Guests from Japan..

Saturday 27th December 2009

The Royal Selangor Golf Club received a group of visitors from the Okayama Prefecture in Japan led by Yoshiokasan, who earlier in spring this year, played host to our visits to the Kurashiki Golf Club and the Seton Nakai Golf Club.

Mrs Yoshioka, Yoshiokasan, His Excellency the Ambassador of Japan to Malyasia and Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon..

The entourage included 4 golfers who were winners of the interclub matches between golf courses in the Okayama Prefecture. So naturally they played to very low handicaps, one of them played to +1 handicap.

some of the Japanese guests....

Pakdokter was not shy to plead ignorance and had to ask what a +1 handicap means. Apparently if the course is a par-72, one has to play a score of 71 to return a par-golf game. And to be able to qualify for a professional golf status, one has to have a handicap of +4 at least.

So, there is still a lot of stuff to learn.....

Sharir Roose, Sam Ong and Alex Hwang Il Rok of RSGC....

Pakdokter played host to Otomosan, who played to a handicap of 5. He is a champion at shot putt, so you can imagine what his physique is like. He is also a judo exponent. His average drives is 280 yards. In his game at the RSGC his drives were mostly breaching 300 yards so much so that in many of the par 4's, his drives reached the apron on many occasion.

Alex, Tuan Syed Abu Hasan and one of the Japanese champion..

It was nice to play with such a good player who was so humble and tolerant with pakdokter's game. In fact he was very generous with his compliments whenever pakdokter, with a bit of luck, hit a good drive or holed a good putt.

the 4 champions from the Okayama district, Otomosan who played with pakdokter at extreme right...

At lunch the guests were presented with a RSGC cap each as souvenier and the guests gave us momentoes they brought from Okayama.

They invited us to pay a visit to their club next year and pakdokter will certainly keep those dates free.

The Staroba Masters 2008...

The Staroba Masters 2008 was played at the KGSAS Shah Alam Golf Course. About 70 golfers took part in the competition which was played on a stroke-play format.

It dawned on me how senior I have become as apart from Prof Dr Khalip Raffar of the 1957-1964 batch I was probably the next most senior golfer of the alumni golf section. The only other golfer from my 1964-1971 batch was Ahmad Khalid, a former merchant banker who is now a businessman trading in telecommunication equipment.

Ahmad Khalid was one of the ten nicknamed 'sepuluh budak hitam' during our school days by virtue of their very 'tanned' complexion. Before his tee-off, one of the juniors who remembered Ahmad Khalid could not help but noticed that he was obsessively applying layers and layers of sunblock to his face.

Pakdokter and Ahmad Khalid, one of the ' sepuluh budak hitam.....'

The junior commented to him " Hoi Mat Khalid, hang dah cukup hitam, buat apa nak apply sunblock lagi...." ( Eh...you are so dark to begin with, what's the use of applying the sunblock..)

The ever witty and sharp Ahmad Khalid replied " Aku tak mau kulit aku jadi putih..." ( I don't want my skin to turn fair...)

Ahmad Khalid and I are both members of the Royal Selangor Golf Club. He was a good cricket player in school, so naturally he is also good at golf. He plays to a low handicap of 12.

KGSAS is a 27-hole course measuring 6168 metres from the blue tees and we played on the Sultan and Alam Shah 9's. I was in a flight with Tuan Hj Yusof Abdullah, who was 2 or 3 years my junior in school. Tuan Hj Yusof came down all the way from Kuala Trengganu where he is based as the MD of Babena, the construction arm of the Trengganu State Corporation. The other golfer in my flight was Rahman Din, the baby of the flight, many years my junior in school who came down from Kota Kinabalu in Sabah where he is currently the project manager for the railway project in the state.

Tuan Hj Yusof palyed to a handicap of 19, Rahman Din played to a handicap of 20 and Pakdokter was allotted a handicap of 24 based on his scores in recent games.

Pakdokter was not able to match the drives of these younger golfers but came out stronger in the short games and putts. In the end pakdokter returned a score of 50/50 and a nett score of 76 which was a +4 over par golf. In the group B ( handicap 18 to 24) pakdokter managed to come out 7th best and took home a lovely Adidas belt to match pakdokter's golf outfits!

