Sawatdee krap สวัสดี ครับ (greetings)! 

Over the past several years, Thailand has become the epicenter of far flying plastic in Southeast Asia. Transplanted farang (foreigner) Nigel “the Godfather” Mills and his wife Som started it all on the tourist mecca isle of Koh Samui – where their renowned Samui Swine annual event and 11-hole track are now managed by Terry “the Disc Golf Guy” Miller and long-time resident expat Luke Butch. Fast forward and today the Kingdom of Siam also has disc golf communities, courses and events in the northern temple strewn city of Chiang Mai, the towns of Trat and Chiang Rai, kickback Koh Mak Island, and the mega-tropolis that is Bangkok. Every winter, PDGA “Tour-ists” from northern Europe, USA, and Canada escape the cold and snow for the Southeast Asia circuit, where they join local, regional and Australasian players for several weeks of vacation disc golf in paradise.

As International Director, I recently had the privilege of visiting the rapidly growing hotbed that is Chiang Ma. One reason was to see firsthand the impact of the recent contributions the PDGA has made to Thailand. This includes the donation of boxes of former PDGA logo discs, which has put plastic into the hands of hundreds of kids, and a Marco Polo grant that funded 15 of local welder and player Pichet Panchurat’s awesome made in Thailand baskets. These targets have been gifted to schools and installed on courses in Chiang Mai and Trat. At the urging of the TD, I also signed up for the 3rd annual Chiang Mai Open (CMO) and stunningly aced my 2nd hole of sanctioned play in 6 years. (It was mostly downhill after that).

The CMO was held on 2 contrasting layouts – the more open Sand Creek ball golf course layout 15 km east of the city center, and the tighter, up and down, Lanna Rock Garden (LRG) track set in the foothills 10 km west of town. The event is the brainchild of TD Aaron Herman, ex-Virginian and organize-aholic. Aaron, along with his Thai spouse Mook, and oldest daughter Dtaeng Mo, began the CMO three years ago. They also have two younger children, Aaragorn and Galadriel. Assistant TD, Peter Laermanns from Deutschland, works with his Thai girlfriend Mai to maintain Lanna Rocks Disc Golf. Aaron, who runs an on-line international history school program, oversees the relationship with Sand Creek and the overall organization\implementation of the CMO, while Peter leads activities at Lanna Rock Garden, one of the area’s first courses, which was originally installed by yet another farang, Danny Diaz. Both courses feature long tee layouts, for the farther throwing Pro and MA1 divisions, as well as short tee layouts for the less seasoned or aging Amateur shooters. Lanna Rock Garden’s short and long tee layouts, as well as Sand Creek’s short tee layout provided many birdie or die opportunities, while Sand Creek’s long tee layout challenges even elite players!

Luring 95 players from 14 countries – one of the most international C-Tier fields anywhere – the CMO delivered in spades. We were treated to complementary transport to the courses each day from the official tournament hotel, iced beverages to stave off dehydration amid temps reaching 35 C, a free lunchtime buffet each day at Sand Creek, food trucks at Lanna Rock Garden, festivities every evening at event sponsor bars and restaurants, cool player packs and the option to purchase low-cost colorful Thai disc golf dry fit shirts. For those less inclined to party, options included the ubiquitous post-round recovery Thai massages for $10/hour, shopping for souvenirs at night markets, delicious grilled seafood and various other culinary options. There was also the once-in-a-lifetime chance to take in such renowned sights as the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple and Chiang Mai’s annual Flower Festival.

When the final putt slammed chains, Californian Shasta Criss had defended his 2024 CMO MPO title, having pulled away from Hawaiian Richard Creelman and Thailand’s #1 Tee Vetne with a scintillating, 1062 rated, 16 down on Sunday at Lanna. Raising the Tuay Rangwan Chang (Elephant Cup), Shasta declared “nowhere have I been made to feel more at home so far from home.” Other division winners hailed from the Philippines, Florida, Sweden, Michigan, Yasothon in eastern Thailand, and Korea. The complete results can be found here:  https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/86211 .

In closing, everyone is invited to experience disc golf in the land of smiles and get “Thai-dyed.” Some of you will, inevitably, choose to stay forever. In the meantime, and until next year’s CMO, we wai our magnanimous Thai and farang hosts, their families, and everyone else who contributed to making this a super cool event in paradise.

All photos by Brian Hoeniger and Chiang Mai Disc Golf