Sri Lankan Golf Classic, Victoria, Kandy – 27th, 28th Oct 2006.
Imagine my extreme pleasure and surprise when I received a phone call absolutely out of the blue from Mr Hari Achanta of Golfline Magazine, apologizing for the short notice and asking me most tentatively if I would be interested in visiting Sri Lanka to play some golf on an all expense paid basis!
I mean, hey, who in his right mind would grumble at a Business Class ticket on Srilankan, First Class Hotels everywhere, a Private Chauffeur driven Car completely at my disposal and loads of Golf thrown in at some of the most scenic golf courses in the South Asian Region – all of this completely on the house! Wow!
Completely sponsored by Srilankan Airlines, this was truly a brilliant opportunity for an enthusiastic golfer, traveller and hobbyist writer like me! Whoopee, I said, grinning to myself from ear to ear and with some difficulty, desisted from doing handsprings on the roadside! At once I asked permission from the office too, which happy to say, I was given, by the kindness and large-hearted-ness of my bosses at Madura Garments where I work!
Well, I experienced at first hand the gentle hospitality of these soft-spoken, kind hearted and immensely charming islanders as soon as I hopped onto the Srilankan Airlines flight from Bangalore on 24th October, right from the first gentle “Ayubowan” (meaning welcome), onwards. Lugging my trusty golf clubs, many boxes of golf balls, tees, assorted clothing, shoes and golfing paraphernalia, I was thoroughly pleased to be going. It would be rather remiss of me if I didn’t at this point, mention the kindness of the Sri Lankan Airlines team, especially Mr Chandana De Silva, Mr Lalit Fernando and Mr Niroshan Ranawake in enabling so many varied and enjoyable experiences for me in a thoroughly enjoyable manner, during my 5-day sojourn there.
This superbly extravagant annual effort by Sri Lankan Airlines on their Golf Classic Tour teed off on the 25th and holed out on the 28th of October 2006. An experience par excellence, if I may say so, which enabled more than 200 odd Golf enthusiasts from points of origin as far and wide as the UK, US, Scotland, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Kuwait, China, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka, to meet in the true spirit of fellowship and play the game we all love so well amidst some truly beautiful and sylvan surroundings!
27th & 28th October - Victoria Golf and Country Resort – Digana, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
The Srilankan Airlines Golf Classic, played in the Stable ford format, took place in the Victoria Golf and Country Resort is located in Rajawella, Digana in Kandy, the little hill Kingdom in Sri Lanka, a lower elevation hilly area where a massive hydel project was begun some years back with the Victoria Dam and Reservoir.
The tournament was played over two consecutive days 27th and 28th Oct with some absolutely extravagant prizes from Srilankan being up for grabs. Tickets between any two destinations on Business Class and some really elegant trophies as well! Special prizes for the longest drive and of course “closest to pin” and a Senior’s trophy also were presented.
The Golf course per se was designed by the renowned Golf Course Architect, Donald Steel in 1997 and I do believe that he had his task cut out, working through mist clad mountains, brilliant natural rock formations and some equally interesting wildlife!
Opened in 1999, this Par 73, 6945 yard golf course is a masterpiece of landscaping, built and maintained to USGA standards and rated in the Top 100 Most beautiful courses in the world by Golf Digest and Asian Golf Monthly – with very good reason I may say, since I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and contrasting landscape. The most arresting point is that it is blessed with towering mountains as well as brilliant views of Water all along the course.
The golf resort has some lovely cottages in the typical Swiss chalet style and even offers other sports like trekking and equestrian sports since this is also the home of the Victoria Equestrian Stables. The clubhouse is a functional and smart one, smart and clean in terms of architecture and with the functionality and facilities required by the new-age luxury-seeking golfer.
Very ably managed by Mike Varney, a giant of an Anglo Saxon who is also a Tiger of a Golfer and a British PGA Professional, the maintenance of this place is simply fantastic. High quality shrieks at you from every aspect, right from the Driving Range offering beautiful views of the Reservoir, to the staff who are extremely pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable and the brilliantly maintained fairways and greens.
Thus, on 27th and 28th October I was able to play a round here along with the tournament, something which was kindly arranged for me as a very late comer by some kind gentlemen and now friends of mine, Mr Jehan Kumara, Mr Raju Chandiram, Mr Chandana De Silva and of course Mike Varney himself.
Nuwan, my small built caddy and I set off to make our way around this masterpiece of natural beauty combined with man made perfection. I played along with Mr Alan Sheppard, a fine gentleman of middle years and a young tiger-cub of a Golfer, Roshan De Silva who normally plays at the Royal Colombo.
The 1st Tee from behind the clubhouse required me to clobber my driver well into the middle so as to negotiate the right dogleg to the green. This Par 4 – 403 yards can be done with the Driver and Rescue / Long Iron. Beautiful putting surfaces and undulating greens do definitely require a lot of skill to keep the score low.
The Par 4 – 384 yard 3rd hole is a beautiful dogleg left where if one is a brave man, one may choose to clunk the ball well over the rise on the left, causing a short approach and definitely one less shot to reach the green in regulation. Woe betide you though if you don’t carry the rise and end up in the evil buffalo grass roughs that abound here. A tamarind tree to the right guards the green and one needs to be pretty accurate to get there placed well.
My favourite hole – the wickedly pretty Par 3, 116 yard 4th is called the “Terror” because it has a pocket hanky sized undulating green usually attacked by a 9 or Pitching Wedge. If you go right you will go straight into hell signified by deep devilish rough and of course the sharp drop direct into Victoria Lake! I was happy both times I played here to make par on this hole. (Largely I suspect because I had paid homage to the Water Gods prior to arriving here!) One simply must pause here, please, to take in the breathtaking views all around of the Victoria Reservoir and of course the surrounding mountains. Paradise regained, a la the late John Milton! Believe me, I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place!
Climb up to the 5th tee – and you need to decide whether you want to go left or right or centre of the knoll or mound in the centre of the fairway. Long hitters can get there, but be humble, gentlemen, is my sincere suggestion! This 314-yard Par 4 looks deceptively easy! Incidentally here I was almost snuffed out rather permanently by a ball hit by the chap in the group behind us who decided to drive off the tee with his driver just as our group was putting on the green. Ian Tait, the BPGA Tournament Official, a crusty Marlboro smoking Scotsman, had rather a lot to say about this to that poor gent, Steve Munro. Personally I take my hat off to Steve’s distance combined with accuracy.
The 6th Tee is also a deliciously high one, very tempting to pull out the “big dog” –with the fairway lying well below – maybe 100 odd feet below going into a nice long 473 yard Par 4 where your fate will be determined by your Tee shot and very little else. Very tough, as I found out to my cost!
The 7th is a pretty 182-yard par 3, which is rather straightforward despite a split-level green. Smartly attacked with a 4 iron, one should putt in to make par unless of course one is struck by ill luck.
One must simply take a break after the 7th since there is an excellently appointed golf hut with some seriously great snacks like hot dogs, puff pastries and practically any kind of soft drink. Lovely staff – so very solicitous for one’s comfort!
Move through to the 422 yard- Par 4, 8th where one simply tees up and clobbers the little white sphere – man, if you find the fairway centre you only need to launch the ball again over the two guarding Mara trees with your rescue or 5 wood to be on in regulation and make par. Not that I did, to be honest, but that was entirely due to the buffalo grass roughs and then getting trapped by the Mara trees – perhaps I didn’t pay sufficient homage to the Tree Gods and the Gods of the Buffalo Grass Roughs, because the combination of these were my complete undoing!
The 9th is a monster – Par 5 520 Yard hole. I was forced to scratch because of a wayward tee shot which caused me to enter the buffalo grass rather deeply and then of course, short of using a bulldozer or some other state-of-the-art earthmoving equipment, there was no way to get out! All it needs is accuracy, but then as we all know, this is easier said than done!
Pressing on then, to the back nine after a quick Banana and Water break to keep the energy reserves up and to bolster one’s rapidly weakening resolve to conquer the rest of the course!
Attack the 357 Yard Par 4 10th with either a Driver or a 3 wood if you tend to slice or hook, because it is important to be amongst the Jack Trees on the fairways so as to be on in regulation. True to my form that day, I promptly took a couple of practice swings and then simply let fly with my rescue, wishing to be humble. Humility doesn’t work, accuracy does, because as I found out to my cost, I was in the death–guff once again! Wincing and steeling myself again I ended up making a triple on the 10th!
The long 534 yard-Par 5 11th is pretty straightforward hole if one is careful. Playing down from the tee over the undulating fairway, one goes up an incline to the guarded green. Working one’s way through the Jack trees, one generally can make bogey at the very least.
Number 12 is another brilliant 210 yard Par 3 played off a high tee. Don’t try stunts with anything but your long irons guys because there is a wicked drop to the left, which will cause you to abandon all hope if you land there. It is far more sensible to whack short of green, chip up and putt in for Par. Tra la la. What fun!
The Par 4 – 430 yard 13th hole invites you to drive downhill with the big dog but preferably one must send a mid iron across on the second shot, flying the ball just high enough to plop on the green. (I did this nice sounding plop on the green bit in 5, to make triple bogey because as seemed to be the order of the day, I was battling the long, knee high buffalo grass yet again!)
The signature hole of Victoria Golf Club is supposedly the Par 4-393 yard 14th! However, the 4th hole, simply because of its beauty and terror closely juxtaposed, is a strong contender for the title of Signature hole. It shall, at least for me, remain the real signature hole on this course! At the 14th, a narrow coconut tree lined valley invites one to do a serious bit of thunking, but the wicked little natural rock formation to the left before the dogleg ends all hopes! Doglegging left to get to the green one lands up trying to skitter the ball on the green from behind the majestic Mara tree right there. Disaster man! I made a triple! Horrendous!
The 15th which is a 553 yard Par 5 is a brilliant hole offering rather gorgeous low land views of the Reservoir with its surrounding necklace of misty mountains and a portion of the extreme edge of the Driving range as well can be seen from the tee. Ideally one plays to the left onto the fairway, freeing one up to go over the sharp wadi (a natural water course which allows rain water run off to drain direct into the reservoir but remember, the fabled buffalo grass abounds both left and right of fairway. Move sharp right onto the fairway past the dividing watercourse and then you can be on the green in three if you're a bit of a Wolf! Or as someone else in he group behind us did, one can get rather beautifully tangled up in the coconut palms on the right and left. Sheer fun this challenge!
Hole 16 – we reached huffing and puffing since this is a long course, which requires a decent level of physical fitness in order to be enjoyed. Shallow green Par 3 – 195 yards. Deceptive. Watch the bunker on the left boys, please! Somewhat similar to the 8th hole at Coorg Golf Links in Coorg though that is a Par 4.
The 17th – 441 yard par 4, is a super-brill downhill drive through the coconut palms but be cautious of the chaos on the left side and right side of this exhilarating hole since the dear old buffalo grass lurks here too, apart from some completely wicked bunkers, just waiting to catch the poor lost souls of golf like me unawares. Death by Grass it seems – like my Death by Water experience in Thailand! Terrible score, which I wont even reveal, lest I lose my coveted position as the Founder President of the Duffers Golf Club!
The 18th and ultimate hole of the dear old Victoria is a long 545-yard Par 5. Huff Puff Huff Puff I went, since I had walked through in slightly sultry conditions and covered a distance of nearly 6500 yards by then over undulating terrain! A clear valley beckons and tempts you like the Sirens in the old Greek Myth who tempted Ulysses, to pull your driver out, set up and try to hit the cover off the ball. A good drive (not my drive) should land you on fairway centre and then cause you to play up the valley onto the pretty clubhouse green with its collar of coconut palms around the bowl in which it is set. I think I had a disagreeable 8 on this hole because of the death guff again, but it was without a doubt an exhilarating experience, purely on account of the sheer natural beauty of the place, one’s close communion over several hours, with nature and the sheer enjoyment of the game of golf.
I will tell you one thing and clearly. It has certainly motivated me to go right back and play this course all over again and soon, if I can manage that!
28th October - The After Party – Mahaweli Reach Resort, Kandy.
Of course after these strenuous few days of driving across Sri Lanka’s pretty countryside and more often than not, crowded and broken roads, and playing several taxing though enjoyable rounds of golf, nothing could possibly have been more welcome to us weary souls than the superbly organized prize distribution party hosted by Srilankan Airlines at the Mahaweli Resort in Kandy.
The winners of the tournament were suitably felicitated with the usual speeches and glowing tributes made to their skill, sportsmanship and competitive spirit, all in the great spirit of bonhomie unique to the Sri Lankan people!
The winners according to the main levels of competition were:
Prize
Golfer
Best Score for the Day
Ian Tait (Sco)
Longest Drive (Ladies)
Pat Rodgers (UK)
Longest Drive (Men’s)
Alain Gyi (Fra)
Nearest to Pin (Ladies)
Pat Rodgers (UK)
Nearest to Pin (Men’s)
Romesh Abeyratne (SL)
Senior Division Trophy (Ladies)
Ling Joon Too (Chn)
Senior Division Trophy (Men’s)
Rohan Athuraliya (SL)
Best Aggregate Nett Stable ford Score (Ladies)
Lin Joon Too (Chn)
Best Aggregate Nett Stable ford Score (Men’s)
San Gunaratne (SL)
Best Aggregate Gross Stable ford Score (Ladies)
Suwen Selvaratnam (SL)
Best Aggregate Gross Stable ford Score (Men’s)
Khun Monkol Varee (Tha)
Overall Winner (Ladies)
Suwen Selvaratnam (SL)
Overall Winner (Men’s)
Khun Monkol Varee (Tha)
The typical generosity and large heartedness of the people of our little neighbouring island nation was more than evident in the catchy music, the easy living lifestyle, the flowing rivers of the rather excellent bacchanalian kind straight from the establishments of the Chivas brothers, Scotland, the tottering mountains of superbly crafted dishes of exotic meats and fish, the unobtrusive and caring service of the waiters and sous-chefs manning the food counters………… I can go on and on and on, but sadly I have a clear and finite number of pages, which I am allowed, by the kindness of ‘mon patron’, Hari!
A superb setting and a whole evening of fun, laughter, drinks, much dancing and great food gave this rather excellent annual event a fitting finale. Well-done Srilankan! “Bohama Stuthi” as they say in the soft sounding Sinhala language– Thank you most kindly for a very well organized, extremely enjoyable, brilliant golfing and cultural experience.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Golf at the Emirates Golf Club - Dubai
A recent golfing experience at The Emirates Golf Club, Dubai.13th Nov 2006.
Visiting Dubai recently on work, quite by chance, I was introduced by a mutual friend to a fine gentleman by name Mr Asim Pirmohamed, an avid 13 handicapper. On finding that I enjoyed golf, Asim kindly invited me for an afternoon round at the famous Nick Faldo designed “Wadi” course at the Emirates Golf Club on the day I was leaving. Since I had a flight only at night I was very pleased to agree promptly.
Arriving at the Emirates Golf Club, situated around 40 minutes out of downtown Dubai, I was struck at first by the sheer brilliance of these people, who, with considerable foresight, intelligence and of course, capital, have literally carved out an oasis of comfort, greenery, rich and verdant fairways, slick and beautiful greens and other examples of lush scenic beauty in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in that sea of sand, by way of their Wadi golf course. Wadi means a sort of shallow but often dry watercourse, which thus becomes a sort of shallow valley.
Having gone there on business I had not planned at all on golf and in consequence had absolutely no equipment at all with me, a fact that was soon set right by the kindness and generosity of Asim, who brought along his brother’s excellent Ben Hogan muscle-back Irons and a Titleist 10.5 Degree Driver and a couple of woods for me to use as well as a pair of number ten golf shoes which he inveigled the club into lending me. Luckily I had stopped at one of the golf shops with which the area is absolutely bristling and picked up some balls, a glove and some tees.
