Pickup basketball and other sports in Udon

Post by **violatedm3** » March 26, 2007, 2:07 pm

Greetings,

I would like to know if anyone or is there a place to go to play some pickup basketball games during the day. I enjoy going to play after work here in states. I was hoping maybe people played in Udon. If so I will be Visiting Udon in June for about 2 weeks looking for a long-term place to live than moving there long-term in Sept.

Also I was wondering about golf, first of all I am terrible at golf, I am mean really bad... I still enjoy it. I would like to take some leasons and play with others, any suggestions on how to go about this. Also I do not have any clubs can I rent some to use or can I buy some over there?

What other sport activities do the expats in Udon like to do, I will be coming alone to Udon and I would like to meet people and find fun things to do. Any input is appreciated.

Thank you.

Post by **Roadman** » March 26, 2007, 4:41 pm

Greetings

Could ask for you about the basketball.
My wife's daughter spends all her free time playing basketball after school. It is within the school grounds so not sure if it is open for all comers. Have seen plenty of basketball being played all over the place but just cannot recall where. Will ask step daughter for you as she is a basketball nutter and will know where it all happens.
If you are any good you could consider coaching some of the school teams

Golf and hiring clubs is not a problem as it is one of the usual sports undertaken not only in Udon but all over Thailand.

Post by **violatedm3** » March 27, 2007, 10:24 am

Roadman,

Thanks for the info. I use to be good, I guess. I played in High School. I am 37 now not as fast or in shape as I was then. I enjoy playing and find it good excerise.
Let me know what you find out. Coaching might be fun and give me something to do as well. The sport I played the most is Rugby. Played it for 15 years. If they need a rugby coach let me know.

Post by TJ » March 27, 2007, 11:03 am

When I was staying at City Lodge I met a few of the locals who played the Udon Thani courses. They invited me to play and had no problem when I advised that I hadn't hit a golf ball in 20 years. Believe the desire to put together a group overrides any irritation about bad play. I haven't golfed yet, but understand that you can buy beer on the course and the caddies are Thai ladies. That likely puts the outing more in a social happening than a competative event.

I visited a range and hit maybe a hundred balls for perhaps 200 baht. I'm sure that the range had a golf instructor. Renting a set of left handed clubs was a bit of trouble. The range didn't have a lefthanded club. A Thai in the area had a set in his car and rented them to me.

New clubs can be purchased in the central mall. There is a used golf club shop just outside the night market. There are many places to shop.

If you stay a few nights at The City Lodge you should be sorted out for playing golf. The manager, Andy plays quite a bit and several local golfers stop by for a few beers. And as documented in the accomodations threads, The City Lodge has comfortable rooms from 600TB, good food, and is convienient to many other tourist hotels and bars.

Post by TJ » March 27, 2007, 11:11 am

When pricing used golf clubs in Udon Thani, I did not find them cheap. It may be worth the trouble of buying a used set at home and packing it with you to Thailand. Maybe I didn't look hard enough. And plain used sets are cheap ($100US) around my US home.

Post by **violatedm3** » March 27, 2007, 1:44 pm

TJ,

Thanks for the info. I will have to check out the city lodge during my stay.