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Gilanalysis 11: Gunung Raya, Langkawi

Day 1

Handicap:20

Gross: 87

Net: 67

Verdict: This is how this darn game should be played!

Day 2

Handicap:20

Gross: 92

Net: 72

Verdict: What a difference a day makes…twenty four little hours brought the crap again…

What Happened

I have never played on one course for two consecutive days before, but in Langkawi, you don’t really have much choices. Gunung raya starts off at RM140 (weekdays and weekends), throws you into a buggy and off you go on a course resembling Nilai Springs or Seremban 3. The fairway is awful: bare, more sand than grass; the greens in a mediocre condition; but the course is open, free of people and after that horrendous experience in Seri Selangor, to have a course that allows you to play golf under 3 hours is an amazing change.

Also, the other golf courses are Langkawi golf, which is closed indefinitely, so it’s currently being overruned by man eating baboons.

The other is Datai, which the last time we played was about 300++ per person. Now, it has ballooned up to RM510 per person. We need to change our gilagolf ranking for this course…is Datai worth that much? Hmm. Let me see….NO ABSOLUTELY FREAKING WAY. It’s a reasonably nice course, but dude, RM510? What the blue crap are they trying to pull? Thanks, Datai for discriminating against 99% of the population of Malaysia. Say NO TO DATAI!

So, back to Gunung Raya. The first day, was probably the best golf I have played in AGES. Eons. The first 7 holes were bogey all the way, but the manner of the bogeys were satisfying: saving those 5 footers on several occasions, except for hole 5 where I managed to 3 putt. I birdied the eight with a putt off the green but proceeded to brain fart with a 3 putt on the tough index 1 9th. Looking back, I could have scored 41 or something, but then again, I could also have missed those critical five footers to save bogey.

Back nine, more or less the same, except I messed up the par 3 17 by hitting the bunker, but overall, the drive was great, the putter was great, the irons were so-so. But Gunung Raya allows a lot of mistakes, especially to slicers on the first nine, on a few occasions I was borrowing fairways and still managed to put in on, or near the green.

Day 2: Ah…how we would go with so much optimism only to see it fade as we revert back to our epileptic crap golf.  Day 2 was more reflective of my up and down golf, with big scores and more pars. The day started like a mirror copy, but unravelled with hole 2 drive into the drink, hole 3 drive into the drink, hole 4 par 3 into hazard (??!). From there, I managed to recover a little, and actually played well from hole 5 to hole 13, a string on nine holes brain-fart-free. Hole 14, I was 150 away with a six iron in hand and completely SHANKED it to oblivion. I managed to four on two putt for a six. Hole 17 again, hit into the sand and couldn’t escape, this is by far my worst hole on this course. I hate Hole 17.

Why I Sucked

Day 1 was great. Except for a couple of times my irons failed. Day 2, drive was pulling, and had some unlucky bounces here and there…but for sakes, my irons were absolutely shiitake. I kept digging the darn ground and in Gunung Raya, it was black dirt. So, cangkul it and your clubs will pop right back up and you will shank, top, thin, duff etc. Maybe my swing too steep? Some occasions I had my 60 degree for second shot and still managed to sabotage myself by putting it in the sand, fatting it, thinning it…man, it sucked.

Not So Sucked

Driver on day 1 was great, I was like a pro. Well, almost lah. But you know when we get arrogant and start twirling the stupid driver like Tiger, with one leg lifted. If it wasn’t on the fairway, it was just a little off the rough, and recoverable. Day 2: it all went south. My theory is that I wore RED on day 2, and put too much pressure to be like that black guy with the twirly driver. My putting was also quite OK, but gunung raya greens weren’t exactly very fast, or tricky and and greenside grass was so short I could put 5-10 meters away on some occasion.

What to Work On

Easy. Irons again. In no other game have I more chances than the last two, although day 2 scores didn’t reflect it. But constant duffing, thinning and one occasion, the dreaded shanking sabotaged back my game into mediocrity. I hate irons. I’m going to start putting from 150 metres in from here on.