We met at the beautifully appointed, frankly rather opulent, clubhouse which has a distinctive architectural design, built as it is like a “Majlis” or meeting place of Bedouin Arab Tents, made of course, of concrete, glass and steel and centrally air-conditioned to cocoon one from the pervasive warmth of the outer regions! Quite in character with the region and I am glad they have paid such attention to detail. It is a real pleasure to see the meticulous way everything is dealt with in those parts. The interesting thing is there are two courses here at Emirates, the “Majlis” course where greats like Tiger and the other Big boys play the Dubai Desert Classic, and the “Wadi” which is equally nice, but not so much used for the big tournaments.
We went straight along to the Wadi Driving Range – another brilliantly organized setup as I saw. Bashing a few balls on the range it was nice to see the entire ball picking process which is achieved quite simply by a ball gathering machine which buzzes around (sometimes dangerously close to where one is hitting) and collects all fallen balls.
Picking up one of those nice little electric Golf Carts, we loaded up with our clubs, water, cigarettes and what have you and went straight off to the 4th Tee where we were to start our round. These Golf carts come loaded with everything you can possibly want, including a superlative GPS system which kicks in as soon as you reach any particular point of the course, giving you precise yardages and pointing out other things on the course which enable you to make the best choice of club and best decision for any particular shot. The cart also affords one a very easy means of getting around the course with the minimum of fuss and so on – truly a luxury seeker’s paradise, especially for people like me who are used to the travails with the local caddies who lug my clubs along on my trolley and emit low growls and gnash their tobacco stained teeth at me whenever I venture to go so far as to question tentatively, their club suggestions. This Cart and GPS and stuff were seriously high tech!
However having said all this and with all due respect to their achievements and the facilities available there, personally, I would always prefer to walk a course and play every shot by walking up to the ball because that, to me, is the very essence of the game. All these high tech gizmos and gadgets are fine as an experience, but to me, battling the elements, on your own, with or without a caddy, judging yardages and lies with your own eyes, through deep roughs and steep slopes, fast greens and guffy fairways and all that, is Golf!
The 4th is a pretty decent semi dogleg Par 4 of some 345 yards but that day all the pins were closer to the front of the green so one had to allow some leeway. The fairway itself is heavily guarded with bunkers to the left, a wadi (waste land) to the left of fairway and water to the right. I frankly didn’t do all that great with my first shot having been a rather wayward one which missed being out of bounds by a mere whisker!
The 5th is a long-ish Par 5 of 523 yards where you simply must thunk the ball with the big dog! Generous fairway, huge area and all that, but some nasty little surprises on your second, with water and bunkers guarding the approach! Tough green too, built for 3 putts, but with my current form, by George! I wont even broach that subject!
Arriving at the 6th (Par 4 – 427 yards) one realized soon enough that the best way to play this hole was to the percentages because one requires great accuracy. Asim of course made par where I was all over Timbuktu and back! The 7th is another par 4 of 403 yards, which is a slicer’s nightmare since death by water is highly possible if one is marginally off one’s concentration levels! By this time I was enjoying the scenery and had decided that whatever the score card looked like, I would simply relax and have a good time – after all it is not every day that one gets to even walk on a course as superbly maintained as this one! Imagine such fairways, water and greens in the middle of the desert! Amazing!
The 8th was a redeeming hole for me – a beautiful par 3 of 153 yards that lies with the green uphill. Made for my 7 iron since I only take a half swing typically. Then a chip and putt and home! Asim got the same!
Number 9, a 350 odd yard Par 4 has some unpredictable things happening. Wasteland to the right side, unpredictable sloped lies on the fairway and a host of things. Somehow I was rather wayward that day and literally got myself a good experience of “desert golf” landing in the Wasteland or at the edge of it most of the time with my Tee shots. I have no idea why, but anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Moving rapidly with the assistance of the cart through the 10th, which is a 473-yard Par 4 with a stroke index of 1, of course my score was monstrous but this is considered the toughest hole on this course. The 11th is a wild hole which can trap you in water quite close to the green or leave you trying to do a desert safari with your sand wedge, since there is a completely wicked and deep bunker guarding the right of the green. Man, I really know now what it means to have played Desert Golf!
Number 12 is a pretty par 3 of 150 yards – with a slight headwind, which had come up by, then, it was a good idea to over club a bit and get there but the brilliantly sloped green was my undoing while Asim again made Par! The 13th is another super mean Par 5 of 550 odd yards – Faldo has been known for his special style of bunkering on his golf course design and this hole is a brilliant example of that. Guarded very well, this requires a lot of confidence and accuracy, both attributes, about which frankly I was beginning to wonder by this time!
The 14th (Par 4 – 367 Yards) is guarded both by a monster bunker in the fairway and a wadi to the right of fairway which is like wasteland. Added to this is a lovely bit of water right there in the middle to drown one’s second shot. However my game by this time had deserted me completely so I was battling things in the wadi where Asim was laying up for his brilliant second shot. He had a par as usual and I was thinking I might need to consider giving up Golf altogether!
Then we were onto the 15th (Par 4 –399 yards), which is very visually attractive, though there are some beastly bunkers hanging around in the neighbourhood, particularly the one running along the edge of the left side of the green. Asim was busy making pars and so on and I (woe of woes) was busy living up to my current position as President of the DGC (Duffers Golf Club, to the un-initiated). Terrible, but I am glad that a couple of little recoveries yet lay in store for me, especially at the long Par 3 17th (218 yards). Bashing away with the dear old 4 iron, I was close on the tee shot, on in two and somehow managed a bogey which going by current form, was literally manna from heaven!
With another four holes to go I was beginning to feel some effects of the dry warmth of the desert though the weather there was extremely comfortable – rather like New Delhi in September or so. But quaffing vast quantities of water, I went on, grimly gritting my teeth and ensuring that I at least finished each hole thereby trying to make a statement to this brilliant Faldo course, that I was still in the battle, if not winning, at least fighting and refusing to give up!
Moving then towards the end of the round, I stuck to my 4 iron off every tee, hoping for the best, but somehow on the first hole which is a left dogleg 411 yard Par 4, I landed in the Wadi again leaving me to pitch out or roll out, I decided on the latter so I thunked the 7 iron out and got back in the game. Hole number two was another lovely Par 3 of 206 yards with a bunker guarding the green to the front and left and the green itself having a wickedly designed run off area at the back. Tee off, Chip and Putt is the name of the game and luckily I managed another bogey on this, to try and save myself in a last ditch effort.
Ending the round on Hole number 3 was for me a bit of a problem since my wayward tee shot ran off the right side of the fairway into the watercourse, which of course caused me to drop a shot and then play up for another double bogey while my patient friend made another par!
All in all, though as you can see, I played abominable golf, I thoroughly enjoyed my game and the congenial company of Asim who is today a good friend. Frankly there is a lot to be said for that old saying about knowing more about a person from one hour of sport rather than a whole year of any other interaction. Thus I do hope one day soon, to be able to play host to this kind man in Bangalore whenever he visits!
I will end by saying that it really is my privilege and pleasure to have been afforded a chance to enjoy the Wadi course and I do hope someday I am able to sample the delights and hazards that the Majlis course has to offer!
Visiting Dubai recently on work, quite by chance, I was introduced by a mutual friend to a fine gentleman by name Mr Asim Pirmohamed, an avid 13 handicapper. On finding that I enjoyed golf, Asim kindly invited me for an afternoon round at the famous Nick Faldo designed “Wadi” course at the Emirates Golf Club on the day I was leaving. Since I had a flight only at night I was very pleased to agree promptly.
Arriving at the Emirates Golf Club, situated around 40 minutes out of downtown Dubai, I was struck at first by the sheer brilliance of these people, who, with considerable foresight, intelligence and of course, capital, have literally carved out an oasis of comfort, greenery, rich and verdant fairways, slick and beautiful greens and other examples of lush scenic beauty in the middle of absolutely nowhere, in that sea of sand, by way of their Wadi golf course. Wadi means a sort of shallow but often dry watercourse, which thus becomes a sort of shallow valley.
Having gone there on business I had not planned at all on golf and in consequence had absolutely no equipment at all with me, a fact that was soon set right by the kindness and generosity of Asim, who brought along his brother’s excellent Ben Hogan muscle-back Irons and a Titleist 10.5 Degree Driver and a couple of woods for me to use as well as a pair of number ten golf shoes which he inveigled the club into lending me. Luckily I had stopped at one of the golf shops with which the area is absolutely bristling and picked up some balls, a glove and some tees.
We met at the beautifully appointed, frankly rather opulent, clubhouse which has a distinctive architectural design, built as it is like a “Majlis” or meeting place of Bedouin Arab Tents, made of course, of concrete, glass and steel and centrally air-conditioned to cocoon one from the pervasive warmth of the outer regions! Quite in character with the region and I am glad they have paid such attention to detail. It is a real pleasure to see the meticulous way everything is dealt with in those parts. The interesting thing is there are two courses here at Emirates, the “Majlis” course where greats like Tiger and the other Big boys play the Dubai Desert Classic, and the “Wadi” which is equally nice, but not so much used for the big tournaments.
We went straight along to the Wadi Driving Range – another brilliantly organized setup as I saw. Bashing a few balls on the range it was nice to see the entire ball picking process which is achieved quite simply by a ball gathering machine which buzzes around (sometimes dangerously close to where one is hitting) and collects all fallen balls.
Picking up one of those nice little electric Golf Carts, we loaded up with our clubs, water, cigarettes and what have you and went straight off to the 4th Tee where we were to start our round. These Golf carts come loaded with everything you can possibly want, including a superlative GPS system which kicks in as soon as you reach any particular point of the course, giving you precise yardages and pointing out other things on the course which enable you to make the best choice of club and best decision for any particular shot. The cart also affords one a very easy means of getting around the course with the minimum of fuss and so on – truly a luxury seeker’s paradise, especially for people like me who are used to the travails with the local caddies who lug my clubs along on my trolley and emit low growls and gnash their tobacco stained teeth at me whenever I venture to go so far as to question tentatively, their club suggestions. This Cart and GPS and stuff were seriously high tech!
However having said all this and with all due respect to their achievements and the facilities available there, personally, I would always prefer to walk a course and play every shot by walking up to the ball because that, to me, is the very essence of the game. All these high tech gizmos and gadgets are fine as an experience, but to me, battling the elements, on your own, with or without a caddy, judging yardages and lies with your own eyes, through deep roughs and steep slopes, fast greens and guffy fairways and all that, is Golf!
The 4th is a pretty decent semi dogleg Par 4 of some 345 yards but that day all the pins were closer to the front of the green so one had to allow some leeway. The fairway itself is heavily guarded with bunkers to the left, a wadi (waste land) to the left of fairway and water to the right. I frankly didn’t do all that great with my first shot having been a rather wayward one which missed being out of bounds by a mere whisker!
The 5th is a long-ish Par 5 of 523 yards where you simply must thunk the ball with the big dog! Generous fairway, huge area and all that, but some nasty little surprises on your second, with water and bunkers guarding the approach! Tough green too, built for 3 putts, but with my current form, by George! I wont even broach that subject!
Arriving at the 6th (Par 4 – 427 yards) one realized soon enough that the best way to play this hole was to the percentages because one requires great accuracy. Asim of course made par where I was all over Timbuktu and back! The 7th is another par 4 of 403 yards, which is a slicer’s nightmare since death by water is highly possible if one is marginally off one’s concentration levels! By this time I was enjoying the scenery and had decided that whatever the score card looked like, I would simply relax and have a good time – after all it is not every day that one gets to even walk on a course as superbly maintained as this one! Imagine such fairways, water and greens in the middle of the desert! Amazing!
The 8th was a redeeming hole for me – a beautiful par 3 of 153 yards that lies with the green uphill. Made for my 7 iron since I only take a half swing typically. Then a chip and putt and home! Asim got the same!
Number 9, a 350 odd yard Par 4 has some unpredictable things happening. Wasteland to the right side, unpredictable sloped lies on the fairway and a host of things. Somehow I was rather wayward that day and literally got myself a good experience of “desert golf” landing in the Wasteland or at the edge of it most of the time with my Tee shots. I have no idea why, but anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Moving rapidly with the assistance of the cart through the 10th, which is a 473-yard Par 4 with a stroke index of 1, of course my score was monstrous but this is considered the toughest hole on this course. The 11th is a wild hole which can trap you in water quite close to the green or leave you trying to do a desert safari with your sand wedge, since there is a completely wicked and deep bunker guarding the right of the green. Man, I really know now what it means to have played Desert Golf!
Number 12 is a pretty par 3 of 150 yards – with a slight headwind, which had come up by, then, it was a good idea to over club a bit and get there but the brilliantly sloped green was my undoing while Asim again made Par! The 13th is another super mean Par 5 of 550 odd yards – Faldo has been known for his special style of bunkering on his golf course design and this hole is a brilliant example of that. Guarded very well, this requires a lot of confidence and accuracy, both attributes, about which frankly I was beginning to wonder by this time!
The 14th (Par 4 – 367 Yards) is guarded both by a monster bunker in the fairway and a wadi to the right of fairway which is like wasteland. Added to this is a lovely bit of water right there in the middle to drown one’s second shot. However my game by this time had deserted me completely so I was battling things in the wadi where Asim was laying up for his brilliant second shot. He had a par as usual and I was thinking I might need to consider giving up Golf altogether!
Then we were onto the 15th (Par 4 –399 yards), which is very visually attractive, though there are some beastly bunkers hanging around in the neighbourhood, particularly the one running along the edge of the left side of the green. Asim was busy making pars and so on and I (woe of woes) was busy living up to my current position as President of the DGC (Duffers Golf Club, to the un-initiated). Terrible, but I am glad that a couple of little recoveries yet lay in store for me, especially at the long Par 3 17th (218 yards). Bashing away with the dear old 4 iron, I was close on the tee shot, on in two and somehow managed a bogey which going by current form, was literally manna from heaven!
With another four holes to go I was beginning to feel some effects of the dry warmth of the desert though the weather there was extremely comfortable – rather like New Delhi in September or so. But quaffing vast quantities of water, I went on, grimly gritting my teeth and ensuring that I at least finished each hole thereby trying to make a statement to this brilliant Faldo course, that I was still in the battle, if not winning, at least fighting and refusing to give up!
Moving then towards the end of the round, I stuck to my 4 iron off every tee, hoping for the best, but somehow on the first hole which is a left dogleg 411 yard Par 4, I landed in the Wadi again leaving me to pitch out or roll out, I decided on the latter so I thunked the 7 iron out and got back in the game. Hole number two was another lovely Par 3 of 206 yards with a bunker guarding the green to the front and left and the green itself having a wickedly designed run off area at the back. Tee off, Chip and Putt is the name of the game and luckily I managed another bogey on this, to try and save myself in a last ditch effort.
Ending the round on Hole number 3 was for me a bit of a problem since my wayward tee shot ran off the right side of the fairway into the watercourse, which of course caused me to drop a shot and then play up for another double bogey while my patient friend made another par!
All in all, though as you can see, I played abominable golf, I thoroughly enjoyed my game and the congenial company of Asim who is today a good friend. Frankly there is a lot to be said for that old saying about knowing more about a person from one hour of sport rather than a whole year of any other interaction. Thus I do hope one day soon, to be able to play host to this kind man in Bangalore whenever he visits!
I will end by saying that it really is my privilege and pleasure to have been afforded a chance to enjoy the Wadi course and I do hope someday I am able to sample the delights and hazards that the Majlis course has to offer!
A Golfing Sojourn in Sri Lanka - My Experiences
Sri Lanka - A Golfing Sojourn.
