5th Goofy Golf Tournament

The curse at the 6 hole

Four of us - Dick, RK, KBC aka Peter Koh and myself played the Army/Air Force courses on the morning of boxing day Friday 26th Dec. Beautiful weather and great kakis.

The Goofies have the reputation for Naming Rights - Jonas' Tree and CYM's Hole!!! Somehow when I get to the respective tee-boxes I get the feeling, sometimes eerie otherwise a "pulling" aura and sense somehow, something may happen to my tee shot. Believe me it happened that day!

I will call it The Curse of CYM at the 6th hole of Air Force. I have always liked and actually enjoyed playing such holes! (Hee! Hee!) But, blooooody fooool, instead of executing a simple smooth swing from the tee-box, using a tee mind you!, I chopped my shot - yes it was like me --- bloody short!! Ball went into water before the red tee-box and had to buy a jug of beer. (Actually frust but also happy to contribute drink at 19th hole).

Imagine the pulling power of CYM even when he was not there - so, must be The Curse! (He actually swore and cursed that dammed hole so many times that I think his saliva dried up there and saw a few dead worms there too! Such powerful curse).

My partner and I lost that hole and eventually lost the sixes! If only ....... I will try again on Monday 29th - have to make amends and try to rid myself of the curse.

CYM, you too must play that hole again and undo the Curse, otherwise the hole welcomes you everytime you stand on the tee-box! Don't run away, practice many times, you will be perfect. Ha! Ha!

Equally Hilarious Army 6th Hole

This morning at Army 6th hole, we had an incident that got Lee Heng and myself having a good time laughing ... and in part thanks to CYM who wasn't even in the flight :)

Our good friend RK (no names pls but who else!) had a reasonably good 2nd shot approach onto the left side of the green. He approached his ball for his third shot with Lee Heng standing near him. RK on moving backward (apparently after examining the green for his chip) and at the same time talking to Lee Heng, accidentally stepped on his ball making it to move - that's a 1 stroke penalty. Then he kicked his ball apparently to move it back to the original position - that's another 1 stroke penalty. Lee Heng saw all these and told him it's a two stroke penalty. RK initially refused to take the 2 strokes penalty because he claimed to be distracted because he was talking about CYM :) Then he threatened to catch us from then on for any penalty we incurred. All these while, Lee Heng and I were laughing our hearts out! In the end he took the 2 strokes penalty and lost the hole to Lee Heng and squared me. I played terribly today but at least I got to square this hole and have something other than my score to laugh about.

Moral of the story? Don't talk about CYM when he is not around :)

Covette Ong achieves Pro status

We are so proud that one of our own has achieved his pro certification after completing his test conducted by AMGTF (American Golf Teachers Federation) in Batam Palm Spring.

Covette has passed his practical and theory test to attain this covetted (pun intended) title.

Well done, Covette.

PS : We are looking forward to one more pretty soon.

Fun at Army Hole 9

It was so hillarious!!!

Me and Dick were literally rolling on the floor laughing.

CYM teed off into the coconut trees on the left of the tee box. Of course he had to buy beer. He grabbed 2 irons from the buggy and went into the hazard. Dick immediately said "Just watch him, he will leave his club in the hazard".

Of course, as we all know, CYM is a smart man. He did not leave the iron on the ground. He leaned it against the coconut tree!!! Now, that 1-stroke penalty.

He duffed his chip shot and the ball still remained in the hazard. Now he moved forward but his view is blocked by giant yam leaves, so he used his club to push the yam leaves aside. Now that's another penalty stroke.

At this point, he found another tree to lean his club (+ another stroke). He couldn't get his next shot out. The following shot, he chipped it to the right side hazard.

He did get to the green on his 6 or 7 (I lost track), but that's excluding the penalties.

Other than laughing at him, we were kind.

How to blog..

I was asked by CYM how to post on this blog.

Well, its easy. If you have a gmail account, just click on the "sign in" tab on the top right corner, key in your gmail id and password...bingo, you can start to blog.