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Datai Bay Golf Club

Introduction

Datai Bay. We’ve been hearing people telling us different things about Datai. It’s a beautiful course. It’s a links course. It’s next to the ocean. It’s in the jungle. It’s in the mountains. It’s like Pebble Beach. It’s crap. It’s overrated, so on and so on and so on. We know it will cost us a lot, but since we are irresponsible, unaccountable gentlemen of this prestigious, money sucking game called golf, we were ready for the damage.

Travel (3/5)

Like Gunung Raya, once you get to Langkawi, everything is pretty much accessible. Datai is a bit out of the way though, but the trip there is through some of the most scenic parts of Langkawi. It’s a nice drive, just watch out for the darn cows.

Price (1/5)

I know it sounds crazy to rate 3/5 for a course that cost RM340 just to tee up a ball, but the fact is, we felt it was money well spent, as later it will show. It wasn’t going to be cheap, but was it worth it? Lets put it this way, I rather put 340 RM in Datai than to pay RM140 for Gunung Raya. It’s not the best deal in the world, but quality has a price so for once, stop being so cheapskate in your golf!!

First thoughts

You feel as if you are part of royalty when you get into the club. They really treat you well, from registration till the time you tee it up.

Standing on the first tee (we teed up from back 9), one thought comes:

I’m gonna lose a lot of balls.

It’s a jungle course. Don’t let the ‘Bay’ in the name fool you. The only Bay we get to see is on the 19th signature hole. Other than that, it’s trees, jungles, monkeys and baboons as your fans.

Not to say it’s like KGPA quality jungle. Somehow, even the jungle has an air of class. I half expect a baboon to be sitting on a branch smoking a cigar and saying, “Jolly good shot, old fellow,” on the first tee. The course is deceivingly long. It’s doesn’t look long on paper, but perhaps the air is heavier, or simply because of the jungle framing the sides, and the fact that 5-wood comes in the tee off, makes my approach with 7-irons or 4w a lot more difficult. It’s quite intimidating to have trees all around you. There were a few holes where a tantalizingly super shot was on its merry way to the green only to have one rogue branch deflecting it into oblivion.

Interaction with wild life was great. I felt like I was part of the Animal Planet series. There was a hole where 5 feet long lizard was ambling its way about 3-4 feet from my ball. Play as it lies? It might think I was going to 9-iron his egg and start attacking me. A few holes we had to chase away monkeys from invading our buggy. We would be lining up to putt when suddenly one of us would be whooping and screaming and running towards the buggy flailing our putter like a mace while the monkey scampers away chattering. The smaller ones are fine. It’s those big black monkeys with white tipped arses, sitting ominously and staring at us silently that scares the dickens out of me. Ever watched the show Congo?

Never bring food in a plastic and leave it in the buggy. Most monkeys will go for that, and some might even collaborate and drive away leaving you to walk back to the clubhouse alone. It’s considered very embarrassing to lose your buggy to monkeys, so be careful!! Either plant a plastic explosive in a bag or purchase a putter that can be changed into a 12 gauge shotgun, to blow these mammals back to Monkey Heaven.

Above all, if you’re terrified of lizards, it’s best you stay out of the rough and be prepared to start screaming.

Service (5/5)

From the time they took our bags, the service was top class. Registration was a breeze.They gave us drinks , bright smiles and sent us off to the first tee, like seeing their children off the first day of school. We didn’t have time to check out the changing room but I’m sure there’s an OSIM chair for us and a masseur at hand. It’s a 5 of 5 also because we have staff/marshals driving around the course, looking for things left behind. My camera case and cap was retrieved like 4 holes after I lost it by one of the marshals. When we finished, they would clean our clubs and shoes and not beg for tips, (unlike those hooligans at Bangi), and they would send us off by breaking into the song, “So Long, Farewell” a’la the von Trapp family. You don’t get any better than this.

