El Presidente – Paul Geddes Esq.
Moneybags – Stan standing in for Enzo Filoni (in memory, RIP)
Scribe – Geoff McLaws
BUKIT JALIL GOLF and COUNTRY RESORT
November 18th 2020.
Twenty two (22) Kloggers finally got together at Bukit Jalil Golf and Country Resort after a tumultuous year of COVID-19 Coronavirus, border and country closures, massive restrictions on our movements and the ever present threat of the virus itself. So many missed games and dinners and unfortunately for most of us, little opportunity to catch up with friends who have been lost to us this year.
Bukit Jalil suffers a lot from cyclic maintenance and like most golf courses in Malaysia, they depend on income to keep up that maintenance in times like we have experienced this year. Who knows what the bean-counters decide in their monthly meetings but the golf course suffers if the budget doesn’t include the maintenance required. For mainly this reason the golf course is sometimes fantastic and on other times very poor. This time we were fortunate aside from the lengthy registration process.
[One thing that detracts from this course more than others I’ve played, is the lack of golfer etiquette when it comes to repairing pitch marks or replacing divots. Some greens were like polka dots and thank goodness for pick, clean and place on the fairways. Open to comment]
On to the game. With two flights of 3, and four of 4, three flights started from the 1st and the other three from 10. All finished in good time but we can all agree that it was a very hot morning and all were pleased to retire to the restaurant for an ale. Bukit Jalil is presently very good, the greens roll smoothly (green speed 9.5 – 10) and the fairways lush and dry(ish), considering the heavy overnight rain. The rough here is another thing. Rumour is that’s where the elephants go to die!
The scores today reflected the relative difficulty of this course even from the whites. Some of the greens proved a mighty challenge given the slopes that some have and the higher green speeds we shared. Only four players played better than, or to their handicaps with Tony MORRIS finally being declared the winner. More on that to come.
We were not able to run our usual competition of Longest Drive but using our SOP’s by carrying individual tapes, we had three NTP’s. The fourth hole proved the most difficult of the 3 with not one player reaching the green in regulation! Hole 8 was won by Josef Winter with a distance of 7.06m and Hole 13 saw Bernd Kaiser miss by only 5.67m. Second place on this hole was Ricardo Castro, (6.0m) the prize given due to there being no winner on Hole 4.
Almost all of our group had lunch and drinks at the very nearby Icon Kitchen restaurant where we were provided with a private room. Our new member Albert Koh introduced us to this restaurant and ordered a very different but delicious fare to our usual. (and no veggie curry!)
El Pres opened proceedings with a few very heartfelt words about some of our lost brethren in 2020 and that we will try to do something in the near future as a tribute to honour our fallen comrades. It has been a difficult year to be together to be able to do so. A few kind words of support for another of our members, Barry Cousins who’s contemplating surgery.
Paul also welcomed new members Vind Sidhu and Albert Koh, and another guest Scott Milton, Welcome all!
It appeared that everyone really enjoyed the golf and the socialising afterward, a welcome relief to what we are becoming used to. Apart from a major stuff up by the scribe/score recorder that could have perhaps marred the presentation, the day went smoothly. I should say that the stuff up was quickly fixed, was also a ‘bit funny’ and left the COTD nominations in no doubt.
After Stan had sculled his Pewter Mug accepting 1st prize, for 36 points, a little murmur was heard from the corner sounding like, ‘but I had 37 points’. The murmur had come from a very hard done by, Tony Morris! A quick look by the soon to be sacked Scribe, showed this to be true and as you would expect, the Scribe became the only real candidate for COTD.
Full Results
Prizes:
1st – Tony Morris – Winner of the Pewter Mug with 37 points.
2nd – Stan Constantinides (36)
3rd – Martin Belderink (35)
Last Birdie – Scott Milton (18th hole)
Lowest Gross – Geoff McLaws (81), 2nd Albert Koh (83)
NTP: Hole 4 – None
NTP: Hole 8 – Josef Winter
NTP: Hole 13 – Bernd Kaiser, Runnner-up Ricardo Castro
COTD Nominations:
- Stan nominated Roland for talking through players backswings (3 times)
- Pietro nominated Ricardo for hitting the ball further than him and continually standing in the fairway when others behind had yet to play their shots. “Ricardo is longer than me”
- Paul nominated and this was unanimously voted as COTD – Your scribe, Geoff for absolutely “flucking up” the winner!
Sponsors:
A few photos taken by Stan and Ricardo are attached for your viewing but first a word about our sponsors, without whom, we’d be drinking only beer and buying 2nd hand golf balls outside the course.
- Ricardo for supplying the wine, and the second place prize.
- Robert for supplying the balls.
Thank you guys.
