Thaniya Plaza (Bangkok)

          For my first post, i will share with you an interesting experience i had in the "Land of Smiles", Thailand. If you are a true golf enthusiast in South East Asia, you probably have heard of Thaniya Plaza. The mall itself is nothing to shout about, but whats inside is a whole other story. Thaniya Plaza is located on Thanon Thaniya (Thaniya Street) just off Silom Road in Bangkok. If you are more familiar with the night life here in Bangkok, then the Plaza is located just adjacent to Patpong (Yes, you heard me, Patpong!). The Plaza is a collection of golf stores is one location, much like Far East in Singapore, but on a larger scale.

          When you enter the Plaza, you are greeted with a smile by the security personnel (something very common in Thai) and as you walk further in you start to notice a few large golf stores. Now, these stores carry new and used clubs from the usual suspects ie; Callaway, Titleist, TM, Mizuno, etc, however among them there are a wide variety of other brands, some i never even heard of. Some Japanese brands so exclusive, they only made 50 sets to date, and cost just under a "zillion" dollars. Total there are roughly 30-40 golf shops in Thaniya Plaza, some of them which i find very interesting are shown in the photos below.

          Now, initially i was not really looking for anything, but as i spent more time browsing, i began to feel an itch at the rear (itchy backside). By the time i reached the 6th store, i was already set to hunt for one of my long time targets, a good 2-ball putter. I went from store to store, bargaining for the best deal i could get my hands on. The best deal i had so far was a 2-ball Odyssey Black Series for 5500 bath (SGD239), a freaking good deal because if I'm not mistaken, it retails about SGD400+ in Singapore. But my next find was what made the visit worth it, an Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #2, these are the top range of Odyssey Golf putters, off the rack the sales guy offered it to me for 9000 bath (SGD391) which was great as it retails in Singapore for SGD500-600. However, they only had length 35" and my spec was 33" (2" makes a huge difference in your game, as you already know). So sadly i went home empty handed, wishing somehow i could grow another few inches :(

          All in all, it was still a very interesting experience and i strongly suggest anyone who loves the game of Golf to make a trip to Thaniya Plaza whenever you are in Bangkok. Cheers!