Operation LBM @ Palm Resort - 25 Mar 06

This is a group of golf buddies whom I definitely have a lot of fun talking abt the whole world and nonsense of course. Well, it all started when I met Encik Chan at a reservist abt end 04 at the Singapore Wargame Center. Since then, I started to join him and his mates for golf every weekend until business travelling and work took me out of the picture entirely. Havent played with them for a while and heard that Encik Chan is playing 82. At the rate he's improving, he's going to be turning pro soon. So I have decided to join this last mission codename LBM. The group has decided that joining NSRCC is a better option and time-saving as well.

http://www.palmresort.com/newsletter/ver4/intro/intro.html

Soldiers on Call were Major Jerry Lim, Capt Nikki, Lta Sim, Encik Chan, Sgt Chiang and Pte Larry Tan.

CODE NAME : LBM (Lian Bang Mei)

25/3/06 Saturday
1130hrs : Meet at usual Arena for Car Pool
1145hrs : Set Off (late comers please swim there)
1315hrs : Check in Hotel, Lunch
1408hrs : Tee off Group 1 (Chan, Nikki and Chiang)
1415hrs : Tee off Group 2 (Me, Jerry and Larry)
1900hrs : Finish wash up
1930hrs : Chinese Restaurant @ Palm, bring on the beers, lobsters crabs and live prawns!
2100hrs : Go to bed sleep early for tomorrow game or Poker game with red wine.

26/3/06 Sunday
0700hrs : Rise and shine, breakfast
0810hrs : Tee off Group 1 (Me, Chan, Chiang)
0817hrs : Tee off Group 2 (Jerry, Nikki and another bloke)
1300hrs : Finish game, wash up
1400hrs : Lunch @ Japanese restaurant @ Palm
1600hrs : Home for those who need to report to Madam early
1600hrs : Rest and relax
1800hrs : Seafood Dinner @ San Lou restaurant with all time best Char Bee Hoon.
2000hrs : Going home
2100hrs : Reach S'pore.

Game Format : Skins with flights, cross flight combine scores

Mission Summary :

Weather on both days were good. Games were fun with all the bets going to a joint fund for paying dinner and beers. Guessed all of us were used to playing in NSRCC and even Encik Chan was playing a high 90s. Had a good dinner at the Chinese restuarant @ Palm. Food was good. We decided to cramp into one car to go into town for beer and soccer. The night scene was horrible and almost dead on a saturday night. 6 guys watching soccer alone in a pub along with the bartenders and a table of men.... really pathetic. Apparently, the security in Johor was so bad that nobody wants to come out on a weekend. Thank goodness, this will be prob the last time I am going to JB for a long long time. Watched the liverpool game. ; liverpool is like a tortoise - slow and steady and stingy on defence. Went to search for supper. Passed by a disco-pub and it felt eerie to see 3 men dancing alone on a big floor as if they have been possesed. Looks more like they were on drugs. :-(

We went back after midnight without supper and poor Larry sprained his neck badly that he didnt played on sunday. Weather on Sunday was nice and sunny. Except I slept at 3am in the morning and played lousy shots. Consolation was both Chan and I par the last hole (If I remember correctly, it was a long par 5). Ended the game with some desserts in the club house. We proceed back to the hotel to pack up and shower. The 6 starving bears then went on to the jap resturant in the resort for lunch. Had a small room for ourselves and proceeded to play blackjack while we were having lunch. Thanks Larry for bringing a packet of cards. Had sashimi as the appetitizer while we had our own set lunches. The unagi and the cold noodles were nice. Hmm.. everything tastes nice while I am hungry anyway.

All of us took the woodlands link back. Decided to skip the dinner programme bcos we were all quite lethargic by then. The traffic jam was long - did managed to clear it by 4.30pm in the afternoon. Overall, it was an enjoyable trip. Nikki ended up as the overall Champion for the trip. Very well planned by Chan - his role as a regional financial controller has contributed to the mission success.

We played Allamanda on sat and Cempaka on sun. Got to say that course conditions are not very well maintained but anyway, heck since we are going to play in Singapore in future.

Allamanda is the most established of the three courses at Palm Resort, presents a real challenge with 11 holes of water! Allamanda is the 'resort' course with extensive landscaping and two signature holes No. 2 and No. 15.Tifdwarf greens are complimented with Serangoon fairways. We played off the blue tee at 6,683 yards. Some of the greens are severely undulated and well guarded, requiring careful planning on approach. In 1999, the Allamanda was voted 3rd among the top 10 golf courses in Malaysia. It was the course of the Johnnie Walker Super Tour 1998.

Cempaka, here at Palm Resort. will demand full concentration. There are a number of severe doglegs to complement the course and this, combined with narrowly shaped fairways, 9 holes of water and more than 60 bunkers, make for a real challenge. Cempaka has already played host to a number of prestigious tournaments and has been praised by many humbled golfers! Level lies are difficult to find on a number of Cempaka's rolling and winding serangoon fairways and the large Bermuda greens are, undulating, so giving the experienced green reader an advantage.
Cempaka blue tees play 6,735 yards. Watch out for the island fairway feature on No. 9, the coffee plantation between holes No.12 and No. 13 and the ravine on No. 14.