the fewest throws possible.

Players throw the disc from the teeing area, to land it in the basket or hole. They throw again from where the disc has landed until it falls through the basket. The player with the fewest throws per hole wins the game.

Pracha said his golf course is located in a 20-rai coconut orchard near the Takian Tia community in Chonburi’s Bang Lamung district.

He initially turned his large coconut orchard, Fasai Iko Coconut Garden, into a community tourism site in 2016, where visitors were shown how fabric can be dyed using coconut husks. They were even given lessons on cooking and even making coffee with coconut milk.

Pracha said his venture began grabbing attention when he added a disc golf course to the grounds, adding that most of its members hailed from Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and other European nations.

The golf course is open daily from 8am to 6pm. The entrance fee is 200 baht per person and they can play all day.

People can also buy memberships, which cost 1,000 baht for one month, 1,500 for three months and 2,500 baht for six months.

Non-golfers can still take dying and cooking lessons. The garden also sells community products, including coconut soap and lip balm as well as shirts and scarfs dyed with coconut husks.