Gv#012

Thailand Edition vol. 12

My Top Ten

Peter thomson’s toP ten

The 19th

old tom Morris’s return

Destination Focus a Passage to india Dalat swede sensations

Pete Dye’s ForD Plantation Course Southern United States

Choice Resorts twin rivers Golf Course

Resort Golf Academy

le Manoir du Golf

magazine of the gm group

golf vacations thailand vol.12 sepember-october 2015 / 180 baht

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Contents

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28 JOURNAL 14 Maria Sharapova For Evian iVilla Seminyak Dheva Spa and Wellness Living in Sydney Dtac

the 19th 40 OLD TOM'S RETURN In the autumn of 1864, Old Tom Morris left his job as Keeper of the Green at Prestwick Golf Club to return to the golf course by which he was born and bred, the Old Course at St Andrews.

LegeNds 20 BABE zAHARIAS An all round athlete that chose golf as her pinnacle of fame, Babe Zaharias is definitely the most amazing woman of the 20th Century.

destINAtION fOCUs 46 SWEDE SEnSATIOnS True golfing challenges that integrates nature and outdoor activities, this is golf in Sweden.

52 DALAT A beautiful blend of colonial French with traditional Vietnamese architecture 1,500 metres above sea level.

58 A PASSAGE TO INDIA A journey to the wonderfully exotic South Asian destination that cradles a blend of colour, cultural and golf.

INteRvIew seRIes 24 PETER WILLIAM THOMSON A friendship over 50 years becomes the subject in this heartfelt story of a great golfer.

ON the COveR

GOLF VACATIONS THAILAND VOLUME 12 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2015

PETE DyE'S FORD PLANTATION COURSE, SOUTHERN UNITED STATES

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COveR stORy 28 PETE DyE'S FORD PLANTATION COURSE We return to the Ford Plantation, years after its renovation to find a vigorous test of golf awaits. my tOp teN 34 PETER THOMSON’S TOP TEN One of the greatest golfers in history tells us his top ten.

contents

GM MULTIMEDIA GROUP PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED Chairman & CEO : Pakorn Pongvarapa Executive Vice President : Finance Pornjitt Pongvarapa Executive Vice President : Business Development ritnarong kulprasoot Executive Vice President : Marketing Suebwong kaewthipharat Executive Vice President : New Media PeSiLP Pongvarapa Editor-in-Chief : Suebwong kaewthipharat Managing Editor : george Somapa Executive Art Director : PrateeP Putchimtuck Photographer : Damrongrit Sathitdamrongtham Computer Artist : PraSit anakananthpun Advertising/Marketing Manager : kongwarong Somsa Advertising/Marketing Staff : SantiPat Suksinchai PemiSa khuangsirikul Production Manager : ratana khow General Manager : Panuwat Pongvarapa Finance Manager : wimonLak asaiphanit Accounting Manager : nicHaPa buparanond Color Separation : kanoksilp (thailand) tel. +662 215 1588 Printing : o.S. Printing House co., Ltd. tel. +662 434 6850

Editor's Page Enjoy your game with your caddie “Nai” is a Thai word meaning “boss” in English. It is a common term used by caddies in Thailand to call the golfers they are attending to. In other words, a caddie is a golfer’s personal assistant (PA). When a boss is assisted by a smart, well-rounded and capable PA, who understands the nature of the boss and his business partners, he has an upper hand. Then he is likely to stay ahead of his competition and succeed.

Likewise, in a golf game, it takes a caddie who knows the golfer’s pace, understands his character as well as has comprehensive knowledge about the equipment and the landscape (including the golf course layout, the wind, the club range and its sweet spot) to win the game. And that caddie, after all, is a real game changer, providing good company and problem-solving advice and strategies for each and every upcoming shot.

Many professional golfers in Asia and the world started off their careers as caddies. In fact, renowned caddies earn a large sum of money each year.

Some outstanding figures include Tiger Woods’s caddie, Steve Williams, who made a total of 1.27 million US dollars in 2014.

In Thailand, caddies are typically classified into 2 main types: 1) seasoned but senior, having a lot of experiences and familiarity with the golf course and 2) young and attractive, some of which are English-speaking ones. They are presented as the welcoming host, drawing a lot of amateur golfers who play for fun and accompanying travelling golfers.

For Thai golfers having their membership at the golf club, they are usually facilitated by regular caddies. Nevertheless, placing bets among caddies working in the same group should be prohibited as they might tamper with the scores.

All in all, a caddie’s role cannot be overlooked. And this may be the reason why the net worth of the one and only allegedly infamous Thai caddie-the recipient of that indicted golfer’s laundered shares-is far better than Steve William’s (Of course, if you know what I am talking about).

Anyway, when it comes to choosing your caddie, what is yours preference? No.1 or No.2?

Enjoy your game with your caddie.

Suebwong Kaewthipharat editor-in-chief

Singapore Company: Pacom Media Pte Ltd Address: 801 Toa Payoh Lorong 7, #06-08, Wearnes Building, Singapore 319319 Tel: (65) 6323 9600 Publisher: Karen Chan Managing Editor: Benny Teo China, hong Kong & MaCau Company: Senasia Publication Group Ltd Address: Unit 832, 8/F, Metro Centre II, No. 21 Lam Hing Street, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2570 6123 Website: www.senasia.com.hk Publisher: Alan Mok Managing Editor: Alex Tam CzeCh republiC Company: Resort Media s.r.o.

Address: Škroupovo námestí 1255/9, 130 00 Prague 3, Czech Republic Tel: +420 271 773 934 Website: www.golfvacations.cz Publisher: Vera Hartmanova Managing Editor: Cenek Lorenc MalaySia Company: Big Shot Media Sdn Bhd address: 31-5, Block E1, Dataran Prima, Jalan PJU 1/42, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia Tel: +603 7880 2788 publisher: Louis Foo Managing editor: Benny Teo

Thailand

Company: GM Multimedia Group Public Company Limited Address: GM Group Building, 914, Rama 5 Road, Dusit, Bangkok 10300, Thailand Tel: +662 241 8000 Website: www.gvthailand.com Website: www.gmgroup.in.th E-mail: thepooh.gvthailand@gmail.com Facebook: facebook.com/ golfvacationsthailand Publisher: Pakorn Pongvarapa Editor-in-chief: Suebwong Kaewthipharat

download gM group's interactive e-magazines from the app Store and standard e-magazines from online bookstores such as Truebook, dtac and bookSmile.

contributors lester liM John Gibb

Justine Moss

Michelle Yee Journalist and author who specialises in sport, crime and military matters. Gibb worked for the Evening Standard for six years as a crime writer and has contributed regularly to the Spectator, the Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times and The Observer. In 1999 he went to the Erotic Review where he worked as features editor and investigative reporter for eight years writing about cafĂŠ society. He is happily married to a lovely brunette called Rosie and lives in East Anglia.

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A journalist by day and ardent yogi by night, Michelle started writing in 2009, spreading across diverse genres including architecture, interior design, sports, motoring, timepiece, art, travel, food, and property. A gypsy at heart, she enjoys sailing across the island during her free time in search of new experiences, and dreams of practicing yoga in far-flung places someday.

Years spent in Singapore’s fastest growing real estate management company has taught Lester many things and includes being able to spot a good investment from a mere popular one. And in this case, his exposition on Sydney in Australia, offers a measure of both.

DaviD J. WhYte

In two decades, the Scot native has done golf travel industry as producer, photographer and writer. He now produces videos for the Old Course at St. Andews, Muirfield and Royal Aberdeen amongst others. He has his own online site called go-golf.tv which is a multimedia golf travel website covering key golf destinations around the world.

toM Peters

A long-time newspaper man with The Halifax Chronicle Herald since 1968 and now semi-retired. Has worked in sports, news, business desk as reporter and editor, and is now happily scouting new golf and travel experiences across North America for Golf Vacations magazine.

The Managing Director of Jay-Jay Communications, a communications and entertainment business based in Singapore.

Justine has been in the entertainment, communications and media industries for over 16 years, having worked in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She writes the weekly golf feature for Business Times and frequently writes for GOLF, Golf Asia and Frequent Traveller.

cartogolf

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Top Golf Homes

Wealth enough to live and play.

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Its current crop of 1,050 townhouses, villas and apartments sit on the fringe of the Fire and Earth courses where the year-ending Dubai World Championship and European Tour’s Race to Dubai culminates.

Prices here starts from approximately US$1.2 million to US$1.94 million for the newer Redwood Park townhouses and US$4.2 million to US$11.9 million for luxurious detached villas in Redwood Avenue as well as apartments.

An upmarket development that includes large golf-front home plots, luxurious family villas, a private enclave of semi-detached villas with extensive private gardens and a neighborhood swimming pool, as well as exclusive apartments adjacent to the clubhouse. Prices start from approximately US$428,000 for apartments to US$1.33 million for plots. The most expensive property currently for sale is a spectacular US$2.46 million villa overlooking the resort’s Tour Course.

Jumeirah Golf estates, uae

PGa Catalunya resort, sPain

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lustiCa Bay, monteneGro

When we last featured Lustica Bay, it was still in the developmental stage but now, it has €48 million worth of luxury residences as part of a combined €1.1 billion development.

They were all sold off-plan to a range of international buyers by the end of 2014. At a time when Montenegro is rapidly emerging as the Adriatic’s answer to Monaco, Lustica Bay is proving an increasingly among ultra-high net worth individuals seeking a long-term lifestyle investment.

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The newest entrant on this list, Anvaya Cove is sited on a whopping 50.6 million square feet of lush hilly forestry against the quiet seclusion of a private cove with beautiful, sandy beach.

Its 18-hole golf course, designed by Kevin Ramsay of Golfplan USA, is a beauty to behold. Townhouses and low-rise condominium units for sale here but you can read more in the story inside.

With a new highway, access to Spring City Resort is shortened to a mere 30-minute drive from Kunming city from a two-hour journey. Situated on the banks of the Yang Zong Hai Lake, this ‘City of Eternal Spring’ as it is called, enjoys mountain and lake views with a Jack Nicklaus and a Robert Trent Jones Jnr. course thus named. Lodges, villas and semi-detached villas as well as apartments line the scenic route along both courses, depending on the individual’s preferred view.

anvaya Cove resort, PhiliPPines

sPrinG City resort, China

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Postcard

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Carnoustie Golf Links Championship Course

Photography

by David J. Whyte Golf Vacations

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Journal ★ Star

Maria Sharapova The legendary Russian tennis beauty sets the tone for the LPGA’s final Major of the year.

You are not reading or seeing it wrong. Maria Sharapova has taken to golf. Like many elite sportsmen and women before her, it is a natural cross over for those blessed with supreme hand-eye coordination and a natural inclination to be successful. The Russian beauty’s official Instagram handle has seen her posting pictures of herself with one very lucky golf coach working on her very infant, yet fundamentally sound swing.

A promotional commercial for mineral water producer, Evian, key sponsor of The Evian Championship, is shot on location at the Champs-Elysées in Paris. However, as blessed with athleticism as she is, the current world number three tennis player is not actually going to be at the LPGA’s fifth and final Major of the year. There is the issue of supplanting Serena Williams from winning her fifth consecutive tennis 14

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Maria Sharapova straddling the world of tennis and golf with a curious row of Singapore flags below.

