Ramadan Golf 2023

 Every year, during the Puasa Month, it has become a common practice for many golf courses to offer special Ramadan Golf packages. The Ramadan period for 2023, was March 23 - April 21. 

We have also taken this opportunity to play as many courses nearby where the promotional rates were too attractive to miss.

A summary of the courses that we have played are listed below:

Golf aside, one of the most important item in our golf itinerary, is also to find a restaurant nearby that serves the best food for our lunch after the game. In this respect, we must thank David who has done an excellent job, searching the web, review the comments within, finally suggested a place to eat. So far he has never failed, 3 cheers to our friend!

Places to eat, near Amverton 

Places to eat, near Danau:

Places to eat, near Kota SerieMas or Bukit Unggul GC:

Places to eat, near Port Dickson:

KRTU GanG - Our Golf Rules wef 2023

 Effective 2023, the USGA & R&A has made quite a few changes to the Golf Rules in order to speed up the games and also make it more enjoyable especially for the non professionals and golfers with disabilities. 

In view of the above, I have made a summary of the key points so that it is easier to understand and for us  to follow. Although  some areas may not conform to the R&A Golf Rulings, let’s just enjoy the game together. 

Here it is...........

Our Golf Rules…

  1. GUR, ball or feet in Casual Water, Embedded ball, Cart Path, Distance Markers, Divots, Roots and Rocks, all Immovable Obstructions:

     - Free Drop within 1 club length, after taking nearest point of complete relief.                                         See also note 3, Winter Rule.

2. Bunker (if ball in foot print, bunker unraked, casual water, drainage marks ):

       - Free Drop within 1 club length, but ball must be dropped in bunker.                                                        - if drop outside bunker:  +1 stroke

3. Lost ball, OB: +1 stroke; see Drop Options below.

4. Penalty Area: +1 stroke

      - Red stakes, see Drop Option 2. 

        Or take lateral relief on opposite side from point of reference (point where ball last crossed the              hazard line).

     - Yellow stakes, see Drop Option 2. 

        Ball must be dropped behind the yellow line/stake. 

5. Ball lost in OPEN fairways of same teeing ground: - Free Drop at spot best determined by the player 

      

Drop options…always not nearer the hole

 1. Play another ball from location where you last played, eg re-tee

 2. Play another ball from where the original ball last crossed the unplayable line: 

⁃ Dropped within 2 club length (left or right)     Or

⁃ Dropped as far back as you want on imaginary line from point to pin (back-on-the-line)  Or

⁃ Play anywhere within GAC (ground already covered) area

Winter Rules…..always not nearer the hole

To determine and declare before hitting our 1st Tee:

1. Free drop: within 1 club length anywhere in the general area even under tree but Excluding penalty areas, bunkers, tee box and greens.

2. Free drop = LCP (lift, clean, place)

3. However, after the free drop and your line of play is still blocked, you may chipped out or take the Unplayable option with 1 stroke penalty.

Some Illustrations......

KRTU Gang -The Magnificent 8

                                             GAC Line,

Golf around Malaysia during Covid pandemic period

Kelab Rekreasi Angkatan Tentera (KRAT) - 

KRAT was officially affiliated to KRTU wef 22nd Jan 2022. From those who played there before, most of them would say that this is a tough 9-hole course, hilly most of the time, tight fairways with   many water hazards in play as well. Of course, nothing is better than seeing it for ourselves. 

So here we are on Thursday, 17th March 2022. Initially, we have planned to go in Khoo's Toyota Alphard, so six of us, namely Khoo, myself, Alex, Lim, James and David; can travel all in one car. Unfortunately, Khoo was tested Covid +ve just a day before, and David graciously withdrew; so four of us went in James car instead.

Lunch at Restaurant Eden Hakka, built beside a  fish pond

Under A huge ceiling fan

worker collecting veggie before cooking

ducks looking for food in the fishpond next to the restaurant

In Summary, looking at the water hazards across the first 2 tee boxes ; we changed our minds to play 2 rounds from the white tees; just to experience the unexpected. 

Personally, i would agree that this is a tough course with narrow fairways, many greens on the uphill with steep side slope.  Lot of thinking to place the ball, in position for the next approach.  No doubt, worth coming again!

