Next Game - Bukit Unggul - 5th April 2011

Golf next Tuesday 5th April will be at Bukit Unggul. Usual arrangements apply. Be there by 07:20 LATEST

Northern Tour Report - 30th-31st March 2011

After a leisurely lunch 10 of us found our way to the Impiana Hotel in Ipoh, our base for the rest of the tour.
After a very full and fluid hour in the Club Lounge of the hotel which took the staff by surprise, our expectations of 'CLUB FACILITIES' being somewhat different to theirs, we taxied our way for Dinner at the Royal Ipoh Club, courtesy of Andrew Robinson's RSC membership, where much more imbibing and some rather strange food was downed amidst much humour and general banter. There were 5 or 6 chicken dishes on the menu and most of them were ordered but when they arrived at the table they were all the same; a piece of chicken tied around an 8 inch long, rather insipid German sausage. No offence to our German members; insipid being a reference to the sausage, not the Germans. But never mind, the atmosphere by then was very jovial and everyone was having a good time. The resident band (the same band that was there on the last 2 visits) entertained us and David did a couple on numbers. Thanks David.
Overnight the heavens opened again and dumped more rain over Ipoh and so when we teed off at 10:30 at Meru Valley the fairways were a quagmire in many areas but the greens were superb and any shortcoming due to the rain was more than made up by the beautiful setting of Meru Valley and the staff of the club who are always both efficient and friendly. With quick and efficient check-in, brand new buggies and the best greens we will play on this year this is a proper golf club.
This was a 2 day aggregate Stableford tournament played to our USGA handicaps with a trophy for the winner and many more prizes. At the top of the leader board after the first round was Bernhard with 39 points followed by Tony 37, Erol 36 and myself 34. Over an excellent Chinese dinner and many more drinks that evening attempts were made by some to "fix Bernard up" and he rose to the bait like a plump trout.. Wagers were tabled amidst much more general drinking and entertainment from a very loud band with cameo performances from our touring song thrush David.
Thursday morning dawned under leaden skies with more heavy overnight rain but by the time we got started at 8:30 the skies had cleared and the sun soon appeared.  A bit of drama preceded the game when yours truly lost his contact lens and was forced to play with one eye. Not easy!!! The lens by the way was in the eye folde under the lid and retrieved only after I got back to KL.
As anticipated, Bernhard soon started to fall away under the pressure and Tony & Erol surged into contention racking up 14 points each after 5 holes to Bernhard's 7. With Tony continuing to play well the eventual winner looked a racing certainty. But a dark horse was lurking in the second flight. Only after the results had been declared and the prised trophy had been given to the dark horse did it come to the organisers attention that coaching had been given to the dark horse during the round which, had it come to light earlier, may have led to a stewards enquiry. I gest!
And so after a 2 days of golf at the beautiful Meru Valley the reults were:-
NTP 1st nine Erol
NTP 2nd nine Hans
LD 1st day Bernhard
NTP 3rd nine John
NTP 4th nine Erol
LD 2nd day Bernhard
Lowest 2 day gross 169 John
10th Place 62 points Andrew
9th Place 64 points Mike
8th Place 67 points Hans
7th Place 68 points John
6th Place 69 points Bernhard
5th Place 69 points David
4th Place 73 points Raymond
3rd Place 74 points Erol
2nd Place 77 points Tony (who carded 0 points on the last hole!!!)
Winner with 79 points was the dark horse Tom Holmes.( with 46 points on the 2nd day)

Everyone had a great time. Raymond will hopefully publish some pictures in the next day or so. These tours are really something special and over lunch the next tour was discussed with Melaka, JB and possibly another attempt at a foray to Batam in September. This will of course be our Southern Tour. Watch this space for details.
Lastly I want to thank those who took part and made this the success it was and Andrew Robinson for his assistance with the hotel and Ipoh Club arrangements. I'd also like to thank John for generously passing on his prize for lowest gross to the "one eyed captain". Thanks John. We'll have to arrange a G&T party.

Note from 'fizzychickensoup':
Photos from the Ipoh Club, and the Team Competition follow. Please be aware that whilst this Blog is suitable for family viewing, some of the attached photos may not be. You have been warned;-)

First night at the Royal Ipoh Club

This is the Ipoh "Gentleman's Club"

So what the Hell is this rabble doing there?

Would you eat that?

