Bangkok’s Reignwood Park, With Robinswood Golf Club At Its Heart, Reimagines Fine Living

In my mid-forties now, I’m not exactly the night owl I used to be once. Touchdown at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport was smooth. A longish walk to passport control and the reassuring thud of an immigration stamp on my passport later, I found myself staring at a board with my name on it. Dazed and sleepy, it took me a second to put two and two together and introduce myself to the courteous guy who had come to pick me up. Five minutes into the back of the plush van and I was in fairy land. Where I woke up could have been anywhere in the world. America. Europe. Or right where I was, at what I can only describe as a super luxury micro-town just outside of Bangkok. Welcome to Reignwood Park. 

Inside Reignwood Park

Created entirely around the notion of fine living with golf as its crowning glory, Reignwood is a property unlike any other. I’m sure there could be other luxury properties around the world built around the same idea of golf and fine living, but it’s the scale, quality, and speed with which Reignwood was built that defies imagination. Just five years ago, the entire land on which Reignwood is built was, believe it or not, rice paddies. Today, enclosed within its 10-kilometre long raised jogging and cycling path that also acts as a bund against seasonal flooding, there are four residential complexes, a nine-hole par 3 golf course, a world-class international school with its own sports complex, a shopping mall, two upcoming car detailing centres, an upcoming sports complex, a solar energy harvesting heart shaped lake and of course the exclusive Robinswood Golf Club with its 18-hole course. Of all of these, it’s the independent sports complex that is yet to be completed, along with the car detailing shops right at the entrance of the 800-acre Reignwood Park.

The Robinswood Golf Club is tremendous, with a beautifully managed retail outlet for golf enthusiasts called Pro Shop, the Spa, and the Locker Room, which actually resembles nothing like what that simple name communicates. The facilities inside the Locker Room, whether men’s or women’s, are less like those of a sporting club and more like a Hollywood film set. It’s stocked to the gills and laid out in the most artsy and appealing manner possible. Not being able to relax is the most difficult challenge you’ll face when you’re here. Two steps away is the Championship Restaurant with its well-curated menu of delicious pickings. All of which can be washed down with a drink of your choice from the bar. There is also the Member’s Club Lounge and Bar close by if you fancy a round of post-game cocktails. Upstairs, on the first floor and overlooking the grand atrium below, is Jack’s Bar. Another brilliant addition to the club, named after and celebrating the achievements of the legendary American golfer Jack Nicklaus. 

The 18-hole championship course is defined by its meticulously sculpted fairways, strategically placed bunkers, and US Golfing Association-standard greens that demand both precision and creativity. Add to that advanced course management systems, floodlit practice areas, a world-class driving range and a Claude Harmon III Golf Academy means that all your golfing aspirations can be met right here. And of course, it’s a stunningly pretty course. 

At the centre of this micro-town, however, sits the ultra-exclusive Global Heritage Island with the Chinese House that has been recreated in the traditional style with interlocking beams and no nails, a Roman villa (which is where the Chairman stays and is therefore off limits), the British House, a Modern House, and a Thai House. I suppose places like these would only play host to royalty and the world’s billionaires for whom privacy is valued above all else. 

For the rest, there are Sereno with its Par 3 nine-hole golf course, Sanctia, Soniya, and Estate (which also houses The Pines, where we were staying). Of these, Sereno is the highlight with its beautiful row houses and independent villas, each of which can be designed for a specific demographic. If you’re a couple with no children and a cat, then there’s a villa design that’s tailor-made for you. Or, if you’re a couple with two kids and a dog, then there’s one for you as well. A villa at Sereno comes with a lifetime membership, which means 99 years, to Robinswood, which can also be transferred to the next generations. Prices, of course, depend on whether you want to buy just the villa and decorate it yourself, or if you want a fully decorated one, or whatever spec you choose. The two we were shown weren’t too far off the scale for what you got in return. 

The other great attraction of Reignwood Park is the fabulous 60-acre international school at its edge, opposite the Park 11 Shopping Mall complex. To say that it’s state-of-the-art would be the understatement of the year. It is incredible in both the size and sheer quality of facilities for its students. Apart from the cutting-edge labs for science experiments and the innovative design studio where students can actually try their hand at design, there is also a 1,000-seater auditorium, which is then dwarfed by another giant auditorium. The crown jewel of the school, however, has to be the sports academy that could shame many a government facility.

It’s also a place that takes the lessons of a global lockdown and internalises them. You can see it everywhere in its very design. This is a place that can lock itself down in a post-apocalyptic, post-pandemic world and continue living in its own protected cocoon. And that is a luxury that cannot be valued in normal terms. In all honesty, Reignwood Park and the Robinswood Golf Club take the idea of fine living to another dimension. All the time, keeping the love of golf at the core.