Since this is the first time we came to Sendayan, we have to google for a place to eat. Eventually, we decided to try out Restaurant Eden Hakka, which is not far away from the GC. To our surprise, the restaurant was built just besides a fishpond, with 2 tiers of dining spaces. Apparently, the chicken, duck, fish and vegie are all rear and farm here; likely to be owned by the restaurant owner. We ordered Tilapia steamed HK style, a hakka braised pork with salted veg (Hakka Mui Choy Kaw York) and a fresh spinach grown in their own farm. The portion was big for 4, but tasty and delicious. The environment just fantastic. Highly recommended for anyone wishing to enjoy a good meal far away from the city crowd.

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A'Formosa Golf during CMCO

 Every time we drove past A'Formosa Golf Resort, which we could vaguely see the layout of one of the hole near the North-South Expressway; Kim Sun always made the comments that he had not yet played this course.

After digging through the web, we found out that AGGR is offering golf package for Senior Golfers at RM78.00  during the CMCO (Conditional Movement Control Order) COVID-19 pandemic period. It was easy to decide that we will come here  when the date was proposed!

Tuesday, Oct 6th.

We played the Palm nine and the Rocky nine today. The greens of palm nine were recently under sand tiling, as such the green speed were rather slow.  

Overall, the course is reasonably well maintained , and  most par 4s and par 5s are designed  with dogleg left or right and you have to drive across water hazards on a number of holes as well.

After shower, I met and chatted with a young Executive, Mr Jimmy Tan and offered him some of my feedbacks and to my surprise, he gave me 4 free vouchers which entitled us to free green fees for our next game!  Mr Tan gave me another present surprise when he told me that Mr Khoo can play for FREE and will only have to pay for Golf Insurance as he is above 80, thus qualified as a Golden Senior Golfer!!

Khoo San looking good in his 80s,  truly deserve FOC golf package at A'Formosa

Tuesday, Oct 13th.

Since we have the Golf Vouchers, we decided to come back and play AFGR even though we were here last week. We were so fortunate that this is probably the last game we could played outside KL as the Govt has just announced this morning that KL, Selangor and PutraJaya will be placed under CMCO effective 14-27 Oct. With this lockdown, inter state travel are strictly restricted! 

Today we played the Rocky nine and the Crocodile nine. All of us agreed that the Crocodile nine was very well maintained especially the greens.  Even though it was raining  last few days, the fairways were not very soggy. Still the holes played rather long since the ball does not run that much.

Covid-19 MCO - JB Golf Tour 13 - 15 Sept 2020

 Probably all keen golfers would have heard of the ElsClub in Desaru where the Ocean Course is designed by the four-time major champion, Ernie Els.  Overlooking the South China Sea the course comprises three 9-holes course namely Coast, Ridge and Lakes. Each layout has their own character but not link style as the name may implied. 

On normal days, the green fees alone cost about RM500. To most of us, this is too expensive to even consider playing a round. But when we heard about the Stay & Play package that were on offer during the Covid-19 MCO, we grabbed the opportunity immediately.

The packages on offer.by The Els Club Desaru Coast, JB.......

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Day 1 - Sunday 13 Sept, AKGCC

Since the package comes with unlimited rounds of golf with cart, our plan is to play 18 holes in the morning and probably another 9 holes in the afternoon. This is simply not possible if  we leave KL even by 6am. So in order to achieve our goals, we decided to play Ayer Keroh GCC on day 1, and spent a night in a budget hotel at Bandar Penawar, which is a small town less than 10km away from the ElsClub.

Of course, we cannot leave Melaka without having lunch at our favorite restaurant "Hong Seng"

The group gave a surprised, though belated bday celebration to Lee.
Khoo San also gave Lee a Bday Ang Pau.

Lee wishes all Joy and Happiness, Good Health always

Day 2 - Monday 14 Sept, The Els Club Desaru, Ocean Course

Although there were 2 separate courses under the Group. the Valley course has been closed for some time. 

At the 1st Tee Box, Lake 9

At 1st Tee Box, Coast 9/

Today we started off from the Lakes 9 then crossover to Coast 9. Unfortunately, heavy rain poured during the 14th hole and we had to stop play. Although we were in the buggies, we were soaking wet as the downpour came with a very strong wind as well.

After a quick shower, we went to a restaurant at Bandar Penawar for lunch, then checked in to Amansari Hotel.

Were we in luck? 

A short while after checked in to the hotel., we noticed that the rain has gone as quickly as it came. So leaving Khoo San behind to rest, 3 of us headed back to the course, and finished another 18 just before 6PM. So today we played a total of 32 holes,!

