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Challenging Tropicana and an Interesting Hazard Drop

We haven’t played in Tropicana for some time, and from memory, it seems a reasonably easy course for us. After coming out of a sub-90 round in Palm and great driving, I was reasonable optimistic about this round.

Just a note, the fairways in Tropicana weren’t in their usual good conditions. Rain and maybe an iffy maintenance schedule has made it a bit soggy and damp – not terrible, but still, no the pristine fairways we are used to seeing on this course. The greens as well is being sanded, so you expect bumpy, unpredictable putts. But this is generally Ramadan Conditions – courses are taking this low traffic weeks to fix up their courses.

Hole 1: We started out in East Two (cross over to West Three). It’s a reasonable easy par 4, which I started badly pushing my drive right. Under trees, I only managed to chop a poor shot out. Then another poor chop to around 50m, and then a 60 degree in. Two putt for a double bogey to start. Ominous. (+2)

Hole 2: Beautiful par 4 with a downhill drive. Pushed again to the right! This time, I hit a reasonably good 6 iron to keep it under the trees but zipped over the green into the rough, slope behind. Chip! And a very poor one. It didn’t even reach the green. A putt to get on and 2 putts again to start double-double. (+4)

Hole 3: This time, striped a good one down the right side over the fairway bunker. With a pitching wedge, I managed to hit a stupid shot and missed the top tier of the green, leaving me a horribly long putt. Which I three putted. Again. Bogey. (+5)

Hole 4: Already fuming after the previous hole, this was the supposedly the easiest hole, a Par 3 that we ALWAYS hit short for some twillight zone reason. It states 125 from our tee, but everytime my pitching wedge is short. And yes, it was short again, leaving me a tricky turning putt from the fringe. First putt wasn’t great but my par putt brushed the hole, another missed par for bogey. Two 3 putts in a row. DAMNIT! (+6)

Hole 5: Par 5, played WAY back championship tees. I hit a pulled drive, but no harm. Second shot was a crap, stupid duffed 6-iron, leaving me a huge 220m away for my third. My 5 wood brought me to around 30m, and my 60 degree went over the flag, with a tricky 30 footer downhill putt. Which I probably will miss. Except, this time, I didn’t. It snaked down and horse-shoed into the hole for a saved PAR! (+6)

Hole 6: Feeling good, I promptly pushed my drive right again. Thankfully, found it but was way far away from the green on an index hole. A five wood brought me around 30m, a nonchalant chip left me too much to do and bogeyed. (+7)

Hole 7:This was BLASTED. The drive was long and found me around 140m from the green. I would usually smoke a 9 iron in but the flag was set right the front next to the pond, and I chickened out and used an 8-iron. Promptly flew over the flag to the top tier, leaving me an absolute horror putt to come down. 3 Putt bogey? OK, deserved that. I should have challenged the damn pin. (+8)

Hole 8: Long par 3. An iffy par 5 left me needing a chip onto the green. It’s an easy chip from the rough, but I duffed it again, and had to putt my 3rd on. Two putted again for a horrible double bogey. (+10) So I have duffed two of my chips, leaving me a double on each of these holes. Looks like bad habits coming back.

Hole 9: Par 5, which usually should be easy, but I pushed my drive way right to the other fairway (hole 1). A good recovery with a five wood actually found me on the rough at around 100m. I should hit the green with my eyes closed. Instead I missed it by duffing my sand wedge, skipped the bunker and the ball rested at an impossible angel, where I had to stand INSIDE the bunker and hit the ball at was at nearly my stomach height. It did find the green finally and two putted for another bogey. (+11)

A +11 isn’t great for what is supposed to be an easier course. But it was definitely due to just bad overall decisions and iffy chipping. 3 putts are also killing me.

Hole 10: Cross over, new 9, hopefully new game. Par 4, hit it well, almost into the fairway bunker on the right. The next shot was a straight 9 iron without any draw, which left me a chip away from the green. So I chipped and it zipped past the hole to around 10 feet. 2 putt bogey. (+12)

Hole 11: Finally, a hole that is played WELL. I cut this dogleg so much with a good drive that I was only around 100m away to a downhill green. I should have used my 60-degree but opted for my sand wedge instead. It shot over to around 20 feet from the hole. Two putted for a good par. Only my second one! (+12)

Hole 12: Par 3, sucker pin on the left next to the water. I drew a good six iron in, landed to the front and a very long putt. I lagged to around 6 feet or so and managed to finally sink it for par. (+12)