Imagine my extreme pleasure and surprise when I received a phone call absolutely out of the blue from Mr Hari Achanta of Golfline Magazine, apologizing for the short notice and asking me most tentatively if I would be interested in visiting Sri Lanka to play some golf on an all expense paid basis!
I mean, hey, who in his right mind would grumble at a Business Class ticket on Srilankan, First Class Hotels everywhere, a Private Chauffeur driven Car completely at my disposal and loads of Golf thrown in at some of the most scenic golf courses in the South Asian Region – all of this completely on the house! Wow!
Completely sponsored by Srilankan Airlines, this was truly a brilliant opportunity for an enthusiastic golfer, traveller and hobbyist writer like me! Whoopee, I said, grinning to myself from ear to ear and with some difficulty, desisted from doing handsprings on the roadside! At once I asked permission from the office too, which happy to say, I was given, by the kindness and large-hearted-ness of my bosses at Madura Garments where I work!
Well, I experienced at first hand the gentle hospitality of these soft-spoken, kind hearted and immensely charming islanders as soon as I hopped onto the Srilankan Airlines flight from Bangalore on 24th October, right from the first gentle “Ayubowan” (meaning welcome), onwards. Lugging my trusty golf clubs, many boxes of golf balls, tees, assorted clothing, shoes and golfing paraphernalia, I was thoroughly pleased to be going. It would be rather remiss of me if I didn’t at this point, mention the kindness of the Sri Lankan Airlines team, especially Mr Chandana De Silva, Mr Lalit Fernando and Mr Niroshan Ranawake in enabling so many varied and enjoyable experiences for me in a thoroughly enjoyable manner, during my 5-day sojourn there.
This superbly extravagant annual effort by Sri Lankan Airlines on their Golf Classic Tour teed off on the 25th and holed out on the 28th of October 2006. An experience par excellence, if I may say so, which enabled more than 200 Golf enthusiasts from points of origin as far and wide as the UK, US, Scotland, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Kuwait, China, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka, to meet in the true spirit of fellowship and play the game we all love so well amidst some truly beautiful and sylvan surroundings!
Part I.
25th October – The Royal Colombo Golf Club, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Royal Colombo Golf Club is the oldest in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1879 in a far more spacious era than we shall ever experience again, it has recently celebrated its 125th Anniversary. It has the style and grandeur of days gone by and is one of the most beautiful club houses I have seen, built in the typical colonial bungalow style, with wide verandahs and lovely sloping tiled roofs, with eaves and – absolutely brimming with character. Like someone said, Tradition cannot be built overnight, it has to be earned, day-by-day.
Arriving there on a fine sunny (if slightly sultry day) at 12 noon, I was met by Mr Chula De Silva, the General Manager of the Club. I was assigned a caddy and directed to the 10th Tee to begin the round with the back nine. However, owing to circumstances, I was forced to embark on my round on this lovely Par 71, 6300-yard course, alone with the caddy.
Stepping up to the 10th I attacked the Short par 4 of 332 yards with my 4 iron. Bounded by trees on either side, an accurate shot is called for, which luckily came through and then it was smooth work to make par.
Then I meandered through the scenic 11th and 12th holes, braving the hazards, bunkers and waterways. Pushing on, through the noonday sun. I then observed another die-hard midday golf nut like me, wandering along the 12th fairway all by himself so I hollered across, asking him to join me since he was playing alone.
Mr Paul McManus of the British Council thus stepped up and introduced himself and we moved along in a companionable way to the 13th, which is a brilliant Par 3, with a daunting expanse of Water in between the tee and the green. Bashing it off the tee, I ended up on the left of the green while poor Paul had a rather deeply plugged lie on the bank of the water body. We continued plodding on through the next few holes, racking up scores we will never frankly confess to, but enjoying ourselves thoroughly.
There’s an old Noel Coward Song which goes “Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun……….” Though Paul is a Scotsman, it kind of figures ------ forgive me Paul, I simply couldn’t resist that dig at you Anglo Saxon chaps!
The 17th is a long-ish Par 4 – somewhat similar to the 18th at Pinehurst in Thailand but without the watery bits, where one needs to position the tee shot slightly left, in order to have a clear approach. Very tough, and we both ended up with some ghastly score on that.
Back then to the 18th (clubhouse) green, a beautiful elevated green with the clubhouse behind at which, stopping briefly for a break and some soft drinks for our caddies and water for ourselves, we went along to the first Tee, to play the front nine.
The first hole is brilliant – a beautiful drive landing us short of the waterway, which crosses the fairway, and then an easy rescue shot across the water to hit the edge of the green and plop, roll back into a watery grave. This was a dampener but completely undaunted despite a stroke lost, we played off again and went through with a double bogey.
The beautiful second hole (Par 4-396 Yards) has an unique phenomenon because the Colombo to Kandy, Kelani Valley Railway line passes along the fairway on the right, serving as an “out of bounds” indication. It is interesting to pause during a round to observe the 3pm train chug along the line, never tooting its horn. (I’m sure the train driver makes a concession to the unspoken dictum of gentlemanly silence on the golf course, a gesture so typical of these gentle islanders, who are such natural gentlemen). In addition there is a pond before the green so one’s second shot has to carry that in order to reach the green in a reasonably respectable way.
The 4th hole is a lovely Par 3 (198 yards) where we both clunked the ball with the number 4, to compensate for a slight breeze which had come up and in order to break with the guarding bunkers, both of us making a par.
The 6th hole is a 285-yard par 4 with a waterway to carry and several bunkers lurking around to catch you! A lovely thing about this hole is that the green is close to the perimeter wall, behind which is a beautiful, colourful Buddhist Temple. On that day, one could see the red stupa over the wall, but tempted as I was to peer over the wall, we heard the sad music of a funeral taking place in the temple and thus, deemed it disrespectful to take a gander over the wall.
The next few passed without major incident and we moved along to the 8th hole, which is a 404-yard par 4 with a clubhouse green. Interesting hole with a waterway one needs to carry on the tee shot and then a few bunkers to avoid.
The 9th is a gorgeous par 3 (170 yards), which is quite a challenge to be on the green in regulation, but by some chance, both of us ended the round with a nice Par, bringing to an end a nice round at the oldest golf club in Sri Lanka.
Paul and I parted ways then, having promised to stay in touch and meet up if he was in India sometime or on my next visit (Hari Mon Patron – are you reading this or listening???) to Sri Lanka!
Part II.
26th October – Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.
Nuwara Eliya, meaning “City of Light” is situated in some beautiful tea plantation country, high up in the hills at 6500 feet (2070 metres) above mean sea level. Tea plantation clad hills, in manicured verdant green, crisp, nippy weather and air like vintage champagne was Nuwara’s first greeting to me, slightly cold and stiff as I was after a thrilling four and a half hour ride up from Colombo in a middle aged Toyota Hi-Ace Van, driven by the friendly and knowledgeable Mr Victor of Jetwing, the operational partners of Srilankan Airlines.
For me it was like a homecoming, since I grew up in the planting districts here like Munnar, Anamallais and the Nilgiris. I turned up at the NEGC at about 1 pm to meet Mr Devaka Wickramasuriya, the dapper, nattily dressed and immensely courteous Club Secretary.
October being the mid-rainy season in Sri Lanka, most sensible people play a round only in the mornings, not in the afternoons, because as I was soon to find out, the rain arrives in what can best be described as semi-impermeable sheets around 3pm and doesn’t stop till well past 6 when it is as dark as pitch. I thus played the round on my own, with the caddy.
This Par 70, 5520 metre long golf course is a very old course, established by British Tea Planters in 1889, beautifully maintained and from my observation, not a single one of the old standards of quality, service and “club life” as we knew it, have been allowed to drop. The clubhouse is again a picture post card pretty, bungalow style building with lots of beautiful panelled wood and high standards of upkeep and maintenance. A point worth mentioning is that this clubhouse, rather like our own KGA, has a clear view of all 4 fairways, 2 going out and 2 coming in. Quite an achievement, to have been able to create this, in the hill country.
The club and the golf course are somewhat similar to the Ooty Gymkhana, Wellington Gymkhana, Kundale club in Munnar or any typical hill golf course, complete with guffy lies, uphill and downhill lies, undulating fairways, wild roughs, wickedly thorny gorse bushes, interesting tee box positions and of course, some very beautiful, scenic holes. (Thankfully though, there are no nasty little leeches and other such examples of god’s unpleasant creatures!) Tall trees and other assorted vegetation abounds in all nature’s verdant glory, set off by the beautiful weather and rich rainfall prevalent in this part of the world. The course also has the unique distinction of having 6 holes where the river water comes into play. One feels a very old world, very colonial and wholly enjoyable experience, if one likes or is used that sort of thing. They prefer using the Metric system here to measure distances which is why all distances mentioned in this note on Nuwara are in metres.
What I was most pleased to observe, was the superlative standards of maintenance of each fairway, each green and the sheer quality of everything. Like one would normally expect only at an international city golf course, the caddy even carried a bag of sand to fill up divots and a pitch mark-repairing tool.
Mr Myilvaganam, the resourceful, smiling caddy assigned to me, and I went straight along to the first Tee, (having first made arrangements for some sandwiches and tea to be brought along to us at the Golf hut on the 11th).
A straightforward Par 4 of 419 metres, bounded by trees and the clubhouse behind, which wonder of wonders, I managed to par.
Interestingly we were joined here by a small black canine person of indeterminate ancestry, who then proceeded, wagging his tail, to trot along with us throughout the round, pausing every time I paused to hit a shot and strolling along with us along the course – truly man’s best friend.
The 4th hole is an interesting one, where you hit off a high tee box with the green being to the right – 315 metres away. Immediately on one’s right is a bank of trees and then a private vegetable garden which is completely out of bounds, so one must be careful to place one’s shot well to the left in order to approach the green on one’s second. This hole funnily enough can be loosely compared to one of the Par 3 holes at Coorg Golf Links Kodagu (I’ve forgotten which one for the moment though), because there one has to drive over a banana plantation (out of bounds) to get to the green.
Then the rain began, at first a drizzle and then slightly heavier, but whipping out our umbrellas we meandered along in this peaceful way through the course, racking up some pretty decent scores despite having never played the course before, and of course, drinking in the scenery and pausing regularly for photographs. I’m glad I had the foresight to wear a pullover to keep me out of the chill, which combined with rain, has done in many a golfer in the past.
Reaching the 9th, which is a pretty 111-metre Par 3, we putted out for par and then moved straight up to the 10th, which is a clean 236-metre Par 4. Attacking with my old and trusted number 4, and taking a clean approach wedge to the green, I still made 5 because by this time the rain was coming down quite heavily. Very much like Munnar I must say.
We slithered up the muddy tow paths to the 11th Tee and the cute, though leaky golf hut, where my canine companion proceeded to shake himself dry, and consequently covering me with fine drops of water off his coat. Naughty chap.
Myilvaganam, me and our canine pal then paused to have a hot cup or two of lovely high grown, delicately flavoured leaf tea from one of the neighbouring tea estates and a couple of chicken sandwiches, all of which were cheerfully brought there by the club steward. This kind of service can only exist in places like these, the lands that time apparently has forgotten and which are full of a certain kind of old world charm which I am very privileged to have experienced and been a part of for much of my life and now as well.
Attacking the 11th hole with my dear old Cleveland driver, I was flying the ball through pouring rain, trusting to instinct and not being able to see much at all, just clobbering the little white sphere in the general direction of the green. Putting was an interesting experience, since all the greens by now had become waterlogged and consequently very slow, so one had to seriously whack the ball with the putter to get it to move any distance at all!
The most beautiful, “signature” holes at Nuwara Eliya are the 13th and the 14th where one shoots of high tee boxes with some brilliant scenery visible. The tight 176 metre Par 3, 13th is challenging enough without having rain to complicate matters for one so I ended up with a double. The equally gorgeous long 14th (401 yards, Par 4) I was pleased to be able to bogey.
By this time of course we were all soaked to the skin in the rain, which was coming down in buckets– me and Myilvaganam through our clothes and our canine companion through his fur. Despite a massive umbrella and so on, frankly unless one is attired suitably in a wetsuit and waterproof shoes, there is absolutely no go.
Arriving a long last at the 17th green we came across the interesting sight of four little canines huddled together under a large spreading tree for shelter from the driving rain and accompanying chill. They looked at us with a rather strange expression, as if asking themselves what on earth it can be that motivates golfers to brave the high wind, rain and chill, and battle on doggedly through a golf course, first hitting and then looking for a tiny little white sphere all the time carrying a heavy bagful of strange looking clubs and other instruments! The imposing Grand Hotel, built in the elegant Mock Tudor style, which is the hotel for the “Swish-Set” in Nuwara, overlooks the 17th green.
We attacked the 18th then whose fairway is abutted on each side by banks of tall evergreen trees with the main road lying just beyond the tree line to the right side. A nice Par 5 of 400 metres caused me to come up onto the green in 5 and double bogey my last hole at Nuwara. As we walked along the fairway, I could see the twinkling lights of the clubhouse, through the steady rain and I can tell you, they were my beacon signifying home, warmth and comfort! Bidding goodbye to my friendly 4 legged partner and Myil as I had now begun to address him, I went off to wring out the water from every item of clothing I was wearing. Nuwara has been ranked one of Asia’s finest Golf Courses and I would wholeheartedly endorse this opinion.
Part III.
27th & 28th October - Victoria Golf and Country Resort – Digana, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
On to Victoria then, from Nuwara at 530 am on the 27th, in order to avoid the chaos of traffic and to reach Kandy early enough to warm up and relax before the round. Reached finally at about 1040am with my Tee time of 11am!
The Victoria Golf and Country Resort is located in Rajawella, Digana in Kandy, the little hill Kingdom in Sri Lanka, a lower elevation hilly area where a massive hydel project was begun some years back with the Victoria Dam and Reservoir. The Golf course per se was designed by the renowned Golf Course Architect, Donald Steel in 1997 and I do believe that he had his task cut out, working through mist clad mountains, brilliant natural rock formations and some equally interesting wildlife!
Opened in 1999, this Par 73, 6945 yard golf course is a masterpiece of landscaping, built and maintained to USGA standards and rated in the Top 100 Most beautiful courses in the world by Golf Digest and Asian Golf Monthly – with very good reason I may say, since I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and contrasting landscape. The most arresting point is that it is blessed with towering mountains as well as brilliant views of Water all along the course.
The golf resort has some lovely cottages in the typical Swiss chalet style and even offers other sports like trekking and equestrian sports since this is also the home of the Victoria Equestrian Stables. The clubhouse is a functional and smart one, smart and clean in terms of architecture and with the functionality and facilities required by the new-age luxury-seeking golfer.
Very ably managed by Mike Varney, a giant of an Anglo Saxon who is also a Tiger of a Golfer and a British PGA Professional, the maintenance of this place is simply fantastic. High quality shrieks at you from every aspect, right from the Driving Range offering beautiful views of the Reservoir, to the staff who are extremely pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable and the brilliantly maintained fairways and greens.
Thus, on 27th and 28th October I was able to play a round here along with the tournament, something which was kindly arranged for me as a very late comer by some kind gentlemen and now friends of mine, Mr Jehan Kumara, Mr Raju Chandiram, Mr Chandana De Silva and of course Mike Varney himself.
Nuwan, my small built caddy and I set off to make our way around this masterpiece of natural beauty combined with man made perfection. I played along with Mr Alan Sheppard, a fine gentleman of middle years and a young tiger-cub of a Golfer, Roshan De Silva who normally plays at the Royal Colombo.