Seems like SG50 really does travel the world.

Major and completing her calendar Grand Slam at the Women’s US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York to begin with.

But, as this glamourous shoot has shown, the golfing world can certainly look forward, with bated breaths, to see one of the world’s most recognizable sporting figures carry a bag of 14, Nike, of course, and strutting down a fairway somewhere around the world. And if Evian have their way, schedules permitting, it might just be at a little resort town residing along the French side of Lake Geneva.

To promote conservation efforts,

The Evian Championship will bring a “Tweet the ball” digital contest inviting fans to find balls lost by players. The Live Young spirit embodying healthy and balanced living will also be enhanced with an Evian bar to keep the public hydrated, an Evian boutique showcasing new bottle designs and limited editions, and the Baby&Me photo booth.

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Journal ★ Suitespot

iVilla Seminyak

Far from the madding crowd, but near to the best of living.

If you don’t look carefully, you might miss it.

Actually, even if you do, it’s quite likely you’ll miss it too. Apart from a non-descript glass reception with the smallest of signs that a few parked cars may obscure, there is no way of telling that you’re already there.

“Take me to Sarung,” was the refrain I found myself saying more than once. That famous Balinese restaurant in Seminyak sits directly opposite iVilla Bali. The brainchild of Kevin Kwee, executive director of Singapore’s Laguna National Golf & Country Club, the iVilla concept is simple: understated luxury with personal comfort tucked away from the vagaries of life.

What this means is that you will often find the only ones walking down that single lane stretch where the one and twobedroom villas reside, are either guests or staff. No one else comes here, simply because they don’t even know it exists. But once you’ve entered the doorway to your safe haven, another world begins to dawn onto you.

Surrounded by lush foliage and natural forestry that has been left as much as possibly can, sits a long, private swimming pool with a queen-sized deck chair set in the water on the higher tier.

This would become the single favourite site of my two girls, aged 5 and 2 years for the next four days. A woodpecker can even be spotted perched on the tallest branch right outside our doorway.

In the living area, high ceiling glass panels replace walls and ambient lighting both within and without casts a romantic glow at night. This is where we imbibe our meals. Breakfast comes daily but you’d have to order it the night before. However, there is no 16

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set time for you to do so, and the variety is tremendous! With eggs alone, there are three kinds of poached options - Benedict, Norwegian, Hollandaise – as well as the usual scrambled, fried or omelette. Fresh fruits, freshly squeezed juices with a frothy head and pulp, delicious French toasts and cereal for the health conscious, and even local favourite Nasi Goreng, makes ordering food an appetite-whetting process in itself.

Like many fine villa experiences, there is a 24-hour butler service. But complimentary transportation around Petitenget and Seminyak in its luxury MPV? A mobile phone with precredit for use throughout your stay? Free consumption of Mini bar, replenished daily with organic chocolate selection, unique Balinese delicacies and more? Early check-in and late checkout - our return flight was 9:30pm so we checked out at 6pm - whenever possible? This, together with attentive personalised service, makes iVilla an experience to savour and return to.

Small, boutique stay? We’re converts now.

For enquiries and reservations, visit www.ivillabali.com.

By Benny Teo

Journal ★ Tranquiliser

Dheva Spa and Wellness The premier destination spa in north Thailand for that perfect relaxation respite.

Built by local artisans to model Mandalay palaces and traditional Buddhist motifs, the Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre is a palatial 3,100 sqm sanctuary embellished with ornate mouldings and sculptures depicting sacred animals; it is a destination spa imbued with symbolic significance. Here, guests can look forward to a global menu of treatments that are based upon local and ancient healing techniques.

Guests would be pleased to know that the extensive Dheva Spa menu covers almost all forms of spiritual, mental, and physical reinvigoration sessions including spa, yoga, and meditation. Other highlights include the European, Asian, and even North African relaxation therapies. All in all, Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre offer 25 treatment rooms and suites, hairdressing stations, manicure and pedicure facilities, spa café, spa boutique, and a relaxation area. Also, the centre houses interesting aqua therapy areas, consisting of a hydrotherapy room, Vichy shower, heated scrub table, and also Hammam, Rhassoul, and Watsu pools.

Ayurvedic medicine that emphasises balance is practiced here with their resident Ayurvedic expert tailoring a personalised program that includes yoga, meditation, and Ayurvedic medicine for the individual.

I begin my day at the Spa Café enjoying herb infused tea and a foot ritual while eyeing across the endless selection of pampering treatments. After much thought, I decided to go for the “Lanna Ceremony” – the Dheva spa’s signature suite experience to clarify the mind and rejuvenate the spirit.

Beginning with a fragrant steam bath using wild forest honey and a tamarind scrub enriched with northern Thai herbs, it helps prepare the body for the soothing effects of the treatment to follow.

I headed towards my treatment room after the steam bath, and was pleasantly surprised to find myself enveloped within a dark sacred space, lit by only a thin ray of light that entered through a towering spire. My therapist, with her sweet melodic voice and soft gentle hands set the right mood for the treatment.

Ayurvedic treatment

The Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre

Watsu pool

What’s special is that the spa centre offers Ayurveda (‘science of life’ in Sanskrit) holistic treatment sessions.

Ayurveda, dating back some 5,000 years from India, is widely regarded as the first form of healing therapy practised, and has been the bedrock of many other predecessors of healing therapies and even modern medicine. Dosha, a branch in

Traditional Thai massage

Mandalay residence

Then the music began: the light whisper and resonance of nature at work, of air wasping through. And then the sensory pleasure began: the Thai herbal compress and herbal oil body massage combines the therapy of Thai herbalism with the soothing power of touch. The therapist’s touch was faultless, allowing me to enjoy the heat from the compress without being unduly bothered.

Her massage pressure was medium as requested and I enjoyed a balance of light strokes combined with deeper kneading that unknotted tension from my neck and shoulders. It was 90 minutes of absolute bliss.

The Dheva Spa and Wellness Centre operates from 9am to 10pm daily. The spa getaway is located in Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai Resort. www.dharadhevi.com

By MICHeLLe yee

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Journal ★ Home Away

Living in Sydney

Voted the most liveable city in the world, and one that is sustainable in the long term.

rendering of sydney by Crown from Clarence street view.

rooftop Bar at the soon-to-be built sydney by Crown project.

Aerial view of the bustling Australian city.

As Singapore’s property market continues to show signs of cooling, investors are increasingly looking elsewhere.

One city that is worth looking at is Sydney, Australia’s largest city. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) annual Cities of Opportunity study, released last month, Sydney was ranked world’s most liveable city. The study compared 30 global cities on social and economic factors. To rank Sydney first for liveability, PwC measured global urban centres across six variables – cultural vibrancy, quality of living, working age population, traffic congestion, ease of commute, and relocation attractiveness.

Sydney is also ranked first for its natural environment and sustainability, and second for health, safety and security - not a simple feat for a population numbering close to five million that is growing organically. What this means is that the opportunity for good returns on the right property investment in the city is high, as evidenced by a dwelling shortage of 50,000, according to the NSW government – with an additional 18,000 dwellings per year to keep up thereafter.

“Sydney is the most exciting city in the world to live in for countless reasons,” said Iwan Sunito, CEO of Sydney-based property developer Crown Group. “Although still a relatively

young city by global standards, Sydney is capturing the attention of the world, taking its place among cities like New York, Tokyo and London.”

Crown Group is an example of a property developer who has made great inroads into the Sydney residential market. The group has four major projects, Top Ryde City Living, a seventower development in Top Ryde, Viking by Crown, a 10-story residential complex in Waterloo, V by Crown, a 27-story residential tower in Parramatta, and Skye by Crown, a 20-story development in North Sydney, and are currently developing three more – Sydney by Crown, Crown Ashfield and Crown Green Square.

The PwC report highlighted the good quality of life Sydney affords its inhabitants, stating “(Sydney's) good quality of life has a powerful pull, perhaps made even more seductive by beautiful beaches and a sophisticated culture.” The various world-class attractions such as the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, among others, makes Sydney an iconic city and a city where people want to work, live and play.

“International investors and global funds are increasingly recognising the potential of Sydney, Sunito explained. “It is not surprising Sydney property values are experiencing strong growth with this expansion projected to continue.”

With prices starting at AUD$488,000 for one of Crown Groups apartments, some of which feature infinity-edge rooftop swimming pools, the property market in Sydney offers a value proposition more positive than other first world Pacific coastal countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong and its steady growth makes it a long term investment worth making, whether it be for financial gains or a potential lifestyle change. www.crowngroup.com.au

By Lester Lim

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Overview of sydney by Crown.

dtac

Journal ★ Report

dtac to launch the fastest 4G on widest bandwidth soon and today launches a new branding campaign of "Reach Everywhere Understand Every Heart." dtac aims to become the leading mobile internet provider, and to expand 4G service on 1800MHz. The service is assured to be the fastest 4G to support the soaring growth of mobile internet demand. dtac has invested 500 million Baht on ‘dtac Network Analytics Solution’ as an innovative trend to analyze consumer behavior and ensure the best customer experience on dtac network all the time. In addition, dtac today launches a new vibrant campaign of "Reach Everywhere Understand Every Heart".

Mr. Lars Norling, Chief Executive Officer of Total Access Communication PLC. or dtac, said “According to dtac request for NBTC approval to use 1800 MHz on 4G services, dtac has declared to use the spectrum on the demand of internet usage in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces in the beginning due to its highest growth rate of internet usage. Therefore, dtac hopes to receive formal approval from the responsible agencies promptly. dtac assured that the additional 4G services with 10 MHz on 1800 MHz spectrum and 5MHz on 2100 MHz spectrum(current spectrum concession) will make dtac the fastest 4G provider on the widest bandwidth ever in Thailand. dtac plans to expand 4G service network coverage nationwide to reach at least 95% of population eventually.”

“Since dtac officially launched 4G service in February, statistic showed that even though most of the data users have an average usage of 2-3 GB this year but the number of 5GB subscribers both in Prepaid and Postpaid grows twice compared to the second half of last year (YoY). The number of data users using 10GB per month increase significantly and mobile internet users increase not only in Bangkok but other provinces such as Chonburi, Rayong, Songkla, Nakhon Pathom and etc as well.

However, the subscribers of 1-3 GB range increase slightly and have the tendency to decrease.”

Mr. Prathet Tankuranun, Chief Technology Officer of dtac, added “dtac has planned a network management to support every user on every spectrum on its highest potential to supply every customer demand and usage. dtac doesn’t consider expanding 3G and 4G services as the increase of cell sites only but also

managing the customer mobile experience to fulfil the most demands possible for customers who use voice and data in business areas, in traffic zones, during holidays, and etc.” dtac has invested 500 million Baht on dtac Network Analytics to obtain individual customer usage experience for analyzing and solving customer situations. The real-time information and alarm setting for prompt action leads to great experience. dtac Network Analytic system enables dtac to see and forecast usage trends and managing network on every aspect; on voice, data and applications. The information will be used to improve the service and create better understanding on customers’ needs.

