Tag Archives: golf

Back On Track

3 May

Now that the month of April is over for all the birthday celebrations, I am back on track to continue with the 16/8 diet to achieve my target goal weight. Last week when we went away to Awana Genting to celebrate my birthday, there was a lot of eating and drinking. But there was also a lot of exercise and activities to offset the intake; so the weight gain was only a 0.2lbs increment. Minimal I’d say.

In fact, it was the week before the getaway that the weight spiked. Thanks to my beer intake when we visited the Carlsberg brewery. Sigh…

I was skeptical this morning when I stood on the bathroom scale, thinking I wouldn’t do too good this week to shed all that weight gained. Up to last night, the numbers didn’t look encouraging.

So it was indeed a pleasant surprise when the numbers showed a mere 0.3lbs away from my target goal! Oh yay. This is even better than the last good achievement, which was 0.7lbs from target. I actually lost weight, a net loss of 1.6lbs after deducting the 0.2lbs gained at the start of the week. Awesome.

I attribute this achievement to total discipline this week, eating healthy lunches, snacking on nuts and not cookies, lots of water and light dinners. Plus a golf game on Wednesday morning because of the Labor Day public holiday helped burn some calories. This is so motivating.

So if all goes as planned, I should be able to achieve my target goal weight next week. Discipline is the key here. Then I will reset with a new target to lose another 6.0lbs before the end of the month. I can do it!

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The Birthday Escapade

29 Apr

Saturday was my big day – being Queen for the day on my birthday. Hubby decided to whisk me away on Friday for a birthday escapade. And what an escapade it was!

Our room overlooking the golf course, the mountain range and clouds

We went off to Awana Genting for an Alphabet Trip, usually reserved for our anniversary but this year, an Alphabet Trip was necessary because this year’s birthday is a big milestone celebration. After all, I can’t be Forever 38… gotta embrace it.

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Had the golf course all to ourselves

We played two rounds of golf with both games finishing under four hours because there was hardly anybody else on the golf course. In fact, on Friday we had the golf course all to ourselves and we completed the game in three and a half hours!

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Taking the cable car sure beats driving up the winding road and looking for parking

After the morning fun, that evening we took the cable car up to Genting to enjoy the place and the cool air. Dinner was simple but no alcohol (yet) because the newly opened The Laughing Fish have not gotten their liquor license. So we just drank Evian water, saving space in the tummy for the beer and stout later. We didn’t mind because there was no need to keep time, no agenda to be mindful of.

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Famed for their Fish & Chips, we had to try

We explored Sky Avenue (16,980 steps on my MiBand 2 by the time we got back to the room) and even checked out the casino. I was boggled by all these gamblers throwing away money just like that at the Black Jack and Roulette tables. Stacks of chip laid out without hesitation, betting and hoping for Lady Luck to shine on them but gone in a blink of an eye. Jeez… many times mind you. Obviously I am not a gambler. We left as we couldn’t stand the cigarette smoke stench and it sticking to our clothes.

Gotta have my pint of Kronenbourg and hubby, his stout

The whole place was very happening with lots to eat, see and do. We ate (earlier) and drank to our hearts’ content—forget the 16/8 diet this weekend—and enjoyed the live band. They played songs I could sing to and it was very entertaining.

The cable car journey back to the hotel at Awana

The next day, another round of golf, another cable car ride after the game for another round of drinks and THE birthday dinner. Truly wonderful this birthday trip turned out as we did every alphabet on our list, A right through to G. Heheheh…

Cable car ride and pre-dinner drinks, a rum concoction

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Nauseating just watching the spins from afar at Skytropolis

Spanish dinner with two bottles of red to celebrate, yes two

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Post-birthday dinner: Spanish burger and squid ink pasta

A year wiser but definitely better with age. We returned home on Sunday morning after breakfast to hot and super hot weather, and another post-birthday dinner to cap off the birthday celebration.

Here’s to a wonderful year ahead and thank you friends and family for all your well wishes. A good start to life beyond Forever 38.

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Visiting Harvard, Part 2

16 Apr

After Saturday’s game at Harvard Golf & Country Club, we played at Darulaman Golf & Country Club the next day as it was closer to the house. That morning’s sunrise wasn’t as vibrant as the previous morning.

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However, it wasn’t like Harvard with no other flights in sight. We were sandwiched between two noisy and irritating flights. The course layout was very tight with some tee boxes of each hole ahead situated in close proximity to the green of the hole before. So what happened ahead or behind basically could be heard clearly and loudly.