The overall champion returned a score of nett 66 ( minus 6 below par) playing to a handicap of 12 and took home a 42-inches plasma TV set.

.myFuture Foundation....

I came home from my Far East Golf Tour to read the news about my good friend Zaid Ibrahim being expelled from UMNO! I thought there are many other UMNO members who deserved to be sacked for more serious reasons than what Zaid has been accused of...

I attended a dinner organised by Zaid, the day before I left for my golfing trip to Hong Kong, which was the first of a series of fund-raising events to help establish the .myFuture Foundation. I may not have agreed with everything about Zaid and/or his politics but I can certainly agree and be in full support of his vision and mission for the .myFuture Foundation.

The Foundation, among others, plans to :

1. carry out a survey of about 500 to 1000 young Malaysians to set a benchmark to understand their attitude towards their peers from different cultural backgrounds

2. and as a follow-up of the survey, to organise a series of workshops and discussions involving experts, academicians and community leaders that are designed to provide education and awareness on race relations in Malaysia

3. to set up an effective website which will not only serve as the online presence and communication of the Foundation but will become an interactive portal to engage young people in the mission of the Foundation.

A minimum fund of RM 1 million is required for the establishment of the .myFuture Foundation and your contribution is most welcomed...

Back to Hong Kong Golf Club...

Tuesday 2nd December 2008

We arrived back in Hong Kong late afternoon on Monday and checked into the Park Hotel, a newly refurbished hotel in Shim Shat Sui, where Hyder, through his connection with the hotel's director had secured for us rooms at a decent HKD 820 per night. Zahardin and I with our partners decided to do the harbour cruise that night. For HKD 360 each we cruised the Hong Kong harbour for 2 hours, helped ourselves to a generous spread of an international buffet and was entertained by a, probably Filipino band, who managed to get some people to the dance-floor later into the night. We also had the opportunity to witness a laser show projected from the top of the many high-rise buildings of Kowloon and Hong Kong island. However I must admit that the 'cruise' was too touristy to my liking and would not get my recommendation for anyone wishing to visit Hong Kong. The time and money can be better spent doing something else...

Tuesday morning, the three die-hard golfers of the group decided to go back to the Hong Kong Golf Club for another round of golf. We were hoping to play the Old Course as we had played the New Course on Friday and the Eden Course on competition day. However the club could only accomodate us on the Eden Course.

the Hong Kong Golf Club entrance to the reception, the clubhouse and dormitories....

The Hong Kong Golf Club is easily about 30 to 40 minutes by taxi from downtown Kowloon. The taxi costs about HKD 200. It is located in a fairly wooded and hilly area bordering the Chinese city of Shenzen.

the central courtyard with the ensuite rooms of the club..

The Club has a dormitory of about 40 ensuite rooms at a give-away price of HKD 600 a night but only for guests of reciprocal clubs' members.

the golf reception counter and the pro-shop...

The Club has very strict rules about conduct and dressing in the vicinity of the club's premises. No denim jeans are allowed in the club and no mobile phones throughout the golf course and the clubhouse. One can only use the mobile phone in the dormitory rooms.

the practice green....

I remember when I first joined the RSGC in the 80's there were such strict rulings, but I find that nowadays these rulings are no longer enforced or perhaps are largely ignored.

the garden terrace facing the practice green and the course...

There is an overall very 'English' feel to the club. The cool weather made it more authentically 'English'.....I suppose the club is a legacy of the British which colonised the region for many years...

Fiona, Hyder, pakdokter, Tengku Azman and Zahardin enjoying tea and 'bitter'...

pakdokter in the company of Club Champions...

pretty old trees lining most of the narrow fairways...

peeling barks of the ? trees of the club...

The three of us played the Eden Course again and agreed on similar bets as in previous games. Hyder had managed to see a dentist in Hong Kong on Monday night and both Tengku Azman and pakdokter expected Hyder to make a killing that day.

As it turned out the 'shrink' managed to psycho both the other players.

Pakdokter carded 47/57, Hyder 57/56 and Tengku Azman scored 49/59. So pakdokter was happy to buy everybody a late lunch and a cool pint of San Miguel for himself and Hyder and a glass of Diet Coke for Tengku who was on a 'weight watch'.

the dental treatment made no difference....Hyder still found himself in the woods...

poor Hyder....he topped the ball and sent it into the gorge at the par-3 Shenzen hole..

