Kuan Yew’s Awesome Blog!

I did not really throw my golf set into the lake, but that is how frustrated I was with my game today! Here’s how the story goes…

Great Friday afternoon and I was free for golf. Scrambled around looking for any golfers I know who are free to play as well. Finally managed to find one out of luck and we were at Seri Selangor Golf Club shortly after.

To our surprise, even at Seri Selangor, they don’t allow 2 balls during the afternoon sessions. Minimum 3 balls. Lucky for us, there were 2 other golfers who wanted to play as well, and so we joined flight.

I have to say, joining flight with golfers who are better than you does come with a bit of pressure, not to play better and catch up but more like play faster so as to not to slow them down. With that in mind, we were both giving pressure to ourselves, sigh, bad move.

In the end, we both did not play too well, and tied with each other at 115 strokes. Sadly, no birdies in sight, not even a par! Bogeys, double bogeys, triple bogeys and even double pars all the way! What a terrible thing!

Well, I’ve got another session coming up on Sunday, gonna hit the driving range and find my ultimate swing. I learn that it’s a dangerous thing to be experimenting new swings or new grips on the course lol

At Seri Selangor, I was practically using different swings here and there trying to find my swing, and performed poorly, even with my favorite pitching and sand wedges! Those two are like my best clubs and yet I find myself losing balls into bushes and more bushes.

Scorecard as per below, kept the original copy for handicap submission.

The picture above is meaningful, it’s not me in the picture but it’s the best picture I could find to resemble my shot, a bunker shot, over a small hill by the green area, that lead to a birdie for a Par 3 hole!

I was there in the bunker, my view blocked by a small hill and I could barely see the flag. Armed with my Nike Victory Red Sand Wedge, I took a half swing and scooped the ball slightly over the hill and let it roll on the green (rolling on a downslope). My flight mates were all praising “well done, very well done” as I was climbing up to see my ball. I was looking left right the flag but my ball wasn’t there. That’s when I knew, I got a birdie, straight from a bunker shot! Wuuhuuu!

That’s the best highlight for the day and I’m really happy about it. I didn’t do great throughout the 18 holes but I did manage to cut down 5 strokes this time around and I definitely am getting more and more comfortable with my new swing.

Also, I’m now starting to collect my scorecards for Handicap submissions. For AGN (Asia Golfing Network) members in Malaysia, we’re required to collect 10 scorecards we played from any of AGN’s affiliated clubs, after which, we need to submit those scorecards to AGN’s office in Malacca. The handicap department will then calculate your performance based on each scorecard, taking into considerations not only your strokes but also other factors such as the holes’ index, course rating, slope rating and such.

Once they’re done with the calculations, they’ll inform you of your handicap level and you’ll be required to make a payment of RM 140.00 for processing fees and such, and they’ll send you your handicap certificate. Handicaps are acquired from MGA (Malaysian Golf Association) and are valid anywhere you go, at least in Malaysia. RM 120.00 is required annually to maintain and update the handicap. If you know of any lower rates to acquire and achieve your handicap in Malaysia, please share.

Below’s my scorecard at Kinrara Golf Club, it’s quite a nice club with a rather good course. Too bad there were some maintenance work going on. Some blue tee boxes were shifted to the white tee box area but there were no sign boards and such to notify us golfers, lucky we were smart enough to double check the distances before teeing-off! Also, some maintenance work was being done on the green, we were putting while some workers were doing their job on the green, that surely killed off some mood. Hopefully it’ll be all completed real soon.

Living up to my beliefs, and my resolutions for 2009, I’ve finally managed to kick-start my overall fitness program by hitting the gym last night. Boy was it difficult to get started after months of rest!

I started slow and jogged for about 45 minutes, walking and jogging in between. Then I pumped some weights to fire up my muscles. Ended the session with a great sauna session.

Come to think of it, I actually went to the gym without a gameplan, and that’s bad! Without a plan, most people waste a lot of time walking around the gym wondering what to do next. In the end, they end up either totally clueless and didn’t do much, or waste too much time without working on the right muscles. Last night, I fell into that trap too. Since it was my first session after a long break, I guess it’s ok to just warm up a little.

Moving on, I’ll definitely work out a gym routine to maximise my gym efforts for maximum results, focusing on an overall “body-shrinking” plan, increasing stamina, and boost muscular fitness. Stay tuned for more fitness tips and progress reports.