Golf swing..our way!

On Sunday when KJ Choi was beaten by a 18 year old Korean to win the MMO 2010, me and my usuaal gang of golfers played at KLCC. This time Halim joined the likes of Munir, Bangdolah, Bojai, Atek, Aa, Sharol and Yob in the early morning tee-off accompanied by 2 ungraded caddies. Yob wanted to be known as AK, not Anthony Kim but A Khairudin! we will wait for him to buy the belt buckle first.

Once again I was asked to do a photo-shoot of everybody's tee-off which I did and want to show them here. This time I have captured the swing sequence at the follow through and how amazing they all look alike...

Happy golfing while I work on the other swing capture!

The Golf Swing..the professional way!

On Saturday I went with Razak and his son Arief to watch the Maybank Malaysian Open 2010 at the KLGCC. I reached the club at 10.00 am and already has to park the car at the nearby Sime Darby Convention Center, more than 1 km from the KLGCC gates. The organizer provided shuttle though..a brand new Hyundai Starex to carry people from the parking location to the club and vice-versa. We have simple breakfast of roti canai and nasi lemak at the club and saw a lot of caddies and their masters also having breakfast there, we sat next to Mark Haastrup from Denmark.

I started to walk around at 11.00 am and watched several players at the practice green and then went to watch Mark's tee-shot at hole 10 at 11.35 am together with David Horsey of England and Darren Back of Australia. Man...they were fantastic golf swing from three of them and I managed to capture Mark's swing before the marshall spotted me. I was at the viewing galley about 30 meter away.

First thing I noticed the pros hit the ball really hard..I am sure they could managed 112 to 115 mph club speed easily, their posture at impact and the extension of the arms after impact and the balanced finish were the major different from my friends swing and my swing..our swing were anywhere from 86 mph to 95 mph with some of the bigger size friends like Atek, Yasni, Sharol , Munir and AK getting 110 mph! See Mark's swing here!

i went on to watch KJ Choi's and T Jaidee at the practice putting green and then proceed to the 1st Tee Box just in time to watch Chinnarat Padungsil, Matthew Griffin and Peter Lawrie launched the golf balls 250 meter down the fairway! The rest of the day I followed the last three groups of KJ Choi, Thongchai Jaidee and the leader then Rhys Davies.

It was an exhausting golf learning experience for me to see them tee-off, hit approach shot, pitch shot, bunker and putting. In the end the heat was too much for me on this Saturday and I left after 12 holes and I have probably walked 4 km already!

The Golf Swing..a never ending story!

I have played golf without any proper coaching, in the early days when golf magazines and free internet instructions were rare..I just self taught myself into swinging the club. Those days were gone and I played golf to kill those leisure times available to only bachelors..

Then I started to read golf instruction from golf magazines, acquired knowledge from free internet lessons and getting tips from fellow golfers and absorbing all the tips from the self-proclaimed golf gurus at the driving range! But all those information got lost in between holes...every weekend the swing changed. How can I make a good swing if I have to remember all the tips like keep the head steady, slow takeaway, don't forget the wrist cock, check the club at parallel,maintain the L shape, complete the back swing..and now the down swing, initiate with the lower body, shift left for weight transfer and rotate the hip, do the reverse C, release at impact, follow through and finish high..aaahh, that was picture perfect and I duffed the shot!

It seemed like golf swing is very complicated because golf instructors never stop discussing about it for the last 25 to 30 years. We don't find such discussion in badminton, table tennis, tennis, baseball etc. maybe there were no wrist cock required hehehe!

Here are some photos of my friends golf swing..all without proper coaching, they enjoyed their golf game just as much, happy golfing.

Weekend golf outings

Well..last weekend and Chinese New Year holidays, I played four consecutive days in Serendah and Kundang Lakes and felt fine! Actually I felt very sleepy at the office due to tiredness and the office Secretary thought I was having late nights...

Yesterday eight of us Bojai, Sheriff, AaAa, Sharol, Atek, Munir and Yeop and Bangdolah played at Serendah. The greens were still bare with sands and grass that refused to grow under the hot weather..however the course was great and each shot got extra yardage due to the hardened fairway. Me and my partner won 1 up in matchplay got complimentary Ice cream soda and sarsi..well under this weather any liquid with ice felt damn good. The score for me was good as I played the first nine 43 and second nine 45..better than last week!

