Archive for category Asia

It was our weekly skins match at Discovery Bay, Hong Kong and it wasn’t until the 8th hole on Ruby that we had a realistic chance for Birdie. On the 151 yard Par 3, even with the wind helping, we took a 6-iron to go for the back pin. Barely making the right edge of the green, we were 15 feet from the hole. A slightly right to left breaker easily found the target.

Then on the 503 yard Par 5 Diamond #4, our 13th hole, we hit a monstrous shot leaving just 230 to the center of the green…even with a strong headwind. We tried to go for the green in two with our 5-wood, but pulled it left and I landed just past the cart path amongst the twigs and muck. Just chopping out trying to get somewhere on the green, I landed favorably and rolled past the hole leaving just a simple six foot uphill putt for Birdie.

There’s only one more round on the 30th, so these may well be the last Birdies for the year…we’ll see.

111227 Discovery Bay, Ruby 8 (Par 3)

111227 Discovery Bay, Diamond 4 (Par 5)

At Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, we managed a Birdie on the Par 5 Diamond 4. Missing the fairway to the left, we hit a 4-hybrid against a strong wind. Again missing the fairway to the left, we were left with 100 yards to the hole in the rough. A pitching wedge shot towards the uphill green, leaving me almost pin high with 15 feet to go. A right to left breaker was quite tricky, but a firmly hit putt got me in the hole.

We were falling behind the group in front, so there was no time to take a photo of the hole. Sorry

It was a shocking front-9 on the Diamond/Jade course at Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. I’d rather not talk about it. The back-9 was much better. And finally on Jade 9, our last hole, our chip in from off the green tracked perfectly into the hole for Birdie. Now we just have to find a way to figure out how to play better on the front-9.

111120 Discovery Bay, Jade 9 (Par 4)

This was miraculous. On our back-9, the Jade course at Discovery Bay, Hong Kong, the two hardest holes (in our opinion) of all the 27 holes are Jade 1 (Par 5) and Jade 2 (Par 4). And we managed to Birdie both of them, back to back!

On Jade 1, our drive went miles and landed on the platform just short of the valley…somewhere we have never been before. Taking a 5-wood and hoping to land within 100 yards of the green, our shot went too far right. Lucky us, I just missed the cart path and landed in the rough 100 yards in. Our pitching wedge also went right, but a favorable kick knocked me back to the putting surface, pin high and leaving an 18 footer for our first Birdie.

Then on Jade 2, our drive left 180 yards to the green. Taking a 21° Hybrid, I landed left of the green, but again fortunately rode the slope and kicked right to land pin high with 15 feet to go. Not believing our luck, we took a deep breath and made our putt. Perfect line, perfect speed…I managed to just sneak in the right edge. Birdie number two! We were so ecstatic that we forgot to take a picture.

Getting par on these two holes is hard enough, getting a Birdie is lucky…getting Birdies on both holes is priceless…

111112 Discovery Bay, Jade 1 (Par 5)