Roadtesting the new golf clubs in Asia with QF & CX, and free IC nights!

[brumm5150]

Being Melbourne based and not a keen horse racing fan I find that the best thing to do at this time of year ( other than be in one of those posh marquees watching the prettier fillies ) is to seek out a cheap fare and head somewhere warm, cheap(ish) and where the golf courses are easy to get on to without serious family or work connections!

Having just taken delivery of the latest TaylorMade Burner golf clubs which I had only played 2 rounds with in Melbourne I was very excited that the week or so was looking so well planned.

Plan was to leave around Oct 29 and come back Nov 8, I knew if I could at least get to SIN I would be able to get a cheap fare to either KUL or BKK and take it from there, as I was travelling alone the only priority was to get at least 5 decent golf courses in the time I was away.

As a WP I am always looking to maximise my SC's even if its not the cheapest option, I did Emirates same time last year for $680 rtn via SYD but they didn't have anything similar so I ended up with a red e deal fare this time out of MEL with QF to SIN on QF9 ( around $880 inc tax ) and CX had a deal on their SIN - BKK daily flight of around $180 AUD so I was pretty happy with that.

Thur 29th Oct MEL - SIN QF9
"City of Dubbo" 747-400
Selected Seat: 41H ( online selected 14 days prior)
Booked Seat: 24J ( received a call from Premium desk 3 days prior offering to upgrade for 40K points even though was booked on red - e deal, so accepted it )

Arrived at First check in at MEL to be told that "unfortunately Mr Brumm5150 there has been a need to move some passengers onto this flight and we are unable to seat you in the Business class cabin today"

:evil: Just when I thought the gods were on my side, I knew this would affect my golf game if the trip started out this badly!

"So would Mr Brumm5150 mind if we sat you up front in the First class cabin for this evenings flight???":mrgreen::mrgreen:

Not bad I thought to myself...I just smiled and said of course and filled in my dept card while she tapped away and made a phonecall to the service desk I think I heard her say.

Boarding pass 3F duly handed, golf clubs ( my only checked baggage ) taken off me and to the lounge I headed where on arrival I was asked if I would like a massage, there was a spare 30 min slot which I could have that would still allow me tim to have a quick bite to eat ( maybe they wouldn't have enough food for me on board I told myself, does "catering not assured" get printed on F boarding passes??? )

Had my first ever facial, was complimented on my skin, laid back and watched the SQ380 manouevre itself around outside and then had a quick bite of snapper and the soup of the day just in time to get the boarding call.

Next..on board QF9 in F, Ayers Rock loop and SIN Hilton

 

[Brisbane Flyer]

Don't forget the detailed report on the golf courses visited...My club has a reciprocal agreement with Singapore Island CC, I make sure I get in 8-10 rounds a year there during my work visits to SG.

Gotta love F Class and the Flounge.

 

[brumm5150]

On board QF9 the F cabin was about 2/3rds full, I notice a couple behind me were sitting across the aisle from each other and not in the middle pair of seats so once we pushed back I told the lovely FA ( one of 3 on this flight who served us ) that I wouldn't mind swapping to the aisle seat and letting the couple sit together, they gratefully accepted and my good karma for the day continued.
As I had already eaten in the F Lounge I just had the prawn salad and then some fresh fruit but did enjoy a glass of Taittinger champagne as it seemed nearly everyone else was doing their best to empty whatever stock there was of this on the flight!
I read a bit and watched some Two and a Half Men episodes until the Captain came on the PA and said that in 60 secs those of you on the right hand side would see a great view of Ayers Rock at which point being only 2 seats from the front of the plane and sitting window side I peered out the window to a great shot of the monolith in a setting sun, I guess with a full flight and the fact we got away on time allowed us to do a partial loop around the rock so everyone who wanted to would have got a great pic if they wanted to, a nice touch I thought.
We made the longest approach to Changi I can ever remember, it was like my experiences of landing at JFK where you see the airport a couple of times before you make some bizarre turns to "get in line" and then finally wheels down, my F experience was over for now.

Golf Bag came out pretty quickly, there was another QF flight, ( Perth? ) that had just arrived but within 10 mins I was in the cab to the Singapore Hilton so by 10pm was in the room, tomorrow was going to be a big day, the Singapore Masters Golf.