“Apart from the inbound launching of 4G services over 1800MHz band, dtac’s current spectrum concession, subject to the state permission, dtac has already expanded 3G networks in 850 MHz on 3,400 sites nationwide which create better coverage and spectrum quality. dtac is ready to increase more cell sites to expand 3G spectrum on 2100MHZ and 850MHz in remote areas continuously.

Thus, customers can experience better mobile internet quality with more service coverage.” said Prathet.

Currently, there are 1.6 million subscribers who have experienced dtac 4G services, whereas, there are approximately 3 million active 4G mobile devices. dtac is confident that the number of 4G subscribers will increase once 1800 MHz spectrum is ready for 4G services and also the growth of mobile data usage.

Mr. Sigvart Voss Eriksen, Chief Marketing Officer of dtac, said “dtac has launched a new campaign “Reach Everywhere Understand Every Heart” to raise customers’ awareness and to enhance great experience on the brand.

The campaign reflects dtac’s emphasis on reaching customers with the best technology where they are and bring the network to life with deep customer understanding. dtac is ready to offer our customers good experiences on dtac 4G/3G “Fast Everywhere for Everyone” nationwide.

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Legends

Babe Zaharias

An all round athlete that chose golf as her pinnacle of fame, Babe Zaharias is definitely the most amazing woman of the 20th Century.

BY to n Y s m a rt

When Annika Sorenstam competed in the

Colonial tournament on the PGA Tour in America in 2003 she became the first woman to compete in a men’s USPGA event in 58 years, the first woman since the legendary Babe Zaharias played her last PGA Tour event at the Tucson Open back in 1945.

The ‘Babe’ as she was known had played her first men’s PGA Tour event in January 1938, the Los Angeles Open, where she missed the cut. However she made the cut in every PGA Tour event she entered in January 1945, her next tilt at playing with the men, shooting 76-76 to qualify for the Los Angeles Open and then 76-81 to make the two-day cut in the tournament itself, making her the first (and currently only) woman in history to make the cut in a regular PGA Tour event.

She continued her cut streak at the Phoenix Open, where she shot 77-72-75-80, finishing in 33rd place. At the Tucson Open, she qualified by shooting 74-81 and then shot a 307 in the tournament and finished tied for 42nd. Unlike other female golfers competing in men’s events, she got into the Los Angeles and Tucson events the hard way - through 36-hole qualifiers, as opposed to a sponsor’s exemption.

In 1948, she became the first woman to attempt to qualify for the U.S. Open but her application was rejected by the USGA. They stated that the event was intended to be open to men only.

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Born Mildred Didrikson in Port Arthur, Texas, on 26th June 1911, the sixth of seven children of Norwegian parents, she is remembered as probably the greatest woman athlete that ever lived. Displaying extraordinary talent from an early age at baseball (the ‘Babe’ nickname comes from the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth), basketball and athletics, Babe first received wide attention as a track and field athlete, representing the company she worked for, the Employers Casualty Insurance Co, in the 1932 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) championships in the US. Entering eight events, she won five outright and tied first in a sixth event, setting five world records in the process and her performance was enough to win the team championship, despite the fact that she was the only member of her team in the championships.

As the AAU championships were effectively the US Olympic trials, she qualified for the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles where she was limited to entering just three events, namely, the javelin, high jump and 80 metres hurdles. Needless to say, Babe won gold medals in the javelin and hurdles and tied for first in the high jump, only being relegated to a silver medal in this event because the jury disapproved of her pioneering high jump style (jumping over headfirst which is the way most high jumpers do it now).

Š Bettmann/CORBIS

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Š Bettmann/CORBIS

Whilst Annika Sorenstam was probably the greatest woman golfer of all time, Babe Zaharias was more than just a golfer.

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“Never hurry and don’t worry, you’re here for a short visit.

So, don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers along the way.”

After the Olympics, Babe earned a living playing baseball and basketball until she came late to golf in 1935. Initially denied amateur status in golf because of her professional baseball and basketball earnings, and at a time before there were any professional womens’ golf tournaments, she was soon competing against the men in the Los Angeles Open in January 1938. Though she failed to make the cut, Babe did find a husband there, having been teamed with the well-known professional wrestler and sports promoter George Zaharias, whose wresting nickname was ‘The Crying Greek from Cripple Creek’, in the tournament’s Pro-Am. The couple were married 11 months later on December 23rd 1938.

Regaining her amateur status in 1942, Babe, now Zaharias, won the US Women’s Amateur Golf Championship in 1946 and 1947 and also won the British Ladies Amateur Championship in 1947, the first American to do so. Turning professional in 1947 after these final amateur victories the Babe was one of 13 founding members of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and she quickly dominated the early LPGA Tour, finishing first on the money list in 1950 and 1951.

By 1950, the year the LPGA was formed, Babe had already won every golf title available on the preLPGA era Women’s Professional Golf Association circuit including two US Opens, four Western Opens (which was a ladies Major championship then) and two Titleholders Championships (which was also a ladies Major then). She won a third Titleholders Championship in 1952 but sadly she was diagnosed with colon cancer the following year which prevented her from playing a full schedule.

Amazingly she bounced back in 1954, winning the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average of the year and collecting her 10th and final major victory at the 1954 US Open, just one month after undergoing surgery for her cancer.

Unfortunately the cancer reappeared in 1955, limiting her schedule to just eight tournaments but she still managed to win two of these, which would sadly be her final victories in competitive golf. This time the cancer took its toll and the Babe died in 1956 at just 45 years old and still at the top of her profession.

In all, Babe Zaharias won 41 professional tournaments including five (four of them majors) whilst still an amateur, and 41 amateur tournaments, and she also served as president of the LPGA from 1952-55.

It’s impossible to underestimate the contribution that Babe Zaharias made to the birth of women’s professional golf, particularly given the flair and athleticism with which she played the game. In the late 1940s the great Byron Nelson, a fellow Texan, said that he knew of only eight men who could outdrive her.

Voted six times the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, in 1950 Babe was overwhelmingly voted Woman Athlete of the First Half of the 20th Century in an Associated Press poll. In 1999, she was named Associated Press Woman Athlete of the 20th Century and in the same year, Sports Illustrated also named her Female Athlete of the Century. She was also the highest ranked woman, at number 10, on ESPN’s list of the 50 top athletes of the 20th century and she is, of course, in both the LPGA Hall of Fame and the World Golf Hall of Fame.

A natural competitor, Babe’s talents weren’t just of the sporting variety. She was a competitor in even the most domestic of occupations: sewing. An excellent seamstress, she made many of the clothes she wore, including her golfing outfits. She even won the sewing championship at the 1931 South Texas State Fair in Beaumont, where she had attended high school. She was also a singer and harmonica player in later life, possibly to keep her spirits up whilst fighting cancer, and recorded several songs on the Mercury Records label.

Her biggest seller was “I Felt a Little Teardrop” in 1953 on which she plays a mean harmonica.

The previous year she had appeared in the Hollywood movie ‘Pat and Mike’ starring Katherine Hepburn (who could have had a career as a professional golfer had she not become a great actress) and Spencer Tracy. The movie is about Pat, an all-round lady athlete possibly based on the Babe, and her relationship with her dodgy manager played by Tracy. In the movie Babe plays a golf match against the Hepburn character and wins, having insisted on having the script changed as it originally showed her losing the match.

Whilst Annika Sorenstam was probably the greatest woman golfer of all time, Babe Zaharias was more than just a golfer. A gold medal winning Olympic athlete, baseball player, basketball star as well as the top lady golfer of her time, the Babe was quite literally ‘something else.’

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The Interview Series

Peter William Thomson AO, CBE A friendship over 50 years becomes our subject in this heartfelt story of a great golfer.

BY j o h n g i BB I met Peter Thomson at Wentworth in June 1968 after he won the Dunlop

Masters at Sunningdale. He had taken a day off to play some golf on the West Course, known locally as the Burma Road and the secretary, Peter Roscoe, asked me if I’d play 18 holes with him. It had happened to me before and was a nervewracking experience. Someone; perhaps a professional on his own or some sort of celebrity would turn up and want to play with a member who knew the course and wouldn’t be too much of an embarrassment.

I went and hit some balls and waited until he strolled out of the clubhouse. He was immaculate in a crisp white shirt and pale grey flannels and wearing his flat cap. We walked over to the first tee on the West Course, where a small crowd had gathered to watch him tee off. His caddie, a local character called ‘Wellbeloved’, stood by the starter’s hut polishing his clubs with a dishcloth. “You go,” said Thomson, slapping me on the back, “show me the way.” I suppose it was his way of helping me to relax.

From the back tees, the first was a 473-yard long par 5, straight with a deep valley dipping down halfway along the hole and bunkers guarding the entrance to the green. I knew what Thomson was likely to do, so I took a driver and managed to squirt it down the left side. Sure enough he took a 3-wood and hit his ball 280 yards straight to the edge of the valley. Then he put his 4-iron on the green and was down in four. Wonderful. I was also on in two but took the regulation three putts. “Half,” said Thomson. “You get a stroke.”

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“It’s a very odd hole where you can build up a very big score so you have to pay attention to it. When I played St. Andrews I would dodge the Road Hole like the plague. It’s been lengthened over the years and the tee was moved back 40 yards in 2014 so now it is 495 yards from the back tees. It’s the first problem you think of when you stand on the 1st hole.”

We moved to the short second. The small group of fans were chattering away as they followed us around. They would go quiet before he played a shot and clap as it sailed away.

They were quieter during my attempts to catch up or get out of a bunker because they were unsure about why I was there and there wasn’t much for them to clap for. I remember that he asked them to stop talking when it was my turn to play because I was his marker. Mostly, he was deep in concentration. He went round in 70, 3-under-par.

I asked him if he enjoyed competing on the Burma Road and he said that he really loved to play links golf but playing in the middle of Surrey came down to being straight and long.

There was rarely any wind and the fairways were mostly narrow. “ Stay out of the heather,” he said.

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Afterwards, over a beer on the terrace, I asked him about his clubs. He said “Dunlop have given me some new clubs to try. I’m going to work on them. You can give me a hand if you like.” The pro’s shop at Wentworth has a workshop on the top floor and a set of new irons was laid out on the bench. “I did my apprenticeship in club-making when I was an assistant at Royal Melbourne,” he said and started to work on the clubs, altering the loft and the lie of the heads.

He would put them between blocks in a vice and tweak them and then adjust or change the grips. I asked him if they were any good. “These are good clubs,” he said. “Well made.

The trouble is that not many of us use complete matched sets of woods and irons. Most professionals have favourite clubs which we keep as long as we can.

“Look at Locke’s putter for instance. Came out of the ark.

I’ve got an old wedge which I can’t do without. I don’t change my driver unless I have to. Most amateurs buy a set and stick to it. That doesn’t work for me. The problem is that if, for instance, you break your favourite 4-wood, it will take a long time to find a replacement because you’ve hit so many shots with it you feel it’s irreplaceable.”

We played a few more holes and now and then he would pass me one of the Dunlop clubs to try. They suited me fine even though he’d tweaked them. After we had finished, we walked across to the clubhouse and as we walked through the front door, he passed me the bag of new Dunlops. “You keep them,” he said. “I think they’ll suit you.” It was a generous gesture and I’ve still got them although I never use them.

