SAMUT PRAKAN, Thailand – There’s been a lot of Lido talk in recent years in golf architecture circles. A new Lido opened this summer at Sand Valley in Wisconsin, attempting to recreate in great detail the original Lido course that was built in 1915 on Long Island, New York, with a design by C.B. Macdonald – that course was closed during World War II.
But Sand Valley’s rendition isn’t the only one.
Ballyshear Golf Links at Ban Rakat Club just east of Bangkok opened in 2021, and like its cousin in Wisconsin, this Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner design attempts to recreate many of the holes from the original Lido, sometimes in principle and at other times in detail.
At Ballyshear, Hanse and Wagner put into play many of the template holes established by Macdonald at the original Lido and beyond. The Eden, Channel, Alps, Short and Redan – each of those template holes and more are there to be played in Thailand. Such holes present shot values and demands identified by Macdonald that are now in play around the world, many of them borrowed from classic links courses. These holes are immediately recognizable to golf architecture buffs.
The back nine of Ballyshear Golf Links at Ban Rakat Club near Bangkok, Thailand (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Ballyshear was built on the site of the former Kiarti Thanee Country Club on a flat piece of land less than half an hour’s drive from Suvarnabhumi International Airport. The former course on the property featured tree-lined fairways and was often wet, as land in this area outside Bangkok is often inundated during heavy rains – the property is surrounded by rice fields.
Hanse and Wagner – the team behind several restorations of top classic courses, including Los Angeles Country Club before the 2023 U.S. Open – removed the trees, shaping the land into an open parcel more reminiscent of a classic links course. Much better drainage was installed, and a fair amount of engineering was necessary to create frequently rolling terrain that would hold up in the area’s climate.
That’s important, because the course needs to play relatively firm and fast to get the most of the template holes, their designs having been established on links ground and the best of them playing across sandy conditions. The ball needs to roll to make the most of such holes.
The private Ballyshear was covered with a local zoysia grass that does, indeed, play relatively firm and fast, especially in comparison to most other courses in Southeast Asia. A well-traveled player won’t confuse the conditions with those found on the links of Scotland or Ireland, but the ball does want to roll out a fair bit at Ballyshear, bringing the ground game into play.
Using the Lido templates was an intriguing idea for the Ballyshear site, as the land was flat to begin with. The original Lido was created by dredging a saltwater expanse and piling up the land until it was dry, then establishing interesting contours. Hanse and Wagner were able to do the same in Thailand. The use of the template holes from the Lido expanded on that theme.
The best part of Ballyshear: the shaping of the greens. Hanse and Wagner built some tremendous swales, valleys and ridges into these greens, many of them utilizing the traditional template greens. The putting speeds of the zoysia greens at Ballyshear will likely never be too fast, allowing the slopes to serve their purposes without getting out of hand. In that regard, they play much more like classic greens would have decades ago before the pursuit of speed rendered some classic slopes unplayable.
In all, Ballyshear (par 71, 6,690 yards) makes for a very different experience than found in much of Thailand, which has rapidly expanded as a golf destination in recent decades. From the low-slung, unobtrusive and perfectly comfortable clubhouse to all the nods at classic design, it’s a beautiful place to spend a day chasing a bouncing golf ball.
Check out a selection of photos from my recent trip to Thailand that included a stop at Ballyshear below.
No. 1 Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 1 at Ballyshear Golf Links at Ban Rakat Club in Thailand is a take on…
No. 1 at Ballyshear Golf Links at Ban Rakat Club in Thailand is a take on the Narrows template hole, with bunkers pinching the fairway where the tee ball should land on the 386-yard par 4. The hole sets the tone for the round at Ballyshear with sand seemingly everywhere. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 2 at Ballyshear Golf Links
With more sand, No. 2 at Ballyshear Golf Links in Thailand forces a golfer to keep…
With more sand, No. 2 at Ballyshear Golf Links in Thailand forces a golfer to keep the tee shot as far right as possible to set up an approach over or between the bunkers that pinch the approach into the green of the 490-yard, dogleg-left par 4. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 3 at Ballyshear Golf Links
A small but deep trap, in essence a pot bunker but without the traditional stacked-sod face,…
A small but deep trap, in essence a pot bunker but without the traditional stacked-sod face, is carved into the front of the green of the 175-yard par-3 third at Ballyshear Golf Links. This is a take on the famous template hole called Eden. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 4 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 4 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the famous…
No. 4 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the famous Channel hole first designed by C.B. Macdonald. This 568-yard par 5 allows long hitters to shorten the hole by playing to the small patch of fairway to the right, but any tee ball that misses that patch will be struggling in sand. Players who go left down the main fairway can play the hole as a more traditional three-shot par 5. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
Nos. 7 and 8 at Ballyshear Golf Links
Nos. 7 (dogleg-right par 4, 479 yards) and 8 (par 3, 200 yards) at Ballyshear Golf…
Nos. 7 (dogleg-right par 4, 479 yards) and 8 (par 3, 200 yards) at Ballyshear Golf Links play into the westernmost corner of the property. The eighth green is a Biarritz, with a steep channel cut side to side as seen in the photo. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 10 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 10 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Alps…
No. 10 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Alps hole, with a large mound obstructing the view of the green from the left side of the fairway. A deep bunker short of the green guards that direct approach, and the green has a steep ridge running side to side. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 11 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 11 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Lagoon…
No. 11 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Lagoon hole. This version is a 408-yard par 4 that doglegs right to a green with two divided sections in the front and a raised level on the back of the putting surface. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 13 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 13 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Knoll…
No. 13 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Knoll hole. The green on the 307-yard par 4 is perched atop a small hill, and the elevated back-left portion of the green makes for a small target even with a wedge in hand. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 14 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 14 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Short…
No. 14 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the Short hole. This 110-yard par 3 features a thumbprint green, with a ridged depression at the center of the green. Balls will roll down and toward the flag when its placed in the depression, but any hole location toward the shoulders of the green makes for a difficult target. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 16 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 16 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the most…
No. 16 at Ballyshear Golf Links is Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s take on the most famous of template holes, the Redan. The front right portion of the green features a big mound, and the green runs down and away to the left from there on the 185-yard par 3. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
No. 18 at Ballyshear Golf Links
No. 18 at Ballyshear Golf Links, dubbed Home, is a 468-yard par 4 with a fairway…
No. 18 at Ballyshear Golf Links, dubbed Home, is a 468-yard par 4 with a fairway split by sand. Out of bounds runs down the entire left side with the driving range just farther to the left. A long tee shot to the right portion of the fairway sets up a great approach angle to most hole locations, but it’s a treacherous shot over the fingers of sand. (Jason Lusk/Golfweek)
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