Results – Glenmarie Golf & Country Club – 14th August 2012

On By Stuart TaylorIn Glenmarie, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Loose Cannons1 Comment

Cannons all.
This was our second visit to Glenmarie Golf & Country Club this Ramadan. We played the Garden course 2 weeks ago and found it in rather poor condition. On that day the Valley course was closed for ‘maintenance’ and we decided to take advantage of the Ramadan special offer to play the Valley once the ‘maintenance ‘ was completed. And so 24 LC’s teed it up on the Valley under threatening skies but in expectation of finding this superb layout in better if not best condition compared to our last experience of this “prestigious course”. Alas, we were to be very disappointed.
The Valley course at Glenmarie is a challenging and picturesque track which was completely renovated by Parslow Golf 3 years ago. It should be in fine if not pristine condition but the opposite was true; the only exception being the greens which were large, true and fast. But the fairways and tee boxes……oh dear. They were a disgrace with large bare areas, a lot of fungus evident and great tracts that had been hollow tined and heavily sanded. Weed infestation was rampant throughout the fairways and the rough. The bunkers were basically OK but earlier players had left their mark….bloody great foot prints in the side slopes that you could had buried a cat in. This of course isn’t the fault of the course management; it’s a reflection of the extremely poor behaviour of a large number of Malaysian golfers I’m afraid.
But back to the condition of this golf course. It’s a disgrace. It’s a product of thoroughly bad green keeping practises and lackadaisical management. Both the Glenmarie management team and the members (who pay a hefty price for the ‘privilage’ of membership and should be able to exert some pressure on management), should be thoroughly ashamed. I hope they get to see this report. I played with Ted Parslow and he was quite shocked at the condition, a mere 3 years after he had handed it over in pristine condition. Let’s hope that they get it back into shape otherwise we will not waste our money playing there again, even when there’s an offer on green fees.

The early threat of rain passed and gave way to pleasant weather with a freshening breeze. The round was a little slow as those that started on the front nine were held up by some rather slow players ahead; those that were responsible for the graves in the bunkers no doubt!

Of course, a game of golf with the ‘Cannons’ isn’t without it’s lighter side.
As we were waiting to start at Tee Box 1 Alan Holgate appeared searching the buggies for his “little green bag”. At first I thought he was talking about his caddie poor thing but no, this was a small bag that Alan carries his wallet, car keys, mobile, loose change, Viagra etc in. It was missing. No, it wasn’t in any of our buggies and off he went to continue the search. Why doesn’t he just put all that stuff in his pockets like everyone else? 
Well, it transpired that he had left it in the buggy that he was originally assigned to and left it there when he moved his golf bag to another buggy. 
He found it when he tracked that buggy down to another flight playing Garden. Apparently, he had reported this impending catastrophe to ‘her in doors’ who had immediately cancelled the credit cards. 
Are you OK Alan? Will you be allowed out to play next week unsupervised?
The winner, and about time too, was Geoff Parslow with 43 points and the runner-up was Rain Li Tan with 39 points.The lowest gross was Geoff Parslow’s 75 and the most golf was played by Richard Moss with 111.
Geoff is cut 7 strokes and Richard 1 stroke.
20 players adjourned to South Sea Seafood for lunch which was notable for several things. Firstly we ended up on 2 tables 30 feet apart with a serving station between the two. Not the best arrangement for a social gathering. The food was superb but as Tony remarked “these prawns must have cost RM10 each”. He wasn’t far wrong. The food came to RM868 and the drinks; 25 large bottles of Carlesberg & 2 Asahi plus a load of juices came to RM732 and with the ++ the total bill came to whopping RM1775, the best part of RM90 per head!!! Too bloody much. Next week we will return to normality.
A panoramic view of Barry Cousins in action 
John Laidley drives off

Barry Cousins at the helm
Our flight comprised Stuart Taylor, Barry Cousins, Geoff McLaws and John Laidley.
Barry (Baza) Cousins posing
The greens were in pretty good condition overall on the Valley Course
The Valley Course, Glenmarie

Geoff McLaws using some fancy optical sighting device to get a distance to the green
Mike – do we have a Cannons ruling on the use of such devices …. I guess being the Loose Cannons of nautical heritage it could be regarded as some form of sextant!

The Valley Course has a beautiful layout but sadly let down by poor fairways and bunkers.

