GOLF IN KARAWANG, INDONESIA, APRIL 2018

KARAWANG is an industrial town outside Jakarta located between Bogor and Bandung. It has three golf courses, Lotus Lakes GC, Sedana GC (now known as Palm Spring GC) and Jababeka GC, all three equally nice and challenging. We stayed at Karawang, the Swissbellin Hotel is in town and has adequate facilities for golfers. The breakfast spread is acceptable and only 20 minutes to golf courses.

Normally Lotus Lakes GC will be the first stop and Palm Spring GC on the second day. We would play Jababeka GC on the third day as the course is located nearer to Jakarta. The reason being golfers would spend the third night in Jakarta before flying home the next day..The choice hotels would be somewhere in Gajah Mada and Hayam Wuruk area where golfers could find halal restaurants, fruit markets and shopping malls nearby. 

 From Jakarta airport to Karawang, the trip would take about an hour if traffic is normal and since we arrived in the morning, the journey was quite pleasant. We had three flights of golfers, the stronger ones played with each other.

 During the game, these caddies borrowed my HP and they have a field day selfie when they could and I played golf.

 There are not many rumah makan in Karawang being a small town but we managed to visit the better ones and when time is constrained just have our meals at the clubhouse albeit the price is 60% higher than normal restaurants.

 Different course with different caddy but they are all very nice and dedicated to their job, after all not many foreigners play golf in Karawang.

 Playing all three days with with good friend Aziz who plays 22 hcp and I have to give him 4 strokes advantage each and every round.

 One of my favourite Indonesian meal is Bebek goreng cabe ijo, at the clubhouse it cost about rph 90,000 as opposed to normal price of rph 35,000 in normal rumah makan. The price of course depends on the servings small or large portions.

 Really nice course and great fairways,

The ever happy smiling faces after a good round of golf.

KOTA SERIEMAS GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB

KSGCC is located near Kg. Salak, Nilai, Negri Sembilan, Malaysia. Established in 2016 comprised 18 holes of undulating fairways and numerous bunkers. There are 4 tees to choose from black, blue, white and red to suit level of  skill and golf handicap. Me and my buddies  played from the white tee as this is our  first visit here. 

Going to KSGCC may be troublesome for outstation golfers but it is located near KLIA and the FI circuits. Along the Nilai-KLIA expressway just turn into Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi and Kg Salak. After the Masjid Kg Salak, at the traffic light turn left and after a few KM at the traffic light just turn right and follow the signboard. At the roundabout you will see the entrance to KSGCC.

The Clubhouse is brand new and served buffet breakfast and registration is at the golf shop. We registered as Senior golfers (age 55+) and paid RM100.30 and extra RM25 per golfer to enable buggy to roam the fairways. 

 The first hole is a Par 5 measuring 467M from the Blue Tee, reachable in 3 shots for the average golfer.

The 18th hole is a Par 4, downhill with water hazard waiting for wayward tee shot. 

For those who have not played this course, it is worth a try..I would want to play this course again .

Kota Seriemas Golf & Country Club

email. enquiry@seriemasgolf.com

Phone. +606 790 9339, Booking. +606 790 7392

GRI GARHANA BANDUNG, NOVEMBER 2016

On the second day we went to Gri Garhana, about 1 hour trip from the city centre. The course is situated near the medical faculty of the Penjajaran University. I once asked my son to study medicines  here but he didn't want otherwise I could have visited Bandung a few times a year. The club also have a lodging facilities if golfers want to stay and play at the club. 

The course itself was very good and very challenging for short and medium hitters. We only have 5  people to play golf so we asked to play jumbo but the General Manager who once worked at Glenmarie GC could not let us do it because of club policy. So we play 5 when the holes are away from clubhouse and we played three and two when near the club. 

The course played over 6,714 yards from the blue tee which is pretty long for me. Weekday rate about Rph 955,000 morning and Rph 845,000 afternoon. Located 1,000 meters aboe sea level within sight of Gunung Manglayang. There is   45 room resort available if you dont like the 1 hour return trip toBandung.Avoid coming during October to December because the fairways are more suitable for rice  ulttivation, very very wet.

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.