Surabaya - Undiscovered Golf Gem

Surabaya is Indonesia's 2nd largest city located at the eastern side of Java. It does sound rather unappealing, but it really is a modern city with gigantic malls, lifestyle services, and great golf courses. What's more, taxis are run by professional companies that go by the meter, unlike those from freaking 'Malaysia Boleh!' KL. Boleh my ass.

During our visit to Surabaya, we visited 2 city courses - Bukit Darmo Golf Club and Josh's favorite Golf Graha Famili & Country Club.

Bukit Darmo Golf
Bukit Darmo Golf is one of the more premier courses in Surabaya. It is a bit on the expensive side but it's worth the price. We had to come here twice, as the planned Friday game rained out even before we step on the course.

The Golf Course
The Jack Nicklaus designed course is not very intimidating, no extreme doglegs with huge water hazards. We even managed to get a few pars into our scores. As for the quality of the fairways and greens, it's really well maintained. Driving onto the fairway ensures that you get the best lie. I really had an easy time chipping the ball from the fringes onto the greens.

The Club House
One thing's for sure, the teh tarik here sucks big time. It's like drinking plain, hot water.

Fatboy Slim with a glass of mud water

As for the changing rooms, not sure if the interior designer is on drugs, but the whole black and white theme threw me off. The ceilings are painted black, the cabinets are all black, while the floor has chessboard-like tiles. Weird. Josh enjoyed the rain shower faucets here though.

Scores:


Golf Graha Famili & Country Club
The first thing that struck us was the golf bag handlers. They are girls, wearing tight, white tops with short demin skirts. Not something I'd associate with a "Famili" club. Anyway, this should be one of Josh's favorite club in the world. Why? Not because of the girls, but because of the fact that he beat us both.

Josh - King for the day

The scores were recorded by the caddies, so can't dispute that. Heck, he didn't even use a driver. Since division 1 Barnsley can beat Liverpool at Anfield (with the winning Barnsley goal struck at the Kop end), I guess anything can happen in sport. Bwahaha! Congrats bro, good for you.

The Golf Course
The greens here have a strange mixture of cow grass and "golf" grass (not sure what's the name of the species). On some holes, you get nice carpet-ty grass, while some others, you get cow grass on the fairways. Weird. The greens here are of championship standard I tell ya. Expect plenty of up-down puts and shit holes placed on slopes that makes you 3 or 4-putt. You want a putting challenge, look for it here, especially on the first 9.

The Club House
The changing room is small, but more tastefully done compared to Bukit Darmo. As for the restaurant, it's serviced by girls in short uniforms. Again, not something I'd expect from a "Famili" club. Food's pretty decent, nothing too spectacular about it.

All in all, Surabaya was a refreshing experience for us. Perhaps it was helped by the fact that our champion can speak the language, hence can abang abang kawan kawan with the locals. Will we come back again? Yeah sure, why not? Especially if Jetstar Asia offers the $3 tickets again.

Check out our Surabaya pictures, here.