Masters

Some dude named Charl Schwartzel won the 2011 Masters.

Congrats Charl!! Following the footsteps of Trevor eh? South Africa has produced tremendous numbers of talented golfers. My hero included....hehehe



Rory McIlroy.......what in the world happen to you? Crumbled on the final day? Read it here.



Tiger 'Invisible-No-More' Woods did good and finished at 4th place......

My hero, Ernie Els, vanished into thin air before the masters even started....hehehehe......

Anyways, our very own "masters'' i.e Malaysian Open starts on Thursday at the luxurious KLGCC. I've got myself a pass with a help from a fellow golfer so I might spend my weekends watching the pros play this week. I'm excited and looking forward for the event. I silently hope and pray that we will have a local champion this time around. How it would spark a massive frenzy among Malaysians if a local can finally win its own Masters.........

Note:
The pics were taken from Dailymail.

Santai........

Went for a round of golf with some friends on Sunday at Danau, Bangi.

It has been a few months or maybe a year since I last played there.

I'm not a fan of the course, as for me, it's difficult (well, all golf courses in the world are difficult to begin with) and I never seem to get good scores there. In other words, for some reason unknown to me, I never been able to play well in Danau.

So we started the game at 1230pm and things we going ok for me for the first part of the game. I think...I did well for the First 9 holes. Then, on second nine, things started to go wrong. Got a triple bogey for the 10th hole, and it took me 9 strokes to complete a Par 5 Index 1 hole. Damnnn!!!! That completely ruin my game. My initial aim of scoring below 90 was completely dashed as I scored 91 for the day. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Nevermind, there's always a next time. I can't complain much as I don't spend time at the range anymore. It gets worse when I'm only playing twice a month. So, the consistency is not there. Golf is about consistency and focus. If you don't have that, then don't even think about shooting low scores.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed my day out at the course. Certainly, made new friends along the way. For a few hours, I forget about the 'world' and it was just me, the bloody white ball and my clubs. Hehehehehe.

Ohhh, somewhere along the fairways, I even saw 'Villa Tropika'. Hehehe. If I'm not mistaken, I can clearly see the apartment from Hole no 3, Hole 7 and Hole 8. My unit is on the 10th floor and supposedly will be facing the golf course. The project seems to be in good progress and I can't wait for it to be completely built. Will I sell it or will I rent it out? I've not decided on that one as yet but things are certainly looking good......


I told my flight-mate that I bought a unit from the developer last year and he was asking whether there are any units left for sale. He was mentioning that he is interested in looking for an investment property in Bangi area and told me that I'm lucky to be able to buy it. Search and you shall I find....that was my response....

Have a good week....

What's in my bag....

I've been playing golf for about 2 years now. I think it was in early 2008 lah. The story was, I met an old friend of mine through YM and we chatted about golf a wee bit. And he told me that another friend of ours wanted to sell his iron sets. TO be honest, I didn't know what made me bought those irons and I did. I'm still using that faithful Titleist 804OS with me at times.


Of course, just like any other things in life, I have to start the game from the basics. I went to see a local pro at Saujana. Of course, he had taught me the basics of the golf swing, the short game and of course,...putting...

From there on...it was one heck of journey. Sometimes, I would enjoy the game but at times, the game can be so frustrating. Hehehe. I need to have a stronger mental approach lah to play the game....I tried to play at least once a week. Since I'm not blessed with endless pot of money, I would only play at cheap courses around KL. At times, I'll play at difficult courses like Sri Selangor, Danau or Impian.

Fast forward in 2010, after all that playing and seeing not one but 3 pros for the last 2 years, I'm now playing at 13 handicap. Well...that's what it says in my handicap card. I'm pretty happy with it to be honest. But, I still need to improve on my game. I hope to play 'single' before I reach 35.

Anyways, as time goes by, I've added some new/used equipment to help me improving my game. So what's in my bag currently?


Taylor Made R7 425 (Bought it dirt cheap from a friend)


Maruman Conductor Fairway Wood 3 (recently purchased for a 50% discount)


Taylor Made R5 Wood 5 -Bought it used from a friend...dirt cheap as well....


Nike CPR 22'-I can't hit long irons so this club helps me a lot in hitting 175-185 meters. (at times it can go only 50 meters...heheh) Bought it for only RM95. What a wonderful investment it was....heheh


Callaway X-Forged
Again...it was a used set. Bought it reasonably priced for a very good sets of irons. Heheheh. I only use 5i-PW so the 3's and the 4's is kept at home.


I've tried so many wedges and I found that Cleveland suits my game. Although, at times it's bloody difficult to be accurate especially when we are talking about short games (100 meters and below). I have the 52 Degress and 58 degrees with me. These 2 clubs probably costs more than my driver (R7) since I bought it new.


Odyssey 'Megatron'
A good putter with a very good deal. Bought it from a friend for a dirt cheap price again. Hehehe.

