Folks
I recently had the privilege of playing 2 rounds at the Nirwana Bali Golf Club over the long (Ramadan) weekend. Here are some pictures and my review of the course.
(1) Course Layout
This is a Greg Norman aka The Shark designed course. He managed to beautifully carve out 18 holes out of a piece of land that has the Pan Pacific resort & owner occupied villas surrounding it. The holes along the dramatic coast overlook cliffs and crashing waves.
The signature hole has the famed Tanah Lot Temple in the background. What a sight to behold!
For some holes that are further inland, your will see stepped padi fields lining the fairways and some tee boxes.That by itself is quite a unique design.
Off the tee, it is quite straight forward. Greg Norman placed the fairway bunkers to intimidate you but you usually have options off the tee to hit over them or around them.
Not much blind spots off the tee. The tricky part is to be in the right position for your 2nd shot. Quite a no. of holes have a stream or gully short of the green. Any hero shot that is poorly executed will find the watery grave.
Make sure you ask your caddy about hazards before the green. I will suggest laying up to get a putt for par, or walk off with a bogey if you find yourself in a spot of bother off the tee.
(2) Course Difficulty. It is a relatively open resort course. There are 4 tee boxes available for play to test players of all skill levels
(a) Black aka SHARK (6,805y / 6,223m) - Slope index (74.2/146)
(b) Blue aka CHAMP (6,308y / 5,767m) - Slope index (73.1 / 142)
(c) White aka RESORT (6,002y / 5,488m) - Slope index (70.7 / 134)
(d) Red aka FORWARD (5,157y / 4,716m) - Slope index (72.5 / 136)
I played off the Blue on both days. Although distance wise, it is not punishing, the slope index is higher than what I am used to. It is also very windy in this time of the year (evident by the numerous no. of kites in the sky; I was told it was the annual kite competition in Bali last month). The wind and slope factor made club selection rather tricky. A couple of tee shots along the coast require you to commit to a shot across a ravine or overhanging cliff in windy conditions.
That is quite heart stopping!
I'm a 16 hcp and I came back with a humbling 98 on day one despite managing 6 pars. Too many blow holes and lack of familiarity to the course being my excuse! I managed to salvage some pride with a 89 on day two, also with 6 pars. This time course knowledge helped a lot and my ability to tame the tricky greens contributed somewhat.
(3) Course Condition - this is my assessment, so take it with a pinch of salt
(a) Tee Box - 9/10
(b) Bunker - 9/10
(c) Fairway - 9/10
(d) Putting Green - 9/10
On a whole, I have nothing but good things to say about the course condition. Only TMCC Gardens and Sentosa Serapong is 10/10 IMHO!
(4) Caddies / Golf Cart
My caddy is quite knowledgeable and quickly convert Yards to Meters (what I'm used to) to help me with club selection. Line reading is good but her ability to line the putts is inconsistent. Then again, the golfer is responsible for his own game, so, no complaints from my end! Caddy tip is recommended at 100k Ruppiah onwards. The caddies are very polite and helpful. We requested for our same caddies over the 2 days.
Here are the caddies offering some 'eye power' while the Missus lines her putt up. In the background is also our lovely playing partners Frank and Mary from Australia paired with us in day one.
Golf cart is good, powerful to climb slopes and running on battery, unlike some of the lesser courses in the region who convert their golf carts to (smelly) desiel-engined ones. As each player must have a caddy, the golf cart has a proper stand behind each golf bag to let the caddy stand safely. Thumbs up to that!
(5) Summary
On the whole, if you enjoyed Ria Bintan Golf course, then you will definitely enjoy Nirwana Bali Golf course. It is on a higher level altogether, and the higher green fees justify the elevated status it enjoys. This golf course has won a slew of awards and deservingly so!
I hope you enjoyed my review and the pictures. I would like to thank CIMB for making arrangements for us to play at Nirwana Bali Golf Club over the weekend... for free! This is part of the CIMB World Mastercard golf privileges program. Nothing in it for me (I work for another bank, for those who knows me!), just sharing
One last pic
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Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:05 am
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