There is always one!!!

There was a lot of it about!! (large German Sausage - that is)!!

Just like the wallpaper - the entertainment never changes!

Pretty Woman (by the late great Roy Orbison)!!

Blue Boy Warbles!!

Grey Boy Warbles!!

Red Boy Warbles!!

Orange Boy Warbles!!

Green Boy Warbles!!

Purple Boy Warbles!!

Click the play button if you wish to hear
"To Luv Sum Baddy" sung by 'Willie Warbler'.

I know what she is thinking - and I think I might just let her!!

Comp Day 1

Let battle commence. (Erol is looking rather 'horny')!

Gateway to paradise (or lost balls!)

Enthusiasm abounds!!

Second night of 'The Tour' at the local 'Chinese'

This has seen better days!

Did someone fart or tell a religious, political or sexist joke?

This lot look happier.

And so do they!

Day 2 of the Comp

You can take the man out of the Army, but you cannot take the Army out of the man!

There are lots more photos out there, but I don't have them. Hope you enjoy.

Please feel free to add comments below, and keep your 'Blog' alive. 'fcs'

Results - Clearwater Sanctuary, Ipoh - 29th March 2011

12 golfers contested the monthly Trophy Game at Clearwater Sanctuary with 10 of them continuing on for the tour games at Meru Valley.
With floods just up the road in Perlis the extremities of this tropical depression had dumped a lot of rain on Clearwater and the course was very soggy and the greens poor which was a pity since the setting is so lovely. The conditions however didn't dampen the enthusiasm and some respectable scores were recorded on a difficult course. The winner was Erol Akinci with 40 points cut 4; the runner up was David Hughes with 39 points who also had the lowest gross of 85. David is cut 1. Note that your USGA handicaps have been brought up to date resulting in a few of you being "capped".

Photos from the Trophy event at ClearWater below.
[Check the above section for photos of the evening's entertainment & the Team Competition at the beautiful Meru Valley]

Julian, David & John (almost) ready for T-off on the back nine

Must be Erol taking the picture as he is missing!!

Just getting light - still time for breakfast!

Serene

Hans gets ready to tackle the back nine.

Looks like Mike 'coiling the spring'!

Hans - perfectly framed!

Raymond - not so well framed [note to Hans: Must take some photography lessons!]

Next Game - Clearwater Sanctuary, Ipoh - 29th March 2011

Next Tuesday 29th March is the Trophy Game and will be played at Clearwater Sanctuary, Ipoh. Tee off at 09:00. This coincides with the annual spring tour; our 4th to Ipoh, and a 2 day tournament follows at Meru Valley. See earlier notes. We have 11 signed up for the full tour and need ONE MORE to make 3 full flights.

The 11 are:-
AndrewRobinson
BernhardRohman
David Hughes
Erol Akinci
Glen Wombwell
Hans Berger
John Laidley
Mike Smith
Raymond Keys
Tom Holmes
Tony Morris

If you want to join what is always a fun tour let Mike Smith know ASAP.

Check out the report from last year's Northern Tour at the same golfing venues for a glimpse into what you may be missing.

If you want only want to play the Trophy Game sign up in the mormal way. Clearwater is a great course and is only 2hrs 10mins from Bangsar. Car pool.

Results - Bukit Kemuning Golf & Country Resort - 22nd March 2011

15 Cannons and 2 guests were scheduled to play Bukit Kemuning on a wet Tuesday morning but Aftab messaged Hans while were assembling to say he wasn't coming (was that because of a little rain?) and Rainli's friends didn't show because Rainli had switched his mobile off overnight, overslept (as usual) and didn't get to answer their enquiry as to whether the game was on or not. Guys, unless it's absolutely unavoidable, if you register to play you must attend. If you are bringing guests make sure they turn up.
It rained heavily and continuously from the early hours till 7am and then eased to a steady light rain till about 11am. The 14 survivors got started a bit late at 08:45 and were round in reasonable time. The course was wet but quite playable but the greens were generally poor to awful.
The winner with 38 points was Ray Funnell and the runner up with 37 points OCB was myself. Cuts of 4 & 1 apply. The lowest gross was 83 by John Laidley and the most golf 117 was played by Alan Holgate.
M&M was taken at the club which is quite good and reasonably priced.