Fairways (4/5)

This gets 4/5 divots. The turf here is even and a delight to hit from. Diggers like me tend to struggle a bit, but it sits up and there’s a premium hitting from the fairway. The toughest part is actually finding the blasted fairway! It’s narrow, challenging and really gives you the go for broke-easier approach or play it safe-long approach tradeoff. I tried the latter approach but when your 5 wood is hooking, you might as well gun with the Big Dog. Pars are not as easy as it looks, and its imperative that you are playing fairways on this course. The drainage is generally good, but the natural undulation makes it really challenging to play your approaches.

Course management is also essential. Because it’s a jungle course, a good tee off too far might have one of those blasted trees blocking your approach. Plot your landing areas, as there are many blind spots that you’ll need to hook or slice your way around.

Greens (3/5)

Perhaps the only poor quality of Datai are the greens. I would have liked the greens to be smoother and more spinnable. Perhaps it’s the salt air or the soil that makes it harder to have closely compacted greens but it was generally not pristine. It wasn’t bad or anything but because we paid so much to play, the measurement standards are always higher, and in that respect, the greens in Datai were a little disappointing.

Rough (5/5)

The rough was an adventure to be in. There’s a meandering stream that snakes its way through the course that gobbles up your shots when you think you’ve hit it flush. The rough snatches your ball, even on the first cut, and be prepared to hit hooks out of the rough. The grass really catches your club so grip it hard to open it and not turn over. It adds a lot of good elements in the game and severely punishes wayward drives. It also adds the danger of a monitor lizard chomping off your leg or a hoard of monkeys holding you hostage with your shotgun putter.

Aesthetics (5/5)

What can I say? The scenery is absolutely fantastic. But it’s the par 3s of Datai that really take your breath away. One of the holes I liked was the par 3 15th, an elevated tee shot through jungle foliage to a small green 140 m down, fronted by still lakes and framed by jungle. Most of the holes are crafted around the contours of the jungle, so you hardly get parallel greens running together, and each hole seemed to have its own personality, its distinct character. You don’t get the feeling you’re in a golf course, because every hole is self contained, in its own drama, in its own adventure, its own story to tell. There are holes that dares you to gun for it like the 18th with a fairway so broad you can land a Boeing 777 on it, and which I proceeded to triple bogeyed it. There are holes with narrow fairways but rewards high risks drives, like the 9th, which I also proceeded to triple bogey it.

Of course, the famous hole 19th is not part of the course (well, you can play it as 17th) but most of us KL people would play both 17th and 19th. When you finish 17th, track back across the road to the 19th hole BEFORE you tee up for 18th. Be prepared to lose your flight spot but you won’t regret the 19th.

It’s to a small green, carrying about 170 m of the Andaman Sea. To your right, the waves lap the base of the tee box, and in the distance, mountain peaks from the other islands stands as your gallery, bearing testimonies of horrendous golfers all over the world. The scenery can’t be explained, but it just blows you away, I guarantee it. Standing there, you feel that this could be the most exhilarating golfing moment of your life.

Fun Factor (5/5)
A course that gives you 19 holes instead of 18? Hey you cant beat that. We were running around like kids in a candy store, every hole was greeted with “Wow”, “Super!” or “Oh, I am so screwed”. The wow factor was off the charts. The fact was we played at Gunung Raya the day before and almost passed out dehydrated. In Datai, the jungle is so cooling, you think you’re playing somewhere in England or something. We were shooting pictures everywhere, and it was a little disappointing as we came to the last hole and had to finish our round there.

Conclusion
Datai Bay is the best course I’ve ever played on. Of course I haven’t played yet in a lot of courses but in terms of challenge, hole design, scenery, overall fun factor. Everything is excellent, except the exorbitant price. I would think it caters towards tourists who earns in US and who looks at us with impunity. It’s cooling, it’s challenging and it’s not short like resort courses. The 19th hole is a must play. It’s like Pebble Beach 17th, one of the most famous holes in the world. We can’t get Pebble Beach (as a note, there IS a Pebble Beach in Langkawi, but it’s a beach filled with…yep, pebbles, literally), so Datai 19th is as good as it can get. If no one pressures you from the back, feel free to whack 3 – 4 balls in there. We spent almost 20 minutes around the 19th hole just fooling around, hitting multiple shots and donating balls to the Andaman. After all, when would be the next time we come back?

