27. Kuala Lumpur, Bali, and a side trip to Dubai...

Malaysia & Bali January 13-14, then a Quick Visit to Dubai

Finally arrived at hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at about 2PM local time on Wednesday Jan. 13…a full 35 hours after Pat drove me to RDU airport in North Carolina.  Routing was RDU—JFK (NYC)---Hong Kong—KL.  Flights were good, especially Cathy Pacific flight from JFK to HKG.  This was the third time I had to transit at JFK over the past 2 years and that makes it 3x too many.  The contrast between JFK as a facility and the airports at Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur (or just about any other major overseas airport) is just unbelievable and frankly embarrassing.  JFK is like a Third World country facility.  To answer the anticipated chorus from the left about infrastructure spending…whatever happened to the approx. $800-900 billion stimulus package of 7 years ago?  Wasted right down the drain as payoffs to organized labor for their support of the Left.

Moving on to the matter at hand…diligent readers of this Blog will recall my aborted trip to Bali in November…aborted due to nearby volcanic eruptions (that was volcanic as opposed to Bimbo) that stuck as my flight was heading south from Seoul to Bali.  That opened up a couple of days on my calendar on that trip, but I was not able to schedule a visit to KL to play Royal Selangor Golf Club on such short notice.  However, when I was at Spring City Resort near Kunming, China on that trip, Spring City’s general manager (Lau TC, a Malaysian…and a great guy) advised he knew a fairly influential person in KL who could certainly arrange for my play at RSGC…at the time I did not know exactly what he meant by “fairly influential” (more shortly).  Bali, offering two courses on my buckets lists, was easy to set up, but out of the way in terms of travel.

Kuala Lumpur—Royal Selangor January 13-14, 2016:  As I write this, I have played RSGC (on 1/14) and traveled on to Bali, where I will play both Bali Handara and Nirwana Bali on Jan. 15.  My experience in KL was simply out of this world.  Turns out that TC’s friend is one of the most powerful people in Malaysia…and is also a wonderful, fun guy, who loves the game of golf (and shall be referred to as “Mr. X”).  He had me met at the airport, driven wherever I had to go, set up at a fine hotel, etc etc.  The red carpet was out big time.  Dinner the night of Jan 13 was at a special Japanese restaurant with Mr. X, two of his sons, and several of the senior executives at his company.  Wonderful bunch of guys. 

Before golf on Jan 14 we had breakfast at RSGC where we were joined by the Club’s General Manager and Captain, and after golf and a quick shower (it is HOT and HUMID in Kuala Lumpur), we had lunch and continued trading golf war stories (all of which were at least 7% accurate and true).

RSGC was founded (I am sure by the Brits) in 1893.  It has 45 holes (“Old Couse”, “New Course” and a short nine holer) that were laid out in 1921 and are located on its large campus right next to downtown KL.  When you enter the property, you immediately notice the sense of calm that pervades the Club, and how quiet it is, especially given its proximity to downtown KL.  The skyscrapers of KL (including, of course, the Petronas Twin Towers which are 1483 feet tall and were the world’s tallest from 1998-2004) are so close you feel like you can touch them (now how did I come up with such an original phrase?).   My semi-educated guess is that only LACC exceeds RSGC in terms of the market value of its real estate.

RSGC’s Old Course was included in Golf Magazine’s first two World 50’s in 1979 and 1981, but have never appeared in a World 50/100 since.  The Old Course frequently hosted the Malaysian Open (including the inaugural event) and will host the European Tour’s Maybank Malaysian Open next month.  Note that the tournament will be conducted on a composite course utilizing 9 holes from the Old and 9 from the New in order to increase total yardage.  We played the Old which was the course included in the 1979/81 GM listings.  From the back it totals 7017 yards, and we played from 6757.  It was very hot and humid!!

The trees on the course are magnificent, some with trunks  4-5+’ in diameter, and the Club has done a good job of thinning there ranks to keep them from impinging on and negatively affecting play, but a little more pruning would be in order IMHO.  By far the best hole is #17, a short par 3 with an slightly elevated and crown green, perfectly placed, deep bunkers protecting the front and sharp fall offs protecting the sides and back.  Overall I liked the back nine more than the front.  While in today’s world RSGC is clearly not a World Top 100, it is an excellent course and a superb club. 