The Macau Golf and Country Club...

Monday 1st December 2008

The Macau Golf and Country Club is another club that has a reciprocal arrangement with the RSGC enabling us to play as guests for a free green fee. Zahardin, who rested on Sunday and accompanied his partner, Fiona, and my partner to tour the heritage sites of Macau came along for a game with us.

We took a taxi from our hotel with a note from the hotel receptionist who had scribbled in Chinese on a piece of paper the Macau Golf and Country Club. We had learnt from our experience the day before when nobody could read the English version of the Lakewood Golf Course in China!

The taxi driver dropped Zahardin and pakdokter at a golf course and by the time he had left we realised that we were at the wrong golf course! All the time I had thought that Macau has one and only one golf course. Apparently there was this one being newly constructed and not even fully completed yet....The clubhouse was not open yet and the Nepalese guards knew nothing about how to help us get to our correct destination.

pak Zahardin posed for this memorable shot at the entrance of the Orient Golf Club, Macau...

As expected, Hyder came to our rescue. Tengku Azman and Hyder had left the hotel in another taxi much later than us and was surprised to find out that we were not there yet. On checking the golf club receptionist must have suspected that we were dropped off at the partially completed Orient Golf Club near the Venetian and scrambled a taxi to pick us up.

a sleepy and reliefed pakdokter at the hilltop clubhouse of the Macau Golf and Country Club

sunrise at the Macau Country Club...

the club swimming pool and the driving range where you hit your balls into the sea..

We registered ourselves to tea-off at 8.04 am (prebooked from KL) and had breakfast at the clubhouse. We had actually left the hotel at 6.00 am! We only paid about 700 Macau dollars for 2 buggies....(about RM150 per buggy)

Hyder, Tengku Azman, pakdokter and Zahardin at the 1st tee....

Tengku Azman at the tee at hole No. 1 while Hyder looked on..

Macau Golf and Country Club is a par 71 course measuring 5989 yards from the blue tee. Although it is a relatively shot course it was not an easy one as the fairways are tight with very hilly terrain and being on a mountainous site overlooking the sea, the forces of the wind came into play often.

look at how narrow the fairway is and the sea is on the left of the fairway...

The course played host to the Grand Lisboa Macau Open the day before so the green speed was at least 11. It was a challenge to play this course. Many of us lost our balls to the wind which swept them out into the sea...

many holes had this kind of panoramic sea-view.....

As on the first day, to be fair to everyone, we decided to play a game of partnerships, rotating the partnerships after every 6 holes. At the same time, Hyder, Tengku Azman and pakdokter also played a game against each other on a small stake.

Pakdokter was lucky this time, winning every partnership in all the 3 sixes.

pakdokter posing on a cliffside overlooking the South China Sea....

Pakdokter scored 53/53, Tengku Azman returned 58/59 and Hyder carded 56/52. So you can guess who collected the most pocket money! Anyway the winnings were generously spent on a delicious serving of Macau sole fillets during lunch at the clubhouse. And the bottle of cold 'Macau' brewed by Kirin never tasted so good...

the par 3 hole 17th on the beach front seen from the cliff where hole No. 16 is...

After lunch we rushed back to the hotel to check out and catch the ferry back to Hong Kong for another two nights in Hong Kong.

the sea all the way on the left flank of fairway 18...

one of the bridges that connect downtown Macau to the other island where the Venetian and the Macau Golf Resort were located... this shot taken from the ferry leaving Macau for Hong Kong

The Lakewood Golf Club, Zhuhai, China...

Sunday 30th November 2008.

It took us about one hour by a turbo-jet ferry to reach Macau from Hong Kong. The ferry was a comfortable ride and we were served a dinner of a pasta dish with soft drinks and coffee. A taxi from the ferry terminal took us to our hotel, the Metropark Macau, which was a walking distance away from the brand new Grand Lisboa Casino in downtown Macau.