They’re part of history.

I confess that I became fascinated with the way Thomson hit the ball. Physically, he’s shortish at five-foot-ten and had, and still has, broad, powerful shoulders, big hands and strong, stocky legs. When I asked him if he trained, he just shrugged.

“Not unless I’m told to or I feel I need to lose a bit of weight.”

A year or so later when he came back to Surrey to practise for the Daks tournament, I bumped into him again, this time at Swinley Forest, only a couple of miles down the Great West Road from Wentworth. We played a few holes and he gave me an impromptu lesson. He was hitting shots down the practise ground which in those days was behind the clubhouse. I watched him for a while and he came over and said, “How you doing?”

I told him the sad truth. “No rhythm, nothing.” I had broken a wrist playing rugby and it had healed quite well but I had lost my timing and confidence. He gave me a handful of balls and told me to hit a couple. “Let me see how you stand,” he said and so I stood self-consciously my knees slightly bent.

“Well,” he said, “for a start you’re not set up properly.” The set-up seems to be at the heart of Thomson’s golf. “The closer you are at the address to where you will be when you actually hit the ball, the fewer adjustments you will have to make while you’re playing the shot.”

The years have been kind to Peter and during the sixties and seventies, he became probably the best golfer in the world. He won the British Open five times including three in consecutive years, and the New Zealand Open nine times.

During his career he won a total of 100 tournaments. He came over to watch the Open at St Andrews and celebrate his 86th birthday in June this year. It was 50 years since he last won here at the Old Course and today he is an honorary member of the R&A and has the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) to his name.

As usual, when the Championship is held at St. Andrews, there was a lot of comment about the par 4, 17th, Road Hole. I asked him how to play it. He said, “It’s a very odd hole where you can build up a very big score so you have to pay attention to it. When I played St. Andrews I would dodge the Road Hole like the plague. It’s been lengthened over the years and the tee was moved back 40 yards in 2014 so now it is 495 yards from the back tees. It’s the first problem you think of when you stand on the 1st hole.”

After his stay at the R&A, he had stopped off in Sutherland to play Brora, a feisty links on the Moray Firth

on the northeast coast which is where I asked him about the course. “I think Brora is one of the best traditional links courses in the world,” he says. “You need a stout heart and strong resolve to deal with it, particularly in a heavy wind.”

Thomson is a member of Brora and visits the 6,211-yard, par 70 links designed by James Braid, whenever he comes to Scotland. ”I think links golf is the real thing,” he says. “It is the most exciting of all golf’s exhilarating experiences. The British clubs where Thomson is a member of are the R&A (honorary), Brora, Walton Heath and Royal Birkdale where he won his fifth and final Open in 1965.

Since the glory days on tour, Peter Thomson has built a course management and design business. He has offices in London, Beijing and Melbourne with his two partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb. The firm, TPL, specialises in the renovation and modernisation of traditional courses as well as new design and development. They have recently redesigned the 16th hole at St George’s Hill in Surrey. “The green was flooding badly and the hole needed rebuilding. It’s a short 147-yard par 3 which now adds significantly to the playing experience of the course,” he tells me.

Now at 86, Thomson still holds a handicap of eight back in Victoria and when he’s home, he plays mixed foursome with Mary his wife as his partner at Royal Melbourne. He remains a modest man and very good company. He is often questioned about the sportsmen he has met throughout his career. I saw him on television recently when he was asked about great players he had met and played with on the tour. He reeled off Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, until the interviewer interrupted him and asked, “What was Hogan like?” After a moment’s silence, he said, “Well, I don’t really know. He never said anything.”

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Cover Story

Pete Dye's

ForD Plantation Course We return to the Ford Plantation, years after its renovation to find a vigorous test of golf awaits.

By R o s a n n e Z i n n i g e R

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The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate.

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Golf in the Southern United States is at its finest at the Ford Plantation, Richmond Hill, Georgia. Just minutes from Savannah, Ford Plantation occupies 1,800 acres of lush former rice and cotton plantation land steeped in history and includes a 400-resident private gated community. Set within, is a unique private 18-hole championship golf course by award winning and World Golf Hall of Fame architect, 89 year-old Pete Dye. Dye spent over a year renovating the Ford Plantation course with a team of experts, Ford’s golf course staff, plus financial input from members. Over US$7 million dollars were invested and 94,000 cubic yards of soil moved and redistributed to transform it into a stunning golf course.

Director of Golf Course Maintenance and project collaborator Nelson Caron, recounts how Dye would stop, and draw in the dirt to get his point across to the team about the structure of a particular hole demonstrating his commitment and handson approach to realise his vision. Interestingly, the original course was also designed by Pete Dye back in 1984, and owned then by a wealthy businessman. However, after three decades, the urgent need for infrastructure upgrades due to consistent drainage failures prompted the restoration project.

Ultimately, as Nelson Caron explains, “This renovation has addressed and corrected the infrastructure issues, restored Dye features, made the course playable and increased environmental sensitivity through infrastructural reforms, and now Ford is able to promote and market their golf course as an entirely new product.”

Some impressive redesign qualities included firm and fast greens, doubled irrigation on all holes, installation of a stateof-the-art soil moisture metre system that is monitored at all times – an important feature due to the low water table of the plantation land. In addition, some holes were completely transformed, including the signature 10th hole, where the design team actually moved the green from the left side of the fairway to the right. Another significant change at the 17th, a favourite of Pete Dye and one of his finest, boasts a downhill par 3 (you don’t find many in the low country) with Lake Clara on the right at a higher elevation than the green.

The front nine of 250 acres has a park-like feel with trees and custom-built million-dollar homes tucked inconspicuously along the lakes – Davis, Harn and Sterling – and the golf course. The back nine is a low country Scottish links built on one of the original plantation fields and includes Dye’s signature wrap around sand bunkering, with panoramic views of Lake Clara. The course layout is similar to the original, with major fairway redesigns to a few holes that were irrigation challenged and under water during, and after, the rains.

Other changes to the course include high dune type and pothole bunkering along with widened fairways and generous landing areas, to make the course more playable for the Ford members and guests. Another noted feature includes continuous tee boxes that allows variety and flexibility in the course setup. Under the 1.7 million square feet of Celebration Bermuda sod, undulations were created, then the sod laid to create a variety of rippled terrain throughout the fairways and even the greens, which have been expanded by 20 percent and manicured to be firm and fast.

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PREVIOUS PAGE OPENING PICTURE: A look at the backside of the Clubhouse at Hole 18.

THIS PAGE: Early morning skies at Hole 17; Alligator sunning himself on Hole 3.

RIGHT PAGE: Completely redesigned Hole 10; Hole 13 with a stunning view of the Lake.

Caron explains that once the greens break in, they will soften a bit. If your short game needs work, you’d better brush up before you play Ford, as the greens are true to your line and putt. Much credit goes to Nelson and his team for their tireless work to maintain superior putting surfaces. During the grand opening event, Paul Wickes, Ford Plantation Club President stated, “the course has its secrets.”

It is hard to believe that plantations once occupied the greens and fairways here. With a total of 6,460 yards, this 18-hole golf course challenges all skill levels, even seasoned professionals. Notable holes include Holes 3, 10 and 17, as special focus was given to create diversity. The par five 3rd measures 601 yards from the tips with Lake Davis to the right and is home to resident alligators, which by the way, are more scared of you and scamper off when approached. A slight dogleg left, it harbours a green that is not only the smallest on the golf course but is also heavily guarded by Dye’s deep pot bunkers, so stay centered then chip up to the pin. Dye has been generous to provide easier position play with a kick slope right to the green.

Since water is most troublesome on this course, you will have had practice by the time you reach the par 4 10th. With a slight dogleg right and a generous fairway until the approach to the green, trouble lurks via a wrap around sand bunker and the waters of Lake Clara to the right. Shoot to the left avoiding the left pot bunker and you’ll have a nice shot from a plateau to the green. Be warned: do not over club or you will land on the beach. And finally, the 17th is a downhill par 3 that will test your accuracy due to the offset elevated green, pin placement, and bunkers including a deep pot bunker directly off the back of the putting surface. The green, overlooking Lake Clara, provides an interesting visual aspect.

Image courtesy of Ford Plantation

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Image courtesy of Ford Plantation

Image courtesy of Ford Plantation

MAIN PICTURE: Distant photo of Holes 17 & 18 (with backside of clubhouse in far distance).

BELOW, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Ford Plantation Marina; Clubhouse Entry (with Pro Shop to the Left); Member's boarded horse; Ford Plantation Equestrian Center; (View from Main House Balcony) Osprey Nest at Ogeechee River.

One of the major advantages of playing Ford Plantation is that there are no tee times needed, and you can golf at your leisure. Out on a round with resident member Melanie Culver, she cites, “A very popular golfing event among residents is the ‘Hook and Slice 9-Hole Tournament’ where two people golf a hole and two people fish a hole with points added for fish caught based on the number and size.” She adds, “Each time you play the course, you are continually challenged, as play changes with each ball landing. It’s like playing a new course every time.”

Her enjoyment of the Ford Plantation course is enhanced with its breathtaking views, numerous activities that bring the membership together, and excursions to Savannah with its book and upbeat music festivals and where you will find a plethora of galleries, museums, a historic town square, and dining establishments. Another member named Ron enthuses, “It is like being at Summer Camp. There is so much to do!”

As many would have guessed, Ford Plantation is much more than a distinguished golf community. In the 1920s it was home to automobile founder, Henry and his wife Clara Ford. The Main House, a historic architectural landmark and the Ford’s former winter home, is now guest accommodation and where the Ford Plantation community hosts club meetings and even weddings. Spacious one-bedroom to fourbedroom cottages and homes welcome guests and are located within walking distance of the clubhouse.

There is also a 6,000 square-feet Sports Barn that boasts tennis courts, heated swimming pool, state-of-the-art fitness equipment with yoga studio, and the casual dining Lake Dye Grill. A 22-stall Equestrian Center provides boarding and training, and in close proximity is the old Carriage House,

home to the Ford Plantation Day Spa offering a full menu of spa services and treatments. A host of other outdoor activities include nature walks on the mile plus peninsula that separates Lake Clara and Ogeechee River; fly fishing, shrimping and crabbing, canoe rides with gator spotting and kayaking.

One activity that is highly recommended is the riverboat cruise from the plantation’s deep water marina on the Ogeechee River through tangling networks of bird-laden scenic canals that branch off in all directions. The river ultimately leads to the Intracoastal Waterway located 20 nautical miles away where ocean water fishing is a popular summer sport. An offsite favourite is the Dorchester Shooting Preserve, located 15 miles from Ford, and sits on 5,000 acres of hunting preserve where shooting skeet is offered along with seasonal hunting.

Although the main features at the Ford Plantation are their multi-million dollar golf course and a clubhouse and proshop architecturally inspired by southern influences, a shining star can be found at the Ford Signature Restaurant.

