PHUKET, Thailand (21 December 2010) – The Tinidee Hotel@Phuket has opened its doors on a strategic piece of real estate located equidistant from the clubhouses at Loch Palm Golf Club and Red Mountain Golf Club. Phuket’s first dedicated golf lodge, The Tinidee Hotel@Phuket was developed by the MBK Group, owners of Red Mountain, Loch Palm and the new Riverdale Golf Club in Bangkok. All three golf clubs are members of Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience (www.golfinakingdom.com), the golf cooperative that serves discerning golf holiday-makers by packaging top course venues with nearby, top-quality accommodations. “The new Tinidee Hotel@Phuket certainly fits that criterion,” said Mark Siegel, managing director of Bangkok-based tour operator Golfasian Co. Ltd., a founding member of Golf in a Kingdom. “Our cooperative was formed to deliver two things: quality and convenience. For golfers on holiday in Phuket, the Tinidee and its sister properties at Loch Palm and Red Mountain deliver both.” The Tinidee Hotel@Phuket held a soft opening on Nov. 1, 2010, just as the high golfing season commenced at Riverdale, Loch Palm and Red Mountain. “This was always the plan, to offer first-class accommodation convenient to both our Phuket courses in time for the high season spanning 2010 and 2011,” said Michael Brasier, PGA Professional and golf operations manager at Loch Palm and Red Mountain. “To celebrate, we have created the MBK GOLF CARD, which is issued free of charge to anyone who plays a round of golf at any of our three clubs this winter. With this card, the golfer is entitled to discounted green fees at all three of our clubs going forward. I believe we have already issued a few thousand of these cards. They are proving very popular indeed.” By banding together to form Golf in a Kingdom: The Thai Golf Experience the country’s top courses and hotels have created a cooperative itinerary that matches the most desirable “stay” options with its most desirable “play’ options. With the addition of Riverdale, Red Mountain and Loch Palm, this fall, those play options further represent the crème of Southeast Asian resort tracks. Announcement of this fall’s “Best of Asia” awards, voted on by the readers of Asian Golf Monthly magazine, drove this point home quite emphatically:

• Banyan Golf Club in Hua Hin, voted top new course in Asia for 2009, was runner up for “Best Clubhouse in Asia-Pacific” in 2010.
• Thai Country Club in Bangkok was named runner-up to Royal Melbourne GC as “Best Course in Asia-Pacific”.
• Black Mountain Golf Club, host to the Asian Tour’s Black Mountain Masters (Dec. 16-19) and the prestigious Royal Trophy in January 2011, earned “Best Pro Shop in Asia-Pacific” and placed third in “Best Championship Course in Asia-Pacific”

Meanwhile, Chiang Mai Highlands Golf & Spa Resort was recently voted the top course in Southeast Asia by SEA Globe magazine, while two more Golf in a Kingdom properties – the Old Course and Plantation Course at Siam Country Club in Pattaya – have hosted the season-opening Honda PTT LPGA events in 2009 and 2010. “It’s worth noting, too, that Thailand once again this year earned the ‘Best of Asia’ award for ‘Best Golf Destination in Asia-Pacific’, ahead of Australia and China,” said Siegel. “Thailand has won this honor several times in a row, and one reason is a sustained reinvestment in the golf vacation infrastructure – the new Tinidee Hotel is just the latest example. Golfers come back to Thailand over and over again not because they know the experience will be as good as the last time. The come back because they know it will better.”