Posts Tagged Palm Island

We were playing at the annual JWNV tournament celebrating our dear friend Johnny Wong’s 60th Birthday. We were blessed with cloudy skies and managed to avert the thunderstorms and heavy rain that were in the forecast. On the Lychee and Lake courses at Palm Island, China, we started from the Lychee’s 6th hole and after pars, bogeys, double bogeys and even triple bogeys, it wasn’t until our 12th hole until our first Birdie arrived. The Lake course’s 8th hole, a 150 yard Par 3, called for a 6-iron with the wind and boy were we close. Headed straight for the flag and looked real good. Hit the ground, scraped by the pin and landed just a foot past the hole! Another brush with a hole-in-one. This was also the Nearest to Pin hole, but someone was even closer…at four inches. Nevertheless, a tap-in Birdie.

Three holes later, on the Par 4 2nd hole of the Lychee course, we hit a huge slice on our drive but luckily avoided the huge waste bunker surrounding the green. With about 155 yards to the pin, we took a 6-iron and I hopped just off the edge of the uphill green and rolled onto the green to be pin high 10 feet from the hole. A subtle downhill putt was tricky but managed to get Birdie #2.

Then we blew the next hole and for consolation on our last hole, the Par 5 Lychee 5, we played a textbook Birdie. A perfect drive and a 7-iron left us with 100 yards to the pin. With wind against us, a ¾ pitching wedge got me just under 10 feet below the hole. The slight right to left breaker uphill was Birdie #3.

The competition used New New Peoria to calculate the handicap and the format was Stableford; therefore, we must have been lucky and the blown holes were used to calculate our handicap as despite our roller coaster round, we won the Men’s Net Champion. Yippee and Happy Birthday Johnny…thanks.

110715 Palm Island, Lake #8 (Par 3)

110715 Palm Island, Lychee #2 (Par 4)

110715 Palm Island, Lychee #5 (Par 5)

It was a cold day at the annual United Hearts Charity Golf Tournament in Palm Island Resort, China. Maybe it was for charity, so we were lucky it only started raining after our round. On our fifth hole B5, a short 150 yard Par 3, we took a 7-iron and thought we had a pretty good shot. Damn, forgot about the wind and landed almost 20 yards in front of the green. With the pin in the front, we chose to bump and run with a pitching wedge. A good bump and boy did I run! Straight at the flag…then bang! Ouch! Hit the flag and right into the hole. Lucky, otherwise I could have been off the green.

110318 Palm Island, B5 (Par 3)

Our first birdie today came on the second hole, #A2 on the Lychee Course at Palm Island, China. This came in time as we messed up the first hole. The 322 yard Par 4 left us with 130 yards to the hole after our drive. There was a strong wind against our backs so a pitching wedge was sufficient to get me within 15 feet from the hole. The downhill left breaking putt easily found the cup.

Three holes later on #A5, a short 482 yard Par 5, our drive left us with only 200 yards to the front pin (with some help from the wind, of course). A 4 hybrid didn’t quite ride the wind as we planned and we were short. But a well struck 56° wedge almost resulted in an eagle, and we just had a two inch tap in for birdie.

101028 Palm Island - Lychee Course A2 (Par 4)

101028 Palm Island - Lychee Course A5 (Par 5)

Another mediocre day on the golf course. Ups and down…the greens (if you can call them that) were terrible. Sandy, bumpy and some had patches without any grass. Looked like the “browns” they play in desert golf. Even those roll truer. Anyway, this was for the United Hearts Charity Golf Tournament at Palm Island, China. On the first hole (our seventh) of the Lake Course (327 yard Par 4) our drive left us 125 to the center of the green. Faced with a back pin position and a fairly strong wind straight in our faces, we hit a 7 iron and got it three feet past the hole. This was tricky, a downhill putt on a bumpy green…hmmm. Had to be aggressive to hold the line but couldn’t hit too firm otherwise I could have ended up way down the slope if we missed the hole. A good firm tap and I trickled down into the hole.

100326 Palm Island, Lake 1 (Par 4)

Another invitation, this time by Golf Magazine (Hong Kong) for their 7th Anniversary. It was also R’s birthday too. No better way to celebrate one’s birthday than to play golf.

Being R’s birthday, I think he had everything going for him. We managed three birdies again. First one was at the Lychee Course’s A2 (Par 4). A safe 5-iron kept the ball in front of the massive bunker that spans the entire fairway. A well struck 4-hybrid left a 15 footer for the first birdie of the day.

Have you ever heard of snooker golf? Well, on the Lychee Course’s A5 (Par 5), a good drive left just over 210 yards to the pin and going with the wind, a 3-hybrid left it about 15 yards from the front edge of the green. A fellow competitor’s ball was pin high to the right of the flag and thinking that we won’t hit him, we chipped with an 8-iron. It was hot and right of the hole with the momentum to end up at the back of the green or even off. But it struck the stationary ball and ricocheted to just a foot from the hole for a tap in birdie. Could have been an eagle if it went in!

Again on a Par 5, the C2 hole (River Course) had strong winds in our favor. At 485 yards, we must have hit a 290 yard drive as we were left with 193 to the center of the green. Thank you wind. Afraid that we might over shoot the green, we played an 180 yard shot with the 4-hybrid and left it in the greenside bunker. After a nice bunker shot, we had a 12 foot downhill putt for the birdie.

Happy Birthday R. I’m sure my three birdies made your day very happy.

Oh BTW, we won the nett champion with a nett score of 69 using the New New Peoria Handicap System.

091111 Palm Island, Lychee A2 (Par 4)

091111 Palm Island, Lychee A5 (Par 5)

091111 Palm Island, River C2 (Par 5)