[bambam]

Golf today in Hong Kong, temperature 34-36 degree Celsius...no cart...hilly...bambam will be out of water...Let’s wait for his report…I would like to know how many balls he lost…haha

'Hilly' is an understatement for a guy from the flat farm lands of Indiana.

I thought it was hot here until our hike on Sunday - hot was redefined, then I thought it was hot on Sunday until our 1:30 tee time today. 36C (97F), yes, but with 90+% humidity! Up the mountain. Down the mountain. No carts allowed on the north course. Three fairly fit guys; all 3 of us were soaked with sweat before we started, and we had several climbs on our back nine (1-9 since we started on 10) that nearly brought us to our knees. 2+ liters of water and a gatorade - 0 bathroom breaks.

I didn't lose too many balls considering all of the 'hills', water, and on average only 10 yards on either side of the fairway/green before the ball was down the side of a mountain or in some seriously thick, ball eating junk (almost an automatic double). The only excuses I'm going to throw out there are that the banged up, stock Dunlop R-flex, graphite shafted rentals were a far cry from my custom fit, stiff, pured Henry-Griffitts and my x-stiff driver; also, the greens were recently aerated and heavily sanded, which made birdies very hard to come by - only 1 for the group today. I lost 2 balls on the first 3 holes of the back - 1 bad swing and 1 good swing with a bad yardage - dead at the pin, landed about 2 yards on the back edge of the green before rolling down the mountain. By then I had the clubs pretty well figured out and only had one more bogey coming in, including a good par on the tough 450 yard, uphill 9th. The front (10-1 wasn't as friendly, as I struggled with the driver and ballooning irons for the first 5 or 6 holes. I somehow scraped together mostly pars and bogies on the front with one X on the first hole that killed me. I'm not happy with my score, but I'm pretty pleased with the way I gutted out some tough pars and finished strong. Also, I did fare much better than my two playing partners - both on score and lost balls! Despite the tough conditions, we had a great time and we all want another crack at that course, however we all agreed that we'll be packing our own clubs next time!!

Here are a couple pictures:


This is the 180 yard 13th (our fourth hole of the day) - lost ball if you're short, left, long, or right, with the wind blowing pretty hard at an angle towards us and the water on the left. Unless you're a lefty, I don't recommend a high, ballooning draw here as you will probably lose a ball like I did.



Don't remember the exact hole number, but this was after a pretty good climb and overlooked several holes. This shot shows a deceptively open course, as the landing areas were almost always tight. I thought it was a well designed, fun course.


Another one showing the elevation changes - check out the hole behind the clubhouse.