TeeTimeHelper New Feature: Chat with your Golf Group

The TeeTimeHelper.com team is excited to introduce group chat messaging for golf events.

Groups now have the ability to post private chat messages only to the event group members.

Chats are specific to each event. Every event has it's own chat and only the members in that event have access to the chat messages.

Please note, you must RSVP for the event in order to view and send chat messages.

There are notable differences between the new "Chat Message" feature and the  "Send Message" administrative option.

The chat message feature available to all group members, as opposed to the  the "Send Message" feature which is only available to group organizers.

Chat messages are designed for everyone to read and contribute at their discretion. Do to quantity of messages, group members are not immediately notified of chat messages until they open the event details page.

The"Send Message" option (available only to the group administrator) is a one way communication directly sent to the group members e-mail address. Because of this, important notices should still be sent by the group administrator using the "Send Message" feature.

For clarification please contact us!

The TeeTimeHelper Team

View All Your TeeTimeHelper Golf Events

We have a great tool for all TeeTimeHelper users! You can view all of you upcoming events without clicking on e-mails. Just go to

http://www.teetimehelper.com/events

And all your events under your email will be listed. Please note for this feature to work it requires that you have viewed a tee time helper event in the past in the same web browser.

Happy Golfing
The TeeTimeHelper Team

TeeTimeHelper Traffic Increases 62%, Server Upgrade Completed

In order to keep up with ever increasing traffic and system resources for TeeTimeHelper we have increased our server processing capacity and bandwidth.


As the worlds #1 free tee time reservation system for golf groups continues to grow we deemed it necessary to invest in our server hardware.

Number of events have increased 48% and number of RSVPs have surged 62% compared to the same time last year.

This will allow us to process more invites and have quicker response times for the TeeTimeHelper server.

We appreciate your support,

The TeeTimeHelper Team

Silky Oak Country Club, Banchang Thailand

Silky Oak is one of a trio of golf courses 45 minutes outside of Pattaya, Thailand. St Andrews 2000 and Green Valley share the same clubhouse and facilities.

This is a smart move in that they can gain efficiency staff the clubhouse and locker rooms to serve more golfers. The downside is that the driving range is a long cart ride and the clubhouse is not near the 1st or 18th hole.

Since this is a cart course - you'd be insane to walk it as it can be very hot the distances between the holes/clubhouse/driving range is acceptable. The caddy is driving your cart so you need not worry about where you are going.

Overall the Silky Oak layout is a fun day out. There are a few short par threes. But some of the holes have some heft to them, especially after it rained and you're not getting much roll. Hole 5 has a forced carry off the tee, from the tips it is approximately 210 yards. We played from the whites so it was about 180 yards.

The green looked like they had a disease on many of them, and they were slower compared to other courses near Pattaya. However, they were playable and overall the pace was consistent.

Below are some pictures of Silky Oak Country Club, Banchang

Workshop at the driving range - changing a grip

Consistent fairways

Bunkering is acceptable but a little rough

Some of the greens looks like they are diseased

The Pattaya Golf Country Club - Pattaya, Thailand

Plenty of Caddies ready for work

Located 45 minutes outside of Pattaya, Thailand is the run down Pattaya Country Club.  In a nutshell the service was good, the caddies knowledgeable, and the facilities were  clean but dated. The course is not maintained very well. Everything that had paint on it needs new paint. Every surface needs a power washing. It's almost like their grass trimmer was broken, because every man-made object in the ground needs trimming around it.

We paid about $45USD for greens feed, cart, and caddy.That's the low end for Thailand golf, and we found the reason why it's so inexpensive.

Driving Range

If you want to do any serious practice work on your game this is not the place to go. For starters, the range is 3 kilometers (that is not a typo) from the clubhouse. After checking in, I wanted to warm up.  It seemed like forever riding the golf buggy to the range. The balls were 40 baht for 40 balls. Quite reasonable, except the balls looked like they were gathered from water shots and hit a million times. At one point I wondered if I had cracked my driver because of the strange noise of a completely white unmarked ball.

Below is a summary of the Pattaya Golf Course in pictures:

Not good range balls

Range not maintained

Dated hole signs

Here's a shoe in an unraked  bunker. Does anyone think to clean up this course?