Several times the flight in front, at their tee box, group-laughed and whooped loudly when a tee-off launched errantly towards the line of trees at the side (instead of the fairway) whilst I was addressing my ball to putt. Hrmph.

This wasn’t the only antics we had to deal with. The group behind… They too, would group-laugh and whoop loudly too when they missed their putts whilst I was addressing my ball to tee-off. Double hrmph… It’s a whole new experience as you’d never know what you will encounter on the golf course. Those pesky flies yesterday were nothing in comparison.

I wouldn’t mind if the flight behind us drove a bad wayward tee-off, which they did, borrowing our side of the fairway (told you the layout’s tight) as we approached for our second shot but all these noises and disturbances are really quite unnecessary. Perhaps they don’t realize how loud they were. Sigh… golf etiquette shouldn’t just be limited to the flight one is in but for the surrounding too.

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Flat, wide and dry

The grounds at Darulaman are hard and dry too just like Harvard. Both games, I found myself using my Cleveland Launcher 5-wood (I removed the Maruman 3-wood) and Cleveland 3-hybrid more than the long irons, and gained much yardage as the ball could bounce and run. Nice.

Despite the disturbances and pace, we managed to finish our game in a little over fours hours; the golf course being a buggy-on-course helped. After lunch, by 1.30pm the weekend escapade was over and we were on our back to KL.

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Visiting Harvard

15 Apr

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Last Friday, hubby decided we should go see his parents back at his hometown up North, so we did. An impromptu escapade of sorts, away from the recent design project stress. The parents are fine and we had an enjoyable weekend. We played two rounds of golf.

Saturday morning, we checked out Harvard Golf & Country Club, the lesser known name from its counterpart of a more famous establishment, about a 30-minutes drive from the house. The morning sunrise was spectacular with the drive pleasant and unhurried.

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We had the golf course all to ourselves and what an outing it was.

The sprinklers welcomed us when we walked to the tee box, the birds chirped and serenaded us as our gallery and pesky flies buzzed at my ears like hecklers. Interesting. The best part, no other golfing human in sight. Our little private playground.

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Flat and dry

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Dry and flat

How was the condition of the place? It wasn’t the best due to the dry weather. The grounds were parched and hard, so the fairways and greens were hardly fair and green but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. Even a bad topped shot was a good shot as the ball ran and bounced to gain yardage. And there were several instances this occurred because the ground was flat and dry and just so hard. If we had attempted to take divot with our shots, there’s bound to be injury or recurrence of old injuries. We finished the game in slightly under four hours.

All in all, I think we would give Harvard Golf & Country Club another chance and come back to play again.

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Win-Win-Win-Win Situation

11 Apr

This 16/8 diet seems to be really good for me. So far, coupled with my activities, it’s been effective – I feel good and there’s more to this. That’s why I call it a win-win-win-win situation.

The 16/8 is strictly on weekdays but I have lost weight. Win number one.

On weekends, I play golf. Win number two. And after golf, a nice lunch where I would eat and basically don’t restrict myself. I only avoid food that can cause discomfort due to my Endometriosis. But as I now eat at a 16/8 time frame, my tummy has shrunk and no matter what nice food are on the table, I don’t eat a lot.

The best part, I also drink during lunch. Win number three. A couple of whiskey shots, not necessarily excessive but enough to feel good. Sometimes at home at night, a glass of wine to relax. Alcohol, I must admit is one thing I can’t give up. I should stay away from beer though because unlike, wine and whiskey, I tend to drink more and that’s not good.

And I wouldn’t say I eliminated sugar totally as I do find myself snacking on some candies and cookies occasionally during the window to eat. Win number three and a half?

For the final win number four? Carving of course! I have turned to balsa for now because the existing stock pile of Meranti wood are not the right sizes for carving any Whales or even Gnomes. Basically a lot more work is needed to cut them to size and I avoided this to preserve the wrist prior to the Iron Challenge golf tournament.

But now that the tournament is done and over, I am in a good place to go back to carving, first with balsa to increase the population count of my Citizens of Gigglesville and eventually back on Meranti. What a win-win-win-win situation indeed.

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Citizen #182

9 Apr
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Citizen #182 from all angles

After a four and a half months break, 26 Whales, two Monuments and nine Gnomes later, I finally carved a Citizen of Gigglesville. What a long break. I had almost forgotten how to carve a Citizen on balsa, taking a longer time than I normally would with #182, the first one for 2019.