Inter-Society Golf Tournament

Next Game - Bukit Kemuning Golf & Country Resort - 22nd March 2011

Next weeks game will be at BUKIT KEMUNING GOLF & COUNTRY RESORT
This is a TP course. Usual arrangements. Be there by 07:30 LATEST

Results - Rahman Putra - 15th March 2011

Cannons all.

Rahman Putra was a tad soft underfoot through the green but the greens were firm and fair. 10 Loose Cannons took up the challenge and as we have come to expect, found the course unforgiving of errant shots. You have to find the fairways here. The rough, when wet, is very rough and punishing.

The winner with 36 points was David Hughes and the runner up Barry Cousins with 34 points. Cuts of 4 & 1 stroke apply. The lowest gross was 90 by David and the most golf was played by Dick Stauffer. The full results and your updated handicaps can be found on the attachment.

Numbers were down as is always the case because of the KLOGS game tomorrow. I know we aren't getting any younger but I'm sure most of us can still manage to play on consecutive days!

M&M was taken at the club which was up to it's usual high standard and with the amber nectar at a reasonable price the F&B bill was reasonable. RM55 carry over.

Loose Cannons will go on a Northern Tour to Ipoh at the end of the month for the Trophy Game at Clearwater Sanctuary followed by a 2 day tournament at Meru Valley. Andrew has made a very good deal on Club Rooms at the renovated Impiana ( thank you Andrew)  and we expect to have a very enjoyable trip. Currently we have 8 confirmed participants for the full tour and we aim to top this out at 12 on a first come first served basis. We won't go with odd numbers. For tour details see earlier blog post.

Loose Cannons Northern Tour - 29th-31st March 2011

Cannons all.

KLLC will do the Northern Tour to Ipoh on 29th 30th 31st March. 3D2N 3x18 holes.

Itinerary

Day 1
Meet at Clearwater at 08.30 for the Trophy Game played to current Cannons handicaps.
Transfer to Impiana after F&B at club
Cocktail hour at Impiana
Dinner at the Royal Ipoh Club
On-on to suitable bar

Day 2
A leisurely start for the first day of the Away Tournament at Meru Valley - played to what the 'Tour Committee' (myself & Andrew Robinson) deem to be real handicaps.
Cocktail hour at Impiana
Dinner at the very good chinese restaurant a few hundred metres walk from the hotel
On-on to suitable bar

Day 3
An early check-out of Impiana
Second day of the Away Tournament at Meru Valley
Lunch and prize-giving at the club
Depart for KL

Meru Valley is 27 holes and we need to arrange the booking such that we play all 3 nines over the 2 days
There will be a Tour Trophy for the 2 day competition.
Each participant must donate 1 sleeve of balls for the sweep and 1 bottle of alcoholic beverage.
We will car pool.

COST
Impiana Hotel Club Room RM245 net per night
Clearwater Sanctuary. TP course. RM80 Bring your TP book.
Meru Valley. RM114.20 Guest. RM30 Member

Hotel Reservation by CC to individual account.
Contact:-

Rafiza Nordin
Sales Manager
Impiana Hotel Ipoh
18 Jalan Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah
30250 Ipoh
Perak Darul Ridzuan
Malaysia
Tel :+605-255 5555
Fax :+605-255 1948
H/P :+019-555 5768
E-mail: rafiza@impiana.com
Web: www.impiana.com

If you only want to play the Monthly Trophy game at Clearwater that's OK.
We will aim to have FULL FLIGHTS for the TOUR COMPETITION.

If you want to participate register with Mike Smithme ASAP.

If you want to participate register with Mike Smith ASAP.

Next Game - Rahman Putra - 15th March 2011

Golf next week will be at RAHMAN PUTRA
Usual arrangements.
If you want to play confirm your participation by EMAIL to Mike Smith.

Results - Kinrara Golf Club - 8th March 2011

A very pretty picture. P.S. Ladies T's just off screen to the left!!!