Hole 13: Just when you think everything is going well, I blocked my 6 iron next hole, hit the cart path and bounched happily to OB. Reloaded, and a 9-iron to the green for 4 on. Two putted for double. (+14)

Hole 14: This is an index 1 par 4 which I just wasted. I hit a good drive, but left with around 180 to the green, I hit a great 7-wood that was literally about 10 inches away from entering into the green. Instead from the front to the back pin, I three putted for an absolutely stupid bogey. (+15)

Hole 15: This is a bit contentious. I hooked my ball a bit and thought it was going into the water. It hit a palm tree and dropped into the flower bed lining the edge of the water. Now, flower beds are free drops in Tropicana (according to caddy, I guess). But unfortunately about 10 feet away from where I was was a red stake. And because there was a flowerbed, we couldn’t see markings of hazard, and the other red stake was far away. I wasn’t in between the red stakes, I thought. But if you draw an imaginary STRAIGHT line, my ball was probably resting on the imaginary line. However, the water edge wasn’t straight. So If you draw an imaginary line FOLLOWING the water edge, my ball wasn’t in the hazard. Or at least, depending on how thick this imaginary line is. So how? Hell I don’t know. We don’t have a rules official. The flower bed is a free drop. But was I in the hazard, based on the hazard line rule? Was there a line in the first place? None because of the flower bed. Usually we should have a line drawn, but in this case, there was none because I guess Tropicana loves its flowerbeds.

I would generally think this is fine and free drop, but because we were playing for money $$, I think it’s a little too liberal to just not penalise myself, so I had to interpret it as such: if in doubt, be conservative and penalise. Besides, my partners were all on the green and I didn’t want to call them back on a ruling. So I did penalise myself. I dropped for three, bashed my 8 iron near the green. Hit an ok chip over bunker to 4-on and two putted for double bogey. (+17)

Hole 16: Reachable par 5 and I hit a solid drive, followed with a good 5 wood, if a little pulled left. Now, I was around 30m away from the green, an easy 60 degree should do it. Instead I blasted it over to the top tier and with a fast roll down to the pin, I conjured an amazingly stupid 3 putt for bogey.  (+18)

Hole 17: Its so frustrating. You know you aren’t playing that badly but the scores are not reflecting it. So on a downhill par 3, I finally hit a great pitching in, almost slam dunked into the hole an rolled to around 10 feet away. It was now an extreme right to left slider, downhill. Not an easy one, but one that I somehow miraculously managed to navigate, fist pump – boom, a birdie. (+17)

Hole 18: All the adrenaline from the last hole gave me a lousy drive. Blocked on the left, my 5 wood almost landed into the water. Third shot 6-iron from the water edge went into the greenside bunker. Out was poor and from the front of the green, three-putted my final green for a double bogey. (+19)

Overall, the strange thing is that it wasn’t as if I played badly. Fine, the first two holes put me in a hole already, but again, I had 6 three putts. SIX! And I had a few bad chips that didn’t do me any favors. The putts is something I need to improve, 100%. If I can half my three putts to 2 or 3 per round, i gain 3 – 4 strokes, that means moving me to a 12 – 13 handicapper as opposed to the 15 – 16 I am playing now. The chips – people may look and say I am chipping like a tapir, but really, I’m happy with it. You must understand where I was a few weeks ago. I was completely UNABLE to chip. UNABLE. So now, I need to chip more during the game, get into the groove of chipping during play and I will be fine. Not worried about it. Worried about my putting.

As for the hole 15 rule, the closest I can get to is from here: http://www.barryrhodes.com/2013/05/water-hazard-margins.html.

Part of the Definition of Lateral Water Hazard states: When the margin of a lateral water hazard is defined by stakes, the stakes are inside the lateral water hazard, and the margin of the hazard is defined by the nearest outside points of the stakes at ground level.

This is a very interesting situation. Because where my ball landed, it was clearly UNCLEAR whether my ball was in the hazard or not. It was NOT PLAYABLE, correct, but because it was in a flower bed which is an immovable obstruction (according to caddy, and I did not check the scorecard). So imagine if the flower bed wasn’t there, where would the line be? The distance between the red stakes were far because of this flowerbed between them, so there was no clear line markings for hazard, neither was it easy to draw an imaginary line. So unfortunately, because it was really a 50-50 matter, I had to declare it on the conservative interpretation and declared  penalty drop. Incidentally, if I had bogeyed that hole instead of double bogey, my partnership would have won the hole, and won the game. Instead we lost. So that one stroke cost me my lunch…but I think it was the right thing to do, and like life, golf should be done in the most ethical way possible.

