Deepavali, or Diwali, the Festival of Lights, fell on Sunday, and Monday was a replacement public holiday. The extra day off disrupted my usual weekend routine, especially with the loud fireworks display in the distance. The night before Deepavali, fireworks went off past midnight, when I was comfortably in bed, ready to call it a night.
My routine of counting sheep before going to Slumberland was interrupted because the fireworks went on non-stop for a good half an hour! I kept track of the time and realized that fireworks during Chinese New Year earlier this year were shorter in comparison.
While it is great that people celebrate with such gusto, I do not share their enthusiasm because my sleep was definitely affected. It took me a long time to finally fall asleep, and I woke up feeling grumpy the next morning. Hrmph.
On Monday, it rained towards the evening. But it did not deter the merrymakers at all. There was still a fireworks display, but it was shorter than the previous two days. I had to tune the noise out and force myself to sleep because I had a golf game the next day and needed to wake up at 5:30 a.m.!
The monsoon season has kicked in. Typically, it rains from the afternoon or late evening until past midnight. For us golfers, such conditions are tough to weather (pun intended). However, such conditions don’t seem to discourage the fireworks displays on a very wet Deepavali! Bless those people.
While the haze has subsided, the rain has come on daily; there is no reprieve. Planning a round of golf has become a challenge.
Last week, I arranged to play golf with my friends on Tuesday. The night before, one friend was concerned about the weather because Google showed her an 80% chance of rain on game day. Well, I do not blame her for being worried. Driving so far for golf, only to have the weather derail it, is not what golfers want. However, my iPhone showed only a 40% chance of rain! We took a chance.
The game, or rather, my game, was terrible (I am on a downtrend, remember?), but the company and pace were enjoyable. It was a good catch-up session. Fortunately, we completed our round before the rain came.
This aside, over the past week, I have been feeling very uninspired, which is why I’ve delayed blogging. My mind has been sluggish, and there is nothing worth sharing. My golf game is struggling, and the weather is no better. What is there to shout about?
I need a break! I hope I can find a window to refresh my mind, play better golf, or even go away to recharge and revive from the current uninspired situation.
This time last week, hubby and I flew to Bandung, Indonesia, with our golf buddies for a 5-day, 4-night golf trip. How time flies; a week has passed already, and we are back home!
Unfortunately, during the trip, I felt a little under the weather with terrible nasal congestion. I was so out of sorts that I didn’t have the energy to write on the blog for the whole trip until now. Each day, I slept early after returning to the hotel, passing up the opportunity to explore Bandung.
When we arrived in Jakarta, our little group took the Whoosh high-speed train to Bandung. The train ride reduced a typical two-and-a-half-hour road journey to 40 minutes, saving us time to do and see much more upon arrival in Bandung.
The speed peaked at 333km to Bandung; the return trip to Jakarta was faster at 348km.
I played three rounds of golf with my nose stuffed, ears blocked, and a slight throbbing headache that came bundled with the discomfort. Despite the health setback, I played better golf during all three rounds than ever before! I thought the congestion would derail my golf ability and enjoyment. Perhaps the cool weather helped, and I was not sweating too much. However, I didn’t want to incur a further setback, and I drank almost three liters of water for the first game and two liters thereafter for the next two games.
It was so dry in Bandung that the ponds dried up and posed no threat for the Par 3 (top left photo, at Jatinagor).
Our first round was at Jatinagor National Golf & Resort, the second round at Mountain View Golf Club, and the third round at Parahyangan Golf Bandung. Mountain View was the most challenging course, being very narrow and tight, and I lost three balls there. However, I played my best round on record, nearly breaking 90!
The three golf courses.
Typically, whenever I am overseas for three games, I expect to have one good game, one decent game, and one terrible game. This time, all three were good! Funny how things can work out. My golf buddy laughed at me and lamented that the handicapped one played the best golf! Hahaha.
After the second game, we agreed to experience the Saung Angklung Udjo performance. It was quite enjoyable, and everyone in the crowd participated with their angklung to perform when prompted. Good fun!
As always, my breakfast meals at the hotel are predictable and the same. I guess I am a creature of habit. But I refrained from drinking coffee or having fruits the whole time, as I tried to manage the nasal congestion.
Same same but different everyday for breakfast.
All in all, it was a fun trip because the weather played a big part in easing my discomfort. Weather aside, the group was fun to be with, and the food choices were delicious, but sadly, I did not have much of an appetite to savor it all. Would I return to Bandung? Definitely, I would say.
Batik Air was on time, and flying out from Subang Airport was a delight because the airport is so small and convenient, unlike KLIA, which is much bigger and further away. I’m taking a break from golf now to recover from my nasal congestion and look forward to my next golf escapade!
