BANDUNG GOLF AT MOUNTAIN VIEW GC

 When the idea came was brought up by my golf colleagues after returning from Medan , all 8 of us agreed that we should explore golf in Bandung. Some have been to Bandung with families but not golfing, a few like me have played some courses here particularly Mountain View GC. We called our agent friend in Medan if he could arrange a golf package for us and he agreed and later quoted RM 1,550 per pax for a 3 days golfing, 3 nights single room and 4 days unlimited transport.

We arrived at Hussein Sastranegara airport at 0920 am and after the immigration and customs formalities, we were met and greet by our agent and off we went to Mountain View GC. During this rainy season even MVGC was not in playing conditions, according to caddies here only Malaysians come and play.

Originally there were 8 of us, I helped to purchase their Malindo Air tickets at a bargain price of RM291.90 return. At the last minutes, 2 announced that they can not join the trip, one with medical appointments. , the other presumably the home minister revoked his visa. The other one could not be traced until now although attempts to reach him were made, hope he is safe and well. The cost per pax was revised upwards by agent as there were only 5 of us. Total cost from Kuala Lumpur was RM1,615 per person.

I would advice golfers to avoid golfing in Bandung during end of year, it was raining here and not fun to play anymore. Of course there were birdies, pars and bogeys but we were soaking wet.

The caddies were nice and patience with our antics, damn beautiful too. 

We will visit this course again during dry season. Hopefully the Ringgit will be stronger against the Indonesian Rupiah, presently RM 332 to buy 1 million Rupiah in Malaysia and RM 344 in Bandung itself.

BUKIT JALIL GOLF CLUB!KUALA LUMPUR

BUKIT JALIL GC is located along the KESAS highway about 20 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur and 40 minutes from KLIA. We played with a group of golfers from Trengganu who are good golfers, me and Hj Aziz joined them since we were together during the recent trip to HoChiMinh, Vietnam

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First hole is very intimidating, have to cross a small river about 170 meter but if you make it to the fairway it would be just a short distance to the green, lucky I made bogey there.

My good friend Hj Aziz waiting to tee off.

A few flights behind us waiting for their turn.

A beautiful course located at the Bukit Jalil residential area.

It was a fun outing although my scores wasn't so good..

GOLFING WITH PROS

The Aberdeen Asset Management organisation invited me to play with touring pros when the pros were in Kuala Lumpur to play in the golf event in Malaysia. My first experience was playing with Pro Paul Lawrie a Scottish European tour player. Only 18 golfers were invited and Paul would play 3 holes with each flight. We played at the prestigious KLGCC East Course, where the ladies played their LPGA event. He gave us some golf lessons before we tee off. 

He joined us at the 10th tee and we played par 4, par 4 and par 5 and he scored par, par, birdie and I scored bogey, bogey and par, that made us even because he gave strokes on each holes. At the 12th hole a Par 5 484 meters, he reached the the green apron with his second shot, he was at the green when I hit my 4th shot to two feet from the hole from 60 meters and he asked you are 3 there, I said 4 there, he was relieved because he made birdie...and he thought I would made birdie too...After the 18 holes game I was declared the champion scoring 40 stable-ford points playing 20 hcp, beating their staff who came from Hong Kong and Singapore. I got a RM300 voucher, a raincoat, two dozens Titleist golf balls a few other things. The second place was a European guy who got 33 points playing hcp 16. 

The second outing organised by Aberdeen Asset Management was when their touring ladies pro Catriona Matthew came to town to play the LPGA event. This time Aberdeen chose Saujana Golf Club to be the venue. Ms Catriona Matthew played 3 holes with my flight and on the Par 3 I got a birdie and she got only par.  It was a par 3 145 yard and I used a 7 iron to 8 feet from the flag, she said the line and ball flight was perfect to get that close to the hole she jokingly said I should revise my hcp. After the 18 holes game I was champion again with 36 points. They gave me some vouchers and a few other gifts.

MEDAN playoff, Graha, Martabe and BukitBarisan

ONCE we have a family trip to MEDAN, Indonesia, me and good friend Hj Aziz Samah. We took Malaysia airlines and stayed at the Syariah compliance hotel, the MADANI HOTEL. The hotel was a little bit old and maybe need urgent renovation to compete with other hotels in Medan but the location is good, walking distance to nearby mall and mosque and also a nasi padang restaurant.

The Madani Hotel

The nasi padang restaurant

The mosque

The Istana Maimon

Those were for the wives who liked sightseeing and shopping, for the two of us it was golf and match-play everyday.

First day we played at Bukit Barisan a Jack Nicklaus designed course, my score was better than his.

The second day we played at GRaha Metropolitan GC, it is very close to the city centre and if traffic not congested, you can get to the course in 15-20 minutes. Graha is a flat course with oil palm trees lining the fairways and a few ponds here and there, there is no reason to loose a golf ball here.

Always stop by at the half way hut where they serve hot drinks and chicken egg with sweet soya ketchup. 

Sweet caddy...

BATAM & BINTAN GOLF, 5-8 SEPTEMBER 2016

A group of retired Government servants organized a golf trip to the islands of Batam and Bintan in Indonesia. Departing by Malindo Air from Subang Airport, Malaysia to Batam took more or less 80 minutes by the small ATR plane. The flight was delayed by more than 1 hour and jeopardised our tee off schedule at Palm Spring golf club in Batam. The flight itself was pleasant cruising at 450 km per hour at 15,000 feet you can really enjoyed the view all the way to Hang Nadim Airport in Batam. After all immigration and customs formalities, we boarded the minibus to our first stop at Palm Spring GC, a 25 minutes journey from the airport. Due to the late arrival we regarded the game as practice session where scores will not be counted for overall standings at the end of 3 golf golf games. Only my flight managed to complete 18 holes, the rest managed 14 holes due to darkness.

We stayed at the BCC hotel, great spacious room and close to the Batam City Square, a shopping mall where food courts are available.  Nearby the hotel there are also open food courts if your stomach can tolerate the less hygienic surroundings. 

The next day off we go to the Tanjung Punggur ferry terminal about 45 minutes drive from the hotel. The organizer had a speedboat with 3 units of 200 hp engines to carry us to the Bintan Island. Just a short 15 minutes boat ride and we arrived at Bintan island at the Bulang Linggi Tanjung Uban jetty. A 45 minutes bus ride to us to Laguna Bintan Golf Course and it was raining. The course was beautiful but for a first timer I cant really put the ball in the proper spots for better course management, you can get a par but still I have not lost a ball after 2 days of golf.

Not a very long course but must put the ball in the correct place to have chance to attack the pin.

I played 3 over my handicap on this golf course but most of my other flight mates did better.

After the game we were brought to a seafood restaurant for a late lunch ( 4 pm) and everybody eat like hungry piranhas devouring their food. It was just fried rice, fried eggs, vegetables, fish and cuttlefish. I asked for prawn and crab, they said no budget! 

It took us another hour to reach our hotel in Tanjung Pinang and it was already dark. The Aston Hotel was not in town so we have nothing to do at the hotel, the organizer took the group for eating Durian fruit as it was Durian season there but I beg to decline and slept early.

The next day we travelled to Ria Bintan GC, a golf course rated no.10 in Asia and it did not disappoint us as it is truly a nice and beautiful ocean course. I spent some time to take photos of the course, no wonder I played 2 under my hcp here. Enjoy the photos...

It was a fun day at the golf course!