Bali Golf & Country Club has three settings to thrill senses
Bali Golf & Country Club has three settings to thrill senses
By Nicklaus D'Cruz
Bali Golf & Country Club is set within the ecologically
planned tourist resort of Nusa Dua located on the magical island
of Bali, the Island of the Gods. Amidst the twitter of birds, the
calming crash of surf, the splendour of flora, the peacefulness
of forests, the contrasting scenery of rugged volcanoes and
unique Balinese rice terraces, it is not too much unlike the
playground of paradise.
The course itself is a rare tale of three settings ... three
differing and extremely contrasting terrain that offer you an
unequalled variation in topography, scenery and adventure. It is
a course that thrills the senses.
The first nine offers you scenes of undulating terrain and of
rice terraces left in play as they skirt some greens to offer you
several layers of trouble golfers would not normally be
accustomed to. Then there are those elevated views that allow you
a glimpse of these famed fairways, rising and falling as the try
to stretch seaward, their forest covered extremities allowing you
a glimpse over the orange rooftops of the Aman Nusa resort at the
Indian Ocean and back up to the towering top of the Gunung Agung
Volcano. It is a nine that meanders rather excitingly through its
hilly, heavily forested terrain to produce a number of daunting
and dramatic holes.
You then cross over from the end of the inward nine and come
face to face with a totally different environment immediately
evident from the monstrous waste bunker that divides the 10th
hole from the 16th, and which is thought to be the largest sand
bunker in the world. It effectively jolts you out of any
complacency you may have fallen into and signals the start of a
new journey.
This well manicured stretch of tranquility takes you in
isolation through coconut groves offering unrivaled charm with
its interiors dressed with huge sand dunes occupying six of seven
holes and dotted with 100 foot coconut trees to emphasize that
feeling of paradise.
It is truly a scenic stroll through the svelte trees and as
you navigate your way through their magic setting. And juxtaposed
with that calm are some exciting holes made up of tempting
carries enticing you to shorten their twisting lines in an effort
to straighten the holes out yourself.
You finally leave the serenity through the 16th and emerge in
the sun and surf of the last two wind swept fairways to meet up
with one of the most memorable holes on the golf course where you
get to send your ball hurtling towards the ocean.
No concoction can impart a charm better than the merger of a
deep green fairway making its way to a well sculptured green that
seems to plunge into the sea; framed by the wide, wet horizon and
finished with tall, slinky coconut palm trees. Florida, Hawaii,
Bali ... it doesn't matter, because it-is-good.
This is a golf course of great scenic beauty. It encourages a
lot of tactical maneuver and is punctuated by very dramatic
landscaping; by very dramatic bunkering; very dramatic turns and
then closes with two fabulously scenic holes fronting the Indian
Ocean.
At its heart, Bali Golf & Country Club is a resort course; and
one of the most successful in Asia that successfully maintains a
championship standard. Although designed to accommodate the
tourist with fairways that almost never get under 40 metres in
width, its difficulties increase many fold as you move back
through the multiple tees. Many of the holes are already long and
require two full shots to make the greens in regulation. It has a
sort of magic distance that never allows you to relax and always
requires you to be wary of the hazards that are never too far
away. The greens are not always outside your reach but often
stretch your abilities to put some pressure on your game,
building up the difficulty and waiting for you to falter.
Then there are the undulating greens that require a fair
amount of skill to be able to direct your ball along their near
perfect surfaces. Although generally cut to be slow, they still
afford a decent speed and counter their rather firm surfaces.
With so much sand in play through the second half of the
round, it is imperative that you bring along a good sand game or
risk a bit of frustration as these overwhelming hazards try
desperately to slow your game down.
