JAWS first visit to Rawamangun, Jakarta Golf Club was rewarded with perfect playing conditions and fine weather for the 17 golfers.
Nick, Jens and Paul teed off from hole 10 in excellent spirits, despite our wariness about JGC’s narrow fairways, tall trees and small greens.
We had some early blunders from cold muscles before starting to find our line and length.
Paul hadn’t played for quite a while so struggled all day to find the rhythm for his swing and the pace of the greens, but by the end had some good shots despite logging well over 100 for the round.
Jens had a real mixed bag, with some very average shots and some stunners for his 96. On the par 3, 4th hole, he managed to land the ball on the backside of the bunker and we watched it travel across the green and hit the pin, resting 5cm from the hole. Nick was on home territory but it didn’t help as his long irons were all over the shop. He managed some good wedge play and booming drives but just couldn’t sink a putt to finish with 92. All in all, a wonderful day of wandering in the greenery in Rawamangun.
Yuris, Ajay, Jeff and Dillon played in the same flight. Yuris continues to struggle with his game despite some good pars.
Ajay found the course tough and too many triples added to his high score.
Meanwhile Jeff played his usual consistent game of golf with an excellent Gross 79 to finish in joint first place. His son Dillon also played well and made a par on hole 15 to show that he has the potential to follow in dad’s footsteps.
Sam Snead may have been talking about Rawamangun when he said “the fairways were so tight that you had to walk down them single file.” Aleksi, Eric and John set out hoping to keep em in the fairway and not brutalize the trees too much with their golf balls.
Aleksi struggled through the first hole but recovered nicely with some amazing fades and draws to hit his intended spots. Eric utilized his home field advantage hitting consistently long and accurately. John had some moments finding a few good drives but his chipping kept him out of contention. A fantastic group and day at a classic Jakarta course.
Starting from Hole #1, was the Flights of Supachai, Panji, AZ and Simon. With only Simon having played this tricky inner city course before, a slighter slower round occurred as much need guidance was provided on each tee box concerning course strategy and looming hazards.
With experience as a caddy in a local Professional Tour Event, this advice was not a burden and happy to help his golfing brothers. What Jakarta Golf Club lacks in distance, any stray shots will be punished by hazards or gobbled up by the tall, mature tree-lined fairways.
Supachai, clearly a little ruffled by the unusually tight fairways having spent the last few rounds on much larger and wider Bogor Fairways, took some time to settle in and find the fairways. After the turn and his first par (Sandy) on Hole 9, it was clear why he plays to a 12 index.
Drives started to hit the fairways, chips came to rest within gimme distance and putts were knocked in assertively, it was a little too late, but clear a return visit will reap a much lower score.
Panji, submitting his third JAWS score and awaiting his new JAWS handicap, is a newcomer to the game of two years. With most beginners dedicating the majority of time and practice on drives and long game, Panji all day knocked in a series of long putts, with a smooth and powerful stroke, highlighted by the 12ft bogey putt on the tricky hole 18. With his putting game showing huge promise next step is to develop consistent iron play and tee offs, nonetheless breaking 100 on a challenging Jakarta Golf Club course is no easy feet as several fellow JAWS players failed to do so
AZ, also submitting his third score with JAWS, was somewhat intimidated by the tightness of the JGC fairways, being used to play the wider layouts of South Jakarta’s Matoa links. Nonetheless, as a newcomer to the game, a clear passion for the game is there, and despite a high score arrived at the clubhouse with a smile on his face. With time and practice and an introductory handicap of 28 most likely, don’t expect it to be there for very long.
Simon, overly inspired by Seve Ballesteros youtube footage, spent too much time in the shade of the fairway’s tree’s, after one too many duck hook from the tee’s. Whether this was a deliberate tactic to escape the sizzling late afternoon sun, and his lack of sunscreen, it’s left to the imagination.
Calm he stayed and relished the challenge of the tight inner-city course, hitting bunted punched irons from under trees often finding the greens and several well judged green-side chips allowed for one putt pars and gritty pars. So despite only 4 fairways hit and 5 Greens in regulation managed to score a respectable 75 Net and tied for Best Nett 1 finish.
Pras, Hilzon and jussi played in the same group. Pras played fairly better than last week. His driving and putting was much better, but seemed to struggle with his chipping. Hilzon also played well.
He kept getting stuck in the bunker but seemed to relish the opportunity to practice as he kept getting out with ease. The course was not as kind to Jussi. He kept hitting trees but always managed to putt well.
Congratulations to the winners
First place was shared by: Simon, Jeff and Aleksi, Net 75.
4th place- Pras, Net 76.
A BIG thank you to Mba Lily and Subhash and the Rawamangun Team for taking care of us again and organising a successful event although with a few hiccups.
Other News
The Matchplay:
The final will be played on the 30th October at Permata Sentul.
Hari/Taufik V Willi G
3rd place play off:
Arief v Taufik B.
JAWS V Teeset- 6th December
We have already 19 players. Please sign up for this event in JAWS networking or speak to Capt Tralok
Scorecards
It is VITAL that at the end of a round that all scorecards are checked by at least 2 people in the group.
NET scores MUST BE CLEAR ! And the card given in must be signed by 2 people.
BIKE AND GOLF BALI
The Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Tourism are collaborating on promoting Bali and have asked the Golf Societies to participate, JAWS is sending a total of 7 players on an all expenses paid basis, thank you Richard Mau , Simon and Mba Merry from OB golf for organizing 4 tickets and thank you TEESET and Roger Finnie for the balance 3 tickets out of the total 7.
Players travelling on 26th Oct till 29thOct – Simon Reynolds , Chris Lever, Aleksi T, Mohammad Yuris, Arief Dharmawan, Bobby Chakrama, Gaurav Shirke. – enjoy yourself guys!
Next up is a one of our favorite courses on the JAWS schedule Emeralda Golf Club, we play the plantation and the lake course, see you there Friday the 23rd October 2020!
Jakarta's Weekday Golf Society 