The 1st Tee from behind the clubhouse required me to clobber my driver well into the middle so as to negotiate the right dogleg to the green. This Par 4 – 403 yards can be done with the Driver and Rescue / Long Iron. Beautiful putting surfaces and undulating greens do definitely require a lot of skill to keep the score low.
The Par 4 – 384 yard 3rd hole is a beautiful dogleg left where if one is a brave man, one may choose to clunk the ball well over the rise on the left, causing a short approach and definitely one less shot to reach the green in regulation. Woe betide you though if you don’t carry the rise and end up in the evil buffalo grass roughs that abound here. A tamarind tree to the right guards the green and one needs to be pretty accurate to get there placed well.
My favourite hole – the wickedly pretty Par 3, 116 yard 4th is called the “Terror” because it has a pocket hanky sized undulating green usually attacked by a 9 or Pitching Wedge. If you go right you will go straight into hell signified by deep devilish rough and of course the sharp drop direct into Victoria Lake! I was happy both times I played here to make par on this hole. (Largely I suspect because I had paid homage to the Water Gods prior to arriving here!) One simply must pause here, please, to take in the breathtaking views all around of the Victoria Reservoir and of course the surrounding mountains. Paradise regained, a la the late John Milton! Believe me, I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place!
Climb up to the 5th tee – and you need to decide whether you want to go left or right or centre of the knoll or mound in the centre of the fairway. Long hitters can get there, but be humble, gentlemen, is my sincere suggestion! This 314-yard Par 4 looks deceptively easy! Incidentally here I was almost snuffed out rather permanently by a ball hit by the chap in the group behind us who decided to drive off the tee with his driver just as our group was putting on the green. Ian Tait, the BPGA Tournament Official, a crusty Marlboro smoking Scotsman, had rather a lot to say about this to that poor gent, Steve Munro. Personally I take my hat off to Steve’s distance combined with accuracy.
The 6th Tee is also a deliciously high one, very tempting to pull out the “big dog” –with the fairway lying well below – maybe 100 odd feet below going into a nice long 473 yard Par 4 where your fate will be determined by your Tee shot and very little else. Very tough, as I found out to my cost!
The 7th is a pretty 182-yard par 3, which is rather straightforward despite a split-level green. Smartly attacked with a 4 iron, one should putt in to make par unless of course one is struck by ill luck.
One must simply take a break after the 7th since there is an excellently appointed golf hut with some seriously great snacks like hot dogs, puff pastries and practically any kind of soft drink. Lovely staff – so very solicitous for one’s comfort!
Move through to the 422 yard- Par 4, 8th where one simply tees up and clobbers the little white sphere – man, if you find the fairway centre you only need to launch the ball again over the two guarding Mara trees with your rescue or 5 wood to be on in regulation and make par. Not that I did, to be honest, but that was entirely due to the buffalo grass roughs and then getting trapped by the Mara trees – perhaps I didn’t pay sufficient homage to the Tree Gods and the Gods of the Buffalo Grass Roughs, because the combination of these were my complete undoing!
The 9th is a monster – Par 5 520 Yard hole. I was forced to scratch because of a wayward tee shot which caused me to enter the buffalo grass rather deeply and then of course, short of using a bulldozer or some other state-of-the-art earthmoving equipment, there was no way to get out! All it needs is accuracy, but then as we all know, this is easier said than done!
Pressing on then, to the back nine after a quick Banana and Water break to keep the energy reserves up and to bolster one’s rapidly weakening resolve to conquer the rest of the course!
Attack the 357 Yard Par 4 10th with either a Driver or a 3 wood if you tend to slice or hook, because it is important to be amongst the Jack Trees on the fairways so as to be on in regulation. True to my form that day, I promptly took a couple of practice swings and then simply let fly with my rescue, wishing to be humble. Humility doesn’t work, accuracy does, because as I found out to my cost, I was in the death–guff once again! Wincing and steeling myself again I ended up making a triple on the 10th!
The long 534 yard-Par 5 11th is pretty straightforward hole if one is careful. Playing down from the tee over the undulating fairway, one goes up an incline to the guarded green. Working one’s way through the Jack trees, one generally can make bogey at the very least.
Number 12 is another brilliant 210 yard Par 3 played off a high tee. Don’t try stunts with anything but your long irons guys because there is a wicked drop to the left, which will cause you to abandon all hope if you land there. It is far more sensible to whack short of green, chip up and putt in for Par. Tra la la. What fun!
The Par 4 – 430 yard 13th hole invites you to drive downhill with the big dog but preferably one must send a mid iron across on the second shot, flying the ball just high enough to plop on the green. (I did this nice sounding plop on the green bit in 5, to make triple bogey because as seemed to be the order of the day, I was battling the long, knee high buffalo grass yet again!)
The signature hole of Victoria Golf Club is supposedly the Par 4-393 yard 14th! However, the 4th hole, simply because of its beauty and terror closely juxtaposed, is a strong contender for the title of Signature hole. It shall, at least for me, remain the real signature hole on this course! At the 14th, a narrow coconut tree lined valley invites one to do a serious bit of thunking, but the wicked little natural rock formation to the left before the dogleg ends all hopes! Doglegging left to get to the green one lands up trying to skitter the ball on the green from behind the majestic Mara tree right there. Disaster man! I made a triple! Horrendous!
The 15th which is a 553 yard Par 5 is a brilliant hole offering rather gorgeous low land views of the Reservoir with its surrounding necklace of misty mountains and a portion of the extreme edge of the Driving range as well can be seen from the tee. Ideally one plays to the left onto the fairway, freeing one up to go over the sharp wadi (a natural water course which allows rain water run off to drain direct into the reservoir but remember, the fabled buffalo grass abounds both left and right of fairway. Move sharp right onto the fairway past the dividing watercourse and then you can be on the green in three if you're a bit of a Wolf! Or as someone else in he group behind us did, one can get rather beautifully tangled up in the coconut palms on the right and left. Sheer fun this challenge!
Hole 16 – we reached huffing and puffing since this is a long course, which requires a decent level of physical fitness in order to be enjoyed. Shallow green Par 3 – 195 yards. Deceptive. Watch the bunker on the left boys, please! Somewhat similar to the 8th hole at Coorg Golf Links in Coorg though that is a Par 4.
The 17th – 441 yard par 4, is a super-brill downhill drive through the coconut palms but be cautious of the chaos on the left side and right side of this exhilarating hole since the dear old buffalo grass lurks here too, apart from some completely wicked bunkers, just waiting to catch the poor lost souls of golf like me unawares. Death by Grass it seems – like my Death by Water experience in Thailand! Terrible score, which I wont even reveal, lest I lose my coveted position as the Founder President of the Duffers Golf Club!
The 18th and ultimate hole of the dear old Victoria is a long 545-yard Par 5. Huff Puff Huff Puff I went, since I had walked through in slightly sultry conditions and covered a distance of nearly 6500 yards by then over undulating terrain! A clear valley beckons and tempts you like the Sirens in the old Greek Myth who tempted Ulysses, to pull your driver out, set up and try to hit the cover off the ball. A good drive (not my drive) should land you on fairway centre and then cause you to play up the valley onto the pretty clubhouse green with its collar of coconut palms around the bowl in which it is set. I think I had a disagreeable 8 on this hole because of the death guff again, but it was without a doubt an exhilarating experience, purely on account of the sheer natural beauty of the place, one’s close communion over several hours, with nature and the sheer enjoyment of the game of golf.
I will tell you one thing and clearly. It has certainly motivated me to go right back and play this course all over again and soon, if I can manage that!
Part IV.
28th October - The After Party – Mahaweli Reach Resort, Kandy.
Of course after these strenuous few days of driving across Sri Lanka’s pretty countryside and more often than not, crowded and broken roads, and playing several taxing though enjoyable rounds of golf, nothing could possibly have been more welcome to us weary souls than the superbly organized prize distribution party hosted by Srilankan Airlines at the Mahaweli Resort in Kandy.
The typical generosity and large heartedness of the people of our little neighbouring island nation was more than evident in the catchy music, the easy living lifestyle, the flowing rivers of the rather excellent bacchanalian kind straight from the establishments of the Chivas brothers, Scotland, the tottering mountains of superbly crafted dishes of exotic meats and fish, the unobtrusive and caring service of the waiters and sous-chefs manning the food counters………… I can go on and on and on, but sadly I have a clear and finite number of pages, which I am allowed, by the kindness of ‘mon patron’, Hari!
A superb setting and a whole evening of fun, laughter, drinks, much dancing and great food gave this rather excellent annual event a fitting finale. Well-done Srilankan! “Bohama Stuthi” as they say in the soft sounding Sinhala language– Thank you most kindly for a very well organized, extremely enjoyable, brilliant golfing and cultural experience.
Imagine my extreme pleasure and surprise when I received a phone call absolutely out of the blue from Mr Hari Achanta of Golfline Magazine, apologizing for the short notice and asking me most tentatively if I would be interested in visiting Sri Lanka to play some golf on an all expense paid basis!
I mean, hey, who in his right mind would grumble at a Business Class ticket on Srilankan, First Class Hotels everywhere, a Private Chauffeur driven Car completely at my disposal and loads of Golf thrown in at some of the most scenic golf courses in the South Asian Region – all of this completely on the house! Wow!
Completely sponsored by Srilankan Airlines, this was truly a brilliant opportunity for an enthusiastic golfer, traveller and hobbyist writer like me! Whoopee, I said, grinning to myself from ear to ear and with some difficulty, desisted from doing handsprings on the roadside! At once I asked permission from the office too, which happy to say, I was given, by the kindness and large-hearted-ness of my bosses at Madura Garments where I work!
Well, I experienced at first hand the gentle hospitality of these soft-spoken, kind hearted and immensely charming islanders as soon as I hopped onto the Srilankan Airlines flight from Bangalore on 24th October, right from the first gentle “Ayubowan” (meaning welcome), onwards. Lugging my trusty golf clubs, many boxes of golf balls, tees, assorted clothing, shoes and golfing paraphernalia, I was thoroughly pleased to be going. It would be rather remiss of me if I didn’t at this point, mention the kindness of the Sri Lankan Airlines team, especially Mr Chandana De Silva, Mr Lalit Fernando and Mr Niroshan Ranawake in enabling so many varied and enjoyable experiences for me in a thoroughly enjoyable manner, during my 5-day sojourn there.
This superbly extravagant annual effort by Sri Lankan Airlines on their Golf Classic Tour teed off on the 25th and holed out on the 28th of October 2006. An experience par excellence, if I may say so, which enabled more than 200 Golf enthusiasts from points of origin as far and wide as the UK, US, Scotland, Hong Kong, Japan, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Kuwait, China, Malaysia, India and Sri Lanka, to meet in the true spirit of fellowship and play the game we all love so well amidst some truly beautiful and sylvan surroundings!
Part I.
25th October – The Royal Colombo Golf Club, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Royal Colombo Golf Club is the oldest in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1879 in a far more spacious era than we shall ever experience again, it has recently celebrated its 125th Anniversary. It has the style and grandeur of days gone by and is one of the most beautiful club houses I have seen, built in the typical colonial bungalow style, with wide verandahs and lovely sloping tiled roofs, with eaves and – absolutely brimming with character. Like someone said, Tradition cannot be built overnight, it has to be earned, day-by-day.
Arriving there on a fine sunny (if slightly sultry day) at 12 noon, I was met by Mr Chula De Silva, the General Manager of the Club. I was assigned a caddy and directed to the 10th Tee to begin the round with the back nine. However, owing to circumstances, I was forced to embark on my round on this lovely Par 71, 6300-yard course, alone with the caddy.
Stepping up to the 10th I attacked the Short par 4 of 332 yards with my 4 iron. Bounded by trees on either side, an accurate shot is called for, which luckily came through and then it was smooth work to make par.
Then I meandered through the scenic 11th and 12th holes, braving the hazards, bunkers and waterways. Pushing on, through the noonday sun. I then observed another die-hard midday golf nut like me, wandering along the 12th fairway all by himself so I hollered across, asking him to join me since he was playing alone.
Mr Paul McManus of the British Council thus stepped up and introduced himself and we moved along in a companionable way to the 13th, which is a brilliant Par 3, with a daunting expanse of Water in between the tee and the green. Bashing it off the tee, I ended up on the left of the green while poor Paul had a rather deeply plugged lie on the bank of the water body. We continued plodding on through the next few holes, racking up scores we will never frankly confess to, but enjoying ourselves thoroughly.
There’s an old Noel Coward Song which goes “Only Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun……….” Though Paul is a Scotsman, it kind of figures ------ forgive me Paul, I simply couldn’t resist that dig at you Anglo Saxon chaps!
The 17th is a long-ish Par 4 – somewhat similar to the 18th at Pinehurst in Thailand but without the watery bits, where one needs to position the tee shot slightly left, in order to have a clear approach. Very tough, and we both ended up with some ghastly score on that.
Back then to the 18th (clubhouse) green, a beautiful elevated green with the clubhouse behind at which, stopping briefly for a break and some soft drinks for our caddies and water for ourselves, we went along to the first Tee, to play the front nine.
The first hole is brilliant – a beautiful drive landing us short of the waterway, which crosses the fairway, and then an easy rescue shot across the water to hit the edge of the green and plop, roll back into a watery grave. This was a dampener but completely undaunted despite a stroke lost, we played off again and went through with a double bogey.
The beautiful second hole (Par 4-396 Yards) has an unique phenomenon because the Colombo to Kandy, Kelani Valley Railway line passes along the fairway on the right, serving as an “out of bounds” indication. It is interesting to pause during a round to observe the 3pm train chug along the line, never tooting its horn. (I’m sure the train driver makes a concession to the unspoken dictum of gentlemanly silence on the golf course, a gesture so typical of these gentle islanders, who are such natural gentlemen). In addition there is a pond before the green so one’s second shot has to carry that in order to reach the green in a reasonably respectable way.
The 4th hole is a lovely Par 3 (198 yards) where we both clunked the ball with the number 4, to compensate for a slight breeze which had come up and in order to break with the guarding bunkers, both of us making a par.
The 6th hole is a 285-yard par 4 with a waterway to carry and several bunkers lurking around to catch you! A lovely thing about this hole is that the green is close to the perimeter wall, behind which is a beautiful, colourful Buddhist Temple. On that day, one could see the red stupa over the wall, but tempted as I was to peer over the wall, we heard the sad music of a funeral taking place in the temple and thus, deemed it disrespectful to take a gander over the wall.
The next few passed without major incident and we moved along to the 8th hole, which is a 404-yard par 4 with a clubhouse green. Interesting hole with a waterway one needs to carry on the tee shot and then a few bunkers to avoid.
The 9th is a gorgeous par 3 (170 yards), which is quite a challenge to be on the green in regulation, but by some chance, both of us ended the round with a nice Par, bringing to an end a nice round at the oldest golf club in Sri Lanka.
Paul and I parted ways then, having promised to stay in touch and meet up if he was in India sometime or on my next visit (Hari Mon Patron – are you reading this or listening???) to Sri Lanka!
Part II.
26th October – Nuwara Eliya Golf Club, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka.
Nuwara Eliya, meaning “City of Light” is situated in some beautiful tea plantation country, high up in the hills at 6500 feet (2070 metres) above mean sea level. Tea plantation clad hills, in manicured verdant green, crisp, nippy weather and air like vintage champagne was Nuwara’s first greeting to me, slightly cold and stiff as I was after a thrilling four and a half hour ride up from Colombo in a middle aged Toyota Hi-Ace Van, driven by the friendly and knowledgeable Mr Victor of Jetwing, the operational partners of Srilankan Airlines.
For me it was like a homecoming, since I grew up in the planting districts here like Munnar, Anamallais and the Nilgiris. I turned up at the NEGC at about 1 pm to meet Mr Devaka Wickramasuriya, the dapper, nattily dressed and immensely courteous Club Secretary.