But I need to grant you admin right first. Currently the following have admin right:

1. Bobby
2. CYM
3. Chee Hoo
4. Peter

Those of you who have gmail account, please give me your id.

Looking forward to see more fellow goofy bloggers..

Monkey off Lam Chih Bing's back

Some weeks ago, I blogged about Lam who was among the leaders heading into the last day at the Singapore Open. He messed it up on the Day 4 and finished 18th.

We were still talking about him yesterday morning prior to our golf game and about his tendency to blow-up on the last day.

Well, he did benefit from his exploits in the Singapore Open and British Open.

I just returned from a family outing at about 4pm on Sunday when Arch smsed me to watch the Volvo Master of Asia as our local boy Lam was leading. I turned on the set to catch Lam parred the 17th and birdied the 18th.

Yes, he won the season-ending Volvo Master of Asia with a score of -14. This is his first win on the Asia PGA Tour after turning pro in 1999 .

He became the 2nd Singapore pro to win on the APGA Tour after Mardan Mamat who won the Singapore Masters and the Indian Open. Now that the monkey is off his back, he is ready to achieve greater glory.

Bad day turned good

Something is definitely wrong. Played real bad today..a horrendous 92, almost equal to the worst game of the year at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain at 93.

Duff, top, shank, fat, skulling bunker shots, you name it I did it. The only thing that worked was my putter. Thank you KJ Choi.

The good thing that came out of it?? Did not lose money in individual bets. Vincent Loh (he wanted to play 5-5-10 stroke play)was generous to donate $20 for me to pay Jason. Huat Siong was shy to take my money, so we halved.

So what was the reason for the bad game? It could be the drinking session last night which lasted til 2am. But the previous week I was also out til 2am and nursing a damn bad headache in the morning. I still shot 83.

What it the range practice? I was just at the range on Friday and everything seems ok. Even went to practise my chipping.

Was it the strong wind that made golfing difficult? Or was it the swing change?

I am still lost.

Malaysia (Airline) Tak Boleh

Sorry if I offended anyone with this post.

Please be aware that the shuttle arrangement between SQ and MAS has been terminated since 1 Jun 08 (where have I been?)

Had a flight booked for 3.40pm on SQ605 (SQ Codeshare with MAS). Left KL at about noon, without any lunch. My colleague Senggaran was supposed to drop me at KL Sentral to catch the express train. Well, I was stuck on the traffic jam for 2 hours. Finally, caught the train and reach the airport by 3.10am.

Rushed to the usual shuttle row at Row L. Counter was closed. Strange. So I checked the monitor, it showed Row C. It is at the other end of the huge airport. I tot SQ row has been relocated.

Rushed over to Row C, saw that it was MAS and not SQ.

Went back to SQ, I was told that my flight is MAS under SQ codeshare.

Went back to MAS, queued and was told that the gate is closed. He (counter staff)told me he cannot do anything, showing me the unhelpful face. I must speak to the supervisor, at the last counter.

Went to the supervisor, he told me the gate is already closed. I can try to get myself on the next flight at 5.55pm. I am determined not to walk back to SQ, if its gonna be MAS, so be it. Again, not very helpful, trying to get rid of me.

Queued for another 15 minutes at MAS and finally reached the counter, she told me she can check me in the next flight, but I have to pay a RM300 penalty. But I have to go to level 3 to MAS office to pay the penalty and then come back to MAS row again.

At this point, I am sweaty, hungry and damn bloody pissed. I have been stuck in KL traffic jam, walked the whole airport 3 times and now I have to go to Level 3.

Next I did the smartest thing I possibly could. I walked back to SQ row, yes, again.

Reach the counter, saw a girl whose counter was indicated "Closed".

"I need help, I just missed my plane", I pleaded.

"Can I see your ticket?"

"Is there another SQ fight later?", I asked.

"Next flight is a MI at 6.05pm, I can book you on that flight"

"Do I have to pay a penalty?"

"No." She replied.

"Nur, that is the most wonderful thing I have heard the whole day!!!!"

Nur, this SQ staff is really such a sweet gal. Courteous, responsive service with a smile. She served me even when the sign said "Counter Closed". I am so glad, I did not go to MAS office and back to MAS row.

