Golf to the South - 2014 Dec 16

16 Dec 2014 - Tiara Melaka GCC

First of all, our thanks to Francis Lai who had kindly given us 8 golf vouchers, which he won during one of his tournament; for us to play at Tiara Golf Club, Melacca. We left KL in 2 cars at 6.00 am and arrived at Ayer Keroh about 1 1/2 hrs later. After having some pau and tim sum at our favorite coffee shop, we were all eager to tee off at 8.30am.

Although some of us had played there quite a few times, except Francis and Lim; all others somehow did not find the rhythm to score. Despite playing to one of the best scores of the eight, Francis was his usual self trying to play down his good score on luck and continuously asking for strokes from his targeted opponents. Unfortunately, no one fell for his trap!

We had a sumptuous lunch at the club, with 2 bottles of red wine contributed by our ever 'loudly' Siew, who somehow also managed to get Francis to foot the bills. Thank you once again Francis and Siew....you are our savior!

Whilst Francis, Siew, James and Liaw left for home after the game, the other die hard gang of 4, comprising Dennes, Lee, Alex and Lim continued the journey south for another 2 games in JB and Singapore.

17 Dec 2014 - Sembawang Country Club, Singapore

Actually, the focus of this trip was to replay SGC because about 3 years ago when we came here, we only managed to play 9 holes as the course was undergoing reconstruction on the first nine. We were told that the whole course will have a total facelift once the whole project is completed. Our eagerness to play here was further excited by Lim, who could only stand and watch by the sideline due to increment weather when he was here recently with other KRTU members on the inter-club games. He has said in many occasions that we must come and play this course because it appears to be one of a premium class golf course comparable to KLGCC.

Since SGC is very closed to Woodland, we have decided to stay near the causeway. We found Grand Sentosa Hotel in Taman Sentosa, Johor Baru.

Grand Sentosa Hotel is a three star hotel located within a shopping mall. Quite unique in that sense. It cost below RM150 for a twin shared room with breakfast. Furthermore, the location is ideal. Besides the variety of anchors in the shopping complex, there are also many seafood restaurants, foot reflexology and body massage centers nearby. By night, there is a row of food stalls serving Chinese food on one side of the road and Malay food on the opposite side. These food stalls are just within walking distance from the hotel. 

With the intention to avoid the traffic on the causeway, we had our breakfast immediately when the hotel cafe was opened at 6am and was on the road about 15 minutes later. To our frustration, we were still caught in the traffic jam for nearly an hour. From what I see, the jam was mainly due to the fish-bone traffic dispersing system within the Immigration complex for Malaysia and Singapore. Fortunately, our tee off time was booked at 9.09am, so we still have some time to warm up on the chipping and putting greens.

a barrel of sand bottles for filing up divots

True enough, SGC has gone through a complete re-turfing, there is not a single place that resembles what we had seen previously, which was planted with cow grass. The first view really impresses us! Unfortunately, we came at the wrong time again. Due to sand tiling on the green recently, the greens were even slower than those in KRTU. As such, we don't have much fun during the round, especially Dennes who has many unkind words to say after a disastrous day. I think more and more he is becoming a grumpy old men !

18 Dec 2014 - Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club, JB

HHGCC has won numerous awards for being one of the best golf course in Malaysia for a number of years. We were not disappointed, but having a good score needs a lot of patient  and skill in putting because the greens are either undulating or has a gradient. The speed is almost doubled than what we played at Sembawang so it is not surprising to make 3 putts within 10 feet!

2 holes deserve special attention:

Hole No. 2 is a tricky Par 5 with two creeks bisecting the fairway coupled with a lateral water hazard running the entire length on the left. This is definitely a thinking hole. For an 

average golfer, even with a good tee shot, it would take another long shot to carry the second creek. Then there are myriad of bunkers that guard the elevated green!

The 18th is one of the unique finishing par-5, where the green is almost circular in shape guarded by water which run all the way on the right from tee to the green. Both Alex and Lim found the watery grave with their approach shots, while I managed to 2-putt for par. It was a nice feelings to end the day.

Although all of us scored above 90, I believe we still want to come back to play this course again. 


More photos.....

https://plus.google.com/photos/107889453367436801158/albums/6099222540153715553?authkey=CLXr7_m50runjQE