Siam Motors Group, owned by the Phornprapha family, yesterday officially opened its new 18-hole golf course worth 1.315 billion baht in Pattaya.
Siam Motors invested 1.32 billion baht to build Siam Country Club Pattaya Waterside on 765 rai of land.
The new golf course, Siam Country Club Pattaya Waterside, was designed by IMG Golf Course Design and constructed by Golf East, with its clubhouse designed by The Office of Bangkok Architect Co.
It is the third golf course under the name of Siam Country Club in which the group has invested a combined 4 billion baht.
“We have placed great emphasis on using the golf industry to attract tourists to play more sport while providing new sporting experiences to professional golfers from all over the world,” said Phornthep Phornprapha, chairman of Thongthaworn Pattana Co under Siam Motors Group, the first company in Thailand to import Japanese cars and heavy machinery.
In 2012, the group invested 1.32 billion baht to build the new championship course.
Siam Motors expanded its business to include an international-standard golf course 43 years ago in order to meet the needs of tourists as well as Thai and international businessmen while serving the growth of the domestic golf industry.
The new course is located next to the existing 18-hole Siam Country Club Old Course and the 27-hole Plantation Course.
The investment was made up of 550 million baht for construction and 765 million baht for land purchase.
The 18-hole course measures 7,489 yards on an area of 765 rai composed of the golfing area (471 rai), clubhouse (34 rai) and four big lakes (260 rai).
Siam Motors expects its golf business to generate combined revenue of about 600 million baht a year.
The group’s golf course business produces a compound growth rate of 15% per year and each golf course takes about seven years to break even.
Siam Motors currently owns a land bank amounting to 6,000 rai in Chon Buri province, of which 2,200 rai has been developed into the three golf courses.
Mr Phornthep was reluctant to discuss the group’s new property development projects but said “the group is looking at a housing project or another golf course depending on the right place and time”.