You can’t see the faces for the upturned glasses at the South Seas Restaurant but this is Bob Simpson and John Laidley

Results – The Mines Resort & Golf Club – 7th August 2012

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Cannons all,
 
The Mines Resort & Golf Club is one of the top golf clubs in the region having hosted the World Cup of Golf, LPGA events and the USGA tour event, The CIMB Classic and so we were privileged to be able to play this superb facility thanks to the kind invitation of member Anthony Hastings and the co-operation of the GM Jean Daniels as Anthony (the member) was unable to join us.
 
15 of the 16 LC’s arrived in good time, mostly without a problem, although the sign posting to such a prestigious destination was rather poor and caused Glen some problems, but perhaps the members like it that way. Keeps the riffraff away. You know you are in a rich mans playground once you set foot in the place. The clubhouse oozes class. Registration took but a few minutes and I received one small chit for the 16 of us. In fact the lady at registration had told me that we could pay when we were finished, before leaving the club. You won’t find that anywhere else.
 
The course has matured and improved since I last played here in the mid 90’s; especially the back nine which was almost unrecognisable, and the whole 18 was in superb condition. The only minor exception being the scarifying of some of the fairways on the approach to the greens in preparation for the CIMB Classic in October. This is a USPGA tour event and Tiger Woods will be competing. I wonder how much that’s costing them?
 
The buggies were top class as too were the caddies several of whom were low handicap golfers and read the greens spot on. A pity then that their golfers couldn’t putt the ball where they were told to!
 
With hardly a cloud in the sky we teed off just after 8 and were the only players on the course. Mercifully a strong breeze developed by mid morning resulting in near perfect conditions. With buggies allowed on the fairways we should have been round in double quick time but alas the 2 flights who teed off on the back nine made rather heavy work of it and finished well after the first 2 flights. 
 
Hopefully we will play here again.

The winner, returning after 5 weeks in the frozen north, was Andrew Robinson with 44 points and the runner-up was Ray Funnell with 38 points.The lowest gross was a modest 83 by Geoff McLaws and the most golf was played by Alan Holgate with 117.
Andrew is cut 8 strokes and Ray 1 stroke.
 
Lunch was at taken at the club with all 16 attending and the food was excellent as you would expect. The beer flowed freely and we were later joined by Jean Daniels who updated us on the plans for Bukit Beruntung which is now owned by The Mines and is to be redeveloped into a 54 hole layout. When I left the hardcore were planning a continuation at another venue……..it all sounded rather dangerous!!!!  I wonder what time it finished?

Next Game – The Mines Resort & Golf Club – 7th August 2012

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We have been invited to play The Mines by Anthony Hastings. This is one of the most prestigious golf courses in the country, host of The World Cup of Golf and the USGA tournament the CIMB Asia Pacific Golf Classic and so this is an opportunity not to be missed. Unfortunately Anthony will not be able to join us. We are limited to 16 players at the members guest rate of RM680 nett per flight. I will take registration for the 16 slots available giving preference to regular players. And so:-
 
Golf next Tuesday, 7th August 2012 will be at 
The Mines Resort & Golf Club
Limited to 4 flights
Be there by 07:30 LATEST
Names to Mike Smith soonest

Results – KGSAAS – 31st July 2012

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Cannons all,
 
16 LC’s mustered at KGSAAS on an overcast Tuesday for the July Trophy Game. At 7:45 the darkness was broken by flashes of lightning and claps of thunder as the heavens opened. Soon after the siren sounded; a little late we thought as there were some early starters on the course. Not a promising start.
 
Yours truly held back from registering until play seemed probable but the storm was short lived and we were able to make our way to the starters hut at 8:30 and we were off by 8:45, all from the same tee box as the other tee was occupied by some very slow flights. We played the Alam Shah and Presidents nines.
 
After the storm the weather was almost perfect and with the course in excellent condition from tee to green and no hold ups and we were all round in good time.
KGSAAS really is an excellent golf course and fears for it’s future after the demise of it’s previous owners seem unfounded as the new owners are investing in continued improvements to the club facilities in their entirety. As Ted Parslow remarked, ‘I’ve never seen this course in such good condition.” Lets hope it stays that way.

The winner of the JULY TROPHY with 39 points off the stick plus 3 bonus points for 42 points was Tony Morris. The runner-up was Barry Cousins with 39 + 2 for 41 points.The lowest gross was 77 by Geoff McLaws and the most golf was played by Richard Moss with 113.
Tony is cut 4 strokes and Barry 1 stroke.
 