Fri 30th Oct
I woke up pretty early and hungry and as my companies corporate room rate no longer includes breakfast I went down Orchard Rd about 100mtrs and had a quick breakfast and a decent coffee before heading out to Sentosa Golf Club to watch some of Day 2 of the event. I only had today to watch and the rain had caused havoc with play being stopped a few time but I was on holidays and just to be around these guys was good enough for me.
The field this year included some of my favourite golfers, Mickelson, Ogivly, Adam Scott etc but also a friend from Canberra where I grew up who plays on the Asian tour was in the event so I knew whatever way I was going to have a good time. ( He ended up making the cut whereas the top ranked Aussie, Ogilvy didn't so it goes to show how tough the game can be.)
I enjoyed watching Adam Scott play a few holes, anyone out there who is a golfer knows that he has gone from World no.5 to 71 this year and this maybe coincided with him focusing on his off course interest which include being romantically linked with Ana Ivanovic ( tennis player ) who was following him along like I was, walking the fairly empty fairways in Singapore as it was a work day for most.. It made it hard to focus on who to watch as she is one very attractive lady....

Anyway, I digress...something is going right for him "on the course" as he turned his year around at the event, he made the cut, shot some great rounds in the 60's and finished tied for 3rd.( Pocketed around $250K USD for the week ).
Having been able to play the course earlier this year myself I was itching to get to Thailand the next day to start my "own" golf week!

Sat 31st Oct
CX712 SIN - BKK
OLCI Seat 31H in Y
Actual Seat - 16J in J

As I'd already chosen my seat online and it was only a 2hr flight from SIN to BKK I was in no rush to get to the airport but I was still there with plenty of time. T1 at Changi is in "renovation mode" to be polite but the checkin area for the CX flight was a zoo. Once I showed my QF Platinum I was taken to the side and checked in at the business class desk, as this is a regional flight its 2 class I guessed and the only flight that CX does via BKK to HKG each day.
The lady checking me in just lent forward when I handed her my passport and asked me if I was travelling alone today which I replied yes and then she handed me a J class boarding pass, somehow I wasn't as excited a I should have been, again given I purchased the cheapest fare possible it would have made most people happy but maybe I still had F class hangover from the QF flight, anyway off I went to the QF J lounge
as I remember reading somewhere that the F Lounge doesn't open until 3pm. There was no one in the J lounge, I had trouble connecting to the Wifi even with the instructions so I decided to walk up to the C20 something gate.
Looked a very full flight from the number of people standing outside the gate entrance let alone the number of people who were on the seats inside the secure lounge area. Once inside I sat myself down on the ground next to guy who was just strumming a few notes on his guitar and talking to a couple of other blokes, as I had my ipod on I didn't hear the music or the conversation but on closer look I recognised the face as Tommy Emmanuel and then I thought that not many would recognise him here but little did I know that he would turn out to be sitting one aisle across from on the flight and he told me he was on tour and headlining a show in BKK and I noted down where it was and make a mental note to see if I could get to see it, he seemed like a really nice bloke..oh btw, the service was ok, the seat was something out of the 80's, really tired with those lever controls but hey who was I to complain, the time went past really quickly and we landed on time and I was again reunited with my golf clubs and on my way to my first free night at the Bangkok Intercontinental courtesy of the free night promo they had this year.

Next Bangkok IC, Hua Hin - Hyatt Regency Hua Hin and Black Mountain Golf Course, Banyan Golf Course, Palm Hills reviews.

 

[Maca44]

The field this year included some of my favourite golfers, Mickelson, Ogivly, Adam Scott etc but also a friend from Canberra where I grew up who plays on the Asian tour was in the event so I knew whatever way I was going to have a good time. ( He ended up making the cut whereas the top ranked Aussie, Ogilvy didn't so it goes to show how tough the game can be.)
I enjoyed watching Adam Scott play a few holes, anyone out there who is a golfer knows that he has gone from World no.5 to 71 this year and this maybe coincided with him focusing on his off course interest which include being romantically linked with Ana Ivanovic ( tennis player ) who was following him along like I was, walking the fairly empty fairways in Singapore as it was a work day for most.. It made it hard to focus on who to watch as she is one very attractive lady.....

