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.