Golfing Downtown

A Public Course Across from Downtown?
I'd almost given up on the idea of golfing in Singapore -it seemed that all the clubs were private. Google Maps to the rescue. A few days back I was playing with Google Maps and zoomed in on an area east of downtown that appeared to be a golf course. "How sweet" I thought to myself, that must be one expensive club to join. Just for the heck of it I did some research on the net and found out this is one of the few public golf courses in Singapore - it's only a few years old. Now, I'm not going to tell you that it was so easy to get a tee-time. There were plenty available but I had to prove that I had a legit handicap and fill out a three page form. Ping-Ping did all the paperwork, thankfully. I printed out a copy of my handicap that I maintain on an internet site and it worked - they accepted me. The views from the course were absolutely incredible.


It's a links style course with plenty of deep bunkers to avoid. When I got on the first tee, the lady marshall came and checked my handicap to ensure I was a the right color tee. I was playing from the blue which was only 6,100 yards. Of course, after I started playing, I remembered that they use meters here, so it was more like 6,700 yards - pretty long for me. My playing partner was a gentleman from Beijing named Liu. He didn't speak a whole lot of English and I don't speak a whole lot of Mandarin but we got along using golf speak. Whenever I hit a good shot he would yell "SHOT!" which I think was his way of saying "good shot."

Here's a look back at the clubhouse from the 7th tee. It was super modern with an open terrace beneath a sweeping roof. The driving range is to the right.

I was so happy to be out playing golf. I spent a lot of time looking around and taking photos, it was so beautiful. Here is a shot northward towards some local condos. The bizarre tower to the left is a commercial building.

I had a good round going, 4 over on the front. No bunkers hit, no balls lost in the water. Here's a shot looking west, the Singapore Flyer is on the right - it's a giant ferris wheel like the one in London.

In true Singapore style, they've taken something and improved it in a way that seems so obvious with 20/20 hindsight. I've never seen this before - rather than a simple upturned brush to drag your feet across, they have high-powered air hoses. You stand on top of the vent and blast your shoes clean. Worked like a charm.

The good round continued. It was all chipping and putting, nothing dramatic. 39 on the back. Che, Uncle Ted, Tone - 40+39=79. That's right! Seventy-nine for the kid.