Golf (Again!) in Jakarta, INDONESIA

May 11 – 13, 2008

Permata Sentul Golf & Country Club
Day 1

The 4-some (L to R): Rich, Datuk Bahar, Myself, Datuk Rosli

As usual, the moment we touched down, we headed straight to the golf course. Permata Sentul was the first on our list. There were 6 of us from KL, Datuk Iskandar (DI), Zack, Haji Amir, Rich Fozi, Datuk Rosli and myself, all crazy golfers. Another, Datuk Bahar joined us at the club house together with several other local guests and Petronas guys working in Jakarta.

Rich and I were paired with Datuk Rosli and Datuk Bahar in the first flight. We teed off in a hurry while the rest were still waiting for the local Petronas guys, Ibrahimnuddin and Azlan to arrive. Azlan later went on to score a hole-in-one. Rich and I were in top form for the first 4 holes. It even attracted Datuk Bahar, a new acquaintance, to comment that we were real live “buaya” (literally crocodile, refers to hustler on the golf course). Of course, subsequent holes revealed our true colours.

Permata Sentul's Undulating Terrain

The group chief, DI, a good golfer and a long hitter himself, insisted that we played from the black tee boxes, the longest on the golf course. It was a mini tournament for us. We had a small stake placed in a pool collection to be awarded to the winners. Our group was kind enough to distribute the winning purse to several winners. Since we were in Indonesia, the Rp100,000 sounded very big and impressive. At least some people could claim their career earnings to have touched 6 figures!

Farmers working on their rice fields in between the tee box and fairway

Permata Sentul is a beautiful course with hilly terrain. The 5829-metre course has been well kept and the caddies were helpful and skilful in helping us, golfers. I have played at this course before. This trip was more to bring my friends to play at selected courses. It was a good golfing trip.

Caddies' Tee Off Contest at the 18th. Hole. My caddy had the best swing & distance.

We had our dinner after the game. By the time we checked into our hotel, Novotel Bogor, it was already late. All of us woke up as early as 3am to catch the 7am flight. We were tired and most of all in need of a good night sleep.

Bogor Raya Golf Club
Day 2

The Whole Gang

The Gang With the Caddies

We had 2 courses lined up for us today, so we woke up early. It was 5.45am and breakfast started at 6am. We just bulldozed our way and had breakfast while the staffs were still laying out foods for the 6am buffet. Our hotel is located in the same locality with the golf club. Our guide went to register at the golf counter while we checked out from our hotel. It was a pity to leave the hotel in a hurry because it was such a beautiful place set in a true Javanese ambience. We had golf games to catch.

The Swing Contest (T to B): Zack the Pro, Hisham the Rookie, Rich the Big Easy

I had played here many times before. Bogor Raya is a must for Malaysian golfers coming to Jakarta. Somehow I noticed that it was beginning to lose its luster. The caddies were not as before as most had migrated to Halim 3. So I was told.


















Riverside Golf Club

The 4-some (L to R): Rich, Pak Amir, Myself & Hisham

We continued our second 18 at Riverside, a Greg Norman’s designed course. I had played here before and the course proved to be too challenging for my liking. We hit the 18th hole when it was too dark to see even the golf balls.

Typical Greg Norman's designed course

Daunting Par 3. Somehow, we managed to cross the ravine!

Swinging Difference between the Good (Pak Amir) & the Bad (yours truly)




















We had our showers and left for Jakarta. We stopped at a Malaysian Restaurant and had some Malaysian foods for dinner. They served good teh tarik. There was a big Malaysian crowd when we got there.

It was already late when we checked into our hotel, Red Roof Hotel (formerly Radisson).

Royale Jakarta Golf Club (Halim 3)
Day 3
Caddy Shack: Busy Morning

Still on Our Feet on the Last Day

Relatively New Course

We made a date with Halim 3 on our last day in Jakarta. This was a relatively new golf course. Even the workers were planting trees as we were playing. The crowd was huge. I was told that most of the Bogor Raya caddies migrated to Halim 3 in search for a greener pasture. My caddy was from Bogor, she even put her price tag at Rp150,000 for tip! Some caddy!

These Caddies Put a Price Tag for Their Tips!

DI Waiting for the Rest to Catch up.

DI doing the extra work! The bets must be big!

I was struggling with my game the whole round. We teed off from the black tees. A par 4 hole could be as long as 447 metres. Reaching the green in 2 was out of question.

The Club House in the background under construction

This working party came across our tee box as we were about to tee off

The golf course was an extension of Halim 1 and 2 that belonged to the air force. Halim 3 was a public course but located near to the air force base. The course was well maintained despite the lack of mature trees. It would be a nice golf course in a few years time.