Our first visit to the Gary Player designed Sentul Highlands Golf Course. A large turn out of 31 players enjoyed the panoramic views of Gunung Panjang and the Bogor foothills. The course was in good condition, apart from the greens, however perfect weather, good company and stunning views created the perfect ingredients for a fun game of golf.
The first group off hole 14 were Chris, Fernado and Audie. Chris started well and was on the green in two on the first hole but took 4 putts on a treacherous green.
However Chris played well and managed to chip in for a well deserved birdie on the 6th hole and went on to finish joint third place with a Net 71.
Meanwhile Audie played a steady round of golf and could be renamed the ‘Bogey Man’ as he played close to his handicap with a Net 73. His drives were consistent throughout and with some more accurate putting.
If Audie was known as the ‘Bogey Man’ then Fernando was the ‘Par Man’ of the day with an excellent Net 68 and joint first position. He managed to birdie the last hole too and played some excellent golf.
Tarlok, Rahmad, Sari and Akmal enjoyed a fun game of golf together. Sari continues to improve her game and her scoring is coming down as she plays regular golf.
Tarlok played a very consistent round with the lowest Gross of the day, 83. Rahmad had a good day and played very well and ended up joint third overall with a Net 71.
Akmal found the course tough, especially the greens and often took more than one putt.
The three ball with celebrity author and golf sportswear owner Gaurav , the flamboyant Cindy and the grumpy Divya (shoulder strain) started off well with RAV( Gaurav’s short name) going par after 5 and playing scratch golf for the first 6 holes.
Then an unlucky double par which broke up some of his rhythm.
Cindy was her chirpy self between lovely drives and duffs and also made a par and a few bogies and then out of the blues hit the longest drive.
Divya, who was mesmerized by RAV’s skills, tried to up his game but the class of RAV was too much to match.
All in all a great day with friends .
In a solid and extremely fun flight was Aidan, Randy, Alexi and Harry.
Randy played consistent from tee to green hitting his drives straight as an arrow with consistent iron play and putting.
Aidan was good with his driver and irons but his putting let him down on the day.
Aleksi was putting extremely well and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he started charging for putting lessons per hour.
Harry was playing very consistent. Harry hit an absolute peach on the 8th to 1ft to tap in for birdie. Also, to add his golf swing is a joy to watch. Smooth and effortless. It wouldn’t surprise me if he is related to Ernie Els. Who knows? Anyways, well done to Aleksi for winning the lowest putts, two weeks in row just shows how well he is putting. Well done to Randy for coming joint 1st overall and winning prize money.
Tony, Bel and Ben played together. Tony played better than his first round and managed to score a respectful Gross 91 and almost took the Lowest Putts Prize. Bel played a solid round of golf with a respectful Gross of 88, another big improvement from his last round at Bogor Raya. Ben went the opposite way with a much higher score than last time and may need some lessons from Simon.
The group comprising Dan J, Emil , Kees and James started on the relatively short 13 , where all the group were on the green after 2,2,3 and 2 shots respectively , however all but Dan were caught out by the speed of the green , with James , Kees and Emil recording 3 , 3 and 4 putts respectively from within 3m .
The group’s driving was on target though , albeit of varied length through the group but straight and most of the time finding the short stuff . James did however block one on the 2nd which almost hit the “Harry Potter” house ( the one with its own go -cart racetrack in the garden ) . Kees in particular used his “Bintang bottle” alignment aid to good use all day on the tee boxes .
Sadly the group’s last hole (the par 3 12th) returned 3 double pars and a double bogey , which certainly spoilt James’ card , which at the time was heading for a placed finish .
Bobby and his ‘Merry Men’, Taufik and Pascal played together. Pascal used his 3 wood effectively with some long and straight drives. Bobby played an average round and found his usual consistent driving absent. Taufik showed that he has special skills when it comes to his short game with very consistent chipping throughout his round.
Second flight off Hole #11 was Mars, Jude, Simon and Fahmy. Fahmy was chuffed to be playing golf after 3 months of self-imposed lockdown, so some rust was inevitable. The start of the second nine his game began to return, highlighted by a near eagle from 110m and way out in the rough on Hole 18, where his 9-iron approach was centimeters away from rolling in for eagle.
Mars maintained his smooth tempo from Hole 1 to Hole 18, and possess the kind of game that upon walking into the clubhouse after 18 looks like he has hardly broken sweat, the putter failed to perform unfortunately but the rest of his game showed promise.
Jude playing the course for the first time, could not find his GPS on this day, as long drives were not landing on short grass on the first nine, and approach shots at this course, always tough from the rough. As the round progressed and his swing slowed down and a solid drive on our 18th found the middle of the fairway and I’m sure will keep his fire burning for golf. Simon was a little off-centre from Hole #1 spending too much of the round in the trees or looking under rocks for balls, should have kept his driver in the bag after one too many wayward drives. Some fluid 3 Woods on the tighter par 4’s playing from the fairways produced birdies reminding him that golf is so much more fun from the fairway.
Jeffry, Will and Ivan, all newcomers to the group, enjoyed a fun round together and helped each other throughout the round. Both Ivan and Will played close to their handicaps but Jeffry, maybe lacking match practise, found the course difficult. Ivan went on to take the ‘Longest Drive’ and was the ‘Nearest to The Pin’ on hole 12.
Thank you to Ibu Sarlis and the team at Sentul Highlands for a lovely day out and their hospitality , the day also ended with a birthday celebration for one of our most loved admins Simon Reynolds
Congratulations to all players. The overall joint winners were Fernando and Randy with Net 68. Joint third place were Chris and Rahmad with Net 71.
Lowest putts went to Aleksi with 25 putts. Longest Drive went to Cindy. Nearest to The Pin went to Ivans (sorry you can only get one prize!)
Lucky Draw Vouchers for Rancamaya: Tony and Emiliano.
Next up is the amazing Emeralda on the 16th June 2020 , see you there
Jakarta's Weekday Golf Society 