13 golfers (it should have been 14 but Reinli was a no show having previously confirmed his attendance) played a rather soggy Kinrara. Taking account of the heavy overnight rain that didn't abate until tee off, the course was in surprisingly good condition with much evidence of ongoing renovation work in many areas. As is our norm we played the white tees and were surprised to find these positioned on the forward tee boxes on every hole. More on that later. However, despite the shortness of the track most found it tough in part due to the very soft fairways with not much run and several plugged balls. The exception were our winner, John Laidley with an excellent 73 and 47 points with David Hughes regaining some form returning 85 for 42 points as runner up. Johns 73 was the lowest gross of course and the most golf was played by Alan Holgate who took 115 strokes to negotiate Kinrara.
Since we were playing from the ladies tees it was felt that it would be unfair to cut John 11 strokes as would be the norm and it was agreed that he would be cut 4 strokes from his REVISED USGA handicap which is now 8 so John will play off 4 next time out. David is cut 1 stroke.
On the subject of handicaps Aftab complained that his 15 h/c was too low. Aftab, the reason you are playing off 15 is that your first game with LC show that you declared a h/c of 13. You have played twice without being in the frame and so your h/c today was 15. As I understand it, your KGSAAS h/c is 24. It was agreed over lunch that the 3 scores you have returned would be computed to USGA h/c rules and your revised h/c is now 22 next time out.
M&M was taken at the RSC Annex and excellent it was too. With John donating his winnings to the pot we had a surplus of RM2 so a good result all round. Several members retired for further libation to the veranda bar where they are probably still as I write.

Batam and Ipoh Golf Packages

Trying to put a package together for the proposed Batam trip is proving difficult and a LOT more expensive than the Firefly sales promotion would have you believe. Forget the RM710 bit which is still shown as the "from" price. The best deal I can get a quote for from Firefly is 3D2N 2x18 holes RM1410. Simon has put together a proposal that isn't much different at RM1440made up of Hotel & Golf 980+Flight 330+ Club carriage 100+ departure tax 30.

If we booked Flight through Firefly and Hotel through Booking.com and used the TP vouchers for the Golf 3D2N 2x18holes would cost in the region of RM1000.

Alternatively we could go to Ipoh on Tuesday the 29th and play the Trophy game at Clearwater and a 2 day Tour Match at Meru Valley Wed & Thurs getting back to KL late Thursday afternoon for about RM650 PROVIDING we can get hotel rooms. (Checking on-line today all reasonable hotels in Ipoh are fairly full through end April.)

Andrew. Does the Ipoh Club have rooms?

So, those WANTING to PARTICIPATE please indicate your interest ASAP for

1. BATAM at any price
2. BATAM for c.RM1000
3. IPOH
4. ANY of the ABOVE

Take note. We will not undertake this unless we get a FIRM COMMITTMENT from you. Min # for Batam 4 pax and Ipoh 8 pax. 

Next Game - Kinrara Golf Club - 8th March 2011

Next week's game will be at KINRARA GOLF CLUB

Be there by 07:30 LATEST

This is a TP course so BRING YOUR BOOK.

We will take M&M at the RSC Annex.

Confirmations to me by EMAIL please.

Results - Bukit Unggul Country Club - 1st March 2011

What a great way to celebrate St David's day, than to play one of the most scenic golf courses in Malaysia!

Bukit Unggul was in good shape today considering the heavy rain it had taken. It was still pouring down at 8 but luckily for us it stopped just before we started. The bunkers gave us some problems as they were mostly full of water but Klaus either didn't go in them or he played like a pro!

Klaus was the winner today with 43pts and is cut but 7. Barry was second on count back to Ray F on 40pts and is cut by 1.

Best gross was Ted with 81 shots. Most golf played was Bruce with a 122 shots. Mike Hughes may be coming back when he sees this week's scores! A special mention to Ray F for helping with the booking in at reception, getting a 10% discount off the F&B and two free jugs of beer, cheers, Ray. It was nice to see Geoff and Ted join the Cannons and we look forward to their company in the future. It was also great to SEE Mike after his eye op, let's hope he is up and running for the Cannons trip down south.

Scores;

Dave 89,36. Kevin 89,29. Hans 102,29. Bernard 37

Erol 98, 31. Barry, 97, 40. Andrew, 91, 37. Ray K 112, 17

Tony 94, 31 John,83,34. Geoff,83,24 Ted 81,36

Ray F 95, 40 Tom 96, 35 KLAUS 92, 43 Reinli 93, 36

Dick 109, 27 Vincent, 101, 38 Alan,106,33 Bruce 122, 15

• Thanks to Klaus for donating his winnings to the pot.
• There was a carry over of RM90 which will be added to next weeks pot.

Lastly, thanks to David for standing in for Mike these past 2 weeks.