So finally at 4pm, I am taking my lunch and blogging at KLIA, waiting for the most wonderful Silkair MI 337.

What has this got to do with golf? Nothing. I am just pissed.

Red tee and buying beer

Last Saturday, while enjoying our few jugs of beer (we had about 6 jugs free!!!), we started a lively debate regarding when a golfer should buy beer for not passing the red tee, especially when ball is in the drink.

Under which circumstances should he buy?

1. Eventual ball position in the water? The difficulty is determining where is the ball, especially when its a close call. The ripple will be a good reference.

2. The point of entry before the red tee?

3. The drop point where he should drop the ball, assuming there is no official dropzone.

Case in point is CYM's favorite hole, Airforce 6. If the ball is in the water, the point of entry is definitely before the red tee.

So what do you think?

15 hours for a golf game

My itinerary for the day goes something like this..

4.20am Woke up
5.00am Reach Felix's house
5.50am Reach Tuas Checkpoint
7.20am Cleared Tuas. Jammed for 1.5 hours
8.50am Cleared Malaysia checkpoint. Jammed for 1.5 hours
9.30am Breakfast at Kelapa Sawit
10.30am Teed off at Legends
2.30pm Finish Game
3.00pm Left Legends. Jam along the way, road block.
4.00pm Reach Senai for Lunch/Dunch
4.45pm Left Senai
5.15pm Reach Tuas
6.30pm Clear Tuas (Jam 1 hour 15 mins)
7.10pm Reach home

I finally reached home 15 hours after I woke up for game.

What a day!!! I still have not learned my lesson after previous experience.

NEVER EVER GO FOR A GOLF GAME IN MALAYSIA DURING A LONG WEEKEND!!!!

4 City Bumpkins Challenge the Sea of Pearls..by CYM

It all started with 8 but one preferred Bogor and so there will 3. Another on biz trip, the 3rd one cannot go (don’t know why but suspect no visa), the 4th don’t know where to go and so there were 4. These 4 heroes from Water Margin then made its plan to Zhuhai, the Sea of Pigs (ooh….should be Pearls, soon you find out why pearls and not pigs). When I said plan we really plan.

2 days before the journey we had a post-trip meeting, wah pian so serious men, don’t pray, pray. Meeting supposed to start at 4.30p at McCafe, Great World City. Lee Heng was there at 4.30pm sharp (now you know who was the most excited one), 5pm LCK walked in followed by Billy. I was the late one at 5.30pm. Before I could warm my seat, LH had to go and 15 minutes later Billy. What a plan? So what did we discuss? Money, transport, golf courses, itinerary…………&*^%$#@!.

Woke up at 4am on a warm Saturday morning, 8 Nov 2008, for Billy to pick me up at 4.40am (this LCK don’t know why picked a flight at 6.30am departure). I guess he was training all of us to wait up early for the next 3 days. Reached LCK’s house at 4.55am, wa lau wife, mother, daughter all waiting to send him off. Hello LCK kena wear chastity belt or not, I asked? Shee……

As planned, arrived at airport Terminal 1 at 5.10am and checked in. Still got plenty of time to take breakfast, supposed to take noodle but one wise crack suggested Burger King. Ok, lah (and soon I regretted). 3 of us ordered the same breakfast set except for this wise crack and he got into some kind of a tiff with of all kind of people, a female Chinese nationalist. Food and beverage came, took one bite and the wise crack said his order wrong. Ya loh, must be revenge by the Chinese girl. She came, uttered some words, with a flicked of her fingers and LH’s cup of hot coffee came flying and landed of all places on my ‘tee tee’. Luckily wearing a thick blue jean but still hot inside, you know. @#$%^&*()+_)(*, I want to see your manager thinking maybe get a free meal, tan ku ku ok. And so I flew all the way from Singapore to the Sea of Pearls with the coffee aroma of Burger King. Guess who is the wise crack who gave me this special flavour?