But it looks good, I must say. It was awkward to hold, being so small and the balsa being so soft; I have forgotten what it’s like to control my strength. Despite all these shortcomings, I am pleased because there’s no strain at all on the left gripping hand and I can play golf without any nagging pain.

Maybe I should continue with more Citizens on balsa instead of the others on Meranti to preserve the hand. Reaching 200 population count is not impossible if I keep at this.

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Beer’s the Culprit

8 Apr

I am semi-convinced now that beer is the culprit on my weight gain the previous weekend, having down three glasses. This week, despite two big birthday dinners, a little champagne, wine, whiskey and cake but no beer, there was no weight gain which is good. In fact, I am starting the week with a slight 0.2lb decrease from last Friday’s weigh-in. Yay!

If things work out this week and looks like I am back on track, I anticipate a couple more pounds can be shed by this Friday. Stay tuned for the weigh-in then.

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Not Being Disciplined

5 Apr

This week I was not being very disciplined as far as the 16/8 diet is concerned. I didn’t keep to the 16/8 window, rather it was more like 15/9. And I snacked throughout the week on things that I don’t normally eat. Bad…

Subconsciously, I wanted to see if what I ate had any bearings on the outcome, whether it would affect the weight within a few days. I hope not to repeat this again though.

So what exactly did I indulged in? Sweet preserved Chinese plums. Sugar right there! And cookies and candies. More sugar! I even ate chocolate and suffered the consequences, remember my Endometriosis?

Prior to the start of the week, on Sunday night, I drank three glasses of Kronenbourg beer to replenish my soul after that morning’s energy-sapping golf game and this immediately spiked up the weight. And although we had gym on Monday, I didn’t push myself enough to at least burn off the beer calories.

Thankfully all the week’s snacking did not add on anymore weight and only a teeny weeny reduction when I stood on the bathroom scale this morning for the weekly weigh-in. So the increment at the start of the week was due to Sunday’s beer. I think by not keeping to the 16/8 regime played a role in this result. This is not the way to go if I want to reach my target weight goal; I’d better be more disciplined.

But April being the family birthday month – Mom’s, the twins’ and mine, it’s impossible to stay disciplined when there are birthday dinners lined up to celebrate. In fact, I have a big birthday dinner celebration tonight with my golf friends and with the family come Sunday night. Hmm… I’d have to manage and stay more focused.

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Scotty, Oh Scotty

1 Apr

The outcome from the Iron Challenge golf tournament at my golf club over the weekend was not a result I had hoped for. Although there were more Red Tee boxes moved up (compared to last year) to shorten the distance to green to make it friendlier, this didn’t help my game.

And while I was mentally and physically prepared, there were areas that were such let-downs, it deflated the spirit. The putting especially with my Scotty Cameron putter.

Whilst I had a slight mishap only in one sand bunker, the putting was the biggest let down. On that hole, a Par 3 mind you, I took three shots to come out from the sand bunker with the 56 wedge and the damage wasn’t that bad until I had to putt. I took three putts to hole out. That hurt.

And on the next hole, the Par 4 where I blew up last year with the bunker failure, I was three on the green and three-putted as well. Scotty, oh Scotty, why did you fail me when it’s most critical?

In fact, the putting throughout failed me this time. I can only conclude that playing in tournaments sometimes bring out the worst in judgement and shots. And it wasn’t emotion, the sand bunker or fear that got the better of me.

It was my putting or should I say inability to putt well when it mattered most. In total, there were six holes that I three-putted. Six holes and that’s enough in a tournament situation to be costly.

Oh well. Another year, another experience chalked up. Did I have fun? Well, a couple of dunked balls each in two holes that resulted in double digits on the score card was another factor, along with the inconsistent putting to erase all the good gained. It could have been better. Sigh…

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Iron Challenge Again

29 Mar

This year my golf club has scheduled the 2019 Iron Challenge for this Sunday, 31st March instead of towards the second half of the year. And I have been mentally preparing for it, not just physically. After last year’s outing, whereby I still remember my bunker failure, I need to stay focused and not be out-of-sorts especially if I end up in a sand bunker.

The remedy? Putting a 56 degree club in the bag.

All this while, I never had a sand wedge because there was no need for one. And if I landed in a bunker, the 52 degree or P wedge worked fine. Unfortunately, on that fateful Challenge day last year, the 52 failed me.

So this year, with this additional club to help me get out of sand trouble, I hope to have a better and more enjoyable outing. I have been practicing and teeing off with my 4-iron the last few games and gaining my confidence with it. Come Sunday, I should be ready.

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