Southern style menu items feature seasonal game and local “catch of the day” seafood with an infusion of fresh ingredients from the in-house garden. A favourite here is a dinner of traditional roasted oysters and barbecue, often featured at events and the Monthly Oyster Roasts at the vintage Oyster House. With so much to do, fine cuisine to imbibe in, and a new Pete Dye renovated course to play at, this Georgian estate certainly makes a strong case for a onestop golf vacation. www.fordplantation.com www.visitsavannah.com Golf Vacations

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My Top Ten

Peter Thomson’s

TOP TEN One of the greatest golfers in history tells us his top ten.

By j o h n g i BB

When we’ve spent several enjoyable hours playing the game on a beautiful landscape, it is understandable that we will keep the experience in our memories. Perhaps we’ll keep the card with the score scrawled in pencil as a memento. I talked about the enjoyment of golf to Peter Thomson, who in my opinion was the greatest player ever to win The Open. Today, aged 86, the Australian remains a gentleman and a golfer who genuinely loves the game.

He gave a list of ten courses which, apart from the first three, are in no particular order. His opinions come from someone who, amongst very few, has won The Open five times, the US Open once and over 60 professional wins.

He now makes his living as a writer and a partner in the golf course design company Thomson Perrett and Lobb.

1 2

St. AndreWS Old COurSe, uK “The Old Course is supreme. All others are copies.”

A monument to the origins of links golf. 6,500 yards long and designed by nature. St. Andrews is home to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, known as “Headquarters.” When you know the course and you stand on the 1st with the wide fairway before you, it will be the Road Hole 17 holes later which will really be at the back of your mind.

WAltOn HeAtH Old COurSe, uK

“An outstanding course and club where I am a member, and where I was honoured to be commissioned to redesign the 16th hole.”

Designed by Herbert Fowler in 1904, Walton Heath is a linkslike inland course in the Surrey heathlands. Heavily bunkered and 6,859 yards long, its key hole is the daunting Par 5, 520-yard 14th.

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WentWOrtH WeSt COurSe, uK

“A wonderful course. I was fortunate to win the Daks Tournament here in 1960 and 1965.

You have to be long and straight and the work they did recently to the 18th has made it more challenging.�

Harry Colt designed course. The Ryder Cup and Canada Cup have been played on this long (6,945 yards) piece of rolling heathland which meanders through pine and birch and heather. Dangerous finish includes the par 5, 17th, a 571 yard sharp dogleg left on right sloping fairway, which forces you to flirt with out of bounds close by on both sides

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4

Moonah Links open Course, austraLia

“Moonah Links is Australia’s top championship course. Designed to test the best.”

Designed by Thomson himself, Moonah Links was set up specifically as the venue for the Australian Open. Long, nearly always windy, Moonah is no walk in the park. The 10th, a 424 metre par 4 gives you a blind drive over a ridge, followed a long second to a heavily bunkered green. This course is an uncompromising, tough test.

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6

WOKing, uK

“Much of our work today is with classic old courses like Woking and the nearby St. George’s Hill and Burhill which benefit renovation and redesign work to bring them up to modern requirements.”

A par 70 120-year-old heathland course designed by Tom Dunn in the Stockbroker belt of rural Surrey. Once a favourite of Bernard Darwin, the course has received a new 16th hole designed by Peter Thomson and his partners Steve Perrett and Tim Lobb. It is now a 147-yard par 3 across a small lake that was installed as a curling rink some years ago. Woking is perhaps the hardest of the sandy-based Surrey heathland courses.

5

BAli HAndArA, indOneSiA

“This is a beautiful, lush course.

Feels like paradise.”

Exotic golf course near lake Bedugul, built in the crater of a volcano and surrounded by exotic rainforest. Long at 7,024 metres, its signature hole is the par 3, 203-yard uphill 14th with a range of mountains dominating the landscape behind the green.

Spectacular.

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7

Royal BiRkdale, Uk

“Classic course where you must hit the ball straight and avoid the very penalising rough. The long approach over the bunkers to the 13th is demanding and so is the 15th at 542 yards with 11 bunkers scattered just short of the green.”

“This a classic course where once again you must play the ball straight and long off the tee so that you have a chance to see the green when you play your second. It is always windy at Lytham and the 450 yard, 15th - a long, straight, heavily bunkered par 4, for instance, requires all your accuracy and power.”

Set in a suburban landscape and surrounded by houses and a busy railway line, this was where Severiano Ballesteros made his mark in 1976 when he went round Lytham in 65 shots in the final round of the Open. Bobby Jones won the first of his three Opens here in 1926. It’s windy and the prevailing breeze helps on the first four holes. It has the feel of a seaside course about it. A 6,673 par 71, it has a difficult finish; the 17th narrows in the driving area with a nest of bunkers and wilderness to the left. To see the green, you have to keep as far to the right as you can. This is where Bobby Jones hit his miracle 170-yard shot from a grass bunker to the distant flag in 1926. There’s a plaque to mark the occasion. ©Mark alexander

8

Royal lytham and St. anneS, Uk

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Built on the exposed and windy Lancashire Coast and designed in 1931 by J.H. Taylor and Fred Hawtree, Birkdale is a 6,690yard par 72 course that is on the Open rota. This is target golf with narrow fairways made narrower for special occasions like The Open.

To miss the greens at Birkdale means trouble. Thomson won the Open here in 1965 because of his relentless straight hitting which gave him a significant advantage over legendary Americans Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

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BrOrA, uK

“Brora is in my opinion amongst the greatest links courses in the world. I loved the eighteenth, a 201-yard par 3 with the setting sun painting the coastline red behind the green. There’s a friendly bar in the club. And you’ll need it.”

High up on the wild northeast coast of Scotland and only a few miles from Royal Dornock is Brora. Designed by James Braid, it is a classic links, 6,211 yards, par 70. The course runs along the coastline with the North Sea thundering on the beach a few yards away. The second hole introduces you to what to expect as you progress; a 344-yard par 4 and an elevated tee and two big shots into the wind to a small green guarded by pot bunkers left and right. Sheep wander about the fairways keeping the course in trim and the summer days are long enough to let you get three rounds finished in comfort. This is a wild and beautiful course with the adjacent sea and the wind as main hazards.

10

rOyAl trOOn, uK

“The Postage stamp can play with your mind and in a wind, it can be very difficult.”

Lovely wide-open links, 7,265 yards long, it has the shortest and longest holes in Open Championship golf. The 6th at 577 yards and the Postage Stamp at 126 yards respectively. The latter is a tiny domed green surrounded by deep bunkers. In dry weather when the turf is firm, it can be impossible to stop your ball on the green and the run-offs are so acute that you cannot avoid the bunkers, and once in, it is almost impossible to play out of the sand without putting your ball across the green into another.

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The 19th

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In the autumn of 1864, Old Tom Morris left his job as Keeper of the Green at Prestwick Golf Club to return to the golf course by which he was born and bred, the Old Course at St Andrews. 150 years later (plus a few months) we followed in the footsteps of golf ’s original club professional.

S TO RY BY R O BI N B A R W I C K , P I C T U R E S BY L E O N H A R R I S

OPENING PICTURE: Prestwick GC - 18th & Clubhouse 2.

INSET FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: Prestwick GC - David Fleming 1; Prestwick GC - Dining Room.

Spring is being kind, and there is just the gentlest of prevailing breezes sweeping across Prestwick Golf Club from the Firth of Clyde.

Under blue skies the conditions are perfect for a game, but we are not here to play golf, we are here to embark on a journey from one side of Scotland to the other, from Prestwick on the west coast to St Andrews on the east, as Old Tom Morris did himself 150 years ago.

“I tend to warn visitors who don’t know the course,” starts Ken Goodwin, secretary at Prestwick Golf Club, “that when they stand on a tee, if they can see a flag ahead they are probably not facing in the right direction.”

And therein lies the essence of this historic golf course. It is eccentric by modern standards, but when Old Tom Morris came here in 1851 to lay out the course, he set the standard for the design of links courses for generations to come.

“Prestwick was the first course Tom laid out, and his approach to golf course design was to first find a good place for a green,” adds Goodwin.

“Once he had identified that, he would find another good place for a green, and so it went on. If there happened to be a sand dune or a depression on the road to the green then it was up to the golfer to negotiate it, one way or another.”

The golf course at Prestwick, which started as 12 holes in 1851 and was partly re-routed and expanded to 18 holes 30 years later, includes a rare treasure of golf design, a blind par three, the ‘Himalayas’.

“Himalayas has a big sand dune between the tee and the green,” explains Goodwin. “You would never be allowed to build that hole today.

Pros today would hate it in a tournament, but when the Open is at Troon or Turnberry we get

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“Prestwick was the first course Tom laid out, and his approach to golf course design was to first find a good place for a green,” adds Goodwin. “Once he had identified that, he would find another good place for a green, and so it went on. If there happened to be a sand dune or a depression on the road to the green then it was up to the golfer to negotiate it, one way or another.”

LEFT PAGE - CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: St Andrews Mercedes & Tom Morris shop; St Andrews - Old Course 18th green; Mercedes & Macdonald Rusacks Hotel; St Andrews road sign; Tom Morris house.

THIS PAGE: Rolex clock and memorial bronze of Old Tom Morris on the clubhouse building; The 18th hole tee marker.

a lot of them coming here to play the course for fun, and they think it’s great. Golf in the early days was all about negotiating obstacles like on our fifth hole.”

As a young club and ball maker of St Andrews, not long married, Morris was so keen to broaden his experience that he made the bold decision to accept the job of ‘Keeper of the Green’ at Prestwick, a new club all the way on the opposite coastline of Scotland, at “a place in the vicinity of Ayr, called Prestwick,” as one Fife newspaper reported in 1851.

The 110-mile journey from St Andrews to Prestwick, east coast to west, was into the unknown in many ways back then.

“Morris was well liked at St Andrews and I think he surprised a lot of people when he moved to Prestwick,” starts Andrew Lochhead, a member at Prestwick GC and the club’s archivist. “He didn’t have any previous connection with the town and it was a long journey from home: a day’s travelling incorporating trains and horse and cart. He did it with a young wife and newborn child too – ‘Young’ Tom was only a couple months old. He took a bit of a gamble leaving all his existing friends and customers behind for the unknown quantity of Prestwick.”

Morris’s move would ultimately be vindicated by the inauguration of the Open Championship, in 1860, upon the very links he created with his own hands. The members of Prestwick organised the first Open in the hope of proving that their man, Morris, was the best golfer of his day, but Musselburgh’s Willie Park – the great rival of Morris – refused to fall into line and won the Champion’s Belt for the first time. But that is another story.

At Prestwick, Morris was ‘Keeper of the Green, club maker and ball maker’, with an annual salary of £36 (although his wages were well supplemented

by exhibition and challenge matches, and from selling clubs and balls), and it was this job that established the role of the club professional. Morris was the first.

It was at Prestwick that Morris discovered that laying sand onto greens improved their condition.

“Morris would fix any problems on the course with ‘sand, sand and more sand’,” says Goodwin. “That still holds true today. We still top dress our greens with sand.”

“It is amazing how the game has evolved since Old Tom Morris came here and designed the golf course, worked as greenkeeper, professional and club maker,” says David Fleming, who took up the baton at Prestwick as club professional in 2004 and is only the club’s eighth professional since 1851.