Television does not do players of this calibre justice when you are actually there and see just how far they hit the ball with what appears to be no effort at all. Sounds like a great trip thus far, so keep us informed.

 

[brumm5150]

I had accumulated a number of free IC nights to be used by Dec 31st and with this being my only scheduled overseas trip for the rest of 2009 I thought it a great opportunity to use them up at one of my favourite hotels, the IC in Bangkok ( The Langham Place in Mongkok in Hong Kong is my current favourite due to ints location and the awesome gym and pool
facilities )

I booked 2 free nights in BKK to get myself acclimatised to the heat before heading off on the Hyatt Erawan shuttle bus to Hua Hin Hyatt Regency for 500Baht ( I have also used this when not staying at the hotel in Hua Hin, I find its very cheap and convenient and they don't mind, I've even had them drop me at a different hotle in Hua Hin when I arrived when using the Dusit Thani Sprinter service )

My plan was then 3 nights at the Hyatt Regency in Hua Hin, its in a great location, about a 45 min walk along the beach to town ( perfect for the afternoon stroll back when the sun is setting or a 100 Baht either way in a tuk tuk. It was very quiet, I just booked room only and I think there was only about 25 other people there during my stay, a nice hotel but I
wouldn't stay here for my whole week.

The golfing plan was to play the following courses over the next week:

Black Mountain
Banyan
Palm Hills
Springfield

There are 4 other courses in the region but I wanted to focus on the best ones and depending on how the first 3 days went I would then return to the course I enjoyed the most ( maybe where I had the best score at! )

Black Mountain

All of the courses arrange to pick you up around an hour before your tee time and return you afterwards so with a 7.28am tee time I was ready to go in the foyer for my 6.30am pickup.

The course is rated one of the best in Asia, its only a couple of years old, I was able to play it in 2008 on my first trip here, even with Cobra hire clubs it was a great day, this time was going to be more special with my new TaylorMade's and a week to focus on golf and golf only!

The course is about a 20 min drive out of town, west towards the Burmese border and as the name suggests is nestled at the base of a decent mountian range with great valley views from the elevated tees.

The course has a number of large two storey fairway villas that were
built last year, mostly to the Scandanavian market from what I can tell, they are only lining the 10th fairway so its not like similar resort courses where there are houses on each hole and you feel like you are a peeping tom if you have to find your stray tee shot amongst someones expensive garden gnomes

Its only 18 holes but given the layout and the way it plays in various conditions the bunkers and water features mean you wouldn't tire of this course for your daily fix.
The facilities from the sheltered driving range to immaculate clubhouse with terrace restaurant/bar and excellent changerooms makes the 3,200Baht fees very reasonable.

The whole region in fact has a 50% discount in the low season ( from April/May to 31st Oct ) whereby its only 1,500 Baht for Black Mountain which at around $50 AUD is a bargain.
For those of you who haven't played golf in Asia before the other really cool feature of any round of golf is the golf caddy. This means that even if you choose to walk the course you have your own dedicated caddy who is responsible for everything to do with your golf experience, except hitting the ball for you, so from arriving at the course you are allocated your own caddy ( exclusively female ) and they provide advice on each hole as well ( whether you can understand it or heed it is another thing altogether :mrgreen: ) as doing the driving of the cart, scraping the bunker, looking for your ball if you hit it in the rough ( both of which I did once or twice for the purposes of this trip report ).

My caddy, Yaa was even able to tell me what club I should hit after watching me play about 3 holes, when I asked her about her golf experience she said she had never played!

I finished 2 over my handicap for the round so given this was just my 4th round with my new Taylor Made's and I was still having trouble gauging my new distances as well as everything being in yards and not metres I was very happy indeed.

The great thing about all of this is that you can get a round of golf completed in around 3 hrs which is great for two reasons, your day is not lost as you can be back poolside by 11am or back in bed to make up for the very late night at the "Loy Krathong" festival the previous night with only 5 hrs sleep and also by midday even in winter the heat can be
oppressive and I find I just don't enjoy it as much when "everything"sticks!