Pak Zahardin and his partner, Fiona, joined pakdokter and partner to the Venetian, the grand casino of Macau for a tour of the gambling floor and later had dinner at an Italian restaurant there. My partner and Zahardin and co. booked to see the Cirque de Soleil for Sunday night, the show was staged at the theatre at the Venetian.

the Lakewood Golf Club clubhouse viewed from hole No. 9...

Early Sunday morning, the three musketeers of pakdokter, Tengku Azman and Mr Hyder Ali, lugged our golf bags and a backpack of a day's change of clothes to the border checkpoint of Macau-Zhuhai. The thousands of commuters standing in queue to go through the immigration checkpoint of Macau and then China, was a sight to be experienced! However I must admit that the flow was continous and we were through in less than an hour.

The ever resourceful Hyder Ali tried to organise a taxi to take us to the Lakewood Golf Club, only to find out that noboby read English in this country. So he approached a sweet lady at the bus ticket counter who phoned up the club which then helped the girl to transcribe the Lakewood Golf Club into chinese characters!

We then realised that we were in China and both Tengku and Hyder had only HKD in their wallet! Luckily pakdokter saved the day because he had some renminbis in his wallet being the balance of his 'winnings' from the previous trip to Kunming...

It took us about 35 minutes to reach the Lakewood Golf Club and the taxi fare made us about 80 yuan poorer. Along the way we drove past a very brand new and vibrant city with proud apartment towers and shopping malls standing tall along beautiful coastal drive-ways. One can be mistaken for driving along the coast of Florida!

pakdokter and Hyder Ali at the golf-station...

Hyder Ali, pakdokter and Tengku Azman at the tee of hole No.1...

Sunday was a busy day at the Lakewood Club. We had booked our tee-off time from the RSGC, taking advantage of the reciprocal arrangments that existed between our two clubs. What we did not realise was that for the weekends we had to pay half of the normal green fees ( free green fees for weekdays only), so we ended up paying 200 yuan for the green fee and 300 yuan for the buggy and caddy for each golfer.

pakdokter and Hyder Ali in the company of the local caddies...note the industrial type crash helmets!

Having come this far we were not going to sulk over this and the prospect of playing in this great looking course made us forget all the dissapoinment. We were welcomed by an indoor cascading waterfall as we walked down to the changing room and the lockers were fitted with the latest elctronic key that only China can boast of, I think.

The caddies were fitted with an industrial-type crash helmet over their usual cap to protect them from being hit by straying golf balls. The gentleman caddy who served pakdokter spoke good English.......pakdokter was indeed impressed!

The caddies were of great help, they read putting lines with accuracy all the time. We just had to get used to the realtively fast green speed.

pakdokter hitting the ball out of a fairway bunker...

The Lakewood Golf Club has two 18's, the first 18 called the Mountain Course and the second being the Lake Course. We were slotted to play the Mountain 18, a par 72 course measuring a total of 6217 yards.

Tengku Azman at the tee...

The course is generally quite friendly with wide fairways but the undulating mountain terrain and occasional lakes made some holes quite challenging.

The three of us decided to play 'skins' on a small bet and an individual game against each other on the side.

It was a bright sunny day made cool by a pleasant early winter temperature of around 15 degrees celcius. It could not have been better for golf!

one of the few holes where water came into play..

Pakdokter returned a score of 49/51, Hyder carded 51/53 and Tengku Azman came home with a score of 47/48. Obviously the casualty of the day was Hyder Ali,but to be fair to him he was actually sufferring from a broken tooth which affected his concentration and play.

one of the more difficult holes....

We gladly spent our winnings for a light dinner after the game, Hyder had to settle for a delicious bowl of fish porridge which Tengku also savoured while pakdokter decided to try the famously recommended beef noodle soup! And a bottle of cool Tsingtao helped wash down the food....

putting on a generally fast green...

We asked the club to call a taxi for us and it only cost us 100 yuan to take us back to the frontier checkpoint to Macau. We had to once again queue with the thousands of commuters from China into Macau, but again despite of the numbers I must admit that they have got their system right as we were out of the monstrous complex within an hour.

dragging our golf bag accross the 'Tien-an-Mien' like square in front of the immigration complex of Zhuhai to return to Macau..


As RSGC has 5 reciprocal golf clubs in this part of China, we were determined that next year we will come and play in China for a week first before descending on Hong Kong for the interport match.

