Entries Tagged as 'Playing'

Thailand 2011

I went to Thailand with my girlfriend to relax and play some golf. I have heard a lot of good about Thailand from friends and I would like to pass on the good advice – Thailand is great, go there to experience the kind people, good food and great golf courses.

Clubhouse area of Banyan Golf Club

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We stayed in the town called hua hin, three hours south west of Bangkok. The hotel named Wora Bura was great to stay at. The hotel was located by the seaside with an infinity pool. The garden and hotel was beautiful made with respect to the thai nature. The hotel is located a few kilometers outside huahin center, but you can easily get there by a cheap tuk tuk og cab.

We had booked four golf courses, the first one called Banyan. A great and beautifull course located in a mountain area. Everything was perfect, except for the rusty golf skills which could have been better, but not a disaster. We had a buggy and a caddy each, that’s the way to play golf in Thailand. :-) As we played the holes my game got better and better. Especially the three wood became good, yes it also had to adjust to the climate, and the scores became better. Some of the drives from the tee box where difficult to read how to do but the caddy gave you a club and said “aim for the tree” or “aim for the car in from” and when she said go you just go ahead and shoot. Most of the times it was a success but a few times we had to search for the ball in the rough or find it in the bunkers. :-)

The second course we tried was black mountian, one of the best ones in pacific Asia. A really difficult course which has to be played with course management in mind. Try it out if you dare to, it is great. Again my game became better and better – it really helps playing golf multiple days in a row. Putting was difficult on those greens but I think I managed to keep the number of puts under 36 for the round. I remember a par 3 hole which would terrify most golfers because of the green being a half island surrounded by water. I can’t say that I wasn’t scared of throwing the ball in the water but I was more focused on landing it close to the pin. About 140 meters to the pin a great shot with the 7 iron landed just behind the pin and spun towards the pin. But when we got to the green the ball was pin low with about a 3 meter put. I spoiled both the birdie and par chance and got a boogie. Darn!! Great shot to the green but bad putting, that is what golf is all about, the small victories and the nightmares such as three putting. :-)

The third course we played was Imperial Lake View Golf Club which is located among farmers and pineapple fields. The fairways are narrow and difficult to play. Again it was good to have a caddy to guide you through the green. It was not the best of the courses we tried but very good after all.

The fourth course we tackled was Palm Hills Golf Club. We got accompanied by a golf player named Heinz. It was a great day and a good course. I scored around 30 stableford points and that was good for a difficult course and also a total unknown and new course. I hope that I can get a good start when the season in Denmark starts around May. I would like to get under 11 in handicap this year which should be possible if I take the time to improve my short game.

It was great to explore the city and the nature surrounding it. We did that by tuk tuk or by motorcycle. It was really a good vacation my girlfriend and I had in Thailand. The food is one of the things you have to try out in various places, it is so tasteful, cheap and good that you would not believe it.

I want to go there again :-)

Late Summer Update

It has been a while since I last posted a slice, therefore I want to try to sum it up if I can remember all the things that has happened.

Chicago and New York

In August my girlfriend and I spend two weeks in the US. We started out in Chicago “the windy city” for a few beatifull days which included good food, sightseeing on segway and shopping. I want a segway for my golf clubs, that could be nice :-) Next we went to New York which is bigger and a new experience for me, the architecture is great and the diversity of the different areas of Manhatten is great to explore. We had a great time, again good food and got a ride in a limo ;-)

Fakkelgården & Benniksgaard Golf Club

At my birthday I was so lucky of receiving a “golf package” present from my girlfriend. :-) It was a two day trip to the southern Jutland including a three course dinner on Fakkelgården which was just perfect. The service and the food is really great. Not just an ordinary danish kitchen, but gourmet food made with a twist of passion. The next day we had a great breakfast served before we headed towards the golf club.

We had rented a golf buggy for the 18 holes of play. The weather was windy but that is just part of the game as they say – none of us managed to battle the wind and play to our handicap. The course is beautifull placed at the hillside towards the sea, I think that on a sunny day, we could conquer the course and get back to the 19th. with a good score.

Comwell Kellers Park Golf Club

As you can see we are quite busy playing golf and we had a couple of free tickets for Kellers Park hanging on the board which we decided to cash in some weeks ago. The course is located a few kilometers from Vejle and has a great view towards the fjord. The old part of the course which curb its way through the forest is the most beautifull part, but also has som tricky passages where it is good to know the course to be able to play it well. The opposite part of the course which is the first 9 holes are in the open landscape but still fun to play.

We had to rent a buggy again, which we did not regret because some parts of the course is quite hilly. I recommend that you try it.

Lübker Golf Club

A week ago my girlfriend and I went to try out the Lübker course which is in the top 2 of golf courses in Denmark. What a sight, everything is just looking so good, even the tee boxes are kept perfect by the many greenkeepers. The course has 3 times 9 holes which are named Sky, Sand and Forest. We played the Forest-Sky combination and got puzzled from the start on the first tee to the very end of the 18 holes about how to play every stroke on the course – there are good places to land the ball but next to that you might find a bunker, hazzard or wasteland (sand, but without the sandbunker rules and no rakes) . I find it fasinating to play a course like this although it is very challanging. I played from the black tee which is close to the yellow tee in AAGC – I did 19 points on Forest and 9 on sky. Next time I want to do better on the last nine, that could be fun to beat the Sky-layout. :-)

AAGC - Local Craftsmen Year-End Tournament

Yesterday the local craftsmen sponsored the Year End Tournament in AAGC. The weather was almost perfect for this time of the year for golf, just a bit too cold, but none of us froze to death, so it was a good day although my toes was a bit icy at the end.

I started out on hole 4 – the thoughest one on the course and made a par – great start! :-) I made another par on hole 6 but it was not enough to even out the missing points on some of the other holes. I made a couple of double boggies and three holes without points but to sum it all up it was the best round of golf in months. I managed to become 9th of the 23 participants in the A group. :-)

My girlfriend took the second prize in the C group – congratulations to her – well done :-) My brother managed to get a bottle of wine but never mind how many points he made ;-)

My game analysis:

  • Driving is great, only 5 % of the shots are either left or just off the tee.
  • On Fairway is acceptable, some shots are duffed.
  • Approach shots can be improved a lot – I loose points on the lack of precision in length.
  • Chipping is acceptable, some chips are either too short or too long.
  • Putting is great, only a few puts are short.
  • Bunker shots are acceptable, mostly I get out except for one time at Lübker :-)

Changing weather

The month of July has been great concerning the weather – I even think that it has set new records. Wednesday this week I played hallington from white tee in AAGC(Gentlemen’s Club) in such good weather. Hallington is a special way of calculating points close to stableford. On each hole you double the par (not your own) and substract the number of strokes you have used. This means that if you use 5 strokes on a par 4 then the result is 8-5 which is 3 points. After the round you add it all up and add you player handicap, if the total score is equal to the par of the course you have played to your handicap if it is above you might be qualified for regulation. I did 74 hallington / 38 stableford and a new handicap of 13.6. :-)

Yesterday I went to Mollerup to compete against their Gentlemen’s Club. As always the clouds broke and we got a lot of rain – approx 3 out of 5 hours. Despite the heavy rain I managed to play some good golf and made 31 stableford points, which gave me a 5th place in the A group. The prize was a bottle of red wine.