Banyan Golf Course

This is the newest golf course in the region, only recently opened, it is about 10 mins away and again only 18 holes but the layout means you wouldn't be bored here either.
There was a regular competition of some sort on today so I could only get on at 7am which was in hindsight perfect as it rained later on that day and would have made it uncomfortable, I was done by 10am and able to enjoy one of the best western breakfasts at the cafe and watch the competition players tee off. The setup is similar to Black Mountain,
they are in selling mode with regards to the villa and condos they are offering, at a quick glance I think around $280K would get you something and like all these places the purchase comes with 4 free lifetime course memberships.

The course has a similar layout with plenty of water and natural hazards, I found the sand traps a little coarser here than at Black Mountain but again the tee boxes and greens were immaculately presented and in tournament condition. The caddy never drove off the paved path, so regardless of where my ball was on the fairway I was required to walk to it, no big deal I guess if that keeps the course in top condition but for some of you this might feel like you've paid for a cart but end up doing as much walking as if you had a pull buggy!

A close second to Black Mountain for me.

Palm Hills

Next day I could only get on at Palm Hills in the afternoon which as it turns out was a blessing, for one it was much cooler in the afternoon today and secondly they have a special 900 Baht including caddy ( cart 600 Baht extra ) after 3pm. Given that it gets dark about
5.15pm I was cutting it fine in getting 18 holes done depending on other groups in front of me but my caddy ( Su ) understood my needs and with precision made sure we skipped ahead of some groups, ducked back to play other holes etc to make sure I could get done in time, I
wish it were this easy back home,

I don't think I'll be able to handle 4.5hr rounds anymore

The course is set amongst a gated community with houses, partially completed houses, vacant lots and a mosque, lining probably 85% of the fairways so it had that Queensland feeling about it. Its a flat course not far from the ocean and honestly I was a bit disappointed at
the quality of the greens.

It seems the hole placement hadn't been changed for a few days and the paths etc were not as well kept, it looked a bit run down, in terms of my golf game I was now really into my game, the new Ping G15 12 degree driver was working a treat so even
though it was the least nicest of the 3 courses I played my best golf here.

 

[brumm5150]

After playing the 3 courses I mentioned back to back I decided that there was enough variety in those 3 alone and I am sure if I played them again I would see other parts of the holes that I may have missed the first time around, so I decided to spend the rest of the week
playing Black Mountain and Banyan again.

This time however I would play with a group as up until now I had been playing solo which had made for a quick game but not necessarily a socially interactive one wih my thai caddy although I have learnt the thai word for "stop, stop" is "yort yort" or something similar! ( Apologies to anyone who knows the thai language but thats what mosy of my caddie this week were saying when my ball was about to dribble/shoot off the edge of the green into sand/water etc..

My follow up game at Black Mountain started well, I teamed up with two Japanese guys Hayomi-san and Kobayashi-san, both in their 50's from Nagoya enjoying a week away with their golf clubs.
If their golf attire was the basis for how well they were going to play then I was going to be in for a lesson. Having been a regular visitor to Japan since 2004 I know and understand enough to carry a very basic conversation so it was with much fun that we played from the
blue tees, in stark contrast while I was enjoying the clean crisp morning air and drank copious amounts of cold water they chain smoked unfiltered menthol cigarettes and shared a six pack of Tiger beer on the front nine and had me on toast in terms of stroke play but I was having fun.

Not to mention the poor thai caddies trying to explain to them where to putt each tim we made it to the green in broken English and handsigns and it was quite amusing all around!

In terms of accommodation I had moved from the Hyatt Regency Hua Hin to a smaller boutique hotel called the Lapa which was closer in to town and the Market Village but not on the beach, in fact it was on the highway but the rooms were set nicely back from the entrance.

It is in fact across the road from where the newly consructed IC Hua Hin is due to open on Dec 1st, originally when I planned this trip I was going to stay here with my free nights as I thought it was going to be finished by then, unfortunately not but it does look one very nice place, it has direct beach access ( although the beach is not tht great its nice to get
the afternoon breeze by the pool ).

All too quickly Friday came around and it was time to shuttle bus it back to BKK. I had another 2 nights at the IC BKK booked using the free nights deal and I had some sightseeing I wanted to do before I flew back to SIN on Sunday and then home to MEL overnight.