After the round and a fun lunch filled with good banter (and generally more honest statements approximating a “truth quotient” of 11%, which is about average for a group of male golfers exchanging war stories), it was off to the airport to head to Bali.  I took a new regional discount airline on this flight, finding out after booking the flight that its majority shareholder is Mr. X.  After being whisked through the airport and treated like royalty, we landed in Bali and I, sadly, returned to the role of a semi-normal human being.

A very special 30 hours…and, RSGC was my 800th course played in my lifetime.  Onward and upward…and Pat, please note that hitting 100 is not one of my bucket lists.  One last comment…my game was awful!!

Bali Handara and Nirwana Bali, January 15, 2016:  Bali is one of many islands that are part of the country of Indonesia.  I had only visited Indonesia once before, in November 1973 on a business trip during my Citibank days.  Bali has been a destination for beach lovers for decades, but it seemed to have lost some of its luster with the threat of Islamic extremist terrorism, including a horrific bombing incident shortly after in October 2002 that killed 202 people including 88 Australian tourists.   Given the state of the world today, it seemed no more risky than any other place, so that concern was abated.  With the volcano on the neighboring island of Java dormant since early November, I was anxious to get to Bali to play these two courses.

Bali Handara was on GM’s World Top 50 in 1970 and 1981,and its World Top 100 in 1985 and 1987 (#80 in this last appearance).  Quite frankly, through the years many have wondered how the hell it achieved those rankings.  I have heard rumors that it was recommended by some panelists as a spoof in those early years.  Many of you may know of Bob McCoy, a legend in his own time (2^nd person to complete a GM World 100…the second time in 100 days), and a really great guy as well.  As you can tell from his prose below (copied with his permission), Mr McCoy was educated at the school occupying land up the river from the superb vocational school in Cambridge, MA.

Up 6:00 a.m. for buffet breakfast overlooking beach and Java Sea. Met Oka and taxi driver at 7:45 a.m. for trip to golf course. "Main road" through downtown Denpasar (largest city on island) barely wide enough for two cars. Even though early Sunday morning, extremely hot and streets teeming with traffic, mostly motor scooter and bikes but also some cars and vans (serving as buses). Played tourist for 15 minutes with stop at Temple of Taman Ayun at Mengui, built 1634. Hindu predominant Bali religion with 5,000 temples (oldest built 962 A.D). Even though trip only covered 40 miles, driving time almost two hours as road winds up mountains. Reached Bali Handara Kosaido Country Club located at Bedugul. This place built 1974 and taken over by Japanese two years ago. Checked into room, one of a series of cottages. First impression disturbing. Grass and shrubs very unkempt. Metal cottage roofs rusting. Bedroom, living room, kitchen/bar, and bathroom had musty smell with carpets and furniture frayed and worn. Large section of couch in middle of living room totally burned out.

Even at 10:30 a.m. Sunday course not crowded at all (complete contrast with Japan). Weather partly sunny but cool with stiff wind. Tall mountains bathed in clouds behind clubhouse. Because of distance and difficulty getting to this exotic place, I had high hopes for the course. Unfortunately, it was an absolute total disaster. Course slopes gradually down hillside away from clubhouse. Front nine to left of clubhouse has five parallel holes running up, down, up, down, up hillside. Back nine to right of clubhouse has six parallel holes running out, back, out, out, back, back moving up hillside. Absolutely no imagination to this layout. Bunkers very shallow and provide no definition. Greens essentially flat with no contour, although some run downhill from back to front. Greens have plenty of grass but too thick and impossible to putt. It is good thing designer, Peter Thompson of Australia, was excellent golfer, because he is lousy architect. Bali Handara will get an F minus (lowest rating) from me in next vote. If I were perverse, I would keep course on list so that anyone else trying to play Top 100 would have to waste money and time just as I have done.

After initial round of golf, was scheduled to stay and play following day. However, so disappointed in whole complex could not get out fast enough. Took hotel van down mountain, through teeming Denpasar, to hotel called The Oberoi Bali on famous Legion Beach. Tremendous contrast from horrible Denpasar five minutes to peace, quiet, and beauty. 34-acre landscaped tropical garden modeled after Balinese village. Oberoi part of "The Leading Hotels of The World" organization and quite nice. Luckily, room available one night earlier than planned.

While others might be somewhat hesitant to follow in Bob’s footsteps after such a review, no such rational thoughts entered my obstinate mind.  Besides, Nirwana Bali had hit several other Top 100 lists, so a trip to Bali could not be avoided.  Finally, during my November 2015 trip, someone had advised that Bali Handara had been renovated and was much improved.