October being the mid-rainy season in Sri Lanka, most sensible people play a round only in the mornings, not in the afternoons, because as I was soon to find out, the rain arrives in what can best be described as semi-impermeable sheets around 3pm and doesn’t stop till well past 6 when it is as dark as pitch. I thus played the round on my own, with the caddy.
This Par 70, 5520 metre long golf course is a very old course, established by British Tea Planters in 1889, beautifully maintained and from my observation, not a single one of the old standards of quality, service and “club life” as we knew it, have been allowed to drop. The clubhouse is again a picture post card pretty, bungalow style building with lots of beautiful panelled wood and high standards of upkeep and maintenance. A point worth mentioning is that this clubhouse, rather like our own KGA, has a clear view of all 4 fairways, 2 going out and 2 coming in. Quite an achievement, to have been able to create this, in the hill country.
The club and the golf course are somewhat similar to the Ooty Gymkhana, Wellington Gymkhana, Kundale club in Munnar or any typical hill golf course, complete with guffy lies, uphill and downhill lies, undulating fairways, wild roughs, wickedly thorny gorse bushes, interesting tee box positions and of course, some very beautiful, scenic holes. (Thankfully though, there are no nasty little leeches and other such examples of god’s unpleasant creatures!) Tall trees and other assorted vegetation abounds in all nature’s verdant glory, set off by the beautiful weather and rich rainfall prevalent in this part of the world. The course also has the unique distinction of having 6 holes where the river water comes into play. One feels a very old world, very colonial and wholly enjoyable experience, if one likes or is used that sort of thing. They prefer using the Metric system here to measure distances which is why all distances mentioned in this note on Nuwara are in metres.
What I was most pleased to observe, was the superlative standards of maintenance of each fairway, each green and the sheer quality of everything. Like one would normally expect only at an international city golf course, the caddy even carried a bag of sand to fill up divots and a pitch mark-repairing tool.
Mr Myilvaganam, the resourceful, smiling caddy assigned to me, and I went straight along to the first Tee, (having first made arrangements for some sandwiches and tea to be brought along to us at the Golf hut on the 11th).
A straightforward Par 4 of 419 metres, bounded by trees and the clubhouse behind, which wonder of wonders, I managed to par.
Interestingly we were joined here by a small black canine person of indeterminate ancestry, who then proceeded, wagging his tail, to trot along with us throughout the round, pausing every time I paused to hit a shot and strolling along with us along the course – truly man’s best friend.
The 4th hole is an interesting one, where you hit off a high tee box with the green being to the right – 315 metres away. Immediately on one’s right is a bank of trees and then a private vegetable garden which is completely out of bounds, so one must be careful to place one’s shot well to the left in order to approach the green on one’s second. This hole funnily enough can be loosely compared to one of the Par 3 holes at Coorg Golf Links Kodagu (I’ve forgotten which one for the moment though), because there one has to drive over a banana plantation (out of bounds) to get to the green.
Then the rain began, at first a drizzle and then slightly heavier, but whipping out our umbrellas we meandered along in this peaceful way through the course, racking up some pretty decent scores despite having never played the course before, and of course, drinking in the scenery and pausing regularly for photographs. I’m glad I had the foresight to wear a pullover to keep me out of the chill, which combined with rain, has done in many a golfer in the past.
Reaching the 9th, which is a pretty 111-metre Par 3, we putted out for par and then moved straight up to the 10th, which is a clean 236-metre Par 4. Attacking with my old and trusted number 4, and taking a clean approach wedge to the green, I still made 5 because by this time the rain was coming down quite heavily. Very much like Munnar I must say.
We slithered up the muddy tow paths to the 11th Tee and the cute, though leaky golf hut, where my canine companion proceeded to shake himself dry, and consequently covering me with fine drops of water off his coat. Naughty chap.
Myilvaganam, me and our canine pal then paused to have a hot cup or two of lovely high grown, delicately flavoured leaf tea from one of the neighbouring tea estates and a couple of chicken sandwiches, all of which were cheerfully brought there by the club steward. This kind of service can only exist in places like these, the lands that time apparently has forgotten and which are full of a certain kind of old world charm which I am very privileged to have experienced and been a part of for much of my life and now as well.
Attacking the 11th hole with my dear old Cleveland driver, I was flying the ball through pouring rain, trusting to instinct and not being able to see much at all, just clobbering the little white sphere in the general direction of the green. Putting was an interesting experience, since all the greens by now had become waterlogged and consequently very slow, so one had to seriously whack the ball with the putter to get it to move any distance at all!
The most beautiful, “signature” holes at Nuwara Eliya are the 13th and the 14th where one shoots of high tee boxes with some brilliant scenery visible. The tight 176 metre Par 3, 13th is challenging enough without having rain to complicate matters for one so I ended up with a double. The equally gorgeous long 14th (401 yards, Par 4) I was pleased to be able to bogey.
By this time of course we were all soaked to the skin in the rain, which was coming down in buckets– me and Myilvaganam through our clothes and our canine companion through his fur. Despite a massive umbrella and so on, frankly unless one is attired suitably in a wetsuit and waterproof shoes, there is absolutely no go.
Arriving a long last at the 17th green we came across the interesting sight of four little canines huddled together under a large spreading tree for shelter from the driving rain and accompanying chill. They looked at us with a rather strange expression, as if asking themselves what on earth it can be that motivates golfers to brave the high wind, rain and chill, and battle on doggedly through a golf course, first hitting and then looking for a tiny little white sphere all the time carrying a heavy bagful of strange looking clubs and other instruments! The imposing Grand Hotel, built in the elegant Mock Tudor style, which is the hotel for the “Swish-Set” in Nuwara, overlooks the 17th green.
We attacked the 18th then whose fairway is abutted on each side by banks of tall evergreen trees with the main road lying just beyond the tree line to the right side. A nice Par 5 of 400 metres caused me to come up onto the green in 5 and double bogey my last hole at Nuwara. As we walked along the fairway, I could see the twinkling lights of the clubhouse, through the steady rain and I can tell you, they were my beacon signifying home, warmth and comfort! Bidding goodbye to my friendly 4 legged partner and Myil as I had now begun to address him, I went off to wring out the water from every item of clothing I was wearing. Nuwara has been ranked one of Asia’s finest Golf Courses and I would wholeheartedly endorse this opinion.
Part III.
27th & 28th October - Victoria Golf and Country Resort – Digana, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
On to Victoria then, from Nuwara at 530 am on the 27th, in order to avoid the chaos of traffic and to reach Kandy early enough to warm up and relax before the round. Reached finally at about 1040am with my Tee time of 11am!
The Victoria Golf and Country Resort is located in Rajawella, Digana in Kandy, the little hill Kingdom in Sri Lanka, a lower elevation hilly area where a massive hydel project was begun some years back with the Victoria Dam and Reservoir. The Golf course per se was designed by the renowned Golf Course Architect, Donald Steel in 1997 and I do believe that he had his task cut out, working through mist clad mountains, brilliant natural rock formations and some equally interesting wildlife!
Opened in 1999, this Par 73, 6945 yard golf course is a masterpiece of landscaping, built and maintained to USGA standards and rated in the Top 100 Most beautiful courses in the world by Golf Digest and Asian Golf Monthly – with very good reason I may say, since I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer beauty and contrasting landscape. The most arresting point is that it is blessed with towering mountains as well as brilliant views of Water all along the course.
The golf resort has some lovely cottages in the typical Swiss chalet style and even offers other sports like trekking and equestrian sports since this is also the home of the Victoria Equestrian Stables. The clubhouse is a functional and smart one, smart and clean in terms of architecture and with the functionality and facilities required by the new-age luxury-seeking golfer.
Very ably managed by Mike Varney, a giant of an Anglo Saxon who is also a Tiger of a Golfer and a British PGA Professional, the maintenance of this place is simply fantastic. High quality shrieks at you from every aspect, right from the Driving Range offering beautiful views of the Reservoir, to the staff who are extremely pleasant, friendly and knowledgeable and the brilliantly maintained fairways and greens.
Thus, on 27th and 28th October I was able to play a round here along with the tournament, something which was kindly arranged for me as a very late comer by some kind gentlemen and now friends of mine, Mr Jehan Kumara, Mr Raju Chandiram, Mr Chandana De Silva and of course Mike Varney himself.
Nuwan, my small built caddy and I set off to make our way around this masterpiece of natural beauty combined with man made perfection. I played along with Mr Alan Sheppard, a fine gentleman of middle years and a young tiger-cub of a Golfer, Roshan De Silva who normally plays at the Royal Colombo.
The 1st Tee from behind the clubhouse required me to clobber my driver well into the middle so as to negotiate the right dogleg to the green. This Par 4 – 403 yards can be done with the Driver and Rescue / Long Iron. Beautiful putting surfaces and undulating greens do definitely require a lot of skill to keep the score low.
The Par 4 – 384 yard 3rd hole is a beautiful dogleg left where if one is a brave man, one may choose to clunk the ball well over the rise on the left, causing a short approach and definitely one less shot to reach the green in regulation. Woe betide you though if you don’t carry the rise and end up in the evil buffalo grass roughs that abound here. A tamarind tree to the right guards the green and one needs to be pretty accurate to get there placed well.
My favourite hole – the wickedly pretty Par 3, 116 yard 4th is called the “Terror” because it has a pocket hanky sized undulating green usually attacked by a 9 or Pitching Wedge. If you go right you will go straight into hell signified by deep devilish rough and of course the sharp drop direct into Victoria Lake! I was happy both times I played here to make par on this hole. (Largely I suspect because I had paid homage to the Water Gods prior to arriving here!) One simply must pause here, please, to take in the breathtaking views all around of the Victoria Reservoir and of course the surrounding mountains. Paradise regained, a la the late John Milton! Believe me, I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this place!
Climb up to the 5th tee – and you need to decide whether you want to go left or right or centre of the knoll or mound in the centre of the fairway. Long hitters can get there, but be humble, gentlemen, is my sincere suggestion! This 314-yard Par 4 looks deceptively easy! Incidentally here I was almost snuffed out rather permanently by a ball hit by the chap in the group behind us who decided to drive off the tee with his driver just as our group was putting on the green. Ian Tait, the BPGA Tournament Official, a crusty Marlboro smoking Scotsman, had rather a lot to say about this to that poor gent, Steve Munro. Personally I take my hat off to Steve’s distance combined with accuracy.
The 6th Tee is also a deliciously high one, very tempting to pull out the “big dog” –with the fairway lying well below – maybe 100 odd feet below going into a nice long 473 yard Par 4 where your fate will be determined by your Tee shot and very little else. Very tough, as I found out to my cost!
The 7th is a pretty 182-yard par 3, which is rather straightforward despite a split-level green. Smartly attacked with a 4 iron, one should putt in to make par unless of course one is struck by ill luck.
One must simply take a break after the 7th since there is an excellently appointed golf hut with some seriously great snacks like hot dogs, puff pastries and practically any kind of soft drink. Lovely staff – so very solicitous for one’s comfort!
Move through to the 422 yard- Par 4, 8th where one simply tees up and clobbers the little white sphere – man, if you find the fairway centre you only need to launch the ball again over the two guarding Mara trees with your rescue or 5 wood to be on in regulation and make par. Not that I did, to be honest, but that was entirely due to the buffalo grass roughs and then getting trapped by the Mara trees – perhaps I didn’t pay sufficient homage to the Tree Gods and the Gods of the Buffalo Grass Roughs, because the combination of these were my complete undoing!
The 9th is a monster – Par 5 520 Yard hole. I was forced to scratch because of a wayward tee shot which caused me to enter the buffalo grass rather deeply and then of course, short of using a bulldozer or some other state-of-the-art earthmoving equipment, there was no way to get out! All it needs is accuracy, but then as we all know, this is easier said than done!
Pressing on then, to the back nine after a quick Banana and Water break to keep the energy reserves up and to bolster one’s rapidly weakening resolve to conquer the rest of the course!
Attack the 357 Yard Par 4 10th with either a Driver or a 3 wood if you tend to slice or hook, because it is important to be amongst the Jack Trees on the fairways so as to be on in regulation. True to my form that day, I promptly took a couple of practice swings and then simply let fly with my rescue, wishing to be humble. Humility doesn’t work, accuracy does, because as I found out to my cost, I was in the death–guff once again! Wincing and steeling myself again I ended up making a triple on the 10th!
The long 534 yard-Par 5 11th is pretty straightforward hole if one is careful. Playing down from the tee over the undulating fairway, one goes up an incline to the guarded green. Working one’s way through the Jack trees, one generally can make bogey at the very least.
Number 12 is another brilliant 210 yard Par 3 played off a high tee. Don’t try stunts with anything but your long irons guys because there is a wicked drop to the left, which will cause you to abandon all hope if you land there. It is far more sensible to whack short of green, chip up and putt in for Par. Tra la la. What fun!
The Par 4 – 430 yard 13th hole invites you to drive downhill with the big dog but preferably one must send a mid iron across on the second shot, flying the ball just high enough to plop on the green. (I did this nice sounding plop on the green bit in 5, to make triple bogey because as seemed to be the order of the day, I was battling the long, knee high buffalo grass yet again!)
The signature hole of Victoria Golf Club is supposedly the Par 4-393 yard 14th! However, the 4th hole, simply because of its beauty and terror closely juxtaposed, is a strong contender for the title of Signature hole. It shall, at least for me, remain the real signature hole on this course! At the 14th, a narrow coconut tree lined valley invites one to do a serious bit of thunking, but the wicked little natural rock formation to the left before the dogleg ends all hopes! Doglegging left to get to the green one lands up trying to skitter the ball on the green from behind the majestic Mara tree right there. Disaster man! I made a triple! Horrendous!
The 15th which is a 553 yard Par 5 is a brilliant hole offering rather gorgeous low land views of the Reservoir with its surrounding necklace of misty mountains and a portion of the extreme edge of the Driving range as well can be seen from the tee. Ideally one plays to the left onto the fairway, freeing one up to go over the sharp wadi (a natural water course which allows rain water run off to drain direct into the reservoir but remember, the fabled buffalo grass abounds both left and right of fairway. Move sharp right onto the fairway past the dividing watercourse and then you can be on the green in three if you're a bit of a Wolf! Or as someone else in he group behind us did, one can get rather beautifully tangled up in the coconut palms on the right and left. Sheer fun this challenge!
Hole 16 – we reached huffing and puffing since this is a long course, which requires a decent level of physical fitness in order to be enjoyed. Shallow green Par 3 – 195 yards. Deceptive. Watch the bunker on the left boys, please! Somewhat similar to the 8th hole at Coorg Golf Links in Coorg though that is a Par 4.
The 17th – 441 yard par 4, is a super-brill downhill drive through the coconut palms but be cautious of the chaos on the left side and right side of this exhilarating hole since the dear old buffalo grass lurks here too, apart from some completely wicked bunkers, just waiting to catch the poor lost souls of golf like me unawares. Death by Grass it seems – like my Death by Water experience in Thailand! Terrible score, which I wont even reveal, lest I lose my coveted position as the Founder President of the Duffers Golf Club!
The 18th and ultimate hole of the dear old Victoria is a long 545-yard Par 5. Huff Puff Huff Puff I went, since I had walked through in slightly sultry conditions and covered a distance of nearly 6500 yards by then over undulating terrain! A clear valley beckons and tempts you like the Sirens in the old Greek Myth who tempted Ulysses, to pull your driver out, set up and try to hit the cover off the ball. A good drive (not my drive) should land you on fairway centre and then cause you to play up the valley onto the pretty clubhouse green with its collar of coconut palms around the bowl in which it is set. I think I had a disagreeable 8 on this hole because of the death guff again, but it was without a doubt an exhilarating experience, purely on account of the sheer natural beauty of the place, one’s close communion over several hours, with nature and the sheer enjoyment of the game of golf.
