ROYAL SUMATERA GOLF COURSE

Royal Sumatera Golf Course is one of the better course in Medan, North Sumatera, opened in 1996 and located about 9 km from city centre. A favourite course for tournaments due to the challenges offered by the course, placement of balls on the fairway is a premium requirement to score well, obviously people like me, short straight hitter will be punished by this course.

Photo at the club with Anuar, Nor Azmie, Razak and Azahari from Kuala Lumpur. 

waiting for the green to clear at the long Par 3, Azmie, Zulkifli, Anuar and Razak.

bangdolah fooling with the caddies for a photo shoot.

caddie selfie!

.

KELAB GOLF SERI SELANGOR

This month I played two times at the Seri Selangor Golf Club which is a public course easily accessible by own driving or public transports. First outing was during an Alumni gathering amongst colleagues who graduated from the FAO/UNDP Forestry College Kepong. There were four flights and I was placed third that day and got 1 dozen of Srixon soft feel golf balls and RM 100 cash. First placing, second and third placing all got 36 stableford points but lower handicap gets higher placing...my handicap of the day was 21.

There were people who came from Sarawak who came for the game to meet old friends like Tuan Hj Sapuan who organized the previous golf outing in Kuching. The next golf outing in 2016 would be in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Only four people played par golf while the rest couldn't handled the fast green at KGSS. Well the main objective was to meet with old classmates and winning was secondary. However the organizer made sure that nobody go home empty handed and the last placed golfer still got 1 sleeve of golf ball and RM20.

My flight mates during the Alumni game were Nordin Ahmad, Alias Jalil, Dr. Mustapha and me posing at the tee box on 18 hole, a Par 5 436 meters hole.

The second outing was during the Astro Masters 2015 my second participation this year after the game at Templer Park Golf Club. This time the game was played from the Black tees, being a short hitter, I can't reach the 14 th hole Par 3 208 meters where a hole in one prize was at stake, I made bogey. I scored 48 and 52 each nine and managed to get a lucky draw prize, a complimentary flight of four at KGSS valid for one month. As usual there were three prizes for each category of Medal A,B and C and the gross and net champion who qualified for the Grand Final in Bali, Indonesia to be held at the end of the year.

My pretty caddy Ella from Parit Buntar, Perak.

People like me would be waiting for the 15 lucky draw prizes.

IOI PALM GARDEN KUALA LUMPUR

As member of the I Love Goft community under the group MST Golf, I was invited to play at the Chicken Run MST golf competition held at the IOI Palm Garden Golf and Country Club. This golf course is the latest addition of fine golf course within the Klang Valley. The layout and landscape is comparable to KLGCC, Glenmarie and The Mines and that was reflected in the green fees at RM380 per person of about USD 100 inclusive of golf cart and male caddy. Male caddy??? yes unfortunately and not good either as some are very arrogant for being employed as caddies at a top notched golf establishment. I think the Club should consider bringing beautiful caddies from Indonesia to attract more golfers to play at this course. 

There were 15 flights that day and some familiar faces were also there like my friend Fairuz Hashim, Wan Kamal etc. I played with son of ex- Sri Lanka Ambassador who had retired but his son chose to remain in Malaysia, perhaps for the love of golf. the other two flight mates were young Firdaus and Ms Claire who always hit 50-60 meter ahead of me, of course she played from the Red teebox which are located at least 50 meter infront of the blue teebox. She really can play golf and good solid play in every facet of the game but she commented that my game was more consistent and my expertise around the greens were more superior to hers! I did managed a few one chip and one put that day.

The organizer chose to impose an interesting way of scoring whereby six blind holes were allocated to determine our scores and handicap for the day. I guess whatever we scored on those particular holes would be multiplied by three to get an 18 holes scores...if you get a birdie on one hole then you have three birdies, likewise if you have a double or triple, it will converted to three holes, if you played bogey and pars all the way then doesn't really matter.

Anyway the prizes including lucky draws were quite adorable, Titleist cart bags and Pro-v balls were given away as well as tickets to the coming CIMB LPGA Classics at the end of this year in Kuala Lumpur. My flightmate Firdaus got lucky with a complimentary green fee at the Hosting club, he deserved a repeat as he played the worst in our flight, losing about 8 balls along the way!

until next outing in October 2015!