I was originally scheduled to spend two days in Bali, but when the Golf Digest list was published, it soon became obvious that I needed to compress my schedule and reduce the normal sightseeing for which I am so famous, to squeeze in five of the new GD courses in this trip, so I changed my itinerary to fly in the evening of January 14, play both Nirwana and Handara on Jan. 16 (I stayed at Nirwana) and then fly out to Bali the night of January 15.  Amazingly, the flight schedules worked, not I just had to get through the first 3-4 days in Asia.

I arrived at the hotel at Nirwana at about 10pm on 1/14, and then the next morning my driver picked me up at 5:30am and we proceeded on a 60-70 minute drive north, into the mountains of Bali.  As tired as I was, there was no way I was going to drive on the left side through conditions as described by McCoy.  That was a good decision, as conditions have not changed much in the ensuing 25-30 years.  When we pulled into the entrance drive, I was blown away.  Not quite Magnolia Drive or the front gate at Yeamans Hall, but this has to be one of the great entrances in the game…see pictures below.

                      

The course sits at about 4000’ on the INSIDE of a dormant volcano.  The fairways were “cow grass” or “elephant grass”, the think leaf version of Bermuda that was very prevalent decades ago.  A good surface when well maintained (e.g. Wack Wack GC in Manila, Philippines), here the maintenance is suspect, and the areas around the creeks and other hazards are heavily overgrown.  The greens were very mixed…about 6-8 had been punched recently and were inconsistent….the others were in good shape and VERY fast on downhill putts (the close by mountains made reading the sloped of these greens very difficult).  From the tips it totals 6983 yards and I played from 6407.  There are a number of very good holes, or better said, holes with real good potential.  But the conditions (wet and soft) were not conducive to good play.  Visually, there are some really fine settings, and the weather is generally much cooler than down near the beaches.  In sum, a course with very real potential, but somehow, it is so remote, I do not think Mike Keiser would be interested…and even if someone spent the $$, I doubt many would make the trek to play it.  But, any of you wanting to play the World 100 Ever will need to go there.  Following picture is the uphill 5^th hole…playing into the closest mountain.

                                    

Finished playing by 9:30.  Played poorly on the from but much better on the back.  Then  headed back down to Nirwana…traffic heavier and drive back took almost 90 minutes. 

Teed off on Niwana, a Greg Norman/Bob Harrison design built almost 20 years ago in 1997.  It sits on the Indian Ocean with about four holes very exposed to the Ocean. It is an excellent course and reminds me in many ways of Mauna Kea in Hawaii (both the inland holes and the holes exposed to the Ocean and beaches)…but not quite as good.  Par totals 72 strokes and yardage total 6802 yards from the tips and I played from 6002.  One glaring fault is that in essence, the course plays to a par of about 69, as all the par 5’s are short from all tees…as shown below:

            Hole    Par       Back Tees       “Senior” Tees

            6          5          501                              428

            8          5          544                              476

            10        5          445                              393

            18        5          520                              496

Yes, it contains a number of excellent holes (in particular #4-7 and #12-14) but aside form its position alongside the Indian Ocean, there was little that seemed to really stand out.  I see this as a World second 100, but not in the first 100.

The resort itself is very nice and very similar to the great resorts of Hawaii…but clearly hotter in terms of temperature.  Hit the ball very very well all of a sudden, which was strange as I was starting to tire (much hotter at Nirwana than Handara…about 90° or higher).  Had an 42-38 = 80, with three 3 putt greens through the first 10 holes.  Hit every full shot pure excepting 2 on the back…it felt great.

On to Dubai: After the round, took a short nap (way too short), packed and left for the airport at 9pm…for the nuttiest part of this trip.

As you recall, the new Golf Digest listing threw a gigantic wrench into my plans.  There were 5 new courses in Asia and the Middle East that would fit perfectly into this trip, and be a real pain to return to on another journey.  Looking carefully at my itinerary, it seemed possible, but the lack of time (6 days prior to departure) made the task daunting.  I could play the two new courses in Singapore and Malaysia while in Asia, and then perhaps squeeze ion the three courses in UAE before arriving in South Africa at the end of the trip.  Unfortunately, one of the UAE courses, Emirates GC (Majlis Course) hosts the Omega Championship in early February and closes for routine pre-event maintenance on January 24 and exceptions were not possible.  I was ready to give up for now, but saw a small opening, that would require going from Bali to Dubai to Hong Kong within the space of about 29 hours (including flights)…and miraculously, there were non-stop flights that were available.  With these above changes, my round the world flight ticket came I handy, as changes are relatively easy (and not expensive) to book, and most could be included on my round the world ticket.  Within two days, everything was set.  This was like spending about two months putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle, then tearing apart about 1/3 of it, and rebuilding that third in the space of two days.  Once again the light at the end of my bucket lists (or tunnel) was visible.