I will tell you one thing and clearly. It has certainly motivated me to go right back and play this course all over again and soon, if I can manage that!
Part IV.
28th October - The After Party – Mahaweli Reach Resort, Kandy.
Of course after these strenuous few days of driving across Sri Lanka’s pretty countryside and more often than not, crowded and broken roads, and playing several taxing though enjoyable rounds of golf, nothing could possibly have been more welcome to us weary souls than the superbly organized prize distribution party hosted by Srilankan Airlines at the Mahaweli Resort in Kandy.
The typical generosity and large heartedness of the people of our little neighbouring island nation was more than evident in the catchy music, the easy living lifestyle, the flowing rivers of the rather excellent bacchanalian kind straight from the establishments of the Chivas brothers, Scotland, the tottering mountains of superbly crafted dishes of exotic meats and fish, the unobtrusive and caring service of the waiters and sous-chefs manning the food counters………… I can go on and on and on, but sadly I have a clear and finite number of pages, which I am allowed, by the kindness of ‘mon patron’, Hari!
A superb setting and a whole evening of fun, laughter, drinks, much dancing and great food gave this rather excellent annual event a fitting finale. Well-done Srilankan! “Bohama Stuthi” as they say in the soft sounding Sinhala language– Thank you most kindly for a very well organized, extremely enjoyable, brilliant golfing and cultural experience.
Golfing in Thailand - My Experiences
Golfing in Thailand.
Recently a good friend and I were happily able to take a short Golfing holiday in the picturesque and tourist friendly Kingdom of Thailand.
We had fixed up our Golf via the world-wide-web and I had zeroed in particularly on two beautifully manicured golf courses, one located roughly North East and the other, North of Bangkok town. Most importantly, in the primary interests of our game, we carried with us a half set each, made up from our own golf clubs.
Alighting in the Land of the Royal Orchid, we were struck at first by the orderly chaos of the traffic and the man-made splendour of the buildings surrounding us.
Part I – President Golf and Country Club, Lumtoiting, Nong Chok, Bangkok. Saturday, 26 August 2006
At about 11am on that beautiful grey and overcast day, we called a regular cab from our hotel to get to the President Golf and Country Club situated an hour North East of Bangkok City by car. This is an idyllic setting, composed of four separate 9 hole – Par -36 golf courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. not to be confused with the famous Bobby Jones himself! Today it is one of the Top 20 Golf Courses in Thailand and a real pleasure to play!
For me, it was greatly gratifying, to be playing such a brilliant course designed by one of the best-known designers. The courses lie North, South, East and West. One typically plays a Pre-set combination of two directions in a round of 18 holes – having said that, I must mention that there is absolutely no “criss-cross” and the other regular issues one faces, of shared greens and so on, since there is simply no space constraint there at all. I must heartily commend the Thai people, for their immense foresight in the matter of their wholly tourism dependent economy!
My friend Mr Mathew and I first met Ms Ana, the lady who had kindly arranged the afternoon’s golf for us, then the caddies assigned to us, diminutive in stature and immensely respectful, their faces permanently creased in wide smiles (at us? for us? Or at their expectations of our state of play????). We were then introduced to our partners, Mr Khun and his son, Mr Ton. Bowing to each other to take the honour first we proceeded along to the North course for the first nine. A long straight par 5 with some wicked bunkers casually interspersed saw us through at bogey with our partners making par. The second, a lovely par 4, 349 yard hole with a slight dogleg right with a green guarded by water saw us home in doubles. Moving through the next few holes saw us through with a bunch of doubles with our partners playing steadily for par and bogey.
We reached the lovely 6th – Par 3 across deep water with a tiny green. My simple advice is, always appease the Water Gods before taking on such a dauntingly difficult task! Need I really say any more?
The 8th is a long par 4 with a pretty pine fringe on the left beyond the water bounding the fairway. A couple of bunkers strategically placed, added to the interest. The 9th is a long par 5, relatively straightforward but with a green well guarded on all sides by bunkers causing havoc for us and similar such members of the Duffers Golf Club!
We stopped then at the golf hut to re-vitalize our systems with some chilled water and a plantain fruit for some extra energy, (sorely needed to tackle the particularly dangerous, water hazard laden, East course.)
We were met squarely by a 290-yard par 4, bounded by water, with a wicked dogleg left to strike the green. We were under pressure at first but somehow managed a double bogey. Then we played the straightforward 11th and moved on to the 12th, where we were faced with an amazingly sharp right dogleg bounded with deep water on the right. The 13th is another super sharp right dogleg to the green and bounded with water! The Par 3, 14th is simply wonderful. An island promontory serving as a Tee box, straight over water to a pocket hanky sized green with a steep fringe – truly a hole for the Lion hearts amongst us! Interestingly the Par 5,16th hole is very similar to the Par 4, 13th the main difference is the length. Then we reached the Par 3, 17th where we were amazed to see almost an exact replica of the Par 3,14th, but here, instead of a steep fringe, we had to carry over some treacherous looking bunkers apart from hoping one would hit the ball so as to have enough “wings” over the deep water as well as the bunkers! We had a respectable bogey though on this one! The 18th is a pretty straightforward hole with a wide fairway. An interesting thing is that it is bounded on the left by water and between the fairway and the water, lies a long trench filled with sand, just to cause that extra bit of worry and ensure that one keeps well away on the right!
We played off the White tees and covered a distance of about 6000 odd yards over 18 holes. An elegant setting, a gentle looking golf course but with rather sharp teeth in that it abounded with hazards, plenty of water, millions of bunkers all over the place. Definitely a course not recommended for the faint, meek or unfit amongst us. But I’m glad I played it because it is important to be able to look challenges like this squarely in the eye and making them wilt (if possible)!
Thanking our partners Mr Khun and Mr Ton profusely and appreciating their decisive, sometimes daring and wholly skilful games, we meandered back to our hotel, bathed in that gentle sort of euphoria that can only come after a day of golf like the one we had enjoyed!
Part II – Pinehurst Golf and Country Club, Klong 1, Pathumthanee, Thailand. Monday 28th August 2006.
Bright and early on a fine Monday morning, around the time when most normal people perform their ablutions prior to setting out for work, some with happiness, some with purpose and some certainly with a not-so-attractive fit of Monday morning blues, Mr Mathew (my friend) and I set out, with the light hearted gait of a pair of errant schoolboys playing truant from the classroom, to play Golf, I ask you, in Thailand! Woof – I just loved the thought of me in my golfing kit and going off to enjoy a whole day of fun when others elsewhere, ploughed through the doldrums of their daily existence! Ha!
Well, a rather nice chap called Tom Peterson, (of the Sales Dept of “Golf a la Cart Ltd”, a company specializing in arranging golf for visitors to Thailand, had very kindly arranged for us to be picked up from our hotel by a Private Car (some serious cosseting, this) and get transported in comfort for about 45 minutes in a Northerly direction out of Bangkok City, past the Airport and so on, to a Jewel of a place called Pinehurst Golf and Country Club in a place called Pathumthanee.
Designed by the renowned Japanese Golf Course Designer Yoshibara Aihara, Pinehurst is typical of the genteel passion of the Japanese people for manicured floral extravagance, colourful and splendiferous yet symmetrical gardens, manicured shrubs, tended flowerbeds, shaped trees doubling as distance markers, beautiful bridged waterways and floating lotuses and lilies. The course spans three separate courses actually, North, South and West – each of 9 holes, the North being a Par 35 and the others, Par 36. A true Golfer’s Paradise, with birds chirping in the trees, warm, lush tropical weather (sometimes a bit muggy, it is true, but brilliant nonetheless) and superlatively maintained fairways, roughs, bunkers and greens. A beautiful setting indeed, for an extremely challenging and tight golf course - a dream course for the accurate hitter.
Our friendly, ever smiling Chauffeur, Mr Win, deposited us at the Main entrance and said he’d await our pleasure in the spacious car park. (It is damned good fun to pretend to be rich, even if one isn’t actually and personally, I can never have too much of the good life, I can tell you!)
We went straight to the Starter, presented our confirmation slip, met our friendly lady caddies and straightaway attacked the First (White) Tee of the North course, a Par 5, 351 yard mini dogleg right to the green. We were only a Twosome (being Monday as I said earlier) and since we play regularly together, just went out, attacked the ball with gusto and simply and uncomplicatedly enjoyed our golf!
The second is a short Par 3, Eight Iron hole which (since I had only a half set) I attacked with a Number 7, overshooting a little for a double. The third has water on all sides with a sharp-ish dogleg left on a Par 4. Nice one to attack with one’s driver being careful to hit the fairway since the possibility of rollover and kick into water is high. The fourth was just made for my trusty Cleveland over a pretty bridged waterway, flying onto the mid fairway to attack the green guarded on one side by a reasonable bunker.
The fifth, a 463-yard Par 5 is completely and deceptively wicked, causing you to pull out the “big dog” so to say, and thunk it straight down the middle! The fairway ends just short of the green to fall away into some brilliant water with an island green so do not hit a wild second shot with any old wood, but be humble!
The Par 4 sixth is very straightforward and relatively easy. Moving to the 7th, a very well designed Par 3 over water to the green, we were trapped for a bit in the bunkers guarding the green itself.
The eighth hole is a long 581-yard Par 5 with miles of fairway bounded by trees, with a sudden sharp dogleg left with a very long approach wood to the green. Disaster for both of us though, since we duffed it so badly we were forced to scratch, to save face! The ninth hole is a simple and straightforward hole to play, a par 4 350 yard, peaceable one!
It was a good feeling to play this course, in a reasonably face saving manner, bar one or two duffs.
Stopping briefly for a quick bite and some Coke and so on for our caddies, we went across to the West course for our second half. Fortified well by the rather excellent snacks available at the golf hut, we quite possibly were a little over-confident on our 10th hole, (the first hole on the West Course), a par 5, 499 yard monster, causing both of us to double.
The 11th and 12th holes passed without much incident and then we were onto the 13th hole, which is a 128 Yard Par 3 where I managed a bogey despite having gone onto the left of the green. This hole is an absolute beauty sitting right there, guarded on all sides by little knolls of grass, with water on the right of the fairway and surrounded by no less then 4 bunkers of varying sizes, shapes and depths, beautifully inset into the little grassy knolls themselves! The 14th is quite capable of dealing you the card saying death by water if you are not careful because some low-ish mounds bound it on the right, effectively concealing the lurking threat of the waterway on the right! The 15th is a long par 5 of 529 yards – very difficult so don’t ever underestimate it! Absolute hell, believe me. The 16th is pretty straightforward and a 358 yard Par 4, well met with a Driver, 9 iron and Approach Wedge for Par.
Onto the best hole of the day, the short Par 3 17th, (8th hole of the West course), which has deep water on the left side and in front between you and the green with a tough rough on the right. Two levels of Tee Box, meet you when you attack this hole. You can either play an 8 or 9 Iron from below if you feel confident, OR, as we did, you can play a 7 Iron from the Upper Tee, a turf-lined, concrete platform that serves as a roof to the lower tee box. Wonder of Wonders, both of us were on the green in regulation and went for the most pleasurable par we made that day!
The Par 4, Eighteenth hole again was rather deceptive. Keep left is the motto here, in order to remain on the fairway. Since it was the last hole for the day, I thunked my Driver down for a beautiful shot (or so I thought) heading slightly to the right, landing well on the springy fairway turf, only to bounce once, twice and SPLOTCH! over the last restraining knoll, off the steep fringe, into the water body that guards (and very effectively too), the 18th island green. Finishing with a Bogey despite a dropped stroke here was to me, an achievement in itself!
Then, four hours and about 6000 odd yards after we had begun it was onto some sorely required refreshment and a round of their excellently appointed Pro Shop to buy some little souvenir caps and tees and so on, for keepsakes and to top off our visit!
Thus ended another wonderful and enjoyable round of Golf and most importantly a round on a Monday, dull and dreary working day that it normally is! Enveloped in that dull afterglow of euphoria combined with the disappointment of having to tear one’s self away from such a nice environment, prior to packing one’s bags and leaving for the grind of daily working life at home, we drove slowly back to our hotel.
Since the pretty little Kingdom of Thailand is superbly equipped in terms of facilities and just brilliantly geared to meet all the needs of the enthusiastic Golf Tourist, it should certainly take pride of place on one’s list of “must visit” golfing destinations, if one is a dedicated golfer with a bit of a passion for travel as well. Indeed there are in excess of 50 or 60 world class Golf Courses/ Resorts/ Country Clubs in and around Bangkok City itself, located at varying distances. This is to say nothing of the other places there like Pattaya and Phuket and what have you!
Highly enjoyable and heartily recommended, is my considered view!
Recently a good friend and I were happily able to take a short Golfing holiday in the picturesque and tourist friendly Kingdom of Thailand.
We had fixed up our Golf via the world-wide-web and I had zeroed in particularly on two beautifully manicured golf courses, one located roughly North East and the other, North of Bangkok town. Most importantly, in the primary interests of our game, we carried with us a half set each, made up from our own golf clubs.
Alighting in the Land of the Royal Orchid, we were struck at first by the orderly chaos of the traffic and the man-made splendour of the buildings surrounding us.
Part I – President Golf and Country Club, Lumtoiting, Nong Chok, Bangkok. Saturday, 26 August 2006
At about 11am on that beautiful grey and overcast day, we called a regular cab from our hotel to get to the President Golf and Country Club situated an hour North East of Bangkok City by car. This is an idyllic setting, composed of four separate 9 hole – Par -36 golf courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. not to be confused with the famous Bobby Jones himself! Today it is one of the Top 20 Golf Courses in Thailand and a real pleasure to play!
For me, it was greatly gratifying, to be playing such a brilliant course designed by one of the best-known designers. The courses lie North, South, East and West. One typically plays a Pre-set combination of two directions in a round of 18 holes – having said that, I must mention that there is absolutely no “criss-cross” and the other regular issues one faces, of shared greens and so on, since there is simply no space constraint there at all. I must heartily commend the Thai people, for their immense foresight in the matter of their wholly tourism dependent economy!
My friend Mr Mathew and I first met Ms Ana, the lady who had kindly arranged the afternoon’s golf for us, then the caddies assigned to us, diminutive in stature and immensely respectful, their faces permanently creased in wide smiles (at us? for us? Or at their expectations of our state of play????). We were then introduced to our partners, Mr Khun and his son, Mr Ton. Bowing to each other to take the honour first we proceeded along to the North course for the first nine. A long straight par 5 with some wicked bunkers casually interspersed saw us through at bogey with our partners making par. The second, a lovely par 4, 349 yard hole with a slight dogleg right with a green guarded by water saw us home in doubles. Moving through the next few holes saw us through with a bunch of doubles with our partners playing steadily for par and bogey.
We reached the lovely 6th – Par 3 across deep water with a tiny green. My simple advice is, always appease the Water Gods before taking on such a dauntingly difficult task! Need I really say any more?
The 8th is a long par 4 with a pretty pine fringe on the left beyond the water bounding the fairway. A couple of bunkers strategically placed, added to the interest. The 9th is a long par 5, relatively straightforward but with a green well guarded on all sides by bunkers causing havoc for us and similar such members of the Duffers Golf Club!
We stopped then at the golf hut to re-vitalize our systems with some chilled water and a plantain fruit for some extra energy, (sorely needed to tackle the particularly dangerous, water hazard laden, East course.)