“I would love to know how Old Tom managed his time! He played exhibition matches as well, and I honestly don’t know how he managed it all. To be such a great course designer, player, greenkeeper and club maker, Old Tom was incredibly gifted. He puts us all to shame today.”

From 1861, Morris won four of the next seven Open Championships, all at Prestwick, and he was such a success in terms of playing, greenkeeping and his other extended duties, that the gentlemen members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club wanted him back in St Andrews. The offer of a £50 annual salary and a return home was too good to refuse.

“I think Morris was always destined to return to his hometown at some point,” adds Lochhead.

“I expect he missed St Andrews by the time he returned in 1864. Prestwick Golf Club was grateful to receive the benefits of his services for 14 years.”

“In those days there were two distinct social classes,” adds Goodwin, “and for the gentlemen members of Prestwick Golf Club to hold a farewell dinner to honour Tom Morris before he left, that shows you how highly he was regarded.”

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Prestwick GC - Course 1; Ken Goodwin; Andrew Lochhead.

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“Morris would fix any problems on the course with ‘sand, sand and more sand’,” says Goodwin.

“That still holds true today. We still top dress our greens with sand.”

For Morris and his young family, that journey back to the east coast of Scotland would have taken all day, picking up trains from Prestwick to Glasgow, Glasgow to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Granton, and then by train ferry to Burntisland, and then up to Leuchars Junction and St Andrews. About as complicated as a 110-mile journey could be.

The railways do not run those connections any more, so to follow the footsteps of Morris from Prestwick to St Andrews we resorted to taking a car along the M77 and M8 motorways. Morris was nothing if not a progressive thinker, so he would have approved in the advances in transport made over the last 150 years. He travelled by steam; we went via a six-cylinder diesel engine.

The journey that would have taken Morris from dawn until dusk took us little more than two hours. A bit like comparing one of Morris’s handmade feathery balls to a four-piece ball today.

So 14 years after Morris left St Andrews, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club lured him back. He was comfortably the best qualified and proven man to run the Old Course and serve the golfers of St Andrews. As detailed in ‘Tom Morris of St Andrews, The Colossus of Golf’ by David Malcolm and Peter Crabtree, The Fifeshire Journal reported Tom’s return thus, on 24 November 1864: “Tom Morris has arrived to enter upon his duties as Conservator of the Links and we doubt not that his return amongst us will add more item to the popularity of the national game.”

They got that right. Morris and his family moved into a house and shop on Golf Place in St Andrews and he officially began his new job on December 19, 1864, although Malcolm and Crabtree write that it was not until the New Year of 1865 that Morris was “presented with the tools of his office – a barrow, spade and shovel.” In 1866, the well established Morris became a property owner for the first time and moved the family to a bigger house, No. 6 Pilmour Links, and his business into a new shop on The Links.

The ‘Tom Morris’ shop remains open to this day, overlooking the 18th green of the Old Course, and just up from the MacDonald Rusacks Hotel, which is where our journey from Prestwick came to its end. MacDonald Rusacks offers a level of comfort and luxury that Old Tom simply could not have imagined, but also one that he would surely enjoy, given the chance.

Nine years after Morris’s return to St Andrews, the Open was held on the Old Course for the first time, in no small part due to Morris’s expertise as ‘Conservator of the Links’. Without Morris the history of golf’s oldest major would be very different. The residents of St Andrews thought so, and after Morris died the town’s golf clubs collaborated to commission a bronze of Morris, which was installed beneath the clock on the R&A clubhouse, in fitting isolation and timeless grandeur, overlooking the first tee of his beloved Old Course.

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Destination Focus

SWeDe

SenSationS True golfing challenges that integrates nature and outdoor activities, this is golf in Sweden.

By J o h n G i BB

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There is a close affinity between wildlife conservation and golf in Sweden. Many of the links courses are shared by migrating birds, twitchers and golfers. Everyone gets on well, the landscape is protected by the state, and the sport seems to be the better for it.

The Swedes are good at golf. Peter Alliss said that it is because of their voracious appetite for perfection. Players like Johan Edfors, Henrik Stenson and Peter Hanson would spend hours going through their rigid routines, perfecting techniques they could trust when the heat was on. Hanson, like most great Swedish players, was born and brought up in Skåne, a small province in the south west of the country. For golfers, it is the jewel in the Swedish crown with 440km of coastline and 300 golf courses.

Last time I was there, I came across a framed photograph of two golfers and their caddies on a windblown golf course on the coast near Gothenburg. The caption printed on the back said they were professional players with unpronounceable names taking part in the Swedish Masters.

In the distance was a sandy beach and the sunlight was glittering on the sea.

Above the green, gathered together in the dunes, was a group of spectators, but when you looked closely, you could see that they were actually birdwatchers standing with their backs to the golf leaning into the wind and staring at a flock of seabirds through binoculars. There is a close affinity between wildlife conservation and golf in Sweden. Many of the links courses are shared by migrating birds, twitchers and golfers. Everyone gets on well, the landscape is protected by the state, and the sport seems to be the better for it.

Skåne is an idyllic, rural province in the south of the country. I flew to Copenhagen and drove my hired Saab across the Oresund Bridge to Malmo from where there is a choice of 75 courses, all less than 90 minutes from the city.

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Falsterbo, a remote strand of wild coastline is on the tip of the Venning peninsula where the Baltic Sea meets the Oresund and the wind blows all year round, has one of the oldest courses in Europe and is a classic links - flat, beautiful and unpredictable.

Originally nine holes, it was laid out by the Scot, Robert Turnbull in 1909. A local doctor, Gunnar Bauer, lengthened it to 18 holes in 1930 and 12 years ago, the greens were re-laid by Peter Chamberlain, the head pro. Today it is a 6,000m par 71.

Falsterbo reminds me of the beautiful, windswept Lossiemouth on the coast to the north of Inverness. In fact the Scots have been coming here for years with the masterly Major David Blair winning the Scandinavian Championship in 1961. He was made an honorary member and a lyrical poem about the old course and how the golfers, the wildlife and the weather coexist.

The first time I played it, a gale was blowing from the south, the air was clear as a bell, cotton wool clouds scudding about and the flags as stiff as boards. The first three holes were downwind and benign. Like most links the Falsterbo landscape is flat and treeless. The professional, David Leet, said, “you can see the holes you will have to play as you progress.”

That is all very well, but walk off the third green and the prevailing wind is in your face. The fourth hole is a 405m stroke index one Par 4 with burns and lakes along the right all the way to the green. You must hit the ball straight down the left to give yourself a view of the hole but there are bunkers, a small lake and heavy fescue to avoid. Go right and it’s all over because you’re in the bog. Against the wind it is at least a par five and probably more like a par seven for me.

The traps are often hidden below the level of the landscape

and what you believe to have been a solid shot will kick away offline because the rolling fairways are full of bumps and valleys which will redirect your shot into a hidden lake or a pot bunker. The 5th for example; water left and right and invisible bunkers flush with the fairway and 20 metres short of the front edge. What?

By the 7th, one of the original holes laid out in 1912, Falsterbo had got me by the throat. The trouble with this innocuous looking left turning 290-metre Par 4 is the venomous cluster of 14 pot bunkers short of and on either side of the flag. Say you hit a solid 200-metre drive into the teeth of the gale you’re then faced with a 9-iron into a stiff crosswind onto a humpbacked green surrounded with craters full of sand. When I eventually made it to the edge of the green, a gang of Oyster Catchers were screeching derisively from the dunes and I was in a deep sand pit with nowhere to stand.

The 10th and 11th holes; a dog leg par four followed by a vindictive 145m three across water with a cross wind from the south east are the golfing equivalent of a left and a right from Ingemar Johansson. There’s little relief until the last three holes where the prevailing storm is usually behind you.

You will never forget the right-handed double dogleg 18th. You stand on the high tee with frothy white rollers hitting the beach to your right and the clubhouse shimmering far away at the end of a long, rolling, narrow fairway. Catch your tee shot and it will stay in your mind forever like Betjeman’s dream of a “glorious, sailing, bounding drive that made me glad I was alive.”

Falsterbo with its springy turf, the scent of thyme on the breeze and the haunting cries of seabirds is a magnificent course. Whatever you do, if you love the game of golf, play this links before you die, and, if you’re still alive, find the strength to play it again the next day.

Bokskogens Golf Club is only half an hour’s drive from the centre of Malmo. There are two courses, the Old and the New and the club is owned by 2,000 members. I was lucky to get on the Old Course on a Saturday morning. It’s a par 72 and 6,500m long. Mostly parkland and in immaculate OPENING PICTURE (PREVIOUS PAGE): Falsterbo Golf Club - Hole 7.

LEFT PAGE: Barsebäck Golf & Country Club.

THIS PAGE: Bokskogens Golf Club.

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condition, Bokskogens features eight doglegs and forces you to think your way round. This is where Peter Hanson took up the game and it’s a challenging, long, twisty course with tight fairways. I loved the 5th, a narrow 500m par four between avenues of trees with water to the left and right, just 100m before the green.

The final two holes, particularly the 17th, a tempter at 380m with a wood stretching 260 metres up the left and a sharp 7-iron second over stone walls and a valley up to the green demands strength of character. You finish with a short par 5 bending to the right through woodland on to a small green with a narrow entrance between deep bunkers. Bokskogens is a hospitable club with a good restaurant and bar.

Like most Swedish courses, it is informal and there’s no nonsense about jackets and ties. It is good value with green fees around £80.

The ‘Masters’, at Barseback near Loddekopinge north of Malmo is one of Europe’s finest courses. They played the Solheim Cup here in September 2003 and the Scandinavians, Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen, performed miracles to keep the Americans out of the match. This 7,365m par 72 course is divided into three styles starting with a benign seven holes through parkland converting unexpectedly into a links and changing again at the 12th where it turns into dramatic woodland.

Donald Steele was involved in the design of both courses at Barseback and comes back to check and refine his work every year.

The second course is named after him and is somewhat shorter but it is the Masters which is the real tester. The 9th is a par 5, 510m curving to the right with the long grass quivering in the wind and crystal sunlight flaring off the sea while a squadron of Mute Swans patrol above the beach. Flat as a pancake with a diagonal green and heavy bunkerage half way down the hole, there is nearly always a stiff breeze in your face. The same on the 10th, a beautiful, demanding par four of 380m with a narrow fairway and bunkers left and right beside a long narrow green.

You return to deep woodland on 13, a 370m left-to-right dogleg with an uncompromising, tall lime tree 210 metres away at the elbow on the right of the fairway. This is a stunning, dramatic hole, as is the 17th, a straight, narrow 400 metres and the 18th, an L-shaped par four which turns sharp right at 230 metres that you must fade your ball and carry it an unfeasible distance. Barseback is a lovely, must-play course.

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Catch your tee shot and it will stay in your mind forever like Betjeman’s dream of a “glorious, sailing, bounding drive that made me glad I was alive.”

I finished my trip at the PGA of Sweden National. There are two courses; The Links and The Lakes. The Links was laid out with much earth moving by Kyle Phillips who also designed Kingsbarns at St. Andrews and the Yas Links in Abu Dhabi. The PGA is directly east of Malmo and was opened in late 2009. The links connection comes from the exclusive use of fescue, the lack of trees and the burn crossing the fairways on many of the holes.

