Tough bunkers no match for the meek at Finna Golf Club

By Nicklaus D'Cruz

It might be possible for you to lose hope in yourself ... to have your confidence shattered just halfway through your round at Finna Golf & Country Club in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Local advice is to keep in mind the mountain peak of Mt. Arjuno and use it as your main reference point, with the ancient temple of Candi Jawi as indication of the lower regions of the golf course; and only then set off to the first tee.

It will not take long for the difficulties of Finna's aggravated gravity, slope and grain to unravel themselves. In fact, as you 3 putt the first green you will have had a nudge of your first indication to accede to the second bit of advice: that you trust your petite, soft spoken, female, non-golfer golf caddie.

With most of them carrying your clubs as well as about 2 years of daily study of Finna's fields, you will be much the better for succumbing to their clear directions.

Granted, it will take a monumental effort to agree to putt uphill for instance, when you know yourself that the green slopes downwards ... or left by a club's length when it looks like the line obviously points 2 inches to the right. These are greens with optical illusions designed to lead you the wrong way.

But you will gradually yield to the fact that Finna is no ordinary layout. Set 400 metres above sea level with a 100 metre variation between peaks and troughs, its finer aspects are never as obvious as they seem. You will soon realize as well that this game of golf may not be solely in your hands, as you begrudgingly reach out for help and join hands with your pretty, personal coach for the day; your map and contour reader and course director if you will.

Or you can learn the hard way.

You will also be trekking through the onslaught of 106 bunkers, nearly all of them round, deep and tough. They lie in wait watching your every move, ever ready to pounce at the slightest lowering of guard. Stay out of their soft cores, quick to bury your ball in little fine powder craters exacting a painful penalty most times as you blast your ball vertically upwards and 10 metres forward.

Those same bunkers dot fairways, peerless in the upkeep through their closely mown area, running predominantly uphill or down, through endless waves of ripples, amidst smooth, flowing mounds lining sharp turns and deep drops, between ravine and forest, and all encrusted in a stunning landscape.

And all those fairways lead you back to frightening green complexes dogged persistently by sand traps and undulations, often not allowing your golf ball anywhere in the vicinity of that sacred cup. Needless to say you are often left with longer putts that further heighten your confusion when making that final stroke.

And so it is at Finna that you eagerly join the early morning queue, patiently disturbing the dew covered tee box at the crack of dawn in anticipation of first light, when the sun sweeps over the horizon, showering its rays upon the contours of Finna's grand design, hoping to gain superiority over her confusing contours ... but not, just in case, without your trusty caddie.

First nine

The commanding view from the first tee offers a vast expanse of land on your right laid out below your feet. The view down the fairway however is not as cozy as the first glimpse will be of the perfectly symmetrical pot bunkers that are the trademark of Peter Thomson, guarding the left about 140 metres from the white tees and again about 230 metres on the far right. The fairway turns sharply around the left cluster of bunkers and presents the best route to the green. Aim well over the sand traps and the tall trees that serve to augment your anxiety and stay away from the jungle lined right edges. The tricky nature of this approach also encompasses bunkers that lay in wait after the turn. The safer, albeit longer route, is to stay in the middle of the fairway and send a powerful shot past the turn. This opening hole is not designed to be laid back and the approach makes no bones about its demands. The entrance is narrowed by deep pot bunkers on both sides, rising to crests and causing the front portion of the green to rise likewise, before falling into a basin in the middle. With the pin in the front, you can expect a tough golf shot near impossible to get close to the cup.

The 4th is a great looking golf hole with Mount Arjuna and Mount Penanggungan forming the backdrop. You cannot just go out and sculpt a mountain to enhance the scenery and Finna's wonderful and natural setting creates a grandeur hard to surpass. The hole runs downhill from the teebox before clambering up to the green and looks longer than it actually is. Two deep pot bunkers on the left and another on the right guard the landing area with the latter reminding you to stay away from the out of bounds that precede the jungle on the same side. A rather sandy route is offered for the final approach with the right side especially protected by several deep sand pits which require an escape that must ascend vertically upwards almost 2 metres before dropping delicately onto the green surface, which does not hesitate to run away from you with some speed. Fervently avoid the right and try to squeeze your golf ball in through the left entrance, fading past the left pot trap and bearing in mind that your ball has to drop on the higher front.

A small target makes up the landing area on the par 3 5th. The putting surface hangs over a rock that protrudes from the front right and will, without hesitation, bounce your golf ball into oblivion. The shot must carry over a valley and have enough club to scale the slope coming in. Three pot bunkers look after the left edge and complete this great hole.

The 6th fairway falls into a little ravine about 50 metres from the teebox and, 10 metres later, rises dramatically uphill towards 2 pot bunkers 220 metres away on the left that for some reason mark your target line. It is scary having to drive towards traps like those. Out of bounds line both sides of the fairway which falls off into a ravine on the left and is also protected on the right by thick forest. The fairway continues to rise but drops suddenly as it approaches the green, leaving just the tip of the white flag waving at you to possibly consider surrendering. As if the greens were not tough enough with their gravitational trickery, this 6th green features severe undulation and rises from its basin in the front to a crest in the middle before falling away in the back. The only saving grace is that there are no bunkers strangling this green.