Broken sprinkler in the middle of the fairway

The clubhouse reminds me of Disney World architecture...old and dated from the 70's

Each golfer gets their own cart and caddy to drive it

Bunkers need maintenance

Fairways need help

Snack Bar

Hole markers are strange boxes that look cheap

 Although we had a good time at this course, the constant reminders that it was not up to standards left me thinking I won't be visiting it again anytime soon.

Visual demo of TeeTimeHelper - super easy to use!

Golf in Oman - Al-Mouj aka "The Wave"

Opened in 2012 Al-Mouj "The Wave" is a relatively new course in the Middle East. Scheduled to host its first European Tour Event next year this Greg Norman design is a beast playing 7,310 yards  from the tips.

This full service club has attendants to take care of your things, a decent chipping and practice area, and driving range albeit smallish in number of bays yet the range is 300+ yards.

Pitching and chipping practice area

Al-Mouj Clubhouse

The clubhouse has everything you need such as a pro shop and dining area, however it seems a bit cramped overall. Usually the Middle Eastern design has copious amounts of open space, but this clubhouse has a tiny lobby and the building is a bit maze-like.

The locker rooms are nicely done with plenty of amenities such as lemon water in a dispenser and towels for your hands. Everything looks great  except it's very small. A locker key is provided upon check in.

If there was a event or outing or busy day I can imagine it being very crowded, especially in the locker room.


Al-Mouj Golf Rates

While a weekend visitor rate of 60 Oman Riyals ($156 USD) is not cheap, it  compares favorably to other Middle Eastern golf courses that host European Tour Events. It's nice that the rate includes golf carts, range balls and access to the practice area.  

The carts have GPS, towels, and water. The GPS includes maps but omits the essential carry yardages to clear hazards and bunkers. This is a big problem, because on this type golf course with deep bunkers everywhere you need to play some position golf.

Al-Mouj Golf Course

A beautiful course along the Indian Ocean features the Hajjar Mountains in the background. Certified as an 'Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary' you can appreciate the natural elements of this course. 

Hajjar Mountain View

However, with the Muscat airport only kilometers away and planes flying low overhead approximately every five to ten minutes takes away from the tranquility of the course.

Airport next to the golf course with plenty of airplanes flying over

Additionally, there seems to be very little awareness of the Audubon status as talking to members as they didn't know anything about it or what it meant. There is no indication on the score card except for a tiny logo. It should be mentioned in the local rules about avoiding restricted areas designated by red stakes with green tops.

Red stakes with green tops indicate environmentally sensitive areas. The green tops were inexplicably painted red.

Golf courses with protected areas usually have red hazard stakes with green tops. This is an indication that you shouldn't go in those areas, even if you can see your ball. However, the green tops on the stakes have inexplicably been painted red.


This is a tough course, not for the beginner. Deep bunkers, plenty of water, and high winds can ruin your score quickly. As a high single digit handicapper I was able to avoid a lot of trouble, but I imagine high handicappers will struggle on this golf course.


The 5th hole is a 143 yard island green (see below) which was a lot more challenging than I anticipated. Into the wind, I rinsed a ball with a 7 iron and then managed the second shot on the green. Higher handicappers would have real trouble landing the ball on the green and holding it there.

5th Hole Island Green

The black tees were closed, and rightfully so with a course rating of 75 and slope 140 you should probably sport a 2 index or better to play those tees. With the strong winds and links type layout, half the holes were easier despite the long yardages and the other half play very tough.

In particular, hole 9 is a par 4 playing 449 yards and with a 180+ yard carry into the wind could cause problems for a lot of people.

I loved the bunker design with the natural long grass on the perimeter gave it the un-manicured look. Bunker sand was consistent and nice. However, the bunkers are deep which means they are very penal and a bit difficult to step in and out of them.

I happened to visit when they are transitioning changing the back nine to be the front nine and vice versa.  There was very little signage on how to get to some of the holes and there was no indication on the tee boxes as to what hole you were looking at which resulted in a bit of a frustrating experience. In addition I was not warned of the switching of the back nine and front nine so it was doubly confusing!

Summary


As a relatively lower handicapper found this to be a very enjoyable course, playing a lot of holes near the water and pleasant surroundings. It was a more natural golf course, with very few houses or building structures on the land.


This is the type of course that is simply too hard for the beginner. A newcomer to golf may be turned off to the sport because of the forced carries and penal bunkers. Balls that go outside of the rough are usually lost in the long grass and bushes lining the holes.


The low flying airplanes and noise was a distraction and an annoyance. I wish the course promoted the Audubon more and raised awareness about this design achievement.