The Club House
After we finished our round at Hotspring, we made our way to Shansui. We liked the caddy, Nadi so much that we asked him to come along with us to Shansui. He obliged. We learned that Nadi is the son of an Indonesian family working in Sabah. He does not go to school but helps out his family by working as a caddy. He makes about RM100 to RM200 a month, enough to ease some family burden.
Tee Box Hole 10
Shansui is my club. I became an honorary member when the owner, Datuk Kuor became very generous one day and granted membership to the entire entourage of the then Chairman of Bank Pertanian, Datuk Sulaiman Daud. I play there on the average once a year. So much for free membership!
Zack Teeing Off at Asia's Best Par 5 as It Started to Rain.
Shansui is a par excellent golf course. Earlier, many many years ago, it was accorded the best golf course in Asia. Until today, it still carries or at least promotes itself as the best course with the best par 5 and par 4 holes. To me, it may no longer be the best but certainly it is one of the golf courses you must play before you die.
Shansui Still Claims to be the Best in Several Aspects
By 11am we were teeing off from the 10th tee box. The sun was getting very hot. It was like 12 noon in West Malaysia. The pace was fast and the score was lackluster. I managed to post 2 pars. It was so hot that we decided to take a break at a hut surrounded by cocoa trees. Shansui was built on a former cocoa plantation. We had a picnic lunch of bread and water at the hut.
Brief Respite from the Gruelling Heat
The second nine proved to be a better round for Zack. He posted 5 pars and 1 birdie. I got 2 pars and double boogeyed the rest. Half way through we started to get cloud cover from the hot mid day sun. Soon it started to rain. Again we had to stop at a hut, this time to ride through the downpour. We managed to finish the round at sometimes after 2pm, just in time to get ready for our 5pm flight to Kota Kinabalu.
Zack at the 18th Hole
The trip to Tawau would always be worth the long journey because of Shansui and Hotspring. These are 2 of my top courses in Malaysia. When you are playing at Shansui, beware of wild crocodiles. We came upon 3 crocodiles at Hole No.3, one was resting on the fairway. This 156 metre par-3 hole carries over a pond that becomes the home of these crocodiles. I managed to land my ball on the apron near to the edge of the water with crocodiles swimming nearby. It was a really nerve-breaking putt. I had to remind Zack and Nadi to look out for crocodiles while I was putting! Just in case…
The One That Got Away at Hole No.3.
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