My Favs Golf Courses...

Alright! Really thanks a lot to one of the commenter in my CBox.. because it is really hard to get certain target audience who can cooperate with bloggers. I hope I can consider myself lucky and I certainly know the commenter is someone in my hometown.

My post today is about my favourite Golf Course that I prefer to play golf and the one that I dislike. I really like this question a lot and I'll give my reasons according to my experiences. But to choose only one probably is kinda hard for me, so I'll say a few of the golf courses that I like. The golf course that I probably prefer the most will be The Legends Golf & Country Club at Kebun Sedenak in Kulai, Johor. The reason may seem irrelevant for you all but as I say, it is based on my past experiences.
REASONS :

1. This is the first golf course, that make me play my score record of 74 for the first time. I won my second consecutive U-15 State Level Champions safely after winning the tournment held at The Legends GCC.
2. The golf course there is really nice, designed by 'The Legend' Jack Niklaus and what I can say is, the distances there are quite short and it is really easy for me to conquer the whole course with my above average distance.
3. They use bermuda grass for fairways, very well maintain ground with picturesque scenery.
4. Alright, let's talk the professional golf course analytic way. This course is really interesting because the contour of the golf course are laid mostly just like you are in hilltop. Where you have to tee off in a higher area for some holes. And whenever you step on the tee box, you got a very clear overview picture of how a hole is to be played. The golf course may seem quite easy for some players but from what I analyse with only a few encounter at that course is that, the traps that they set are very strategic. The bunkers, water, rough and green are precisely and strategically place where average players really need to find ways to escape them. What do I mean by average players are players who play on the right tee box according to their handicap. Example White Tees for people of handicap 18-24 and Blue Tees from people below handicap 18.

The next golf course that I like is Royal Johor Golf & Country Club at Johor Bahru. This golf course is one of the oldest in Johor and trust me, they really have the aroma of truly old golf course. I have spend most of my time (2001-2004) down there due to training and tournaments, and I never get bored of it. Though is a public golf course, I can say is it is really different from other public golf courses (public golf courses in Malaysia are usually lack of maintanence).
REASONs:

1. This is one of the toughest golf course that I played in my golfing time. In terms of the design and contour, this golf course is very very hilly and have lots of variation in the design of the landscape. Furtheremore, the grass type are cow-grass where hitting a solid accurate shot is very important. Because in cow-grass, if you hit on the back, it means you hit on the back..there is no way the grass can help you to bump the ball a few metres in front.
2. The green are relatively fast and consistent in every hole. But the best part is each and every hole has their own charateristics. Though I'm quite familiar with the golf course, it seems unavoidable for me to continuously making mistake just on the green. The green's contour are mostly influenced by the surroundings. I know you all might not understand what I'm trying to say. The meaning influenced by the surroundings is that, the green are so mature that, the contour are following the factor of growth of the green instead of just the soil. Still Blur!! This is the simpler form for you all to understand. Some of the greens in Royal Johor are influenced by the location of water (one of the major factor of growth). There are greens in there which when you see are uphill, but when you tap the ball, it roll so fast like downhill. The reason, there is a pond behind the green, though is uphill, the roots and grass are facing to the water and therefore cause the green to act DIRECT OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE SEE! Believe me, only experienced player know how to play this course.
3. The environment of the golf course I can say is pretty nice as it is in the middle of the jungle (last time it was a jungle). And you can definitely see really old mature trees that grow more than a century there.
4. The rules and regulations there are tight, but it is a good way to preserve what ancient golf truly is about. And of course, the Sultan of Johore's family always play there, so it is truly a ROYAL Johor.

I played in many courses, these are the two that I think are the favourite. I played in Thailand, Singapore and locally, and I still think that Malaysia's courses are nicer. I've never played Saujana and I really hope I can get to there one day. BUT..

Last but not least, the other golf course that I, not to say like the most, but give me the best experience is probably The Mines Golf & Country Club. For Malaysian golfers, and in fact golfers around the world might know that The Mines are the host for 1999 World Cup Golf Championship, where Tiger Woods and his partner, Mark O'Meara help USA secure the World Cup Champion. I was there to witness the game 3rd round game with my Dad before I myself went up to Kota Permai GCC (one of M'sia best golf course) to play golf. The question is DID I PLAYED THERE BEFORE???

THE ANSWER IS YES.. I can really consider myself lucky as my Dad's last time Boss treat us to a game there. Well truly very LUCKY I can say. Even the locker room was so COOL, BIG SPACIOUS LOCKER ROOM with Tiger's picture hanging all around the place. There is jacuzzi and spa at there somemore. Alright! Back to the topic.

The Mines GCC may not be the most challenging or toughest golf course to play, but it is one of the MOST WELL-MAINTAINed golf course in Malaysia. The grass are truly evergreen, and the surroundings are very picturesque. The best part is, the GREEN are very soft. So soft just like you are walking on SPONGE. The green are very mature where spinning my ball for me (during that time I still can really spin my ball well) may seem likely. And when you play there, even you know KL City is so damn hot, at there, it is always cooling. Really a MAGNIFICENT experience there. And to boast a little, the place are only for DATO's or DATUKs. The entrance fee..don't ask (RM 600++ in 1999, now I'm not sure).

These are the golf courses that I probably enjoyed the most, so far. In Malaysia, I really hope I can play in more championship course like Saujana. But so far in my so-call career, I played a lot of Championship Course in Malaysia, example my homeclub Orna GCC, Kota Permai GCC, Tanjung Puteri GCC and Royal Johor GCC. Hopefully can add more of the names in my golfing list.

I'll probably share more about golf courses in later post, but these are my favs I can say. And in the next post, I'll talk about the course that, not certainly I dislike, but their weaknesses.