The Interport Game....

Saturday 29th November 2008.

buggies lined up at hole No.1 the Eden Course...

We were treated to a sumptous breakfast at the pool-side restaurant before the morning competition. Some of the RSGC golfers who had put up at hotels in downtown Hong Kong came in later to join us at breakfast.

Mr Adrian, Hyder Ali, Mr Kenneth Ng, pakdokter...

The competition was played at the Eden Course. This is also a par 70 course measuring a total of 6128 yards from the blue tee.

Pakdokter (handicap 24) partnered Mr Hyder Ali (23) against Hong Kong Golf Club's Mr Kenneth Ng and Mr Adrian ( handicaps 16 and 17 respectively).

The good night rest must have helped both Hyder and pakdokter as by the time we had played 13 holes we were 6 up and game over against the Hong Kong pair.

Pakdokter and Hyder played a game against each other on a side bet and having returned a score of 48/51 as against Hyder's 54/54, there was good enough money after the game to enjoy a cool pint of San Miguel.

However in the overall competition the RSGC lost the game to the host club.

Hyder teeing-off at the par-3 Shenzen hole...

par-3 Shenzen hole located at the highest point of the club with the skyline of Shenzen in the background...

After lunch and prize presentations, we checked out of our room and headed to Hong Kong to catch the turbo-jet ferry to Macau.

Hong Kong here we come....

Friday 28th November 2008.

The Royal Selangor Golf Club plays in the annual interport game against the Hong Kong Golf Club usually towards the end of the year. This is a return match as the Hong Kong golfers had visited our club in June this year.

A group of about 30-plus golfers from the RSGC made it to the game this year. Pakdokter's group of four left the LCCT on Airasia at 630 am for the 4-hour flight to Hong Kong and the ever-resourceful Hyder Ali organised a 6-seater Toyota Alphard (which cost HKD800) to ferry the six of us ( pakdokter and Mr Zahardin were accompanied by our respective partners) to Fan Ling where the Hong Kong Golf Club is located. By 1230 pm we were checked into the Club, had lunch and got ready to do a practice round at 2.30 pm.

the garden terrace of the Hong Kong Golf Club...

The Hong Kong Golf Club has three 18's, namely the Old Course, the New Course and the Eden Course. The club hosted the UBS Hong Kong Open 2008 the week before, so the course was in championship condition. We were booked to practice at the New Course.

Hyder Ali, Tengku Azman, pakdokter and Zahardin.....

Playing from the blue tee, the New Course is a par 70 measuring 6531 yards in total. It is a walking course and the two of us (pakdokter and Mr Zahardin) engaged a caddie each to help pull our bag. It cost us HKD210 each for the caddy! And the caddy spoke no English and was not much of a help except for pulling our trolleys....

1st hole New Course....the Graves...

We were all very tired because we had woken up at 4.00 am in the morning to be at the LCCT airport by 5.00 am for the 6.30 am flight. However the excitement of playing in this course made up for it and to top it all the weather was a crisp and cool 15 degrees celcius.

the fairway of the 1st hole New Course with the clubhouse to the left...

We decided to play a small partnership competition amongst ourselves, changing the pairing after every six holes, to make it fair for everybody. Zahardin played to a handicap of 21, Hyder 23, Tengku Azman 26 and pakdokter 27.

The early morning wake-up and lack of sleep took its toll most severely on pakdokter, as pakdokter lost all the 3 rounds of the partnership!

Zahardin doing a practice swing....

Hyder Ali pulling his own bag....

Despite the poor scores, the game was indeed very pleasant as the weather was sunny and cool. The putting greens were generally fast and tricky. So most of us returned scores in the 50's for each 9. But the pint of San Miguel draught after the game made up for all the frustration...

The New Course was generally flat so it was not so bad to walk the course. The fairways are generally tight flanked by tall trees on both sides which seperate them from adjacent fairways of the Old or Eden courses.






We put up at the Club itself ( the club has accomodation for guests at HKD600 per night) and dined at their restaurant. Zahardin's and pakdokter's partners spent their afternoon at a nearby mall.

We were joined during dinner by another group of RSGC golfers who had been travelling and golfing in China the past one week before finally coming to Hong Kong for this competition.