It’s not difficult to see why this Phuket golf course was named Red Mountain. It is harder, however, to imagine how such a dramatically undulating landscape, where soft red rock and dense jungle were once the principal ingredients, could be transformed into a challenging, yet playable layout.

Red Mountain Golf Course opened in 2007 and is now considered Phuket’s most spectacular course. Designed to take advantage of a huge variety of landforms and dramatic elevation changes, it is Phuket’s hilliest course where golf carts are compulsory.

The entire Red Mountain site is an abandoned tin mine. Golfers face the full range of nature’s hazards; wind, water, slopes and elevation changes while towering cliffs cut out of the hills and flooded canyons frame several holes.

The concept of variety has been carried into all areas of Red Mountain. There are large and small greens; some with subtle breaks, some with wilder contours. Elevation changes, red rocky cliffs and dense tropical vegetation combine to make the final six holes some of the most spectacular, and most challenging, in Thailand. A truly breathtaking panorama awaits at the back of the 16th green while the short par-3 17th is a dramatically plunging downhiller: hitting a postage stamp in the jungle-filled depths below has never been more fun! The subsequent downhill par-5 requires strategic placement from tee-to-green, and can easily add double-figures to an otherwise respectable scorecard.

Red Mountain Golf Club is located almost in the exact centre of Phuket Island which makes this course one of most accessible to those staying on the popular Patong and Karon beaches.

It’s not often that such a great course is created. Hats off to Red Mountain for what the club literature describes as ‘the most exciting golf course in Phuket’ … perhaps ‘in Asia’ might also apply.

mbkgolf.com/redmountain