Lunch was at taken at the club who had a simple menu of local fare this Ramadan. All 16 players were present and there was good camaraderie and lively conversation. 

Results – Glenmarie Golf & Country Club – 24th July 2012

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Cannons all,   For the first LC game this Ramadan we chose Glenmarie who’s offer of RM85 nett sounded very attractive. Of course, like most ‘offers’ in life, you need to read the small print. Having to take one Caddy per flight and compulsory insurance the actual cost was RM105 but still very good for one of KL’s premier couses.   16 LC’s pitched up for the game along with a multitude of other non fasting golfers and so, despite making a tee time reservation, we had to queue up at the first tee and we finally got away at about 8:20, all from the same tee box.   Glenmarie is a quality course but I am sorry to report that the Garden Course we played was in very poor condition; the greens excepted, with a lot of weed evident on the fairways and some bare patches. The rough too was unkempt and covererd with white flowers under the trees which made looking for stray balls difficult. Not what one would expect of such a prestigious golf course. Even the Valley Course (which was closed for maintenance) showed a lot of weed growth on the fairways. Such a pity as this is easily controlable. The good news is that Buggies are allowed on the fairways. Despite the condition this is a good track and we will play here again.   We all got through the first 9 in reasonable time but the back 9 was painfully slow. We were held up on every hole by another society ahead of us playing off the blues, (why is it that Malaysian golfers, regardless of ability, must play from the blues when lots of them clearly should be taking advantage of the whites?) resulting in a 5 hour round of golf. Too bloody long. The resultant late finish ruled out 4 players from the lunch which was a pity as they missed out on an excellent meal.   The winner with an outrageous but well deserved score was Bob Simpson with 48 points and the runner-up was Erol Akinci with 40 points.The lowest gross was 80 by Geoff McLaws and the most golf was played by Alan Holgate with 109.  Bob is cut 12 strokes and Erol 1 stroke.   Lunch was at South Sea Seafood, near the Firefly terminal at Subang airport, where the food was superb and mostly finished before Bernhard & Tony arrived. Apparently while examining the score card to answer a query from driver Bernhard, Tony looked up just as Bernhard was entering the toll onto the NKVE!!!! There began a 30 minute tour of Shah Alam and its environs before they finally pitched up. More food was ordered by Alan (who scoffed most of it himself) and the amber nectar continued to flow resulting in a rather expensive but well enjoyed lunch that didn’t see the last man leave till 3:30pm. A bit of sad news gleaned at lunch is that the Equatorial Restoran in Rawang has closed due to renovation of the shop lots. The owner has no idea when or where she will operate from in future. Oh dear.

Results – KRTU – 17th July 2012

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Venue:             KRTU

Tee off:           08.50am          Finished: 1.30pm

Players:            12

Weather:          Cool. We just escaped the rain which started at 1.30pm

Course:            The play was slow (4 ½ hours) but the course was in good condition so well worth the visit.

Accounts:

Collected:        RM 1,560        (12 x RM 130)

Game:              (RM 1,053)

Winner:           (RM     50)

Makan:            (RM   499)

Balance:         (RM    42)

Places:

1.      Jeff Pearce                 23        90  /  41           Cut 5 (18)

2.      Ray Funnell               31        102 / 35           Cut 1 (30)

3.      Peter Edgeworth         26        98  /  35

4.      Geoff Mclaws             04        80  /  32           (Lowest Gross)

5.      Geoff Parslow             08        87  /  32

6.      Bob Simpson               27        104 / 31

7.      Tony Morris                15        94  /  29

8.      Ted Parslow                08        92  /  25

9.      Bernhard Rohman       13        98  /  23

10.  Vincent Vijay             31        116 / 22           (Most Golf)

11.  George Murray            22        115 / 21

12.  Alan Holgate               31        114 / 21        

Next Game KRTU; Tuesday 17th July 2012

On By Stuart TaylorIn Boring old farts, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Kelab Rekreasi Tentera Udara, Klang Valley Golf, KRTU, Loose CannonsLeave a comment

Golf next Tuesday 17 July 2012 will be at :-
KRTU (Kelab Rekreasi Tentera Udara) Subang.
This is the Airforce course behing the old Subang Airport
You will need to bring with you your PASSPORT to be allowed onto the base.
Be there by 07:30 LATEST
Names to mike.maxcon.smith (at) gmail.com soonest