pakdoktergolfblog: A day at Blairgowrie and Perth, Scotland...

16th August 2009

Pakdokter had met Alastair Anderson early this year when he had walked in to the RSGC from his hotel to play a round of golf. Alastair joined pakdokter's flight of pakZaid Ibrahim and pakHyder and we have been in contact by emails since that first meeting. Alastair had invited pakdokter to play at his home course should pakdokter come by Scotland and this trip just provided that opportunity for pakdokter to do so.

Pakdokter rented a car and drove up to Perth which took about one hour or so from downtown Edinburgh. It was a cloudy and windy morning and it rained along the way up to Perth. However as we cruised along and located Alastair's residence,the Viewmount, at Belwood Park, the skies cleared up and became sunny. Alastair, who had celebrated his 59th birthday the night before at his residence told us that we had brought sun with us to Perth.

We were introduced to Patsy, Alastair's wife, who by the way had actually spent her childhood days in Kuala Lumpur. Her father was a research scientist with the Rubber Research Institute and he was also a regular golfer at the Royal Selangor.

Pakdokter's partner was pleasantly surprised that both Patsy and her had shared many similar experiences at the Royal Selangor during their earlier days at the club.

The Andersons have a very lovely residence in this posh neighbourhood of Perth and pakdokter and partner were deeply honoured to have been given a tour of their great abode.

pakdokter, Patsy and Alastair...

pakdokter's partner, Alastair and Patsy....

Alastair and pakdokter drove to the Blairgowrie Golf Course which was about 30 minutes away from Perth. We were joined by Donald, a lawyer in his mid-70's who played to a low handicap of 14 and Dr Danny, a retired Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who is also in his 70's and still plays to a low handicap of 15. Alastair plays to a handicap of 17 and pakdokter was very embarassed to admit that pakdokter's handicap is still at 23!

Like the RSGC, the Blairgowrie has 2 18-holes course and one 9-hole course. The par-72 Lansdowne Course measures 7002 yards whereas the par-72 Rosemount Course measures 6689 yards.

We played the longer Lansdowne Course and from the yellow tees the course measured a reasonable 6408 yards.

Pakdokter partnered Alastair against the two more senior golfers but unfortunately pakdokter could not contribute much to the partnership despite the many strokes that pakdokter had by virtue of playing to a much higher handicap than the opponents. Both donald and Danny hit consistently long and straight drives and were sharp in their putts. We lost by 3 at the 1st Nine and the game was quickly wrapped up midway through the 2nd Nine.

It was a pleasure to play at the course under a totally different weather condition. It was intially quite warm but at most times the winds were very strong. The roughs were long and as pakdokter learned early in the game, just get the ball back on to the fairway from the rough and not try to get it out for a long shot. It took pakdokter 5 shots just to get out of the rough after the wayward drive at the first hole!....

While having drinks at the clubhouse after the game, Donald showed pakdokter some of the pictures he had of himself while he was in the service with the British Army in Singapore. He was based at the Sentosa Island and he has come to know that his Officers' Quarters at the Sentosa has today been converted into an upmarket hotel. Donald still remembers a few Malay words and he showed pakdokter a piece of his writings of the lyrics of the song 'Terang Bulan', the tune of which has now become the Malaysian National Anthem of 'Negara Ku'.

The Andersons later took pakdokter on a tour of Perth and entertained us to dinner at a restaurant in downtown Perth.

Thank you, Alastair and Patsy, for your hospitality....