The only thing with me is...I always make it a point to play with new sets of golf balls. I'm not a fan with used balls as golf is already difficult game. I will need the help of new balls to get my game going. Heheheh. But...I'm not into those titleist Pro-V that costs RM180 per dozen type of balls. My choice would be the Noodle-Easy Distance. Costs about RM54 per dozen.


At times, I will play the E6-Bridgestone balls.



There you go. The equipments that I bring along everytime I play. Like I said....even though the handicap card states that my handicap is 13 but I'm struggling to play like a 13 handicapper. More like a 16 or 17 handicapper lah. Hehehe. Sometimes, my score was so bad that I thought of giving up the game for good...:p

Anyways....have a nice day.........

p/s: Thnx to Uncle Google for the pics....

Golfing @ chiangmai

Went to Chiangmai recently for a golfing trip.

It was a 4 days 3 nights trip.

Played 3 times at Royal Chiangmai, Inthanon Golf & Mae Jo Golf Resort. Among the 3, I would rate inthanon was perhaps the most difficult & long course, and the greens were fast as well. Royal Chiangmai is a mature course and maejo is a resort & fun course.

Costs for the 3 night stay at Mercure hotel with breakfast, 3 rounds of golf & transport (9 seater) was RM790 per person. Quite cheap to be honest....

Visited 3 halal restaurants for our dinner and the food were super-delicious.

The weather was very kind to us during our visit. Perhaps about 18-24 degrees...

Will definitely visit Chiangmai again for golf!!

Hopefully, I'll get to post some pics later....

Watching the pros in action at Sime Darby LPGA...

Finally get to see those LPGA pro golfers up close and personal.

Obviously, it's a rare treat for golfers like myself to see these remarkable players playing in Malaysia...

I was there on the first day and managed to follow Ai Miyazato for a couple of holes before I decided to head home due to the heat. I learn a few tips from watching these pros mainly their pre-shot routines and their effortless swings. Obviously, their level of focus in taking those shots is something that I admire....

Anyways...didn't manage to snap lots of photos...only a few to be honest...here are some pics:


The Entrance


Shin Ji Yai-World No 2 (With the lovely Michelle Wie at the back)


Yani Tseng-World No 5


Suzann Pettersen-World No 4


View of the 1st Tee


Ai Miyazato taking her Tee Shot (She is so small that u can barely see her...hahaha)


And lastly...a pic of myself and the local actor, Zul Yahya at a recent golf tournament at Kemuning...:p

Enough is enough...!!

I've been back playing golf 'seriously' almost 2 months now....

FOr the last couple of games, my score has been erratic...

I can play good games in some days but on some other days, my game has been destroyed by poor tee-off shots....

I noticed, especially the last three games I had in KGSAAS and Tasik Puteri where my tee off shots were seriously dreadful. When this happens, I need extra strokes to recover which ultimately destroy my whole game...

I went to see a pro back in 2007 with a guy named Hambali in Saujana. I thought he was ok. My game improved after seeing him

I believe, it is time for me to see a pro again. Perhaps, not Hambali. Perhaps, I need to see someone else.

If I were to continue playing like this, I would never be able to enjoy the game any longer...Keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again....

Since I've adjusted my clubs with a clubfitter a few weeks back, I believed my iron shots have improved...

Enough is enough!!!. If I want to improve I need to seek help and advice from better players and of course, seeing a pro to see where my mistakes are...

No...I'm not eyeing to enter a PGA competition...I just wanna enjoy the game and be able to swing solid shots from tee to gree...

Errrr......am I putting unnecessary pressure to myself? A wee bit of pressure is always good as I know I could be playing better...

Golf Malaysia

1. We have more then 200 golf courses in the country. It includes numerous number of 'world-class' type golf club around the country

2. But, we have yet to produce world-class golfers. Not even in the Asian standards.

3. Malaysian golfers generally buy or purchase good equipments either brand new or used. Some of us change our Drivers every 6 months and a good Driver may cost more then RM1k. (I bought mine for RM400 only...hehehehe.

4. These golfers also purchase fancy clothes and shoes from brands like Titleist, Callaway, Puma J. Lindberg, Footjoy etc which are not cheap.

5. Companies like Transview, MST, RGT and the rest I would assume made huge profits from Malaysian golfers.

6. Despite all these, we still can't produce even one really good & world class golfers.

7. The Thais & Philipinos produces a lot more touring golf pros than us. What did they do that we didn't? I'm sure the Thai people felt super proud to see Thongchai at the Masters recently.

8. What happened to the Junior Program? Any investment done? An investment must involve returns right? So what are the returns?

9. Perhaps, some of us are just happy flashing our fancy golf clothes & equipment to other people at the fairway

10. We have 27 million people and we can't even find one fella that's really good in golf? Vijay Singh is from Fiji and he is a damn good player, Villegas is from Colombia-another smashing player. (well, in footballing terms, we can't even find 22 good players to even qualify for the Asia Cup)

11. We can't even win in our own 'Masters' i.e Malaysian Open since aeons. I thought, since we are playing at home, it'll be a wee bit easier. But this year, it needs an 18 year old boy from Korea to show to the Malaysians on how to win the Malaysian Open.