First nine
The first hole is a great indication what you are about to set
out to. A cluster of 6 pot bunkers occupy the left of the fairway
while a tree occupies the middle, parallel to the last bunker 210
metres from the tee. For many, that tree indicates the spot you
point your clubface at in the hope your ball falls anywhere right
or left of it to allow you a clear second shot. The landing area
for your next shot opens up greatly to allow you to make some
real progress with your longest fairway club. With the tough
opening and easy second, it should then appear obvious that the
closing shot will be tough; and it is. A meager 5 metre opening
in the green reveals itself right of one deep pot bunker merrily
accompanied by another 4 sand traps. A large mound exerts some
pressure on the entrance from the right side of the opening which
will be looking for a draw from the fairway. Pull it a fraction
too much and you may be testing the bottom of your first sand
pit, practice though that may just come in handy later on in your
round. Land your ball as low down the green as you can because
this is a slick, fast and hard surface, quicker than what you may
be used to.
The second hole is a tight, right turning dogleg, twisting
almost 90 degrees where your golf ball lands. It is however a
spacious landing zone with the far left able to contain the
longest of drives. All that though will be wasted space for the
longer player who will try to cut the ravine and trees on the
inside of the elbow with a drive of 220 metres to set up a short
iron to the green. The green is somewhat similar to the first in
that it is offset right to left with 3 mounds protecting the
right side but different in that the front entrance is left wide
open. Great undulations through the putting surface, aggravated
by the mounds that distort the edges, require you to get your
ball close to the pin on your approach. A large trap awaits in
the left back for those that failed to get their drive past the
bend.
A tame looking fairway precedes the astounding design of the
3rd hole. You need to send it down the fairway as far as you can
keeping an eye out though for the forested ravine that hugs the
right edge stopping short only 50 metres from the hole where the
fairway turns sharply right at that point to meet the green.
Where the turn is, the ravine protrudes into the middle of the
fairway requiring you to cross it if you are anywhere center
through to the right side of the fairway. The ravine sits below a
tall mound which has a bunker dug out of its top but serves more
as a psychological distraction as it is some 30 metres from the
green while further emphasizing the variation in height. The
green slopes from right to left and should not be too difficult
to find as it is a large target with a generous landing area in
its front. You cannot miss it right though because of the ravine,
and the green rises to a crest in the back right to make sure you
cannot get your ball too close if the pin were there.
The 6th is a great looking hole and arguably one of the best
in Asia which requires a tee shot that must travel across a
ravine that protrudes in like a great big 'V' lying on its side
and creating much more trouble on the right than on the left. The
ravine skirts past the right edge of the green which hovers at
least 10 metres above. With the pin on the right, you will not be
considered weak if you ignored both the flag and the mini canyon
it towers above and played for the safer left, located one tier
above. Even so, it is a question of risk and reward because the
putt will then have to descend to the distinctly lower tier and
travel through the steep incline to get to the pin a rather long
way away. It would be a shame to send your ball off the green
into the gully below or leave it too short from the hole out of
genuine fear. The choice must be made off the tee as to whether
it is worth the daunting task to find the elusive surface, barely
15 metres deep and straddling all that trouble or playing to the
wrong side of the green.
The 8th hole looks over a gaping ravine that is nearly 100
metres wide. The fairway itself starts after a steep ascent from
where the canyon ends, nearly 20 metres above the tee box. The
motivation of this beautiful opening should encourage you to
smack your golf ball a long way on this long hole. This hole
carries the lowest index and rightly so because even after a long
drive, you will have a long iron or fairway wood, or more if the
wind is in your face, to a green that sits horizontally across
the fairway and offset to the left. Ideally you should be coming
in from the left as you will have to scale some bamboo trees and
cross two bunkers across the entrance if you are coming in from
the other side. There are a couple of waves that run through this
green, sloping right to left towards terraces that reflect the
topology of the rice terraces Bali is famous for, and which have
also been left about the first half of this golf course.
Another great hole follows and finishes your journey through
the inward nine. This last fairway is sandwiched between a creek
that cuts across the fairway 80 metres from the tee and ends 260
metres from the tee box where the fairway lunges into a lake. You
can take aim right of center to initiate a straightforward attack
at the green or send the ball along the left side of the fairway,
negotiating a tree and a bunker in the process, but taking the
water out of play. From either spot, you will still be left with
two options to consider. The lake meets the green 100 metres
across which has been bulk-headed and thrust into the water with
a negligible margin around the front and then toughened with the
usual waves that distort its smooth surface. You can play for the
heart of the green or run your ball along the left side of the
fairway which runs past the left edge of the green to set up a
short pitch.