This is a memorable roller coaster of a course and is full of devilish challenges. They come at you early on; the second, a 541m par 5 with a giant bunker 40 metres short of the green as imposing as the 7th, a 200m par 3 with a 50 metre long green. I remember standing on the par 5, 8th and taking in another massive bunker on the right and the ubiquitous burn crossing the fairway in front of it. I had to hit my fourth onto a large two-tiered green up a dangerous slope with bunkers back and front. It just seemed so unfair.

The 18th is what you would expect at the headquarters of the Swedish PGA, a rolling 440m par 4 with a second shot over the burn for the last time and deep bunkers left, right and in front of the green to be avoided. This is a challenging course. The new clubhouse is as imposing as it is comfortable and there are 16 suites that can be rented. The PGA is slick and a bit corporate but both courses are world class and totally different in style.

I can’t wait to return to Sweden where the welcome is warm and the courses are beautifully kept and well designed. The season in Skåne is seven months from April to mid October but some of the links courses are open throughout the year and the Swedish Autumn is benign and colourful. My only regret is that I had never been there before.

LEFT PAGE, FROM TOP: Falsterbo Golf Club - Hole 18; Lakes course at the PGA of Sweden National - Hole 17; Links course at the PGA of Sweden National - Hole 17; Falsterbo Golf Club.

THIS PAGE: The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe, and connects Copenhagen, the Danish capital city, and the major Swedish city of Malmö.

www.visitsweden.com www.skane.com www.malmotown.com www.elite.se/eng/index www.falsterbogk.se www.barsebackresort.se www.bokskogen.com www.pgaswedennational.se

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Destination Focus

DALAT The Small and Beautiful

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A beautiful blend of colonial French with traditional Vietnamese architecture 1,500 metres above sea level.

By J u s t i n e M o s s

When the Vietnam War took place between 1955 and 1975, many buildings in the country were destroyed. However, Dalat in the south central highlands was spared by the tacit agreement of all parties concerned – it is said that the North Vietnamese agreed not to attack, in turn for the south not invading their popular vacation spot. As a result, the untouched city, which sits at 1,500 metres above sea level, is still home to hundreds of grand villas and houses boasting French architecture, cobbled streets, picturesque churches and unspoilt forests and mountain trails.

The story of Dalat began back in 1893, when Swiss Dr Alexander Yersin was credited with ‘discovering’ the site, which was then established as a township much later in 1912. With its French influence, lush pine forests, rolling green hills and agriculture, it has coined a few other names over the years including ‘Le Petit Paris’, ‘The City of Eternal Spring’, ‘The City of Thousands of Pine Trees’, ‘The City of Flowers’ and ‘Vietnam’s Vegetable Garden’.

With its dry and temperate climate with a mean temperaature of 22 degrees Celsius, Dalat is able to grow year-round produce such as avocados, artichokes, broccoli, beetroot, cauliflowers, carrots, sweet potatos, plums, peaches, strawberries and mulberries. It is also renowned for its wine, coffee and tea – in particular artichoke tea which has a number of health benefits such as cholesterol reduction and liver detoxification. For those feeling adventurous, pick up a packet of ‘weasel’ coffee or Kopi Luwak. The weasels are fed with high quality Arabica coffee berries, and then the coffee beans, which are relatively undigested and intact in their droppings, are collected, cleaned and processed for sale.

A visit to the Dalat Market is well worth the time – during the day and at night, where the market spills out into the streets. It is a hive of activity with hundreds of vendors selling various items such as produce, souvenirs, clothes, shoes and wine. As well as shopping in the market for bargains, make a visit to the L’ang Farm shop and cafe just near the market. It’s a manufacturing and retail food brand which sells specialty products such as artichoke tea, artichoke extract, herbal tea bags and loose leaf tea, herbal products, coffee, fruit, jams, specialty snacks and local wine.

The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate.

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Within Dalat, there are a number of excellent cafes where one can buy a cup of the local brew and drink it while munching on French pastries. To discover more about Dalat culture and the sights, visit the Linh Phuoc Pagoda, Truc Lam religious site, Elephant Falls, the Crazy House, Dalat Flower Park, Dalat Railway Station, Emperor Bao Dai’s summer palace and the French Quarter.

Even though there is a selection of hotels to suit various budgets, a truly memorable stay is at the lakeside property Dalat Palace Luxury Hotel, which is located five minutes from the centre. There are 43 superior and luxury rooms in total in the hotel which opened in 1922, including a presidential suite. All are furnished with floor-to-ceiling French doors, polished hardwood floors, brass trimmings, centrepiece chandeliers, cast iron bathtub and a working fireplace.

The hotel is also home to one of Vietnam’s finest French restaurants. Le Rabelais overlooks the gardens of the hotel and has its very own fireplace and live piano music every evening. The cuisine is exquisite and since October 2006, the award-winning French master chef Didier Corlou has created the Rabelais menus. Another recommendation is Binh An Village Dalat Resort, which is a 20-minute drive from the city centre. It has seven villas and 10 hotel suites

located on Tuyen Lam Lake. Facilities include a massage service, yoga and Taichi classes, cooking classes, fishing, elephant riding and kayaking.

While Dalat will appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, those in need of a relaxing holiday and seeking a touch of luxury and fun, there are also two 18-hole golf courses in close proximity.

The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate is set on an 800-hectare site, which is owned by the Centurion Group of Singapore - the majority shareholder of the project. The property is named after the location’s altitude at 1,200 metres above sea level. Former touring professional and current chairman of the Asian Tour, Kyi Hla Han, has come up with a spectacular layout. There are currently nine holes which will have been tweaked and reshaped by Han, but the back nine will be totally new. The shaping of the holes has been completed and there have been adjustments made to the greens and bunkering.

“Each hole has a different character and the front nine has been reworked to complement the back nine”, he explains, adding, “I hope that recreational golfers have a remembrance of each hole. It’s a very scenic course and I am very fortunate to have a good piece of land from the developers to work with.”

“The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate is set on an 800-hectare site, which is owned by the Centurion Group of Singapore - the majority shareholder of the project.”

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Where to Stay, Play

The DalaT aT 1200 CounTry Club & PrivaTe esTaTe Da ron Commune Duong District lam Dong Province Dalat email: info@dalat1200. com www.dalat1200.com DalaT PalaCe Golf Club Phu Dong Thien vuong, Dalat Tel: +84 63 3821 201 email: info@ dalatpalacegolf.vn www.dalatresorts.com/ dalatpalacegolfclub DalaT PalaCe luxury hoTel 2 Tran Phu lam Dong Province Dalat Tel: +84 63 3825 444 email: palace. reservations@dalatresorts. com www.dalatresorts.com binh an villaGe DalaT resorT Tuyen lam lake Dalat Tel: +84 63 3800 999 email: dalat@ binhanvillage.com www.binhanvillage.com RIGHT PAGE: Dalat Palace Golf Club and the construction site.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Dalat Palace Luxury Hotel; Halfway house at Dalat Palace Golf Club; Club House at Dalat Palace Golf Club.

LEFT PAGE TOP TO BOTTOM: The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate.

The course is slated to open very soon, during the first quarter of 2015. The founding membership will be closed within three months after the opening of the 18 holes. The founding individual membership is US$30,000 while the corporate founding membership is US$80,000. For both of these categories, the founding members will also receive a US$30,000 villa discount coupon which is transferrable.

With this offer the transfer fees are waived, no quarterly dues until the opening of the clubhouse and the founding members will enjoy discounts on food and beverages. Once the founding membership offers closes the price will increase in both of these categories of membership. In August 2014, a reciprocal membership agreement was signed with Laguna National Golf & Country Club, Singapore as well.

There are also a number of villas being built on the property which will be launched in 2015 and will be available for occupancy by early 2016. Before that the 38 guest rooms will be available in the clubhouse for short stays. In 2016, the Dalat at 1200 Country Club and Private Estate will also host a full-field US$1 million Asian Tour tournament and details on the tournament and the name of it will be revealed in the coming months ahead.

As the first and flagship Asian Tour Destination, the property will also feature an Asian Tour Performance Golf Institute, the first Asian Tour Players’ Academy. This will help to train new professionals aspiring to join the very best in the continent, in addition to allowing current Asian Tour players the opportunity to practise year-round in a climate and on greens unlike any other this side of the world. And that is because what sets this course apart from many other in Asia is the bent grass greens, which are rarely found

on courses in this region. The grass will make the course on par with its American and European counterparts and give professionals an opportunity to practise before major tournaments there.

The other course in Dalat is the Dalat Palace Golf Club which is located five minutes from the Dalat Palace Luxury Hotel. At 7,009 yards in length, the par 72 award-winning course also has bent-grass greens and there is a full bentgrass practice facility with driving range and putting green.

It has a colourful history stretching back to the 1930s when it was built on the instructions of Emperor Bao Dai who had learnt the sport on a trip to France.

The course had six holes then with a quaint little clubhouse that still stands today. After the Emperor left for Hong Kong in 1945, the course was abandoned until Dr Dao Huy Hach, a practicing physician from Hanoi settled in Dalat in 1954, and together with the Dalat Palace Hotel director, raised money through sponsors to rebuild the course. Having found eight sponsors – one per hole – the course had eight holes and hole number eight was played twice from a different tee box.

The clubhouse was extended in the mid 1960s however the golf club closed again in 1975. In the early 1990s, a cofounder of DHL revived the club and extended the course to include 18 holes. The layout is quite stunning and has been expertly crafted into Dalat’s mountainous setting and there are many pine trees spread out over the course.

Dalat is accessible by air via a 30-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh and a 90-minute flight from Hanoi. From Dalat’s Lien Khuong airport it takes around a 30 minute drive to the city centre.

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Destination Focus

A journey to the wonderfully exotic South Asian destination that cradles a blend of colour, culture and golf.

By To m P e T e r s Indian politician and author, Shashi Tharoor, wrote, “India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay.” I had to see for myself: underdeveloped or in a state of decay. What I found, at least in my impression, that it was a bit of both and a lot more.

India was a bucket list trip for me. For some reason it held an exotic fascination I really couldn’t explain but I had to explore. All the stories I had heard of heat, poverty and a lot of bad smells didn’t deter me. If anything, it all added to the lore. Ironically, I wanted to see firsthand the second most populous country in the world and yet I don’t like crowds.

Further to the fascination, it was another place I wanted to play golf. I’ve had the good fortune of playing in a lot of places but this was India, the land of tea and spices. It’s a vast country that is not known for its golf, but then again, neither is Iceland and I had a great golf adventure there. So with clubs in tow and an open mind, I set out on a busman’s holiday. I was ready to accept whatever I encountered. My goal was simple: to see what I could of the country wrapped around some golf.

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Guwahati, the capital of the State of Assam in northeast India, was my first stop. First impressions are indelibly stamped in your brain. The massive traffic confusion and congestion in the streets in that city of over two million people hit me like a ton of proverbial bricks. Weeks later I could still feel my palms sweating, my fingers clinging tightly to the car seat and in my mind’s eye, still see the hundreds of near misses with my ears still ringing from the constant blaring of horns. And I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

With its daily open air fish auction, Hindu temples and Rongali Bihu festival with all its colours, traditions, Indian music and spicy food, it was a great kick start to my adventure.

