Springfield Royal Country Club – Classic Nicklaus Strategy, Elevated by One Exceptional Nine

Gunnar Kobin
Jan 29
4 min read

Updated: Feb 7

Springfield Royal Country Club: One Great Nine, Two Forgettable Ones

Springfield Royal Country Club occupies this interesting position in Hua Hin's golf scene—designed by Jack Nicklaus, plenty of history, solid reputation. But after playing all 27 holes, I'm left with mixed feelings that are hard to shake.

The Valley nine? Excellent. Genuinely excellent. The other two nines? They exist. That pretty much sums up Springfield.

First Impressions: Classic But Understated

Rolling up to Springfield, you immediately get a different vibe than the polished resort courses nearby. It's more traditional golf club than destination resort—calm, no-frills, purposeful. Nobody's trying to wow you with a fountain show or gold-plated locker rooms. It just quietly sits there with this "we've been doing this for decades" confidence.

Which is fine. I actually appreciate that approach. But there's a fine line between understated confidence and just... not really trying that hard anymore.

Classic Nicklaus Design Philosophy

This is unmistakably Jack Nicklaus golf. Strategy drives everything. The fairways look wide enough to relax on, but optimal position matters enormously. Every bunker has a job—they're placed to make you think, not just to look pretty in photos. Water shows up when it needs to force decisions, not just to scare you.

Playing the round, I kept facing tee shots where bombing driver gained me nothing. The challenge was shaping shots into specific spots to set up the next shot properly. Discipline over distance. Patience over power. Classic Nicklaus stuff—if you've played his courses, you know exactly what I mean.

Approaches are often into elevated greens with bunkers and slopes guarding them. Distance control becomes critical. Miss your spot and you're left with these awkward little recovery shots that expose every flaw in your short game. It's a proper test when it wants to be.

Three Nines, Wildly Different Quality

Here's where Springfield gets complicated. The course has three nine-hole loops: Valley, Mountain, and Lake. I played all three, and the gap in quality is impossible to ignore.

Valley is where Springfield earns its reputation. This nine flows beautifully through rolling terrain, creates variety, gives you interesting shots, maintains good rhythm. The memorable holes are here. The strategic depth is here. This is the Springfield that justifies the Nicklaus pedigree and the club's standing in Hua Hin. When you're playing Valley, you're playing a world-class nine holes.

Mountain and Lake? They're just... there. Perfectly playable, nothing wrong with them technically, but they lack personality. The holes blur together. There aren't many moments where you're standing over a shot thinking "okay, this is interesting." They're competent golf holes that you play and then forget about by the time you're in the clubhouse.

That unevenness defines Springfield completely. One-third of the course is fantastic. Two-thirds are merely okay. Depending on which 18 you play that day, your experience will vary dramatically.

Those Greens Are Something Else

Springfield's greens are both impressive and occasionally infuriating. When I played, they were rock hard and lightning quick. From a putting standpoint? Beautiful. They rolled pure, rewarded confident strokes, and reading them was genuinely enjoyable.

But trying to hold approach shots on them? Nightmare fuel. You need perfect trajectory, perfect spin, perfect everything—or your ball's releasing way more than you want. In Thailand's heat and humidity, maintaining greens this firm feels like overkill.

Tucked pins become nearly impossible targets. Even well-struck approaches can bounce through or release off the back. Intellectually, sure, it's challenging in an interesting way. Practically, it borders on excessive. Sometimes a course can be too demanding for its own good, and Springfield's greens occasionally cross that line.

Conditioning Didn't Match Expectations

Given Springfield's reputation and the Nicklaus name attached to it, I expected immaculate conditioning. What I got was... acceptable. Fine. Not bad, but not impressive either.

Fairways and bunkers were in decent shape but lacked the crispness you see at Black Mountain or Banyan down the road. The practice facilities were functional but modest—nothing that screamed "elite golf venue."

It feels like Springfield is operating comfortably rather than striving for excellence. Which is their prerogative, but when you're charging premium rates and trading on a legendary designer's name, travelers expect more attention to detail.

This doesn't ruin the golf—the design still stands up—but it affects how you perceive the overall package.

Easy Walk If You Want It

One thing Springfield does well: it's genuinely walkable. Terrain's mostly gentle, holes transition logically, the routing feels natural. Early morning walks here would be lovely.

Most people still take carts because of Thailand's heat, but if walking's your preference, Springfield accommodates that better than most courses in the region.

The Verdict: Important But Imperfect

Springfield matters to Hua Hin's golf identity. The Nicklaus design, the classical strategy, that stellar Valley nine—they ensure Springfield stays relevant for serious golfers who value architecture over Instagram moments.

But let's be honest: it's not trying to blow anyone away anymore. It challenges through restraint and subtlety rather than spectacle. When it's on—specifically on the Valley nine—you get pure golf satisfaction where smart play gets rewarded and every par feels earned.

The problem is consistency. One-third brilliant, two-thirds forgettable, and conditioning that doesn't match the course's pedigree. For golfers who appreciate traditional design principles and strategic depth, Springfield still delivers a worthwhile experience.

Just understand going in that you're playing for that one exceptional nine, and hoping the other 18 holes don't drag the day down too much. Springfield's no longer peak Hua Hin golf—it's a solid option with one absolutely brilliant stretch that reminds you why Nicklaus was Nicklaus.