Summit Windmill Golf Club – Championship Test in Bangkok's Heat

Gunnar Kobin

Feb 1

5 min read

Updated: Oct 22

At one point at Summit Windmill I chipped to within a foot of the hole, and my caddie had not even noticed I had finished. I will come back to that. First, the course, because the course deserves it.

There are plenty of golf courses in Bangkok. Very few have the thought-out design and championship-level challenge of Summit Windmill. It is only a few minutes from Suvarnabhumi airport, and it is not a place for an easy round with cocktails at the turn. It tests every part of your game, and there is a lot of water waiting to trip you up, mentally and physically.

The Bangna location almost asks for a round on the way to or from the airport when you have a few hours to spare. Once you are on the property the city noise more or less disappears. The grounds are big and landscaped, with wide palm-lined fairways and large lakes, all carefully laid out and manicured. The clubhouse looks more like a European estate than a Thai golf clubhouse, large and very elegant. Along the course there are huge French-style villas that look more expensive than some small countries. It is impressive, and a reminder that you are still in an enormous city. But the property itself is an urban oasis.

A bit of history. Summit Windmill is supposed to be a Nick Faldo design. When I played it, I would have bet money it was Pete Dye. The style, the strategy, the way the water is used, all of it said Dye to me. I would have lost the bet, apparently.

It was a good surprise from the first tee. I knew straight away I was going to enjoy it. The gently rolling fairways were fun to play, and the water is placed in a way that keeps you thinking about risk and reward.

OK, the actual golf.

From the tee the fairways look big. That is misleading. Finish on the wrong side and an easy approach becomes a stressful carry over water. On almost all of the longer par 5s and the shorter par 4s you have to decide whether to go for the green or play safe.

Summit Windmill is all about water, and that is deliberate. It is not there to look pretty. It runs along the sides of the fairways on almost every hole and affects nearly every shot, giving you either a real birdie chance or a fight to survive the hole.

The 1st makes it clear that you will need control and patience. The 9th shows the personality of the course best. Long hitters can take on the water and leave themselves a wedge in. Those who lay back to play safe face a much harder second shot. Neither option is easy, and that is the point of the hole.

What I like is that the course looks calm and easy on the surface while quietly piling on the pressure. The water is where it looks dangerous, but in truth there is no really safe option anywhere. That psychological edge is what separates it from resort golf.

The greens have subtle slopes that demand pace and control, but they are never extreme or unfair. Putts need reading and judgment, but there are no silly man-made breaks that turn putting into guesswork. The bunkers look good and are well placed, though how well they are kept depends a lot on your caddie, as you will see. Conditioning is impressive, on par with the busier courses.

My own round, off the white tees in January 2026, was 82. The front nine was 39, and the best moment of the day was a birdie 4 on the par-5 7th. The 1st, the one I said asks for control and patience, got a 6 from me, so it made its point early. The 9th, the hole with the big water decision, was a bogey.

The back nine was 43. Mostly bogeys and pars, with a 6 on the par-4 16th as the low point. Nothing collapsed, but the course kept collecting a shot here and a shot there, which is exactly what I said it does. I just did not expect it to prove it on me.

Now, the caddies.

After several rounds in Hua Hin, where the caddies are consistently great, Summit Windmill was a big disappointment. There was a general lack of engagement. One caddie in our group openly admitted she had no idea how to read greens. Mine had to be asked again and again for a line, which got annoying on some holes. And then there was the chip to a foot that she did not notice. What on earth was she doing.

The worst of it came after I drove into a bunker. I had to cover my feet to keep the sand out of my shoes. Most courses do not leave rakes in the bunkers, but every caddie carries one, and it clearly should have been used. That bunker was obviously unraked, the sand left disturbed. I will not call it a cardinal sin, but it was a plain lack of attention to detail.

Coming from Hua Hin, with its attentive, professional, knowledgeable caddies, the contrast was stark. When you pay top money for a championship course, expecting the same attention to detail is not unreasonable.

The heat is the other thing to plan for. Playing during the day in central Bangkok is an endurance test. Surrounded by buildings, with no breeze and fierce heat, it is no fun even for people used to tropical golf. Sun protection and drinking enough are a must.

This is where Summit Windmill has one of its biggest advantages: the whole course is lit for night golf. Once the sun goes down and the temperature drops, you can tee off at 6 or 7 in the evening. When it finally becomes bearable, even enjoyable, the atmosphere is great. Golf under lights is a different game. Very few championship courses offer it, and in Bangkok it changes everything. Most of my time here was spent playing at night, and I loved it. It barely makes sense to play in the day when the evening is so much more comfortable.

Final word.

The design is good and the strategy is great. The architecture is strong and the conditioning is good. Everything else, the course, the clubhouse, the facilities, the restaurant, even the spacious lockers, is high-end and well maintained. The one thing that lets it down is the caddies, which is a shame, especially with the bar set so much higher down in Hua Hin.

Should you play it? Yes. For serious golfers coming to Bangkok it is a must. It is one of the best championship designs in the city, possibly the best, and there is plenty in it to think about long after the round. Night golf combined with a course of this quality goes a long way to solving one of the city's biggest golf problems, the heat. Playing it under the lights in the cool of the evening is special.

Just lower your expectations of how much help your caddie is going to give you.