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Palm Garden – First game in Malaysia Baru!

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, you would know that we have now entered into a new era in our nation:- “Malaysia Baru”, or New Malaysia (which is ironically now run by the oldest prime minister in the world, and has surrounded himself with a Jedi Council with a collective age of 1000 years old). This has never and will never be a political blog in any way, so let’s just say this simply: To Pakatan Harapan – now that you are no longer the opposition, we hope you can run the country well and not mess up. To the outgoing Barisan Nasional – trust was lost over many years – but we believe there are many good people within the party, unfortunately for you, this time around, people voted for the party (not yours), and not the candidates. Pick yourself up and be the strong opposition and check and balance that this country needs. To the rakyat – let’s move on, and if possible, stop/minimise the vitrolic messages/gloating/blaming on social media to any individual or party and let time runs its course – this fledgling government and opposition need time to settle into their new roles, so let’s stop the bickering and play some bloody golf.

So we are back in Palm Garden, the difficult hunting ground for me, and some hopeless golf played here over the last few rounds. Hopefully my golf will change now, just like our country.

Hole 10. We started on the back nine and we had A LOT OF FLIGHTS today. Behind us were three flights, so six buggies, twelve people, twenty four pair of eyes looking at our tee shot. I striped the second best tee shot of the day on my first swing. It sailed so far, I could reach the green with my 5 wood second shot. Unfortunately, my 5 wood flared right, and ended up the dreaded shot behind the greenside bunker, about 20 meters from the flag. Flop, and right into the bunker. Fourth shot out to the fringe, and buried in a bad lie, poor poor putt (I should have chipped but chickened out) which hardly moved onto the green, and a two putt double bogey to start the day after an amazing drive. Oh boy. (+2)

Hole 11: Hit a good drive but drew a bit and landed on a downslope, sideways lie, 100m from the uphill green. I skulled my second shot sandwedge into the water – just straight duff due to the lie. Fourth shot on, and missed the 12 footer for bogey. Settle for double. (+4)

Hole 12: So early and I need to steady the ship a bit, which did not occur. I hit a poor 48 degree (its the club between my gap and my pitching, and hardly used), landed in the front bunker, came out nicely but on an extremely undulating green, two putted to escape with a bogey. (+5)

Hole 13: The Hateful Par 5. I hate this because I can never survive it. This time a reasonable drive to the left and a hooked eight iron left me with a difficult shot behind a tree. This time, I managed to get my club to it and it flopped near the green. Time to CHIP! And I did make a good contact chip for my fourth but it fizzed by the hole to around 8 feet over. Testy putt for par. Missed, settle bogey. Hey at least it was a reasonable chip and at least a bogey on this hole finally! (+6)

Hole 14: Tough par 3. But they moved forward the tee box to the whites so I was going in with a 9-iron for around 150+ meters. I over drew it and it landed on the left, near the fence but still have room for my chip. I chipped very well, to within 5 feet or so but just couldn’t covert the par. Bogey (+7)

Hole 15: Another par 5. This one has water on the right, so after a good drive in the middle of the fairway, I conjured a hopeless 5 wood which hooked horribly. I am now under a tree with nowhere. 3rd shot punch out, 4th shot from 100m zeroed in to the green and I had about 15 feet to save par. AND……I didn’t. Bogey (+8)

Hole 16: This is a short par 4 made slightly longer with the tees moved to the back. I usually hook this one because we think we can reach the green in one (and we never do) – but this time, without forcing, managed to land a nice 90 meters away, a simple sand wedge to around 20 feet, and two putt for my first par. (+8)

Hole 17: Another par 3, this time the one over water. Landed 8-iron on the fringe but with a terrible long putt over an undulating green. 3 putt time, which I duly obliged, for bogey. (+9)

Hole 18: Probably my first bad drive which i flared right, but caught a lucky bounce and was in the rough, around 110m from the green. It’s not an easy green (It’s an index 4 hole after all), and between a 9 iron and a pitching, I opted for the latter, and launched my second best pitching wedge of the day to around 15 feet on the fringe, back pin. I putted badly (should have chipped), but managed to sink in the 10 footer for par. (+9)

+9 at the turn is not bad for this course. The greens are terribly difficult, but so far, one 3 putt is pretty good and my drives were switched on, and my iron play and chipping was ok. Might be the time to break the 90.

