Kota Permai Golf & Country Club, Shah Alam, MALAYSIA

November 29, 2007

The Team: Shahrul, Zack, John & Me

John Preston, the Country Manager for our franchised arm, UTS Group, booked us in a charity golf tournament at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club. The tournament is organized annually by the American-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). The Ambassador’s Cup is the winner’s challenge trophy. The format of play is best ball. All 4 golfers hit their respective shots and pick the best one for subsequent shots. A boogey in this format spells disaster.

Getting ready to rock n roll

After donning our UTS Group’s team shirts, John, Zack, Shahrul and I proceeded to Hole 6 for shot gun start. It is a par-3 hole. Both Shahrul and Zack missed the green. John was on but miles from the hole. My shot ran all the way over the bunker to the green. It was a make-able birdie. Unfortunately all of us missed the short downhill putt. It was a good start for the team. Kota Permai’s green was fast.

John started the ball rolling with the first tee off

The 2nd. hole (Hole 7) was a disaster for us. We chose Shahrul’s shot lying in the rough under some trees as our best ball. It was the furthest. We argued for a while for the second shot. The plan was for 2 persons to go for the green and if they failed the other 2 to lay up. Zack & Shahrul went for the green but ended in the water. John and I laid up for our 3rd. shot. Again we missed the green, our best ball was found in the bunker. We had a boogey, which turned out to be the only one for the day.

I caught the photo of this caddy running across the fairway to retrieve a ball

I had a good round, contributing to quite a number of best tee shots for the team. Shahrul came in a few times to rescue us when all hopes seemed gone. He was our savior. Zack came back into the game after switching to the “royal” yellow ball. That was the turning point for the team. John holed in the last hole to give us a much needed birdie for a 4 under. It was good enough for the 3rd place.

The 3rd place team (minus Shahrul) getting our prizes

That was not the only thing that we won. In the lucky draw, Shahrul won a night stay in Langkawi, Zack got a hotel room at Carcosa Sri Negara, a pricey place and John got a RM100 dinner voucher at Outback Steak House. Of all the luck, I won a Motorola RZR hand phone worth more than RM1000 which was the lucky draw grand prize. Lucky me!
Prizes were given by the new US ambassador to Malaysia. I got my handphone.

Royal Palm Spring Golf Club, Port Dickson, MALAYSIA

November 25, 2007

It was a family weekend in Port Dickson. The golf club just happens to be right in front of Tiara Beach Resort where we stayed for the weekend. I could not resist. Furthermore, I had this Top Premier voucher, expiring soon, that gave me free green fee.

Palm Spring brought back some old memories to me. It was here that my group of golf newcomers in year 2000 came to play. We called ourselves the Millennium Golfers. We needed a not so busy golf course to hit or rather miss hit balls during our early golfing days. Palm Spring was the perfect place.

482m par 5 Hole 10. The palmtree-lined fairways remind me of Medan's Graha Helvetia

I decided to tee off alone starting from the 2nd. Nine. My uncle, Haji Rashid would be joining me in the 1st. Nine. It was Sunday evening and the course was quiet. I was moving very fast from Hole10 to 11 until I came upon a group of golfers, 7 of them driving 4 buggies playing together at Hole 12. It would be against club rule to play in a group of more than 4 golfers. I could not afford to wait and play behind them. I decided to skip the hole.

This green of 147m par 3 Hole 15 overlooks the Straits of Malacca

Palm Spring is a 5835 metre par 72 course. It is rather a flat terrain with water in play at a few holes. The greens were not really putt able surface. The ball would bounce off the surface and jumped up and down all the way to the hole. It made reading the line useless. The fairways were reasonably well-maintained. They reminded me of Graha Helvetia course in Medan, Indonesia, minus the caddies. The green of par-3 Hole 15 was the scenic hole overlooking the Malaccan Straits.

Haji Rashid looking for his par

Haji Rashid joined me for the remaining 9 holes. It was still early when we finished the round. I had 4 pars, blew 3 holes and had mostly double-boogey game. Haji Rashid had a reasonably good round despite registering only 1 par. We decided to return and play again the next morning.

Guoman Hotels, Port Dickson, MALAYSIA

November 24, 2007

Guoman Hotels, previously known as Guoman Resorts, Port Dickson, has a 9-hole golf course. I have never played there and decided to give it a try. It is a walking course.

While registering to play, I was approached by 2 golfers asking me to join them. They had completed 9 holes and were going for another round. Fadzlan introduced himself as a beginner in golf and Idris was the iron man.

Fadzlan drove into the water from the first tee box, giving me the impression of a beginner golfer. Idris teed off with 5 iron, all the way. Both of them made good playing companions. The only thing was that, sometimes Fadzlan respectfully addressed me as “Uncle”, making me feel like an old man. Somehow, this old man out-drove the 2 young men most of the times.
Hole No. 2. 480m par 5

Guoman is a fairly good 9-hole course. The greens offer reasonably good putting surfaces, they were well maintained. I was hitting boogeys all the way minus the elusive pars. The course was short, about 2,516 metres from the blue tees. That partly explained my unblemished score. This par 35 course has three par-3 holes, all three play over water.

It was a grueling task for me, walking and pulling the trolleys. I was panting for breath by the time I reached my ball to take up a shot. It was a good exercise. Fadzlan, the newbie, managed to post a par. Idris was the better golfer. The lack of people playing, it was a weekend, made it all the more enjoyable.

If you happen to be in Port Dickson and short of time, Guoman may be a good place to hit some balls and unwind your golfing blues. I just wanted to test a course that I have not played before. It was ok.