Now the last question centered on my physical ability to make the trip.  At about 2:00am on December 30, I awoke with sharp pains and a decided lack of mobility in my left arm…where I had experienced a partial tear of my left rotator cuff some 25 years earlier (and successfully dealt with it through physical therapy).  Later that morning it was not better but I decided to give it 24 hours before seeing an orthopedic surgeon.  Secured an appointment for 12/31 and it looked to be rotator cuff related…subject to an MRI scheduled for 1/5.  Fortunately the MRI was clean, and on the advice from a retired Orthopod in MA, I had started to stretch and exercise my left shoulder (with very helpful pushing from the bride) and it was showing incredible improvement.  I finally tested the shoulder on the driving range on January 10…one day before departing, and while the results were very ugly (at best),  I had no shoulder pain…so I figured, give it a try…even with this ridiculous 29 hours trip from BaliàDubaiàHong Kong!!

My flight arrived early on January 16.  I was scheduled to play Emirates (Majlis) at 8am in a shotgun event.  Turns out, the club employs shotgun starts Saturday mornings and afternoons during their busy seasons (all months except the very hot summers) and were able to fit me in.  Everything worked smoothly, except the club is walking only this time of the year, and the shotgun was to be played at 6896 yards…with thick rough and narrow fairways in preparation for the Omega event to be played February 4-7.

I started off bogey, par, par and was playing well through six, then fell apart a little for several holes, but finished well with an 89.  Let it be noted that I hit exactly two greens  in regulation...#16 (396 yard par 4), which I proceeded to 3-putt from 25 feet  L…and #18, the 527 yard par 5 J.  The legs were struggling from about #8 on…was a very tired puppy at the end of the round but it felt great to play #15-18 as well as I did.   The course was playing about 900 yards longer than what I usually play and the rough (although not fully grown yet) was tough.

To be honest, I did not like the course.  It is a good test for tour players, but would be (IMHO) nto one that I would want to play on a regular basis.  The par 3’s yardages are very similar (180, 186, 169, and 190 yards from the tips) and the par 4 fifth hole is a terrible design///a 436 yard dogleg par 4 left, with water starting about 315-320 off the tee (about 130 yards from the center of the green), and the water ends a full 23 yards short of the green front.  So as a result, the water never comes into play for tour players (many of whom will hit 3-wood, then wedge or 9-iron (longer players will hit even less)…but the water means the average golfer must often must hit a short lay up on their second...and a longer (say 140-150 yard) third shot.  The greens have big slopes, but otherwise very little movement.  The bunkers are very deep and difficult, and beautifully maintained in a style similar to Augusta National’s.  Also, they are maintained like the great courses in Melbourne, Australia are…with very firm side walls, so that balls almost never plug and will roll down to the flat bottom…thereby rally reducing bunker maintenance costs. 

Frankly cannot understand how this is included in GD’s World 100…and Ballybunion Old is excluded.

Dubai is amazing.  It is a gleaming city…and the (building) architecture  is simply astounding see picture below (picture from the 8th tee with Waqas Ellas).  That is a cluster of buildings several of which are probably almost as high as the Empire State Building in NYC.  Not in this picture is the world’s tallest, the Burj Khalifa, which tops out at 2,717 ft and contains 209 floors.  Am returning in a week…so will see more (not much more) then.

Flight back to Hong Kong was good…but Cathay Pacific surprised me.  Always on eof the world’s best three airlines, it is now fighting the discount airlines of Asia, and restricted checked luggage to 88 pounds for business class on a 7 hour flight.  They do have the best sleeper seats in business class…but need to decide what they want to be.  Once again, Mrs. Barry’s admonition in the 8^th grade rings true…”How the mighty have fallen”.

Arrived at my hotel in Hong Kong around 6:30am, and have been catching up on missed sleep and this blog…while thousand of others run the Hong Kong Marathon out my hotel window.  This is a much needed day of rest…but the work restarts Monday morning early!!