Bob McFarland

Bob McFarland is an American golf course architect. Some sources give his name in full as Robert McFarland. He has worked chiefly in Southeast Asia since the 1990s, and InterContinental Khao Yai Resort describes him as the architect of more than 80 courses worldwide, with work in Thailand, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, the UAE, Tunisia, and North and South America.

One of his early works in Asia is the Lakeside course at BRG Kings Island Golf Resort near Hanoi in Vietnam. It opened in 1993 and is regarded as the first golf course in northern Vietnam. Built on land surrounded by Dong Mo lake at Son Tay outside Hanoi, it brings water into play on 14 of its 18 holes. The golf information site GolfPass also lists Mekong Golf & Resort in Laos and the New Course at Singapore Island Country Club in Singapore among his designs.

His work in Thailand has run on since the mid-1990s. The Pomelo Golf Club, which opened in Nakhon Pathom province in 1994, is a par 72 of 6,999 yards over 18 holes, marked by broad, gently rolling fairways and mature trees. When it opened it carried the name of the local district, Nakhon Chaisri Golf Club. Pattavia Century Golf Club, between Pattaya and Bangkok, followed in 1996, routed through jungle and natural valleys, and was renovated and lengthened in 2014. GolfPass also credits him with Bonanza Golf & Country Club, Hat Yai Resort & Golf Club, Hua Hin Seoul Country Club and Thanont Golf View & Sports Club.

From the end of the 2000s he built two courses in the Khao Yai area northeast of Bangkok. Toscana Valley Country Club, opened in 2009, is a par 72 of 7,007 yards that uses the valley floor of the hills as it found it, with deep bunkers, rolling fairways, sharply falling slopes and raised greens. InterContinental Khao Yai Resort nearby calls it one of the best mountain courses in Asia. By the club’s own account the design is a collaboration between McFarland and Chanat Ruangkritya of Thailand. The area was developed as a townscape modelled on Tuscany in Italy, and the course forms part of that setting. Rancho Charnvee Resort & Country Club, which opened the following year in 2010, is its opposite: a resort course with wide fairways over gentle ground and receptive greens. It has a clubhouse and stables built on a ranch theme, and the ridges running into Khao Yai National Park stand behind it.

GoGolf lists three of McFarland’s courses in Thailand, and all three can be booked through GoGolf: The Pomelo Golf Club, about an hour west of Bangkok, and the two at Khao Yai, an hour and a half to the northeast.

McFarland courses you can book on GoGolf

• The Pomelo Golf Club (Nakhon Pathom, Thailand) — opened 1994, a par 72 of 6,999 yards. Formerly Nakhon Chaisri Golf Club
• Rancho Charnvee Resort & Country Club (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand) — opened 2010. A resort course over gentle ground, built on a ranch theme
• Toscana Valley Country Club (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand) — opened 2009. A mountain course set in a Tuscan-style townscape

Tee times and rates for a given day can be checked on each course page or in the GoGolf app.

See the other golf course architects here.