By the time we arrived on the outskirts of BKK on Friday afternoon it was peak hour and the last 20kms took about 45 mins, if there is one thing that frustrates me the most it is traffic jams so by the time I checked it in was already past 5pm so I decided to hit the gym for an hour and then get ready to hit my favourite hotel buffet at the Conrad.

All those early mornings finally caught up with me and by 11pm even though I had met a couple of really interesting Thai girls who were having dinner at the next table to me and who then invited me to shoot some pool at a local bar ( and whip my cough and I thought I was an ok player ) I had to apologise and get back to the hotel which thankfully was only 10 mins away.
Saturday I spent doing some window shopping at the really cool mall near the hotel which has the luxury car dealership in it, Ferrari, Maserati etc..I think its Siam something near Paragon then I caught the BTS down to the river to catch the 1 hr return ferry for some sightseeing. On the boat I met some interesting Russian guys and their companions, we were
the only caucasian people on this boat so we ended up sitting near each other, I've often found that strange how we do that even though we may not even speak the same language if there is mostly asian people congregating them the caucasians end up together.

From the 1hr boat tip I did learn a few things from the guide about the landmarks and the history of BKK for 150 Baht I thought it was pretty good value, and a few things from my new Russian friends during our conversation, namely:
Many Russians don't like golf, the "distribution business" seems to be the industry to be in in Russia.
( my mind was racing at this point with follow up questions but I thought the better of it and the busy fast flowing and murky waters of the river are no place to end up unexpectedly! )

Saturday night I wanted to watch some sport as it was a big night, Wallabies v England, full fixture of English Premier League games so I found a decent English pub in Nana and enjoyed the night, played some more pool and had some nice thai food, it turned out to be a late
night as I wanted to see some live music so I headed over to the Conrad around 11.30pm as they have 2 really cool live music options, a Jazz trio in the front bar, usually includes a visiting American female vocalist and the nightclub whch has a house band that does some great covers, usually the plave is jumping by this time as they start around 10.30 either
way they're both free, drinks are reasonably priced, its over by 2am and you're not hassled constantly by anyone trying offer you their "services". ( Taxi, tour guide, massage etc...)

Sun 8th Nov
CX712 BKK - SIN
777-300 new config
dep 1245 - arr 1410
Seat booked 31H Y Class
Seat Actual 13J J class

Being a Sunday morning I knew it was only going to take 30 mins at most to get the the airport so at 10.30am I checked out of the IC and caught a cab. My driver must have thought I was in a hurry because in the ensuing 18 mins that it took us to reach the airport he pretty much sat on 150 km/h the whole way on the freeway with "frogger like" lane changing
just to keep it interesting from the back seat!

I think when I told him to slow down he took it as a challenge so when we reached that big sweeping right handed corner on the flyover near the airport if you have been to BKK you will know it, about 2kms from the terminal he had the tyres screeching, its like a real life
version of the scaleletrics track you used to build as a kid except here its at least 3 lanes wide.

220 baht plus 70 Baht tolls later I was standing kerb side with my still ice cold IC bottled water in my hand, unopened as I had been so completely distracted for the past 20 mins or so I had forgotten to drink any of it, keeping rehydrated is a priority only when life and death matters aren't I told myself...

Check in took forever, I lined up in the First Class line with only one other person who was being served in front of me, whatever it was it was soemthing that the check in lady couldn't do so upon my turn to be called up she had that strained look on her face so I was prepared for anything...but not another upgrade J, thats 2 from 2 on CX :shock:, the flight was full
and when I got on board I noticed that the seats were electronic and the interior looked like some from the mid to late 2000's and not the early 1990's which I had on the way up last week.

Perfect day for flying, lightly scattered clouds along the way, on schedule arrival to T1 at SIN.

I had 4hrs to kill, had my golf bag checked thru to MEL but the BKK lady couldn't see my booking so I didn't get a BP, she kept asking me for a printed itinerary and I only had my QF WP Card.
I knew my upgrade request to J had come through yesterday as the points balance was reduced and when I looked at available seats there were only 2 free seats in lower or upper deck free so I knew it was going to be a full flight.

I went to the F lounge and in 5 mins it was all fixed up with enough time for me to post the previous trip update in the lounge and then walk up the opposite end to the rooftop pool for a swim for an hour as it was a lovely sunny afternoon and I had spare SIN $ to pay the $13.91 entrance fee.