We were met squarely by a 290-yard par 4, bounded by water, with a wicked dogleg left to strike the green. We were under pressure at first but somehow managed a double bogey. Then we played the straightforward 11th and moved on to the 12th, where we were faced with an amazingly sharp right dogleg bounded with deep water on the right. The 13th is another super sharp right dogleg to the green and bounded with water! The Par 3, 14th is simply wonderful. An island promontory serving as a Tee box, straight over water to a pocket hanky sized green with a steep fringe – truly a hole for the Lion hearts amongst us! Interestingly the Par 5,16th hole is very similar to the Par 4, 13th the main difference is the length. Then we reached the Par 3, 17th where we were amazed to see almost an exact replica of the Par 3,14th, but here, instead of a steep fringe, we had to carry over some treacherous looking bunkers apart from hoping one would hit the ball so as to have enough “wings” over the deep water as well as the bunkers! We had a respectable bogey though on this one! The 18th is a pretty straightforward hole with a wide fairway. An interesting thing is that it is bounded on the left by water and between the fairway and the water, lies a long trench filled with sand, just to cause that extra bit of worry and ensure that one keeps well away on the right!
We played off the White tees and covered a distance of about 6000 odd yards over 18 holes. An elegant setting, a gentle looking golf course but with rather sharp teeth in that it abounded with hazards, plenty of water, millions of bunkers all over the place. Definitely a course not recommended for the faint, meek or unfit amongst us. But I’m glad I played it because it is important to be able to look challenges like this squarely in the eye and making them wilt (if possible)!
Thanking our partners Mr Khun and Mr Ton profusely and appreciating their decisive, sometimes daring and wholly skilful games, we meandered back to our hotel, bathed in that gentle sort of euphoria that can only come after a day of golf like the one we had enjoyed!
Part II – Pinehurst Golf and Country Club, Klong 1, Pathumthanee, Thailand. Monday 28th August 2006.
Bright and early on a fine Monday morning, around the time when most normal people perform their ablutions prior to setting out for work, some with happiness, some with purpose and some certainly with a not-so-attractive fit of Monday morning blues, Mr Mathew (my friend) and I set out, with the light hearted gait of a pair of errant schoolboys playing truant from the classroom, to play Golf, I ask you, in Thailand! Woof – I just loved the thought of me in my golfing kit and going off to enjoy a whole day of fun when others elsewhere, ploughed through the doldrums of their daily existence! Ha!
Well, a rather nice chap called Tom Peterson, (of the Sales Dept of “Golf a la Cart Ltd”, a company specializing in arranging golf for visitors to Thailand, had very kindly arranged for us to be picked up from our hotel by a Private Car (some serious cosseting, this) and get transported in comfort for about 45 minutes in a Northerly direction out of Bangkok City, past the Airport and so on, to a Jewel of a place called Pinehurst Golf and Country Club in a place called Pathumthanee.
Designed by the renowned Japanese Golf Course Designer Yoshibara Aihara, Pinehurst is typical of the genteel passion of the Japanese people for manicured floral extravagance, colourful and splendiferous yet symmetrical gardens, manicured shrubs, tended flowerbeds, shaped trees doubling as distance markers, beautiful bridged waterways and floating lotuses and lilies. The course spans three separate courses actually, North, South and West – each of 9 holes, the North being a Par 35 and the others, Par 36. A true Golfer’s Paradise, with birds chirping in the trees, warm, lush tropical weather (sometimes a bit muggy, it is true, but brilliant nonetheless) and superlatively maintained fairways, roughs, bunkers and greens. A beautiful setting indeed, for an extremely challenging and tight golf course - a dream course for the accurate hitter.
Our friendly, ever smiling Chauffeur, Mr Win, deposited us at the Main entrance and said he’d await our pleasure in the spacious car park. (It is damned good fun to pretend to be rich, even if one isn’t actually and personally, I can never have too much of the good life, I can tell you!)
We went straight to the Starter, presented our confirmation slip, met our friendly lady caddies and straightaway attacked the First (White) Tee of the North course, a Par 5, 351 yard mini dogleg right to the green. We were only a Twosome (being Monday as I said earlier) and since we play regularly together, just went out, attacked the ball with gusto and simply and uncomplicatedly enjoyed our golf!
The second is a short Par 3, Eight Iron hole which (since I had only a half set) I attacked with a Number 7, overshooting a little for a double. The third has water on all sides with a sharp-ish dogleg left on a Par 4. Nice one to attack with one’s driver being careful to hit the fairway since the possibility of rollover and kick into water is high. The fourth was just made for my trusty Cleveland over a pretty bridged waterway, flying onto the mid fairway to attack the green guarded on one side by a reasonable bunker.
The fifth, a 463-yard Par 5 is completely and deceptively wicked, causing you to pull out the “big dog” so to say, and thunk it straight down the middle! The fairway ends just short of the green to fall away into some brilliant water with an island green so do not hit a wild second shot with any old wood, but be humble!
The Par 4 sixth is very straightforward and relatively easy. Moving to the 7th, a very well designed Par 3 over water to the green, we were trapped for a bit in the bunkers guarding the green itself.
The eighth hole is a long 581-yard Par 5 with miles of fairway bounded by trees, with a sudden sharp dogleg left with a very long approach wood to the green. Disaster for both of us though, since we duffed it so badly we were forced to scratch, to save face! The ninth hole is a simple and straightforward hole to play, a par 4 350 yard, peaceable one!
It was a good feeling to play this course, in a reasonably face saving manner, bar one or two duffs.
Stopping briefly for a quick bite and some Coke and so on for our caddies, we went across to the West course for our second half. Fortified well by the rather excellent snacks available at the golf hut, we quite possibly were a little over-confident on our 10th hole, (the first hole on the West Course), a par 5, 499 yard monster, causing both of us to double.
The 11th and 12th holes passed without much incident and then we were onto the 13th hole, which is a 128 Yard Par 3 where I managed a bogey despite having gone onto the left of the green. This hole is an absolute beauty sitting right there, guarded on all sides by little knolls of grass, with water on the right of the fairway and surrounded by no less then 4 bunkers of varying sizes, shapes and depths, beautifully inset into the little grassy knolls themselves! The 14th is quite capable of dealing you the card saying death by water if you are not careful because some low-ish mounds bound it on the right, effectively concealing the lurking threat of the waterway on the right! The 15th is a long par 5 of 529 yards – very difficult so don’t ever underestimate it! Absolute hell, believe me. The 16th is pretty straightforward and a 358 yard Par 4, well met with a Driver, 9 iron and Approach Wedge for Par.
Onto the best hole of the day, the short Par 3 17th, (8th hole of the West course), which has deep water on the left side and in front between you and the green with a tough rough on the right. Two levels of Tee Box, meet you when you attack this hole. You can either play an 8 or 9 Iron from below if you feel confident, OR, as we did, you can play a 7 Iron from the Upper Tee, a turf-lined, concrete platform that serves as a roof to the lower tee box. Wonder of Wonders, both of us were on the green in regulation and went for the most pleasurable par we made that day!
The Par 4, Eighteenth hole again was rather deceptive. Keep left is the motto here, in order to remain on the fairway. Since it was the last hole for the day, I thunked my Driver down for a beautiful shot (or so I thought) heading slightly to the right, landing well on the springy fairway turf, only to bounce once, twice and SPLOTCH! over the last restraining knoll, off the steep fringe, into the water body that guards (and very effectively too), the 18th island green. Finishing with a Bogey despite a dropped stroke here was to me, an achievement in itself!
Then, four hours and about 6000 odd yards after we had begun it was onto some sorely required refreshment and a round of their excellently appointed Pro Shop to buy some little souvenir caps and tees and so on, for keepsakes and to top off our visit!
Thus ended another wonderful and enjoyable round of Golf and most importantly a round on a Monday, dull and dreary working day that it normally is! Enveloped in that dull afterglow of euphoria combined with the disappointment of having to tear one’s self away from such a nice environment, prior to packing one’s bags and leaving for the grind of daily working life at home, we drove slowly back to our hotel.
Since the pretty little Kingdom of Thailand is superbly equipped in terms of facilities and just brilliantly geared to meet all the needs of the enthusiastic Golf Tourist, it should certainly take pride of place on one’s list of “must visit” golfing destinations, if one is a dedicated golfer with a bit of a passion for travel as well. Indeed there are in excess of 50 or 60 world class Golf Courses/ Resorts/ Country Clubs in and around Bangkok City itself, located at varying distances. This is to say nothing of the other places there like Pattaya and Phuket and what have you!
Highly enjoyable and heartily recommended, is my considered view!
My Review of the book - Who's your caddy? By Rick Reilly.
Who’s your Caddy? By Rick Reilly – A Review.
Rick Reilly, the long time, highly popular sportswriter from the famous Sports Illustrated magazine, and author of “Missing Links” and “The Life of Reilly” hooks you like a stoutly struck drive off the first tee on a glorious summer’s morning, in “ Who’s your Caddy?” his latest book.
Rather like the famous travel writer Bill Bryson, Rick is honest, normal and down to earth in his description and assessment of himself and regales us constantly with little jokes about all his monster mess-ups while researching for this book. To garner material for “Who’s your Caddy?” Rick assumes the persona of a ‘caddy-for-a-day’, to the “great, the near great and the reprobates of golf”, getting into the skin of a “looper” (as caddies are known in the land of Mac Burgers and Coke) and thus, getting closer to the ‘larger than life heroes’ of the golf course. Written in a semi hard-boiled, often irreverent and typical American style, Rick manages to infuse each page with a peculiar brand of humour, all his own.
The book moves at a fast pace through the golfing and other celebrity lives we all know about, read about, wonder about and hear about on the leader board and otherwise. Beginning with Grouchy old Tommy Aaron, the 1973 Masters Champion and moving to the humongous hamburger and diet coke swilling, but hugely capable John Daly, the book then picks up a great deal of speed, trumpeting loudly through the equally loud and ostentatious golfing life of Donald Trump, who it appears, habitually lives life at a 100 miles an hour and is as noisy about himself to boot! (Rather a cad and a crass sort of chap, I thought.)
We receive an interesting insight into the polite, gentlemanly and generous Tom Lehman, whose children really appear to be his life, panning then to a sensitive portrayal of the reclusive and garbo-esque David Duval and his long estranged father Bob with his apparent flamboyance and style which only exists in order to shield from the public gaze, the dark side of his terrible personal tragedy of losing his son, David’s older brother Brent, to aplastic anemia.
There is an interesting series of anecdotes about the Las Vegas Hustler and super gamblin’ man Dewey Tomko and his buddies who play stakes far beyond the dreams of avarice and indeed earn far more than the super golfers of competitive golf today but with a whole new twist to the Royal and Ancient Rule book! I learned here, a whole new meaning to the expression ‘greased lightnin’ – apparently Dewey and his high rollin’ pals grease up the grooves of their drivers, to enable really long and really straight shots, since the grease apparently cuts off the spin imparted to the ball on impact which causes a typical slice! (I may tell you by the way, that this doesn’t really work – I tried it this morning and where normally I’d have thunked my trusty Cleveland straight down the middle, I ended up slicing it into some trees on the edge of the fairway, so according to me, it ain’t such a good idea, after all and anyway it is a completely illegal practice.)
The chapter on one of my all-time personal favourites, the “Golden Bear” is one of Reilly’s best, ever, extolling Nicklaus’s legendary politeness with the press, his devotion to his kids, to the extent of missing tournaments to watch his kid play in a ball game and with a particularly moving anecdote about his generosity to his long time real life caddy, the perpetually improvident inveterate gambler, Angelo Argea.
Deepak Chopra on Golf, like most else about the New Age Guru, came across as, “Well, listen to him, sure, but hey, I’ll kind of reserve my own opinion” and indeed, proves to have feet of clay, (as far as golf is concerned anyway), since apparently he needs to check with his coach Wendy Werley the former LPGA Pro, before he does anything, anything at all, including keeping his mind and eye on the ball, when he’s on the course!
Appropriately named “Hell on Wheels”, comes an excellent and sensitive series of snippets on the tragically physically disadvantaged but superbly resilient and spirited Casey Martin – a real moving chapter, I may say, with his frightful disability and having to battle against the insensitive attitudes of the powers that be on the PGA Tour, apart from the pressure to perform on the Golf course.
A whole raft of information on the famed and mysterious “Bel-Air Club” follows, with all its big timer celebrity members through the ages, information shared with Rick who is now caddying for the super polite, self-effacing Bob Newhart – so much so that you begin to wonder how such a diffident man as Bob is a such a celebrity under the arc lights as a TV Personality! The quintessential opposite of Donald Trump- (in this book the chapter is aptly named “The Anti-Trump” – Brilliant!)
The penultimate chapter on Jill McGill, the only top LPGA golfer Rick caddies for, comes as a bit of a surprise and a bit of a let down, because at first blush, while humorous, it appears just a tad chauvinistic. However, Rick contrives to redeem himself by sharing the truth with us about the fact that while the lady golfer may not hit very long, in a manner calculated to put the wind up a typical testosterone filled Macho Man, she is still incredibly accurate and that’s what drops those vital strokes off her game, leaving Macho Man in the garage cleaning the old irons, as it were!
The best is saved until the last with Rick’s glowing tribute in a deeply moving chapter on a blind Vietnam Veteran, Bob Andrews, his never-say-die spirit, his movie star good looks, tragically marred by his loss of sight, his beautiful manners on and off the tee, the enduring and endearing mutual devotion between Bob and his wife Tina and the fact that for a Blind golfer, the Caddy is the equivalent of a “seeing -eye dog”.
The book is absolutely, side-splittingly funny and at the same time, achingly painful as well, with a healthy mix of both pathos and bathos liberally interspersed with a strange language called caddy –speak, which frankly sounds like Double-Dutch to the un-initiated, but thankfully, Rick provides the key below each such example.
Rather like a master conductor with his orchestra, Reilly manages to take you up and bring you down, with a touch as light as a feather and with the style unique to him, one of the most popular sports writers in the world!
All in all, a very good book, heartily recommended for your library list and I would certainly agree with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in that it goes down faster than a cool Bud on a 100-Degree day!
Rick Reilly, the long time, highly popular sportswriter from the famous Sports Illustrated magazine, and author of “Missing Links” and “The Life of Reilly” hooks you like a stoutly struck drive off the first tee on a glorious summer’s morning, in “ Who’s your Caddy?” his latest book.
Rather like the famous travel writer Bill Bryson, Rick is honest, normal and down to earth in his description and assessment of himself and regales us constantly with little jokes about all his monster mess-ups while researching for this book. To garner material for “Who’s your Caddy?” Rick assumes the persona of a ‘caddy-for-a-day’, to the “great, the near great and the reprobates of golf”, getting into the skin of a “looper” (as caddies are known in the land of Mac Burgers and Coke) and thus, getting closer to the ‘larger than life heroes’ of the golf course. Written in a semi hard-boiled, often irreverent and typical American style, Rick manages to infuse each page with a peculiar brand of humour, all his own.
The book moves at a fast pace through the golfing and other celebrity lives we all know about, read about, wonder about and hear about on the leader board and otherwise. Beginning with Grouchy old Tommy Aaron, the 1973 Masters Champion and moving to the humongous hamburger and diet coke swilling, but hugely capable John Daly, the book then picks up a great deal of speed, trumpeting loudly through the equally loud and ostentatious golfing life of Donald Trump, who it appears, habitually lives life at a 100 miles an hour and is as noisy about himself to boot! (Rather a cad and a crass sort of chap, I thought.)
We receive an interesting insight into the polite, gentlemanly and generous Tom Lehman, whose children really appear to be his life, panning then to a sensitive portrayal of the reclusive and garbo-esque David Duval and his long estranged father Bob with his apparent flamboyance and style which only exists in order to shield from the public gaze, the dark side of his terrible personal tragedy of losing his son, David’s older brother Brent, to aplastic anemia.