12. How is it possible to compete with the best when one of our so-called pro decided not to have a coach to assist him in improving his game? Bullocks!!!!

So, where do we go from here?

What are the plans?

Do we want to make a champion or just wait until the cows come home?

Actually, we can relate this topic to our current footballing standards. We used to be good (not great) but now we have gone so low that we are so bloody proud to win a gold medal in SEA games. Japan & Korea have gone leaps and bounds in footballing standards but we still have players dying to eat nasi lemak for breakfast everyday. Ck ck ck ck . Kasihan dehhh....Do you know the Slovenia, a young country with a population of only 2.1 million people have qualified for the 2010 World Cup. Well, Indonesia with their 200 million plus people couldn't find 22 players to play in the world cup as well, but they've been there before ages ago....

Anyways, that's the reality. I guess, we Malaysians are not as serious and enthusiastic about sports as compared to other countries. It's rather unfortunate that we seemed to have the facilities and some of them can be considered top class but we still can't find good sportsmen apart from Badminton, Squash and some other 2nd or 3rd rated sports. Well, at least these guys are good in their respective sports.

Ohh, i totally forgot, we Malaysians(not all lah), we like spending time watching TV or lepak at the malls or mamak stalls, perhaps go clubbing. For some, we spend our times busy politicking on issues that are so immaterials. I don't know lah. We can spend hours and hours and we still can talk about this.

Nyways, Malaysia might not be perfect but it is my home and I love it. Hehehehe.....

Night golfing and options....

Last night, during the game of golf with two of my childhood friends, we talked a bit of how to make more money with the resources that we have now. We talked a lot about unit trusts, stocks, ASB, OD and so forth. To cut a long story short, this friend of mine, Mat, asks me about ways he could increase his savings. In saying that, earlier, I've given him this blog address for Mat to read and perhaps, take a tip or two to help him manage his finances. I'm not an expert per se, but certainly I can only give my opinion based on what I know with the limited knowledge that I have.

Hence, in my opinion, it is always good to start with an aim or an objective. For example, what do you wanna achieve at the end of the year. The objective must be achievable and of course doable. Mat said to me, if I can remember correctly, he would like to have RM100,000 in his ASB before he turns 40. He is now, 32 so we have about 8 more years to go. A RM100k in 8 years. That's like saving an average of RM12,500 per year, which comes to about saving RM1042 per month constantly for the next 8 years. This calculation is done if you have zero balance in your ASB. If you have let's say RM20k as your available ASB balance, obviously you another RM80k to go. Spread it to 8 years, you need to save about RM833 per month consistently for the next 8 years. That could be option 1.

Option 2.

You could top up your ASB by refinancing your house. Let's say, you refinance your house partly for about RM200,000. I do not know what will be the refinancing rate will be, so I'll just take a figure of 6.75%(refer to public bank's website at http://www.pbebank.com/en/en_content/personal/rates/mp2.html) and you refinance it for 25 years. If you calculate it correctly, you have to pay about RM1,382 per month for the next 25 years. (Total you have to pay including the interest at the end of year 25 is RM414,600). Let's say, out of that RM200,000, you take out RM50k and dump it inside ASB. Then, you'll have RM70k as your ASB balance with RM30k to go. RM30k in 8 years is easy in my opinion. (A mere savings of RM313 per month is enough to get you there).-Pls bear in my that I've not taken the dividend received at the end of each year as yet. For example, if you have RM70k in your ASB balance, at the end of your 1st year of saving, you'll get at least RM7k. Wow....sapa nak kasi bro? hehehehehe....RM70k+RM7k=RM77k. You are left with only RM23k in 8 years.

Hrrmm..in addition, I think this method is workable if the monthly payments are properly managed. If you could sustain the monthly payments, than this way could work.

Option 3.

With your ASB balance of RM20,000, perhaps, if you are a risk taker, you could pledge it to the bank and of course, you can get the OD facilities of about RM18,000. Then, perhaps, you could refer to my earlier blog with regards to this method of maximizing your ASB through overdraft. However, a question was ask to me about the OD interest. Hrrmm,....again, I'm not well versed on this interest thingy but I'll try to explain what I understand. OD interest is based on daily rest and will be charged for the amount that you actually used. For example, the rate of OD interest from RHB is about 6.75% (I think). Ok, now let's take an example that you have about RM18,000 of OD facilities from the bank. You take RM5,000 from that OD facilities to be transfered to your ASB account. Now, for that RM5,000 that you've used from that OD account, the interest would be RM337.50(RM5000x6.75%). However, there are tricks available for you to use to lessen your OD interest. Hehehehehe. Perhaps....I will write about these tricks when the time comes....

Have a nice day