Landed in Hong Kong, wah quite cooling men, siok like Kunming weather. Settled our transit via ferry to Zhuhai, still got plenty of time and so ‘chor tai tee’ until we reached our destination. Alamak, it’s damned cold men with the strong wind coming from the sea. Hello, why nobody check the weather before coming? Of course, none of us brought a sweater. Quickly jumped into a cab. Ferry point to hotel, Nanyang Seascape (nan yang hai chin) was about 30 minutes. Can’t wait to check-in. Wow, the room very big leh, can play 18 holes in there. I like it and so are the rest. ‘Ok, 15 minutes later to wait at lobby to take lunch’ said LCK. He must be real hungry, don’t give me chance to remove the coffee. What do you think the first thing we or rather I will do after lunch?

If you think crooked you were all wrong. I went to Lotus Road to hunt for a pair of jean. I thought maybe I can claim it back from LCK (now you know who the wise crack was) but alas he claimed innocence.

Wow!!! we saw many pearls walking around but there are pigs too. Found and bought a pair of Chinese-made Armani jean but the 3 nowhere to be found. I guessed I know where they are, look for the ‘Pearls’. And there I found all 3 surrounding a pretty mei mei drinking tsing tao beer. In Zhuhai, they have these drinking stalls lining up the entire street with a pretty girl manning the drink stall. You can play cards with her or if you like by yourself, dice also can. All you need to do it to pay for your drink, beer, juices or soft one. Strictly no hanky panky, just young innocent girls doing a decent business. 1 after another they drank, mesmerised by this pretty pearls. ‘Hey, you guys already drank a dozen, we need to go I’m still with my coffee’, I heard myself uttering these words. While walking back we scouted around checking which good restaurant to eat, settled on one and so back to hotel. ‘Everyone to fall in at 6.30pm at the lobby for dinner’ shouted LCK.

It was really cold with the fierce wind blowing, yet we chose eating in the open air area (asked for it, still cold while eating). It was a ‘big fish big meat’ dinner with roast goose, pigeon, crabs, prawns, garoupa…..I can’t remember the rest but it was a sumptuous dinner. An enjoyable meal if not for the frequent harassment from young girls to buy their flowers, sings us a song and so on……

What a meal and so what’s next?

Me, LCK and LH wanted to go for our favourite activity. Billy had no choice but to follow. We went hunting pub after pub after pub for one particular one. LCK told us his friend said this one the best, it has got everything there which others may not have. And it’s true. There in front of us, it was BIG, men. Wow, so many people watching.


…………………. To continue in the next episode.

Lexus Cup

Despite the bad weather, my daugther and I still persisted in going for the Lexus Cup. Paid $33 for myself as kids get to watch for free.

We were planning to follow the last match between Seon Hwa Lee and Angela Stanford, so we sat at the 10th tee waiting for them to crossover. After watching 3 flights teed off, the game was suspended for a 2nd time. I thought to myself, $33 for 3 tee-offs, $10 per flight, its gonna be expensive.

1.5 hours later, the game was on again. We waited and waited and finally, Seon Hwa Lee came. She was already 3-down. We followed her flight hoping to see a fight-back but she lost hole 10 to go 4-down, missing a near putt for par. Guess what? We decided to abandon her flight (so much for being a fan!!).

We hung around the 16th hole and watch the flights come by. Paula Creamer came along, she squared 16th hole but lost her match. She was really cool. Took out her new balls, sign them and gave them out. Both my gal and her friend got one autographed ball each.

Then Jang Jeong came along, she was already 3-down with 3 to go. She promptly birdied 16th to pull one back. We decided to follow this flight to watch her fight-back. She teed off 17th to within 6-7 feet and then birdied again to win. However, she can only square 18th and lost 1-down.

While hanging around the 18th green, we managed to catch Yani Tseng, the World No 2 ranked player. My gal and her golf kaki (ya, she has her kakis too!) managed to get this photo taken with her.

My intention in bringing her there is to hopefully inspire her to take her golf more seriously. She managed to get Annika, Na Yeon Choi, Inbee Park, Yani Tseng and Creamer 's autograph.

Hopefully, I achieved my goal.