The tour to Ipoh was a great success, enjoyed by all…….some more than others!
Richard Moss was unable to play golf (except for a few holes on the last day) due to a very sore right leg and Reinli Tan had the shits again, only completing 9 holes on day 2. And if your wondering why there are only 10 players in the group picture it was because Geoff McLaws found it difficult to get out of bed that morning.
Day 1. Royal Perak Golf Club.
Most of us arrived in plenty of time at the very splendid Royal Perak Golf Club. The exceptions were the group travelling with Andrew Robinson who managed to get lost, arriving half an hour late. The weather was nice and the course in great condition but with very variable green speeds from very slow to very fast. With broad fairways this is a course that is deceivingly difficult as it’s slope from the whites of 133 would suggest.
The winner of the September Trophy Game (and celebrating his qualification to the Asian Senior Tour) was Geoff McLaws with 82 for 37 points. Runner-up was Mike Smith with 97 for 36 ahead of Ricardo Castro with 87 for 34. Well played Geoff. You are cut 4 strokes……….likely to be more once you receive your Tour Card!!!!
Lunch was a very dry affair. Despite assurances from the club beforehand that beer was available it transpired that it’s only served on the golfers terrace and not the Chines Restaurant upstairs…..and the Golfers Terrace closes at 3 pm. WTF? So only Reinli had some beer; 2 Guinness for BREAKFAST. Geoff was presented with his trophy and Andrew Robinson received a bottle of wine donated by Ricardo Castro for the best dressed golfer. Apparently no one checked the condition of his shoes!
The Weil Hotel
The choice of the Weil Hotel was a bit pot luck but I had a recommendation from John Arkinstall who had recently stayed there and it turned out to be EXCELLENT. Thanks John.
The evening kicked off with the distribution of the new shirts in the roof top garden of the hotel where a lot of booze was consumed before we all made our way to the nearby Healy Mac’s. Tip of the year. DO NOT FOLLOW Dave Evans and his GPS. A 5 or 6 minute walk turned out to be 20 minutes following his route. The food was good but they have lost???? their liquor license and so there is NO draft Guinness, Wine or Spirits. Again WTF?
Day 2. Meru Valley Resort.
This was round 1 of the 2 day Tour Trophy game. Richard wisely went for treatment to his leg reducing the field to 11. 10 showed up on time but there was no sign of Geoff. Several phone calls went unanswered until a message from Richard telling us that Geoff had just darted from the breakfast table having just registered that it was 9:30 not 8:30 as he had thought. He joined his flight at the 3rd. This basically put paid to his winning aspirations.
We played Valley & Waterfall 9’s as River was under maintenance. Meru Valley is one of the best courses in Malaysia and certainly the most picturesque with a stunning backdrop of the central range. The course was in splendid condition but a little soft around the greens which caught a lot of the guys out. The weather was nice with white cloud capping some of the higher peaks. Superb.
The Tour Dinner
This was held at the Hotel in their roof top restaurant “The Deck” and excellent it was too, attended by all except Reinli who was recovering from his earlier food poisoning. Ricardo had brought along 12 bottles of very good wine for which everyone paid RM65. Very good value. The idea was that we would all enjoy the wine over the Tour Dinner. Everyone that is except Richard who insisted on taking his bottle the day before and drinking it. Richard, that was out of order, particularly as you then enjoyed sharing the wine provided by the others without any apology. ’nuff said.
That aside the food and service was excellent and much enjoyed by all. Reinli was given his bottle the following day.
Day 3. Meru Valley.
Full attendance on day 3, albeit some feeling rather fragile. Early rain had caused a few worries but this soon cleared and we played round 2 of the Tour Trophy game under mainly blue skies. This round was played in reverse order to the previous days finish which resulted in a good mix of flight partners.
Peter May was the winner of round 2 and received Green Fee Vouchers fro IOI Palm Garden. Well played Peter.
The winner of the Tour Trophy with an aggregate of 73 points was Mike Smith.
Mike also picked up a bottle of wine from Ricardo for the best points over the 3 games.
A very good tour enjoyed by all. We will return to Ipoh and the Weil Hotel.
My thanks to Andrew for taking very good care of the finances and to Ricardo for the wine.
Photos
Photos kindly submitted by David Evans … thanks.
Additional photos as supplied by Meru Valley :
Looking back at the last time we played Danau Golf Club … it was February 2016 … and it was duly noted at that time how tough this course was … how tough the rough was … and how this caused slow play due to players looking for multiple lost balls. It was the same story when we played Danau today. We had 5 flights, all off one 9 to start, unfortunately and it took us 5 hours to complete the round …. with no one in front of our group … so no excuses … it was slow play by our groups. Something we should consider and try to get better at …. even in tough conditions such as Danau.
5 full flights headed out on the Sultan and President 9’s at KGSAAS on a beautiful morning today. The course was remarkably quiet and we all made good time round the fairways and were back in the clubhouse at 12:15 or so for lunch and some special offer beers on the terrace.
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