The good: Super scenery and hole design, challenging layout, well cared for and undulating, natural fairway, cooling jungle environment, interaction with Wildlife, signature 19th is a must play, and staffs that really treats you like family.

The bad: Greens are disappointing for a premier course, price sets you back to eat Maggi noodles for a month, watch out for snakes in the rough, Monkeys are aggressive and intimidating, especially the ones with the white tipped arse.

The skinny: 31 of 40 divots (77.5%). One of the best course out there. Dig into your pockets and spend on it if you call yourself a golfer.

Datai Bay Scorecard

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Gunung Raya Golf Resort

Introduction
Gunung Raya was a recommended course by the Langkawi locals for us. Most likely because we’re local, hence the local sentiment is that we are probably caddies looking to play with our masters golf clubs. Probably also we look like young punks and lack the required class usually attached to golfers around this area. We were supposed to choose between GR and Datai Bay for our Langkawi golf experience and have a practice round at the Langkawi Golf Club (a lower class club likely reserved for caddies like us), but since the entrance of the Langkawi Club brought memories of the Land of the Dead 2, we decided to go with GR and the next day, tee it up at Datai Bay.

Travel (3/5)
It gets a 3/5 simply because it’s in Langkawi, and it’s a plane away. But once there, it’s easy to get around. Get a map once you reach Langkawi and just follow it. You can’t get lost, it’s just a circle around the island. You obviously require a car, and car rentals are pretty reasonable. The one advice is, pay for a good car. At least one with airbags. Forget about Protons and Peroduas no matter how attractive they want to trick you with the price. In Langkawi, you’ll have cows randomly traipsing across the roads and if you do hit one, you’ll wish you paid that extra cash for a better car than the junk called Proton. We nearly hit two during our stay there, and I wish I was driving a tank to run these suckers over with.

Price (1/5)
The advertised price was 240RM, but we got in for 120RM, because they were sanding the greens. There are no weekend rates in Langkawi, nor any packages. Their mentality is that all days are weekends and packages are only for stingy caddies flying in from KL, hence they do not cater for our kind. No, you don’t even get a water bottle. Just play your golf and drive your Proton out of here while we cleanse the club of your presence.

First thoughts
As we entered the club, we were greeted by two dilapidated huts we thought were the clubhouses. I’m not sure what the purpose of these huts are for, but we drove on and were soon greeted by the better looking, real clubhouse.

Gunung Raya means Celebration Mountain, although I’m not sure what we are celebrating about when we proceeded to duff our way around the first hole. It’s has a nice elevated tee, slight dogleg right, a great view of the distant mountains and a preview of the whole course we would soon embark on.

From off the 1st tee, you will notice one thing about this course.

It’s hot.

It’s one of those immature courses with very little shade and high exposure to the sun. This plus the fact we teed off about 11 am in the morning made us wish we woke up earlier to play. By the time we reached the 4th hole, we were halfway through our water supply and we felt like we registered for the foreign legion. By the 6th, we had mirages of hole in ones, pirate ships and John Daly ambling the fairway in a tutu.

The fairways are wide, and I worked my way around mainly with my trusty 5 wood. As you will see later, it’s risky taking out the Big Dog. But traveling all the way to Langkawi and not hit your Big Dog? Man, what a waste.

The 10th hole is a beautiful hole, a dogleg right par 5, with water on the left, and a generous green to receive your approach shots.

Service (3/5)

I have no idea how the service is, since I did not see any other human beings (my friend checked us in while I changed in the parking lot). But they are honest because they slashed their rates and told us the green was being sanded, so they get 3 of 5 divots.