Two bunkers mark the turn on the 7th hole, protruding out into the fairway, causing it to swing around them. The landing area sort of meanders in and out with widths of about 20 to 30 metres right through to the green and requires for you to stay on the short stuff. From 150 metres from the green, you will not be able to see the bunker that is buried in the front left entrance. Only local knowledge will lead you to wisely draw your ball through the right opening if the pin fluttered attractively on the left. 15 metres short of the green on the right is a bunker that hugs the bottom of a slope to catch shots falling short and is probably a nastier place of the two to land in. Staying out of all that trouble requires a determined effort and yet again the green rises to a crest in the front to increase the difficulty of the approach.

Only if you have found the center of the fairway will you have a chance of making the tough approach to the 8th green. A bunker sits at the 100 metre marker but is elevated and thus looks closer to the green than it actually is. The green itself is situated at the extreme tip of the fairway and plunges into lots of trouble in the back. 50 metres short of the green is another bunker on the left after which the fairway descends quickly downhill towards 2 deep pot bunkers that guard the right edge of the green with some ferocity. The actual entrance is untroubled except for a slant in the fairway tilting sharply from left to right and a dip 20 metres short of the green. Nothing can compare though to the optical illusion that presents a putting surface that looks like it rises gradually and evenly up to the back but actually slopes with some speed downhill. It is tricky. Walk around your line not once but twice. And then watch with an eagle's eye how everyone else's putts move. From the side, the borrow is great but chances are you would read it the wrong way resulting in a confusing putt that will disappear from your intended line. When you finally decide on your line; ask your caddie ! If she reads it any other way, forget your own skillful assessment and bite hard on your humble pie.

Second nine

The opening shot from the 10th teebox stares down an average looking hole. The fairway extends for 230 metres before it turns into trouble that you cannot see, but, should come to expect at this point through the golf course. The turn to the left lasts 100 metres before a second swing leads it right and downhill where it meets, out of sight, a brook that cuts across the fairway 30 metres short of the green. With a pot bunker sitting patiently in the front right entrance, fade your ball in and stay in the left and safer area of the green.

Drive your golf ball short of 220 metres from the elevated 11th teebox and stay left. The hole then makes a sharp right turn and drops dramatically to a green hidden from view behind the thick forest all along the right. The green is a little round target, although surrounded meekly by a sand trap that leaves a berth of 10 metres, is still hard to hit because of the huge undulations, the surrounding forest and its blind position. The curvaceous green has dips, crests and slopes, generally falling from back to front, making it tough again to get close to the pin.

Your drive ideally should reach the crest in the fairway about 190 metres from the tee where it starts to disappear downhill, thereafter clashing with 3 bunkers that form a barricade to hold back any approach falling short of the green. The fairway then rises to the elevated green complex which is unmercifully protected by 3 more bunkers on the left and another 2 on the right. The green surface rises to a crest in the middle, mirroring the fairway somewhat and slides downwards thereafter while being set diagonally from left to right to foul up most approaches.

Light forest stays persistently along the right edge of the 15th hole hoping to annoy you if you have an annoying slice. A friendly buffer makes up the left portion after a 200 metre drive, dividing this hole from the 16th fairway. Anything shorter will find a thick flower bed and tree lined edge. The fairway sweeps gently and continually to the right, requiring you to lay your second shot up anywhere left. From the right side, the approach will have to fly over a lemon grass patch which forces the fairway to make a sudden and final turn from 130 metres out, towards the green. This patch of rough precedes two deep pot bunkers that block the center and right front entrance of the green, leaving an opening of use to those coming in from the left. Two more bunkers sit at either end of the green to place a lot of pressure on the approach. This is a lovely par 5 that grows on you and parades a different view stretching unobscured to the horizon in the absence of the dominant mountains.

The 17th is a great looking hole that runs downhill all the way to 4 pot receptacles, two sand traps on the right and two on the left, the first starting at the190 metre mark, and leaves a fairway about 30 metres wide between. Land with careful attention to direction, between the traps to remain in contention for par. The green sits at the extreme end of the fairway and hides behind 4 pot bunkers in the front and sides that will take care of anything swaying off line. You have to make sure you land at the bottom of the green and not risk having your ball careening off the back end.

The closing hole is not really a tough one but it is long and requires a drive that fades along the contours of the fairway which makes a long, wide and lazy sweep right to get to the green. Stay away from the left edges because it plunges you into forest and water and an assortment of other trouble. If you have made a long enough drive then you will have a good chance of hitting the green whose right entrance is protected by a rather deep bunker sitting at the bottom of a tall mound. The left reveals another deep sand pit below the putting surface and requires a good steep climb to escape from. The left is guarded by a steep fall off while the right finds a hill that rises from the edge of the green and lifts that portion of the green enough so that the golf ball will not even sit there. As if to remind you that the greens were what made it a tough day at the office, this final putting surface incorporates lots of break in it and forces you, for the final time, to rely on your caddie, who should at this point now be your best friend.

Pro talk

Finna Golf & Country Club's unique characteristics are that the golf course was designed to compliment the natural beauty and to blend in with the natural terrain. The golf course is situated at 350 metres above seal level and is between 3 distinct mountain peaks - Mount Arjuna, Mount Welirang and Mount Penangunggan. The effects of being a mountain golf course has a huge influence on how the course should be played and the approach on how the player attacks the course. Throughout the whole course there are 105 pot bunkers situated in strategic places to challenge the golfers tee shots and second shots onto the green. Once arriving on the putting green a whole new game begins. Because the course is built on a mountain slope, reading the greens at Finna is a true test of any player's putting skills. My best advice is to listen to your caddie and work closely with her on your course management and let her help you read the greens.

This review was done off the white tees. The blue tees are the championship tees.

The writer is editor of The Asian Golf Review.