Today I drove to Royal Kampung Kuantan Golf Club, covering a distance of 50 km from my house in Selayang. It was just a 45 minutes drive and reached the clubhouse at 7.45 am. This time I joined the kakigolf.com forumners in their outings..,called the Serious Golfers Tournament 2010. There were 30 golfer participated included two ladies...

I played with Syaiful COO, John Daly and Zul all known only by their nicknames in the Forum. There were 10 main prizes and perhaps 10 lucky draws. Although the club had men caddies, it was a walking course that covered more than 6 km...was I exhausted and dehydrated. So much so our golf Captain Kamal MFG called it a day after 12 holes...

I played great and consistent, lost 2 titleist balls to the same Par 5 hole and both went to the drinks..Yes consistent because I scored 50 and 49 but I didn't finished last..the journey back to Selayang was sleepy and reached home at 5 pm...aahh I need a rest!

Still I watched the cute Japanese girl Ai Miyazato won the Honda PTT Open in Pattaya...she scored 9 under par on final day and won by 1 with a chipped in birdie on the final hole..

Creating my own tournament

The Chinese New Year holidays this year gave us working crews 4 days holiday from Saturday to Tuesday and I had drawn a 4 days golf schedule, what it felt like playing 4 days in professional golf if they make the cut! But I am not a professional golfer so I use buggy but no caddy though. After passing the mandatory retirement age of 55 years, our body needs regular reminder that we can still do it...not only golf!

I started at Kundang Lakes Country Club on Saturday, playing with regular Golfkakis Jai (20), Sharol (24) and Atek (22) after resting from golf for three weeks due to work schedule, managed to score 86 gross that included 9 pars! On Sunday I played with Golfkakis from MyGolf Community, the likes of Rizal AK (16), Ivan Sim (17) and Asroff (24) and I scored 91 gross. The Serendah Golf Resort is undergoing green maintenance, all 18 holes. The greens were bare with no grass and a disappointment for us! Let the green cures in three weeks and we come back to play.

On Monday I returned to Kundang Lakes to play with Azharudin, Zahari and Hj Zainol and scored a lousy 94 gross that included 2 triple bogeys! Mind you the greens in Kundang Lakes had seen significant improvements and now probably has the speed between 8.6 to 9.0! That is a three-putt speed category and the breaks are now a challenge, good work Kundang Lakes! The other members scored just decent with 93, 93 and 94.

Today (Tuesday) I completed my 72 holes endurance golf with a score of 91 that included 5 pars! I played with same group as yesterday and they didn't play good either. Today their score were slightly better with 92,93 and 94.

My score for the 4 days self tournament were 86, 94, 91 and 91. Being a golfer with handicap +18 that would be a +2 for 4 days. I think it was a decent score over four days under hot burning sun...so the body could still managed hardships...its a good health indicator.

My golf colleagues rewarded themselves with huge glass of coconut drinks + ice cream soda with lots of ice at the Tasik Biru restaurant. In reality this is what we came for....the serene surrounding at the lakes with some people playing jet ski..waht a view...and drinks!

Lastly my thanks to Mr Saha of the KLCC Golf Committee for giving us some tips and pointers on golf ethics....and for inviting us to join the coming MB Selangor Friendly Golf Competition in March!

Serendah golf Saturday

It has been quite a while since I last pen something on this blog. Not that I didn't play golf but the mood was not quite there. In fact my last overseas golf outing was at the tough Southern Hills Country Club, located 20 km south of Hatyai, Thailand. I played with a Korean guy named David Kim and most of the time in the rain...guest what the next day the course was under flood water. That was on 4 November 2009..nevetheless, David lost 10 balls and scored 126 and I lost 3 balls and scored 91..this was a tough course!

Last week me..Sharol, Atek and Bo Jai played at Serendah Golf Links. Things have changed..especially the Green Fees. Last year AGS card member played on afternoon weekends paid only RM 50 with meal voucher added and now the voucher was missing! GLI card members now has to pay RM 70 on weekend and no meal vouchers too...it is getting more expensive to play golf this year.

That aside, Sharol played liked a season pro that day for a 24 hcper, his driving averaged 270 meters and the ball were on the fairway...imagine that! On 3 occassion he put his second shot on Par 4 about 12 feet from the pins..he missed 2 and got 1 birdie.

Atek and Bo Jai played around 92 and 93 but I was the worst amongst them, returning 49 and 47 respectively, now a confirmed 24 hacper for sure. I could only blame lack of golf outings and practice..but that bad scores didn't worry me, I am not taking indefinite leave from golf...next week I will play again!

Happy golfing guys!