Second nine
The change in scenery cannot be as dramatic as the one you get
when you travel from the 9th to the 10th tee. A couple of waste
bunkers, each occupying an area of 70 metres by 70 metres greet
you as you make the last turn and inform you with no uncertainty
that the test is about to change chapters. You might want to
tighten that grip a little more as you take your practice swings
to iron out the wrinkles and cricks, then wipe out any fears of
the desert-like terrain and address that ball. Aim between the
tall coconut trees that now dominate and enhance the scenery
while ignoring the waste bunker that starts on the right side of
the teebox and ends 50 metres from the green. At about 150 metres
from the tee, another waste trap starts on the left and edges its
way to the green, pushing its entrance to the right, just as it
did the fairway from where it started. You need full carry to get
to the green because the last thing you want is to do is find the
sand and start things off on the wrong foot.
A pond makes up the space between the 12th tee and green and
makes it quite clear that full carry is required to get to the
putting surface. A 5 metre mercy margin fringes the green while a
pot bunker sits in the front left while another trap occupies the
back, knowing full well that this is the sort of whole golfers
may just overclub, to complete the hole.
The 16th hole takes possession of the highest index on this
nine and it will be quite clear as soon as you look at the
details on your scorecard. At 443 yards off the lion tees, the
tees that most tourists will be playing from, it is the sort of
distance that public neighborhood courses or layouts of old might
have labeled as a par 5. You will either have to resign yourself
to having to play this as a such or else attempt to launch your
ball to a spot as far away from the tee as possible without
hurting yourself. But you will probably refrain from doing so
because the hole is lined with waste bunkers from tee to green,
starting left of the teebox for a good 300 metres, around which
the fairway turns, and then beginning about 100 metres away on
the right to where it explodes into a huge bunker complex between
80 and 100 metres wide that engulfs the entire right side of the
green. Only the longest of drivers should attempt to chew off the
corner where a drive carrying 220 metres should just skip past
the turn after crossing what will seem like miles of desert sand.
That maneuver though will leave you under 160 metres to the green
and perhaps the golden key to par. Dropping back into the sand
will ruin this excellent hole. It is a test of strength for the
better than average player; it is a test of patience for the
weaker golfer; and it is a test of extreme accuracy for the power
players trying to cut the turn and weave through the tall, thin
coconut trees that line the bend where the test of hope might
just come into play. The final approach is a truly threatening
shot, with that large complex on the right occupying much of the
area preceding the green, that must fade its way in left of the
sandy entrance. Leave it short and well left if you are planing
on taking your time getting home.
It is not so much the design of the 17th, with its straight-on
100 metre wide fairway sandwiched between 250 metre long waste
bunkers, that grabs your attention, but the enormous scenic
beauty of the green's arena. You may want to swing with venom
here, especially if you were stung by the difficult 16th, sending
your ball as far down the wide track as you could for this is a
hole well worth birdying. The waste bunker on the right continues
even after the one on the left ends, and proceeds to surround the
entire green save for the front and left entrance. The green
itself is slightly elevated which will result in difficult sand
shots over the crest and over the mounds that surround the
green's edges. This entire setting is then framed by the Indian
Ocean that will certainly be etched eternally in your memory.
The final hole plays as casually as the previous and takes you
along the ocean with a waste bunker on the left mirroring the
beach that the crashing waves froth upon, and a 300 metre long
pond that runs all along the right side of the fairway. You can
expect the forceful gusts to keep your ball out of the sand and
so would do well to point your drive left of center. Water swings
in close to the green to try to separate your target from the
fairway and succeeding enough so that you will have to carry your
approach to the flagstick. If you are thinking about fading, you
should beware the large trap that awaits patiently in the front
left. In fact the right to left setting of the green favors a
draw over the water, utilizing the front entrance to turn
through.
The writer is editor of The Asian Golf Review.