Nexus Golf Resort Karambunai, Sabah, MALAYSIA

December 25, 2007

Karambunai Club House

It was Christmas Day, we were in Kota Kinabalu (KK). We flew in from Tawau the night before. My body was still aching from playing 36 holes in Tawau. We were at Sutera Harbour waiting for Datuk Iskandar to arrive from KL for an 18-hole round at Karambunai. Upon his arrival, we, the craziest of the crazy golfers did not waste much time and were on our way to Karambunai in a jiffy.

Hamidon, Zack, Datuk Iskandar & Ayob (L to R)

Karambunai is a 5,625 metre resort course surrounded by hills and sea. It is a very beautiful getaway course. The club is affiliated to Staffield, my club, so I only need to pay for 50% of the green fee. Since it was Christmas, a public holiday, the green fee came to RM360. Ouch! As usual, when we reached the club house, I went to buy club logo balls to add to my collection.

Par 3 Hole

There were 6 of us scheduled to play, so we split into 2 flights with Datuk Iskandar, Zack and Hamidon in one flight and Ayob, Hanafiah and I in another. We teed off with the mid day heat at its worst. Ayob, our KK branch manager was the better golfer. For all the hard sweaty efforts, I managed to post only one par, quite a handful of double and triple boogeys. Hanafiah claimed to be a beginner but obviously a solid beginner with 4 pars to show.

Hanafiah in Action

Karambunai’s Hole No.13 has always been my most memorable hole. I was always unlucky at this 455 metre par 5 thirteenth. I had a solid tee shot, way in front of Ayob and Hanafiah. I had a choice of crossing the pond to the green or laying up to the right. I laid up nicely to the right with a good possibility of green in regulation. As fate had it, I duffed my 3rd shot into the fairway bunker and wasted several strokes going from bunker to bunker for a triple boogey 8. It was my jinx hole.

The Green of Hole 13

We finished our round feeling toasted and exhausted. What a way to spend our Christmas holidays! After the game, Ayob brought us to the house of a ball collector selling used golf balls. I bought 70 balls at 70 sen each. It was a good bargain. The balls were in excellent condition.

Yours Truly

Merry Christmas…