Tawau, Sabah, MALAYSIA

January 31 - February 1, 2010

This was another quickie trip for us, crazy golfers. We took the first flight out of KL and reached Tawau just in time to tee off at Sigalong Golf Club. Zack, DI, Haji Amir, Shahrul and I made up the golfers from KL and Jamil joined us.

Sigalong is a walking course situated deep inside oil palm plantation. I have played in Tawau many times but this was our first at Sigalong. It was more of a course on a road less travelled. The road leading to the club was like any other estate road, bumpy and bad. We expected the course to be equally bad.

There were not many golfers that day. I believe there is not much traffic here at Sigalong at any one time for obvious reason. The six of us formed one flight and much to our surprise, the course was better than some more well known ones. The fairways were well kept and the greens were above average.

The crazy golfers

Sigalong is a walking course. Due to the hilly terrains, walking was a struggle. The locals call it commando course. As we played along, I began to like the place. It was a truly challenging course. Accuracy was more important eventhough the course played more than 6000 metres.

The mid day heat and walking the hills took tolls on some lesser mortals. DI and Haji Amir were using drivers as walking sticks towards the end of the game. We took a "picnic" rest at most par 3 holes.

I played 45 on the front nine with one birdie. Shahrul was the other guy with birdie. The second nine was a struggle. It was hilly and some greens were really elevated. Losing balls was quite normal. Luckily, I had some left by the time we finished the rounds.

Zack on "Bridge on River Kwai"

After the game, we proceeded to a seafood restaurant, the second reason we came to Tawau. Zack's wife and youngest son joined us for dinner.

Picnic Rest at every par 3. DI having duku langsat

We were scheduled to play 36 holes on the second and last day in Tawau. I decided to skip the morning session at Tawau Golf Club at Hotsprings. The group left the hotel around 6am. I was wise enough to stay back and enjoyed my sleep. I joined them for lunch at Sri Keningau Restaurant after their game. Then we proceeded to Shansui for our final game. The guys were dead tired and I was fresh as Tawau's seafood. Shamsudin, Sri Keningau's owner and Azlan joined us for this round. Both of them above average golfers. I managed to get another birdie at Shansui.

After the game, we rushed to the airport and by 10.30pm I was back home. Another crazy trip.