GOLF IN GRAHA, REPEAT WITH BUGGIES

On the last day before returning to homeland Malaysia we managed a quick golf at Graha Golf Club and this time we got a ride in buggies, I guessed no Indonesian VIPs playing golf today, so the buggies are available. Most of the caddies are new ones meaning not the caddies we booked on the first time we played, after all there are more than 100 caddies here.

 The pros at Graha Golf Club, all 20+ handicappers

Playing the usual rate, IDR 200,000 for first nine and second nine, fish pool IDR 300,000 and the last two holes IDR 100,000 for each hole. Its a way to give back to losers so that they return home when the thought of coming back!!

Aziz played the game seriously as everybody noticed that and I didn't blame him since he did not win anything the last three days at Royal Sumatera and Graha Golf! However he eventually finished second to me at the end and earned some money, not that he cared but pride is at stake!!

Even at Graha Club, caddies are cantik!!

Some of these caddies are still contacting us even after we went home! I hope this will just be a friendly reminder to come again to Medan, Indonesia where cost of playing, eating and lodging are significantly lower that Bandung, Bogor and Jakarta. 

Now which of these caddies are contacting us?

Pretty simple answer!

Until next trip in February 2015!

GRAHA METROPOLITAN GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB, MEDAN, INDONESIA

Graha Metropolitan Golf and Country Club is situated very close to city centre and from our Hotel is was a normal 20 minutes drive. This course was not a favourite amongst golfers because there are no buggies available and it is a walking course...so people do not want to walk.

Now that Bukit Barisan Country Club and Martabe Sejahtera Golf Club are not well maintained (according to some hearsay reports) people are playing just Royal and Graha in Medan.

After the first walking experience at Graha I found it very stimulating and enjoyed the outing. Our caddies helped a lot with directions and distances and also line of putts otherwise the score could have been a few strokes higher !

We walked at 5.7 km that day..what a way to lose those flabs around the waist..but dinner tonite will add another kg or two..

Golf Graha Metropolitan Medan

Medan Helvatia

Tel. +62 61 8484023

ROYAL SUMATRA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB, MEDAN, INDONESIA

MEDAN is not in my golf radar for a long, long time because I prefer Surabaya, Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung for golfing. Nevertheless visiting Medan for golf this year brought new discoveries and now I found Medan to be a good golf destination for Malaysian golfers. Firstly the fare by Malaysian Airlines to Kuala Namu Airport averaged RM 300 if booked early and by Firefly it would be a little less but have to bear the sports equipment cost.

 View of Medan from 17th floor

We took the MH 860 flight from KLIA at 0825hrs and reached Kuala Namu brand new airport at 0825hrs local time. We rented a Toyota Alphard for RM560 per 12 hours and stayed at the Club Floor at JW Marriot, Medan. From the airport which is about 32 km from Medan city centre it was another 45 minutes to Royal Sumatra golf course.

Our tour agent Pak Salem took care of everything, we just register and play..along with 4 cute caddies!

Royal Sumatra Golf and Country club

Jalan Jamin Ginting km 8.5 
Medan, North Sumatra
Indonesia 
Ph. 0618362999

KLUB GOLF BOGOR RAYA, BOGOR, WEST JAVA

This elegant and sophisticated golf club is a training ground for new caddies for about 3 months before they are employed by other golf clubs. Any golf clubs in Bogor and Jakarta would have about 150-200 caddies available each day.The clubhouse and locker room have a Javanese touch to it and by today's standard is considered luxury.

The caddies are extra friendly and used to golfers antics and persuasions and most of the time liked to be photographed! During this time around, I got my best golf score at Bogor Raya as I played 42 and 44 for this Par 72 course.  This was probably due to the caddy seat on the buggy, they sit real close to you all the time..

Besides Gading Raya this was the best course I have played in Bogor and Jakarta.

 Telling the same old stories to the caddies..

 Hmm...another nice caddy for company

 They loved photo shoot..one way to get the HP number!

My local and International golf buddies..ITM classmates!

Golf Estate Bogor Raya, Bogor 16710 West Java, Indonesia

Ph. +62 251 271888 Fx. +62 251 271 777

Email. kgbr@indo.net.id