Hole 1: Now, this was the best drive of the day. Cut the dogleg right, straight perfect drive, boring trajectory (not the over-spun, high draw I always hit), that just shot off the face of the club. The result? 30m from the green after cutting the dogleg completely. The consequence? A retarded flop/chip that was in between and no clue how to execute and finally landed short of the green. ARG! Chip wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great, it rolled around 10 feet past the cup and I missed the putt back. Crazy how two great drives (Hole 1, Hole 10) resulted in +3 over 2 holes. (+10)

Hole 2: This is technically a very easy par 3 to a green that is probably the flattest in the entire course. However, I skulled my sand wedge to the back, chipped on and two putted for a stupid bogey. (+11)

Hole 3: The long par 4 with trouble left. This time, popped my drive a bit and had around 130m to an uphill green. I should have opted for a 9-iron but instead my pitching was short and had a horribly long putt on an undulating green. Three putt? Yes, of course, for bogey. (+12)

Hole 4: Everyone’s favourite par 5 because it forces almost everyone to lay up. My drive was slightly pulled and unfortunately landed in the bunker on the left. My out was bad, 9-iron barely rolling past the 150m marker. At around 140m to a downhill green, it was either a controlled 9-iron or a muscled pitching wedge. The pin was a sucker pin right at the front, guarded by water all around. I hit the best pitching wedge of the day – starting right straight at the water and drawing it slightly in and landed just at the side of the green around a meter away from the water. From there, the undulation took it to 5 feet past the side of the hole, pin high. Doesn’t matter if the birdie can’t be caught, and thankfully (and finally, on this course) – I did sink it in. (+11)

Hole 5: The euphoria of the previous hole continued with a good drive, a layup of eight iron to 100m, and a perfect gap wedge to around 15 feet of the hole. I thought two birdies in a row would be cool so I blasted my putt way past and just stupidly missed my comeback for par. Three PUTT for bogey! (+12)

Hole 6: The long par 4. Good drive, and left with a 6-iron, which I promptly duffed to around 100m. Then a gap wedge to around 15 feet again, missed the par and settled for bogey. (+13)

Hole 7: Completely screwed up my 7-wood off the tee (second time in a row from last round), hooking it way left. This time, though, I managed to flop my wedge around 10 feet from the green, and chipped a great chip to inches from the hole. Chipping rocks! (+14)

Hole 8: This hole usually is my favourite but today they set up the tee box to the right – meaning, with my draw/hook, I had to stand outside the teebox with my ball teed up right at the edge of the left boundary. With this kind of retarded setup, I boomeranged my ball right to left and into bunker. From there, a poor out, left with a wedge which I chunked to around 10 feet. As in the last hole, hit a great chip to about 5 feet, and saved bogey again. Chipping really rocks! (+15)

Hole 9: Final hole tee box was similar to Hole 8, but this time my hook wasn’t so bad. And I got lucky. Bounced on the cart path and like Hole 18, landed at the side of the cart path about 80m from the green. My 60 degree however was poor and it landed only at the front of the green with a difficuly uphill putt. I hate to end the day with a three putt bogey, but unfortunately, I did. My first putt wasn’t great but my second putt from around 8 feet made a horseshoe around the hole. Another 3 putt on these dastardly difficult greens! (+16)

4 three putts in a round isn’t great but no complaints. The greens are really very difficult to putt. Otherwise, it was a good a round as I can hope for, with my chipping seemingly back in order and my drives were excellent. Iron play was off and on but the putter needs a bit of work. Malaysia Baru = Golf Baru!

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KRPM Mini Tourney

We had a mini tournament of 16 people at Rahman Putra today. And boy, did I not do too well. The last outing wasn’t so bad, as I shot sub-90, but this time around the downpour the night before made for conditions that were not so ideal. Muddy, soft ground, hard bunkers = high scores.

Hole 1: Just like last time, pulled the tee shot to the left over the cartpath. Second shot had to punch out (not so good), and a 60 degree pitch (good one!) set me up for a 15 footer for par, which I expectedly missed (+1)

Hole 2. The very tough par 3. I actually hit a great 6 iron that didn’t draw enough. It landed on the fringe of the green on the right, hung there for a second then decide to roll into the damn bunker. In the bunker, the ball was between rake marks, I hit it poorly. Bunker was too hard and I hit it clean out to the other side, beyond the other bunker. 3rd shot, flop failed right into the other bunker. 4th shot out. Two putts for triple! (+4)

Hole 3. Par 5. Hit a dead straight drive into the woods. Manage to escape with a good 6 iron to around 120m, perfect distance. I used a gap wedge to hit to a downhill green which I hit smack in the middle but it annoyingly rolled off over. Note: don’t use shi*ty golf balls. My first attempt at a bump and run was ok – it trickled onto the green but not near enough for par. Bogey. (+5)