The mind is a powerful thing. Today I decided to be more disciplined in my thoughts during the golf game. Week in, week out, I play so badly at my home club; it has created a lot of self-doubt and a loss of confidence. There’s nothing to lose this week except maybe the contributed pool money for the winners.
I manifested more positivity and made some changes to my approach. I also decided to use that big-ass golf umbrella instead of my usual minuscule one to protect myself from the sun and heat. Since I always collapse after the turn, I thought a bigger umbrella might help eliminate the discomfort. And it did help!
I tuned out the other players in my flight and focused on my approach for every shot. All these little measures and changes helped amazingly. The heat did not get to me, and the external noise from the chatter did not affect my swing or focus. Putting was good at 30 despite raking up three holes where I three-putted. A case of could-have and should-have. Oh well.
It’s funny how all these small adjustments seem to work out well. Why didn’t I think of these changes before, and had to endure so many rounds of unsatisfactory golf? So today is the first time after so many rounds that I finally managed to play under my club handicap at my home club! Wheee, a truly rewarding feeling.
To cap off the satisfaction, I was joint second runners-up in the group, and was duly rewarded from the pool money. Nice! The unfathomable phenomenon is basically a mind game, a test of mental strength, and I did well in today’s game. This is just as important as the golf swing and all. Fixed my mindset, changed my attitude, and focused on my approach. Now that I know what I should actually do, I hope to maintain the outlook and start playing better golf from now on. My next game is this Thursday.
Soon after the demoralizing Annual Club Championship golf result, I took a break and went away to play more golf! It’s weird, but going away with some golf buddies helped. Perhaps it is the golf course of choice because I played one game on Tuesday—two days after the annual weekend—at my club’s Hills course and fared just as badly. So it is the golf course! Hahahaha, a fact that I cannot understand.
My golf buddies and I did a mid-week 2D/1N to Seremban and Port Dickson last week. And it was a very enjoyable outing in terms of the golf, company and food. I vaguely remembered the layout of Seremban International Golf Club (SIGC), having played there before in recent years, and played a decent round. But the second game on the second day was redemption!
It’s been a long time since I last played at Port Dickson Golf and Country Club. So familiarity was not on my side, but I took it in stride. My ball striking was crisp, and my putting was exceptional again, with 29 putts.
I returned with a personal best gross score of 91, almost breaking 90!!! It is redemption indeed. I could have broken 90 if not for a three-putt. Oh well, I am happy with the results. It reaffirms I can play good golf. It is not me but the course doing weird things to the mind when the outcome is not what we hope for.
Second to my personal best score, I did not lose a single golf ball for the two games! Typically, at my home course, losing three or four balls for one game is expected, and the score is an eye-popping figure. My home course sucks, in other words! Hahahaha.
I left the outcome as is, taking a real break from golf for the next few days after that fantastic feel-good score, before my next golf adventure.
Guess what? My terrible golf continues – not a whole lot, but enough to demoralize me. As mentioned, I participated in my club’s Annual Club Championship tournament over the weekend. It was a mixed-fortune outing, with an improved score only on the first day; the second day’s outcome unfortunately regressed the overall two-day total. Like I have repeatedly emphasized, the spirit and mind are willing, but the body and ability are not. Sigh.
There were some brilliant moments, but there were more of the opposite that I could not recover from to minimize the damage. The first day’s score had four pars to cover the disasters on several holes. Pars are not to improve the score but to do damage control so that the score does not blow up!
However, on the second day, Lady Luck was not on my side; I could only manage one par. How is this miserly one par enough to minimize the disasters that occurred? We are not even talking about birdies, which were nil, zilch, and nada.
So many near misses. A typical bogey became a double bogey, a par became a bogey, and worse, a double-bogey hole exploded to become a double par or more! Every hole, there were little mistakes here and there that added up the strokes! The only bright outcome from the experience was my putting. It was my saving Grace from an even higher overall score! Hats off to my caddy, who was of great help in this department for both days.
On the first day, I recorded only 29 putts, very impressive putting overall, I have to say, but alas, the same cannot be said for the other departments of the game. Honestly, it is rather amazing that I improved to 28 putts for the second day; I just took more strokes to get to the green! The irony.
Now that the stress of preparing for the Annual Championship is over, I can heave a sigh of relief. I can feel the tiredness in my bones and joints. Was it worth it? No. I am in more pain than ever! And although I gripe about not being physically fit, I actually played a game this morning, albeit half-heartedly. Sucker. It’s a love-hate relationship for this game called golf.
I will have a physiotherapy session soon to reset my body, and I hope it will help so I can play better golf in my next game.