There is an interesting series of anecdotes about the Las Vegas Hustler and super gamblin’ man Dewey Tomko and his buddies who play stakes far beyond the dreams of avarice and indeed earn far more than the super golfers of competitive golf today but with a whole new twist to the Royal and Ancient Rule book! I learned here, a whole new meaning to the expression ‘greased lightnin’ – apparently Dewey and his high rollin’ pals grease up the grooves of their drivers, to enable really long and really straight shots, since the grease apparently cuts off the spin imparted to the ball on impact which causes a typical slice! (I may tell you by the way, that this doesn’t really work – I tried it this morning and where normally I’d have thunked my trusty Cleveland straight down the middle, I ended up slicing it into some trees on the edge of the fairway, so according to me, it ain’t such a good idea, after all and anyway it is a completely illegal practice.)
The chapter on one of my all-time personal favourites, the “Golden Bear” is one of Reilly’s best, ever, extolling Nicklaus’s legendary politeness with the press, his devotion to his kids, to the extent of missing tournaments to watch his kid play in a ball game and with a particularly moving anecdote about his generosity to his long time real life caddy, the perpetually improvident inveterate gambler, Angelo Argea.
Deepak Chopra on Golf, like most else about the New Age Guru, came across as, “Well, listen to him, sure, but hey, I’ll kind of reserve my own opinion” and indeed, proves to have feet of clay, (as far as golf is concerned anyway), since apparently he needs to check with his coach Wendy Werley the former LPGA Pro, before he does anything, anything at all, including keeping his mind and eye on the ball, when he’s on the course!
Appropriately named “Hell on Wheels”, comes an excellent and sensitive series of snippets on the tragically physically disadvantaged but superbly resilient and spirited Casey Martin – a real moving chapter, I may say, with his frightful disability and having to battle against the insensitive attitudes of the powers that be on the PGA Tour, apart from the pressure to perform on the Golf course.
A whole raft of information on the famed and mysterious “Bel-Air Club” follows, with all its big timer celebrity members through the ages, information shared with Rick who is now caddying for the super polite, self-effacing Bob Newhart – so much so that you begin to wonder how such a diffident man as Bob is a such a celebrity under the arc lights as a TV Personality! The quintessential opposite of Donald Trump- (in this book the chapter is aptly named “The Anti-Trump” – Brilliant!)
The penultimate chapter on Jill McGill, the only top LPGA golfer Rick caddies for, comes as a bit of a surprise and a bit of a let down, because at first blush, while humorous, it appears just a tad chauvinistic. However, Rick contrives to redeem himself by sharing the truth with us about the fact that while the lady golfer may not hit very long, in a manner calculated to put the wind up a typical testosterone filled Macho Man, she is still incredibly accurate and that’s what drops those vital strokes off her game, leaving Macho Man in the garage cleaning the old irons, as it were!
The best is saved until the last with Rick’s glowing tribute in a deeply moving chapter on a blind Vietnam Veteran, Bob Andrews, his never-say-die spirit, his movie star good looks, tragically marred by his loss of sight, his beautiful manners on and off the tee, the enduring and endearing mutual devotion between Bob and his wife Tina and the fact that for a Blind golfer, the Caddy is the equivalent of a “seeing -eye dog”.
The book is absolutely, side-splittingly funny and at the same time, achingly painful as well, with a healthy mix of both pathos and bathos liberally interspersed with a strange language called caddy –speak, which frankly sounds like Double-Dutch to the un-initiated, but thankfully, Rick provides the key below each such example.
Rather like a master conductor with his orchestra, Reilly manages to take you up and bring you down, with a touch as light as a feather and with the style unique to him, one of the most popular sports writers in the world!
All in all, a very good book, heartily recommended for your library list and I would certainly agree with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in that it goes down faster than a cool Bud on a 100-Degree day!
Golfing in the UK (Painswick)
A round of Golf at Painswick, Gloucestershire, England.
On a recent visit to Merrie England, I had occasion to play an enjoyable round of Golf at a lovely Course located in the heart of the Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire. The Painswick Golf Club was established in 1891 and today ranks as one of the Top 100 “Must Play” courses in the British Isles! Indeed, I was truly privileged to receive a chance to play there!
I was most pleased to receive an invitation from Mrs Ann Smith, the Hon. Sec. of the Painswick Golf Club to play there as a guest. I had contacted the club via email citing my life membership of the IGU a couple of weeks prior to leaving on my trip in the earnest hope of a round during the weekend when I was in the vicinity.
Indeed, I had absolutely no expectations of any sort and thus was very pleasantly surprised when Mrs Smith mailed me back and was kind enough to cajole the Captain of the course to lend me a set of clubs and had even arranged for me to get around the course with a local member!
With a happy heart, I packed my Golf Shoes and the usual assortment of Golfing accoutrements into my bags and set off, so to say, to the wide blue yonder.
The pretty little village of Painswick, with its ancient churchyard clad in fine old English Yew trees, and all its beautiful, warm buildings of the curiously yellowy beige Cotswold Stone, set off by the evening sun, is situated about an hour and a half by train from London.
I hopped off at the quaint little country station of Stroud to find myself surrounded by the balmy and scented summer evening countryside of England. My old friend from school met me there in his fancy Porsche cabriolet convertible and we drove straight through to stay that night at The Falcon Inn, a 16th Century hostelry in the little village of Painswick, quaffing some of the excellent locally brewed dark ales till a rather advanced hour. It was the Summer Solstice, long lazy days with the sun setting well past 9pm!
Presenting myself at the club at ten thirty sharp that fine, sunny Saturday morning, I met the club captain and my golf partner, a dapper gentleman of some sixty odd years, Mr Norman Hindmarch, who gravely introduced himself and welcomed me. My first sight was of the neat clubhouse, the lovely sweeping views of the Cotswold Hills, with the 18th Green in the foreground. Taking hold of the Captain’s retired set of solid Graphite Shafted Wilson Clubs and a Taylor made Burner Driver and mounting them on a trolley (there are no caddies in those parts), I went along to the first tee. A glorious sight indeed, for one who was playing the course for the very first time!
The ground rose sharply up and I attacked it with a number 3 iron, wishing to play it safe and landed on the brow of the rise, with the green in front of me, near some dangerous looking pits, hidden traps lurking unseen, waiting to snare the unwary or over-confident golfer!
(I shall not at this point own up to the scores that day, but suffice it to say I holed out from there in three putts, while my esteemed partner, with the ease of a pro, made par!)
The second hole came forth with a nice wide fairway, which my partner attacked squarely with his driver, while I played humble, hitting my number 3 again. An interesting hole with disused quarries on three sides.
We meandered there from around the course, with its breathtaking views from every possible vantage point till we reached the 5th – a brilliant blind tee shot over the ramparts of an old fort to the green above the brow. Mr Hindmarch regaled me with tales of how once in the dim distant past, people used to hurl spears at each other at that very spot, and now it serves as the setting for the genteel sport of Golf!
We chanced upon Mrs Smith along the way, while she was in the middle of her round that fine morning and I was happy for the chance to meet the kind lady who had enabled such a wonderful morning for me!
We then moved on to the 6th where Mr Hindmarch took a photograph of me at the highest point in the Cotswold hills.
The 7th, 8th and 9th holes passed without too much trouble except that with all that climbing in the 34-degree temperature I was (though pretty fit) beginning to feel the effects of the temperature and thirst. I ended up drinking all the water that Mr Hindmarch had very kindly given me as well as all the water he had brought for himself as well!
Now, we were onto the back nine with the 10th tee shot being similar to the 5th,inasmuch as it is a shot over the brow and the hill fort ramparts and then the interesting 11th hole where one needs to drive accurately over a kind of natural “saddle” formation on the hill.
Down then to 12 and 13, avoiding the lurkingly perilous quarries and onto the 14th, which is a nice drive from a high tee box with the green well below. Immense photo opportunities abounded around me!
Holes 15 and 16 were passed without undue worry and then BANG, I lost my ball to the treacherous woods. Sportsman that he is, Mr Hindmarch somehow contrived to do the same and we moved on in a companionable way to the 17th, which has a nice dogleg, left with a bank to the left of the green and a drop to the right. At this point I decided to horse around a bit and slid down the hill on the seat of my by then grass stained trousers, like I used to long years ago while in School in the blue hills of Ooty! Another photograph just after that psychological moment!
Rather weary and somewhat saddle sore by now, we moved along to the 18th tee – frankly I was about all in at this time, with the vision of gallons of cold orange juice or other suitable tissue restorers in front of me, just one hole beyond.
The beautiful par 3 18th hole is dominated by a large Oak Tree, sitting right in the middle – guarding a flat green which has a dangerous drop to the right of it.
Never had I felt so much like I was coming home, as I felt then when I plopped the little white ball on the green at long last!
Onto the traditional 19th then, to my good friend who had kindly waited for me and was lurking near the bar. Then there was much chaffing, quaffing and good-natured banter with the President of the Club, the Captain of the course and the genteel members. Many a kind round of chilled orange juice and a strange brew called J20, which I quite liked by the way, passed then, to ease the parched throat!
Indeed, it was a fine experience, which I would heartily repeat and re-live, for the fun, friendship, sportsmanship and the great time it afforded me! It really was a pleasant experience to be taken unto their hearth and home, so to say, as a visiting out-of-towner!
My deepest thanks to Mrs Smith and Mr Hindmarch for that most enjoyable Saturday morning!
Visit www.painswickgolf.com for more information on the club and the course. Even better, when next you’re in England, go and see the club for yourself. I will lay a 100 to 1 bet that as a golfer, you certainly will not be disappointed!
On a recent visit to Merrie England, I had occasion to play an enjoyable round of Golf at a lovely Course located in the heart of the Cotswold hills in Gloucestershire. The Painswick Golf Club was established in 1891 and today ranks as one of the Top 100 “Must Play” courses in the British Isles! Indeed, I was truly privileged to receive a chance to play there!
I was most pleased to receive an invitation from Mrs Ann Smith, the Hon. Sec. of the Painswick Golf Club to play there as a guest. I had contacted the club via email citing my life membership of the IGU a couple of weeks prior to leaving on my trip in the earnest hope of a round during the weekend when I was in the vicinity.
Indeed, I had absolutely no expectations of any sort and thus was very pleasantly surprised when Mrs Smith mailed me back and was kind enough to cajole the Captain of the course to lend me a set of clubs and had even arranged for me to get around the course with a local member!
With a happy heart, I packed my Golf Shoes and the usual assortment of Golfing accoutrements into my bags and set off, so to say, to the wide blue yonder.
The pretty little village of Painswick, with its ancient churchyard clad in fine old English Yew trees, and all its beautiful, warm buildings of the curiously yellowy beige Cotswold Stone, set off by the evening sun, is situated about an hour and a half by train from London.
I hopped off at the quaint little country station of Stroud to find myself surrounded by the balmy and scented summer evening countryside of England. My old friend from school met me there in his fancy Porsche cabriolet convertible and we drove straight through to stay that night at The Falcon Inn, a 16th Century hostelry in the little village of Painswick, quaffing some of the excellent locally brewed dark ales till a rather advanced hour. It was the Summer Solstice, long lazy days with the sun setting well past 9pm!
Presenting myself at the club at ten thirty sharp that fine, sunny Saturday morning, I met the club captain and my golf partner, a dapper gentleman of some sixty odd years, Mr Norman Hindmarch, who gravely introduced himself and welcomed me. My first sight was of the neat clubhouse, the lovely sweeping views of the Cotswold Hills, with the 18th Green in the foreground. Taking hold of the Captain’s retired set of solid Graphite Shafted Wilson Clubs and a Taylor made Burner Driver and mounting them on a trolley (there are no caddies in those parts), I went along to the first tee. A glorious sight indeed, for one who was playing the course for the very first time!
The ground rose sharply up and I attacked it with a number 3 iron, wishing to play it safe and landed on the brow of the rise, with the green in front of me, near some dangerous looking pits, hidden traps lurking unseen, waiting to snare the unwary or over-confident golfer!
(I shall not at this point own up to the scores that day, but suffice it to say I holed out from there in three putts, while my esteemed partner, with the ease of a pro, made par!)
The second hole came forth with a nice wide fairway, which my partner attacked squarely with his driver, while I played humble, hitting my number 3 again. An interesting hole with disused quarries on three sides.
We meandered there from around the course, with its breathtaking views from every possible vantage point till we reached the 5th – a brilliant blind tee shot over the ramparts of an old fort to the green above the brow. Mr Hindmarch regaled me with tales of how once in the dim distant past, people used to hurl spears at each other at that very spot, and now it serves as the setting for the genteel sport of Golf!
We chanced upon Mrs Smith along the way, while she was in the middle of her round that fine morning and I was happy for the chance to meet the kind lady who had enabled such a wonderful morning for me!
We then moved on to the 6th where Mr Hindmarch took a photograph of me at the highest point in the Cotswold hills.
The 7th, 8th and 9th holes passed without too much trouble except that with all that climbing in the 34-degree temperature I was (though pretty fit) beginning to feel the effects of the temperature and thirst. I ended up drinking all the water that Mr Hindmarch had very kindly given me as well as all the water he had brought for himself as well!
Now, we were onto the back nine with the 10th tee shot being similar to the 5th,inasmuch as it is a shot over the brow and the hill fort ramparts and then the interesting 11th hole where one needs to drive accurately over a kind of natural “saddle” formation on the hill.
Down then to 12 and 13, avoiding the lurkingly perilous quarries and onto the 14th, which is a nice drive from a high tee box with the green well below. Immense photo opportunities abounded around me!
Holes 15 and 16 were passed without undue worry and then BANG, I lost my ball to the treacherous woods. Sportsman that he is, Mr Hindmarch somehow contrived to do the same and we moved on in a companionable way to the 17th, which has a nice dogleg, left with a bank to the left of the green and a drop to the right. At this point I decided to horse around a bit and slid down the hill on the seat of my by then grass stained trousers, like I used to long years ago while in School in the blue hills of Ooty! Another photograph just after that psychological moment!
Rather weary and somewhat saddle sore by now, we moved along to the 18th tee – frankly I was about all in at this time, with the vision of gallons of cold orange juice or other suitable tissue restorers in front of me, just one hole beyond.
The beautiful par 3 18th hole is dominated by a large Oak Tree, sitting right in the middle – guarding a flat green which has a dangerous drop to the right of it.
Never had I felt so much like I was coming home, as I felt then when I plopped the little white ball on the green at long last!
Onto the traditional 19th then, to my good friend who had kindly waited for me and was lurking near the bar. Then there was much chaffing, quaffing and good-natured banter with the President of the Club, the Captain of the course and the genteel members. Many a kind round of chilled orange juice and a strange brew called J20, which I quite liked by the way, passed then, to ease the parched throat!
Indeed, it was a fine experience, which I would heartily repeat and re-live, for the fun, friendship, sportsmanship and the great time it afforded me! It really was a pleasant experience to be taken unto their hearth and home, so to say, as a visiting out-of-towner!
My deepest thanks to Mrs Smith and Mr Hindmarch for that most enjoyable Saturday morning!
Visit www.painswickgolf.com for more information on the club and the course. Even better, when next you’re in England, go and see the club for yourself. I will lay a 100 to 1 bet that as a golfer, you certainly will not be disappointed!
The Duffer'sGolf Club - Shanks Golf Blig
Golfingly yours, I love playing golf and writing about the experiences and covering golf courses, the clubs and the general things one sees. In addition I love dogs and jeeps and have three dogs and drive a jeep. Im 35, work for a leading apparel company (Madura Garments) in Bangalore, India. Play golf every weekend and write as a hobbyist freelancer for a magazine called Golfline.
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