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There are total two 18-hole
golf courses on a flat terrain, making exquisite use of water hazards. The Matang
Nine and the Santubong Nine make up one 18-hole course called “Old Course” while
the Siol Nine and the Demak Nine make up the other 18-hole course aka “New Course”
that opened in 1989. The old course is a little longer, faster greens, better
layout and better reputation than the New Course. The New Curse was redesigned
by Nigel Douglas in 2003: every hole re-routed and all greens, tees, bunkers,
and turf grass were newly built. As the result, the course is more challenging
in that there are numerous hazards, with a good mix of bunkers, and lakes which
are well placed to ensure that you stop to think before executing the next shot.
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| A par 3 over water.
A lake not only guard the front side of the green but also front and back bunkers
protect the narrow green, so an accurate shot is needed on this hole. |
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A dogleg
to the right. Water comes on the right OB on the left on the tee shot. A big drive
on the left will find a ball in bunkers 230 yards off the tee. The landing area
is squeezed by bunkers and a lake. The second shot is over water and another lake
is well place on the left of the green. Bunkers protecting both sides of the green
come into play, too. |
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A dogleg
to the left. There are water hazards on the left of the hole, which make the landing
area of the second shot especially narrow. There are 6 bunkers from the green
to 120 yards off it, which helps enhance the beauty of this hole. However, those
bunkers are not deep and it is not difficult to hit shots from there. |
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A slight
dogleg to the left. An accurate tee shot is required as the width of the fairway
is only 40 – 20 yards. There is another lake , which surrounds the right and back
of the green. A large bunker protecting the left frontage of the green comes into
play, too. |
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A straight hole.
The third shot is over water. The contrast of lake and green is pretty. |
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| A beautiful “signature hole” with
a lake on the left. The green is small and double-tiered and slopes sharply from
the front toward the right back to the direction of the water. |
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| A dogleg to the left with a lake
on the left. Two well-struck shots will find you on in regulation. The green is
slightly elevated and well undulated. |
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It takes 20 minutes
from Kuching City and 45 minutes from Kuching Airport by car. It is a 1 hour 45
minutes flight from KL to Kuching. The direct flights between Hong Kong and Kuching
with one stop over at Kota Kinabalu were available this time, so it was easy to
move. Nigel Douglas designed other courses in Malaysia are Kota
Permai G&CC (with Ross Watson), Seri Selangor GC, and GR Lake Kenyir.
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3rd green seen from behind