We have been experiencing some rough patches of weather lately. As you know, it rains every day, and planning a golf game is difficult. Last week, my friends and I decided to play a morning game, as the pattern seems to be rain and thunderstorms mostly in the afternoons. So, we took a gamble and booked an 8.30 am tee-off at Royal Kampung Kuantan Club.
The drive to the golf course was just under an hour, and we arrived an hour early. It started to drizzle as we got out of the car. Since we arrived early, I decided not to register ahead but wait for the situation to improve. Hah! Wishful thinking.
Water, water everywhere! Same spot, inundated within minutes.Flooded within a short time
The rain started coming down heavier than ever! Bummer. Pretty soon, the whole golf course became flooded, with the fairways blending into the nearby pond. From the golfer’s terrace, the putting green fared no better. Long story short, we waited for three and a half hours during the downpour. Mother Nature decided it was not a day for any outdoor activities! She goes one up against golf.
Lunch was crabs with mantou, prawns, baby squids, and Lala bee hoon
The rain was relentless! It was too heavy to get to the car, and too early to go off for brunch. Finally, when there was a window, we managed to get to the car and drove to Kuala Selangor for a comforting seafood lunch. It was the least to cap off a washout outing. I think golf needs to take a backseat for the time being until the weather improves.
It is Chap Goh Meh today, the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, and the celebrations of this festive time are coming to an end. How time flies.
I have to say, the past two weeks didn’t feel festive for me because I felt so out of it. I was merely going through the motions to pass the time. Even the few golf games I played felt so meh. And the weather during this period started wet, then hot, and now unbearably hot. Sigh.
Well, now that the Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year is ending, we are galloping into March, February being a short month. The family had an early Chap Goh Meh dinner two nights ago, and it was a simpler feast compared to the Reunion Dinner spread.
A simpler Chap Goh Meh spread of ‘Poon Choi’ (big bowl feast), Roast Duck, and a Nam Yue Pork.
Separately, we decided on a nice dinner outside tonight to bid adieu to the festivity and hope things will return to normal. Maybe I will play better golf again?
I have played five games so far with my new set of Honma Beres NX irons. And I love them! My ball striking has been effortless, and the ball trajectory has been very high and far. I am getting better distances and control. The irons complement my current driver, woods, and hybrid clubs, and I should be playing better.
All my equipment is excellent—except for two things: one being the persistent cough that slows me down and leaves me breathless. And two, being my putting. It sucks! I switched to my TaylorMade Spider Mini not too long ago, after some disastrous putting with the Scotty. And you know what? Bad decision to switch!
In the last two games with the Mini, I did 37 putts each time! Thirty seven-effing putts. Man, that’s like six to seven additional strokes unnecessarily. The second-to-last round was the last straw, where I had three three-putts and two four-putts! I couldn’t get over this. Just two days earlier, I had three putts on five holes. Argh!
When I got home, the first thing I did was remove the TaylorMade Spider Mini and put back my Scotty Cameron in the bag. And sure enough, the last game back with the Scotty, I fared better. My next game is coming up on Thursday; let’s hope the improvement trend continues.
The Interclub trip down South over the weekend came and went by in a blink. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning is not something I wish to do often, but it was necessary, as everyone had to meet at the club to depart by six o’clock in two buses.
Although there were 60 players, some chose to drive instead. The journey was comfortable with fewer people on board, and traffic was manageable along the highway. Despite taking a couple of wrong exits, our group arrived on time.
Our first Interclub match was against Ponderosa Golf and Country Club. After the welcome lunch, the shotgun start matches began. It was a good fight, but our club lost out with a score of 13.5 points versus 16.5 points. However, Ponderosa, being a gracious host, declared everyone a winner! The losing team players received silver medals, while the champion host team members collected their gold medals. What a friendly way to build friendship in a golf tournament.
The next day, the entourage traveled to Singapore via Woodlands to visit the Keppel Club for our second Interclub game. The format of play was a bit different, which initially left everyone confused. It turned out to be a team event; our players were paired with the opponents, meaning we were playing with them rather than against them. The team with the best ball score for Stableford points will be declared the winner.
Keppel Club is not an easy course to play. It may look short, but the distances to the pins were deceiving, especially with the undulating terrain. I felt so drained after the game despite the cool and cloudy weather. The early confusion on the game format aside, I would say everyone left Keppel feeling satisfied and happy.
On the final day, we had a casual game amongst ourselves at Palm Resort Golf & Country Club (Cempaka course), which was not an Interclub match. I played with my regular group, and it was quite an enjoyable round of dueling to see who would end up contributing less money for lunch! Hahahaha.
I’m just glad to be home after the hectic and tight schedule for three rounds of golf.
Keppel Club with a glaring OB spelled out guarding the Par 3; approaching Woodlands on the Causeway, and sights of the other golf courses.
Remarks