Fairways (3/5)

This gets 3/5 divots. Fairways here are very generous. You’ll need to be half blind to miss them (which we did, so we are half blind after all). The turf is Bermuda, and your ball sits nicely, waiting to be hit. There’s not much OB or hazard here, but you still need a generous amount of balls if you constantly hit into the rough. The back nine has more water and more foliage, which was a welcomed sight for us, as we were already half cooked by the time we made the turn. You could hear our skin sizzle.

Greens (1/5)

OK, they were sanding the greens, but they get 1 of 5 divots for sanding both nines so we had a lousy putting experience in the course. In fact, the ball would squiggle and bounced anywhere except the hole. I might as well be putting in the bunker. They should either:

1) Make the hole like 3 times bigger.

2) Make like 5 or 6 holes on the green so we can put to the hole closest to our ball.

Why do they actually need so much freaking sand on the green anyway?!?

Rough (2/5)

I don’t mind roughs that are tough to hit from since it is supposed to penalize bad shots. What I can’t accept are roughs that eat up your ball and swallow it. It’s like the twilight zone, the Living Rough, where it gleefully awaits wayward drives. Did it land here? No, I can’t find it, it’s gone. I saw it bounce! No, it’s gone. Now go back and tee your ball again, you lousy cock-eyed driver.

It’s partly due to bad irrigation around the course, as there were places in the rough that were soggy and likely plugged up the ball to oblivion. It doesn’t make sense, while the weather is so hot, that there are spots around the course that’s soggy. What’s going on? Is there some kind of secret stream running underground that sucks everything in? Come on, there has gotta be Rules of Engagement between us and the course in any golf game. How do I play if I can’t find a ball that was only a few metres off from the fairway? Why can’t we all just get along?

Aesthetics (2/5)

Gunung Raya is one of those courses where initially it entrances you. It’s like a beautiful girl you meet in a club, under the neon lights and find out tomorrow the girl is actually a guy. Well, ok, not that bad, but you get the idea.

The first tee box is like, wow, what a view, what a sight! Distant mountains, rolling fairways etc. At the final tee box, it’s like, how many years have I been messing around this course already, am I finally out?

When we descend on the course, and halfway through it, we wonder, is there a hint of water around here? Being baked in sun, the course plays hard, and you’ll need all the energy you can get. Ice packs, 100 plus, a portable air cond, anything.

It’s a nice course, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just too darn hot to think about anything except going home and lying in the pool and drinking a Pina Colada. When you get golfers (especially us) thinking about that halfway through, you know that the course needs some serious shade out there. An ice cream vendor will make millions if he had followed us in our round.

In terms of memorable holes, none really stood out. Most of the holes were more or less the same, dogleg or straight, water here and there, coconut trees and oh yeah, sand greens and The Living Rough. Bollocks.

Fun Factor (2/5)

I really wanted to give this course a chance and tried to maintain the enjoyment, but after the first nine, it became more of a combat course than anything else. It’s hard to have fun in a course that at times resembles the Sahara, in both the greens and weather. When we just want to pack up and go, the fun factor really didn’t quite take off.

Conclusion

All in all, a nice course, but it gets a hit because for the normal price of RM240, it ain’t worth it. It reminds me of Kinrara, where there’s no shade and you come out of that sauna 10 pounds lighter. It would be reasonable to charge maybe RM140 as a normal price, and half that for sanded greens. It plays similar to a lot of other open courses like Beruntung, Kinrara and Bukit Unggul, and none of those courses will charge RM240 to tee up on a weekday, heck no. The much advertised view is quite grand, but it’s not enough to compensate for that much of moolahs we are coughing up. Heck, we’ll need personal waitresses serving us Doms on every hole to fully compensate for dehydration, near death experience and mirages of John Daly in a tutu.

The good: Open fairways are generous, nice view, course is generally forgiving if we stay out of the rough.

The bad: Horrendous greens (sanded), ultra hot without any shade, too expensive for a course set up like local courses we have back home.

The skinny: 16 of 40 divots (40%). There’s not much of a wow factor, and definitely not worth paying so much for. Then again, this is Langkawi, so get ready to be ripped.

Gunung Raya Scorecard