Day 3 - Tuesday 15 Sept, Els Club Desaru, Ocean Course

Breakfast at Amansari Hotel is absolutely a disappointing experience! The breakfast was served to the room (apparently the coffee house was closed), in plastic container and plastic utensils. Imagine eating this in the hotel room, without a table and chairs and you have to make your own coffee! This hotel  is no better than a budget one and has absolutely no class, let alone customer services! I sent a feedback to Els Club Management and hope that they will remove this hotel from their accommodation list!! Luckily we stayed only 1 night!

Today, we started off from Lake 9 and proceed to the Ridge 9.

Found this stunning beauty budding out from the cow grass off the ground.
Each of the soft tentacles has tiny flower at the end, swaying in the breeze and visited by tine little bees!
Simply amazing

After saying sayonara to the Els Club, we had lunch at a seafood restaurant just besides the Amansari Hotel. The food is excellent and the price reasonable, much to our surprise because we thought that they would have normally catered for Tourists from Singapore.

Do you know?

KELLY TAN JOINED THE ELS CLUB MALAYSIA FAMILY

Malaysia’s top female golfer Kelly Tan has been announced as The Els Club Malaysia golf ambassador in January 2020.

Covid-19 MCO - JB Golf Tour 24-26 Aug 2020

 Due to the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented by the Govt in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, no travelers are allowed in or out of the country. As a results, many golf resorts and golf courses are offering golf promotion packages. When Dennes informed us that he and his group has signed up for a Stay & Play golf package offered by Forest City Golf Resorts, JB; we were equally very keen to go since none of us has played there before and apparently, it is very expensive to play there under normal days. 

Without much hesitation, 6 took the journey in Khoo’s Wellfire!

24th Aug 2020 - Stay & Play package  at Forest City Golf Resorts.

The 2D1N with 2 round of golf for weekday is RM1180.00 per room per night for double occupancy, so per pax charges is RM1180/2 = RM590 per pax, which is inclusive of breakfast. However, after much bargaining; the Resort  has also agreed to include additional 2 vouchers; 1  for hi-tea and another for dinner.

Also tag along is David's friend. Toh (right most)

After arrival, we were booked to tee off at the Legacy Course at about 12.30pm. We were surprised that we were not only given 2 small bottles of drinking water but a box of mix fruit in the cooler box!

Before tee off at Legacy Course

Honestly, this Jack Nicklaus designed course; is the best course we had played in Malaysia. The fairways are extremely well maintained, ponds with crystal clear water but hardly any tall trees except palms. The green speed are pretty fast so it takes a while for all of us to adjust!

Immediately after golf, we were served with a fruit platter with cakes for hi-tea, plus a free flow of Coffee and tea. The rooms are spacious, and the view from the room is simply magnificent!

David, in his own words; was having a "song sei" time soaking in the bath tub before we gathered for dinner.

View from the hotel room

Dinner was equally fantastic! We had Mushroom chowder for starter, followed by Fish Steak as main course, then fruit platter with small slice of dark chocolate cake as deserts! It definitely compensated for the RM17 per cup teh tarik which we had while waiting for our tee off time!

Fish Steak in Mushroom sauce

 fruit platter with small slice of dark chocolate cake

25th Aug 2020 - Stay & Play package  at Forest City Golf Resorts.

After breakfast, we played at the Classic Course, which is designed by a Chinese architect named Liang Guokun. The course has many bunkers scattered all over, hardly any trees but  pretty landscape with greenings.   

Swing like a Pro - coached by Ms Aimee Choo

Hole 18 - Classic Course

26th Aug 2020 - Stay & Play package  at Palm Resorts.

The 1D1N with 1 round of golf for weekday is RM308.00 per room per night for double occupancy, so per pax charges is RM308/2 = RM154 per pax, inclusive of breakfast.

View from our room at Palm Resort

26/8 - the 'Jumbos" before tee off at Allamanda Course

Palm Resorts has 36 holes and we were booked at Allamanda Course as it allows 6 of us to play together in a "Jumbo" flight. Coming from Forest City, this course simply has no match with any of the 2 courses in Forest City. The fairways are grown with  mixed grass, a lot of holes finished with the greens on the uphill.

On the way back, we made a detour to Melaka so we could have our dinner at our regular restaurant at Ayer Keroh. The food never fail us!

Sotong with Petai

Steam Tiger Garoupa fish in their special sauce

Scores.....