Hole 4. Pushed my drive way right but luckily missed the next hole’s pond. I duffed by pitching wedge a bit and had to chip on. Good chip, had around 10 feet for par, which I missed. Bogey (+6)

Hole 5. Par 3 with an 8 iron was short, so another chip. This time, not a solid one, way short, and 2 putt for bogey (+7)

Hole 6. Hooked this one to the left and managed to punch out. Now, with around 90 to the downhill green, I hit my 60 degree short. I realised much later on cow grass, I tend to dig more and I don’t get the distance I usually get compared to other fairways in the RHB courses (Mines, Trops, Glenmarie etc). I was about a few yards from the green. Usually I opt to putt but since I was testing my chip, I thought I can hit a good one. Not. Ball was duffed, didn’t even make the green. 2 Putted for double (+9)

Hole 7. Hooked again, this time another punch out. With around 100m to go, I once again opted for my 60 degree. I need to learn – when rain, don’t use the 60 degree! Chunked my third, chunked my fourth into the bunker, finally out with my fifth (barely), six on with a putt and 7 in. Triple. Once more due to my inability to adjust to wet conditions (+12)

Hole 8. Tough one. I drove pretty well actually.With a five iron second shot, I reached around a few yards of the green. Chipped again and yes, its ok but I still had around 15 feet for par on a very tough green. Two putted for bogey. (+13)

Hole 9. Really a very stupid hole for me. I played my first two shots perfect. Great 5-wood to the edge of the lake, a six iron to set me up around 110m from the hole. I semi chunked my pitching wedge into the greenside bunker. Like Hole 2, I couldn’t get enough sand due to it being so hard and ended up hitting the ball clean to the very end of the green. Three Putted for double bogey (+15)

Wow. That’s a very high score. But it was really due to my brain farts more than the condition of the course.

Hole 10. Doesn’t start great as my drive found the right fairway bunker. My shot out was poor and I had around 160 to go to a downhill green. I stuffed an 8-iron to around 20 feet of the hole (it actually hit the front of the green but kept rolling and rolling). Two putt for par. (+15)

Hole 11. Pulled my 5-wood (again!) but hit a reasonable 5-iron that passed the hazard. I had to do a chip again, and not bad, I had around 10 feet to save par which I missed (+16)

Hole 12. Uphill par 3. Once more, a good six iron set me up for an easy chip, which I did not do it easily. My ball scampered to around 15 feet over the hill and I was luckly to escape with a bogey. (+17)

Hole 13. A relatively easy hole which I pulled my drive but luckily hit a tree on the left. I crafted a gap wedge through a gap between the trees and landed about 10 feet above the hole for my reasonable birdie look. I missed it and par. (+17)

Hole 14. A good draw drive to the center of the fairway but I hit a very poor 9 iron which landed on the left, around 10 m left to the green. I executed a perfect chip for my third shot that landed and rolled to about 5 feet from the hole. Saved par! (+17)

Hole 15. Really sort sighted this one. It was playing at the whites, so I thought I can muscle in a gap wedge in there. Nope. It did cross the hazard, but it landed, jumped backwards and rolled into the water. Dropped, hit on the green and had around 15 footer downhil which I missed for bogey. Double bogey (+18)

Hole 16. The start of the 3 toughest holes in the course.I hung my drive too far right, and my second shot clipped the trees and into the water (again!). Hit my 4th on, two putted for double. (+20)

Hole 17. HOOKED! Luckily there was an opening which I punched out. So I was around 140m away to an uphill green and this should be money for me. Instead I shanked the hell out of my 9 iron to the righ. I was lucky it was still alive. I pitched pretty ok for my fourth, two putted for double (+22)

Hole 18. Perfect drvie – the first one of the day!My 7 wood crossed the lake and set me up around 100m to an uphill green. Gap wedge stuffed to around 15 feet but it was an extremely tricky putt which I had to aim 90 degrees from the hole, up the slope and down again. Three putted for my last hole again for a bogey! (+23)

Conclusion: My other mates were not having a great time also. The ground was muddy and soggy, but the sun was roasting us alive under its heat. Humidity was at its worst and even my climalite shirt was completely soaked. It was really the worst weather for golf – extreme hot weather right after a thunderstorm.

I ended up more or less at the middle of the pack. Given the conditions, it wasn’t the worse I have played. Plenty of positives, especially the chipping continues to improve as I get more confident to bring the stroke into the course.