Before I got to Shillong, toward the eastern side of the country and my first game of golf at the Shillong Golf Club, I traded a car seat for a seat on the back of an elephant at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in the Marigaon District of Assam, which is home to the endangered one-horned Indian rhinoceros. It wasn’t long before we spotted several grazing on the open plain.

Seeing the rhinos turned out to be an easier task than setting up golf in this country where the game is pretty much enjoyed only by the affluent. I realized before I left home that getting a tee time required more than going to the pro shop to find an open spot. There was a lot of advanced booking to be done but I managed to get times at Shillong; the Bombay Presidency Club in Mumbai; a visit, but not a game at a very busy Delhi Golf Club; and a game in the city of Chandigarh.

The Shillong course was closed on the Monday I arrived, but being a gracious host, the club manager allowed me to play. A young Indian lad offered to caddy for me and for the princely sum of 300 rupees - about six Canadian dollars - it was a bargain.

While there were no golfers around, I could hardly say I had the place to myself. The course was open to the public, a common practice when it is closed, who randomly wander the fairways and stage the occasional picnic, which proved a little more than your usual hazards. But further to negotiating my golf ball around pedestrians, there is also a busy two-lane road that cuts across two fairways, not alongside, but across, presenting a very tricky situation. The road comes into play off the tee on one hole and into play on your second shot on the other. Very unusual indeed.

If you go to India for some personal spiritual uplifting, it is a country that addresses many religious beliefs and practices. The Don Bosco Museum here in Shillong has a great display of religious histories and philosophies. Religion is very diversified – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity – live hand in hand in a way the world should follow.

And speaking of following, Hinduism has the largest and you can easily become absorbed in the many Hindu temples throughout the country. You may also stumble across a sacred cow sunning herself in the middle of

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Before I got to Shillong, toward the eastern side of the country and my first game of golf at the Shillong Golf Club, I traded a car seat for a seat on the back of an elephant at the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in the Marigaon District of Assam.

the road or Hindu rituals being performed, as I did, or happened upon a Hindu cremation where the body is cremated on a large open fire.

Sadly, golfing in Shillong had been neither spiritual nor inspirational. Perhaps it’s the expectation of a first round after flying halfway around the world, or perhaps it is negotiating cars and people that took away my focus. Nonetheless, it’s 18 holes done and an experience that is both unique as much as harrowing; I’m not sure if the general populace walking around were insured but I’m glad I did not have to find out.

But the golf gods, who I sometimes think I follow too religiously, were smiling on me in Mumbai at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, a parkland style course established in 1927. Mumbai is a city of 22 million people, nearly two-thirds the population of my home country, Canada. I was in awe of everything around me in the sprawling, noisy metropolis that still bore a lot of past British influence. Many buildings displayed Victorian and European architecture and the ‘Gateway to India’ on the waterfront, a massive arch completed in 1924 to commemorate the arrival of King George V and Queen Mary, was a reminder of pre-independence years.

Not far away from the arch, some 5,000 people worked in the world’s largest open laundry, the men washing bedding, towels, et cetera, from hotels, hospitals and the like in large concrete tubs while the women ironed out the wrinkles.

On the sidewalks, outside of the walled off golf course, street people slept in the shade of overhanging trees. On a nearby corner a small, frail woman, with a large blue cotton bag over her shoulder, rummaged through a garbage pile weeding out pieces of plastic and cardboard to be sold for a few rupees to a recycler.

And the daily hustle and bustle of the city fell in the shadow of tall concrete buildings, blackened over time by weather and smog.

OPENING PICTURE (PREVIOUS PAGE): The green at the 2nd hole of The Bombay Presidency Golf Course (BPGC) - a pretty 189 yard, Par 3 is fronted by a deep bunker and water.

RIGHT PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The Bombay Presidency Golf Course (BPGC as it's known) has been redesigned in 2009; Transforming pure silk strands into silk thread the old fashioned way; The Chandigarh Golf Club is a delightful 18 hole, 7053 yard, Par 72 course rated 72.4/130 and located close to the Sukhna Lake.

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Obviously the Delhi course is one of the busiest in the country and I dare say the world. Despite a substantial membership entrance fee and annual dues, it has a 30-year member waiting list.

LEFT PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: A view from the 11th hole at Delhi Golf Club; Panoramic view of the 18th hole and the adjoining putting green at the Delhi Golf course; The Shillong golf course is a 18 hole, Par 70, 6100 yard course with stunning landscapes.

It does rain here quite often from May to September and the course drains quickly given the contours and natural slopes; It's the 4th toughest hole on the course at BPGC. The greenside bunker at the 441 yard, 9th hole is not where you want to be. The clubhouse is in the backdrop; Washing linens in the Brahmaputra River for a few rupees; Scaling fish at Guwahati fish auction.

THIS PAGE: The Shillong golf course is an interesting layout set among pine trees with undulating fairways and is a very strenuous 18 holes to play because of the steep hillside contours that will confound and confuse you. Image shows the 220 yard, Par 3, 7th hole.

In contrast to the cityscape, The Bombay Presidency Club had a feel of British-Indian aristocracy, stiff upper lip and all that. A full service, elegant clubhouse and all the amenities that go along with the privileges of being a member of a private club. That is not to say the members were unwelcoming. Quite the contrary. There was great acceptance of this foreigner by the members in my playing group. They wanted to know where I lived in Canada, about my home course and about golf.

They were quite surprised to learn that in my province in Eastern Canada, situated on the Atlantic Ocean, it is not unusual for golf courses to be open from mid-March to late November and even into December.

The journey then continues to Delhi and a visit to the famous Delhi Golf Club. It was a Saurday and the course was very busy. In my discussions with some club officials, I was told they have 5,000 members of which approximately 3,500 are full playing. Those numbers are staggering compared to the clubs back home where members count in the hundreds. Obviously the Delhi course is one of the busiest in the country and I dare say the world. Despite a substantial membership entrance fee and annual dues, it has a 30-year member waiting list.

It was the Delhi course that I also met Rajan Sehgal, President of the India Golf Tourism Association.

The association was formed, he said, to work with India’s government to promote India’s golf product and tourism around the world. He told me that of the 220 or so courses in the country, approximately 45 are of international standard and there are several more courses either planned or under construction.

The Delhi area or the National Capital Region as it is also referred to, he said, was a good golf destination because there are a number of top level courses within close proximity. After spending a few days in the city, I felt the Radisson Blu Plaza Delhi, was a great place to base a golf holiday.

The city of Chandigarh, about a five-hour drive north of Delhi, certainly doesn’t speak to Tharoor’s underdeveloped country. Unlike Mumbai and Delhi, Chandigarh, also known as ‘The City Beautiful’, was India’s first planned city following independence in 1947. It is filled with clean, tree-lined streets and parks and modern architecture. Its master plan was prepared by the famous Swiss-French architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier. The city of just over one million people, has a very high quality of life and is considered the face of modern India.

The Chandigarh Golf Club and course are part of that desire to be environmentally friendly and project a green future. The tight fairways are lined with mango, eucalyptus and many other tree varieties. The greenery and attention to detail are exceptional. The course, opened in 1962, is over 7,000 yards from the tips and also has nine holes and a driving range lit for night golf.

Golf at Chandigarh proved totally enjoyable. A highlight was my chance meeting with the father of Jeev Milkha Singh, the first Indian golfer to play on the European Tour and the first Indian to play in the Masters. The elder Milkha Singh, a former Olympian himself, graciously greeted me in the fairway.

And again, as at the previous courses I played or visited, at Chandigarh there was always a handshake, an invitation to lunch or the offer of a refreshment. I had come to India with no pre-conceived ideas and no great expectations. I didn’t set myself up for disappointment.

I must admit India is not for everyone. There are real life issues and habits that could be disturbing to some people. But what I learned was to turn away if I didn’t like something and I learned India would be a place I would like to go back to for a more focused golf vacation.

In the novel, A Passage to India by E.M. Foster, and in the context of the story, the question was asked: Can an Indian be friends with the English? I’m not sure how the question was answered in the book but in my own context, based on my experience, an Indian can certainly be friends with a Canadian.

I learned that firsthand.

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Choice Resorts

DALAT The Small and Beautiful

Twin Rivers Golf Course

Where Vikings have landed and made homes of, golf springs forth in the glorious form of Twin Rivers course at the Terra Nova Resort in Newfoundland, Canada.

By to m p e t e r s

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p h oto g r a p h y By Bu d V i n c e n t

The Dalat at 1200 Country Club & Private Estate.

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Nearly 500 years before John Cabot landed on Newfoundland in 1497, Vikings came here and established a small village on its most northern tip. At L’Anse aux Meadows there are the archeological remains of a Norse village discovered in 1960. In 1978, it became a UNESCO World Heritage site and today is the most famous site of a Norse or Viking village in North America.

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At the mouth of the Northwest River, about a nine iron from the fourth green at Twin Rivers Golf Course, Atlantic salmon break the surface, their shiny bodies full out of the water. They are eager to fight the opposing current and move up the river to spawn. It is not an uncommon scene in the rivers of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada’s most easterly province.

This is a province, off the beaten path as they say, with an abundance of wildlife, whether in the ocean that surrounds Newfoundland, the island portion of this province, or in its rugged wilderness. The island is the 16th largest in the world at nearly 109,000 square kilometres with a small population of approximately 479,000 of English, Irish, Aboriginal and French origin.

Nearly 500 years before John Cabot landed on Newfoundland in 1497, Vikings came here and established a small village on its most northern tip. At L’Anse aux Meadows there are the archeological remains of a Norse village discovered in 1960. In 1978, it became a UNESCO World Heritage site and today is the most famous site of a Norse or Viking village in North America.

But it seems reasonable to assume the Vikings felt at home here. The island has nearly 9,600km of rugged coastline with the occasional fjord and a vast wilderness interior, home to moose, caribou and countless other species of animals and birds like puffins and bald eagles.

What you won’t find are groundhogs, raccoons, snakes, skunks, poisonous insects or spiders.

What you will find, however, on the recreational side of things, is golf. You wouldn’t say that Newfoundland and Labrador would be a true golf destination, but it is a destination with some very good golf. The province has 22 golf courses, 20 on Newfoundland. They are a mix of nine and 18-hole designs. Some hug the coastline, some are cut through hilly forests incorporating rivers and lakes, and some run through valleys. For a small number of courses in such a vast territory, the variety of terrain is enormous.

One such design that incorporates many of these geographical characteristics is Twin Rivers Golf Course, a focal point of the Terra Nova Resort and Golf Community located at the gateway to Terra Nova National Park.

Situated in the northeastern part of the island, near Port Blandford on the shores of Clode Sound in Bonavista Bay, Twin Rivers has a long reputation of being one of the top courses in Atlantic Canada.

The full 18 holes were developed in two stages. The first nine holes, which opened in 1984, were the creation of Canadian architect, C.E. (Robbie) Robinson. Robinson apprenticed under the highly regarded Canadian designer Stanley Thompson. The second nine, opened in 1991, was the work of another Canadian, Doug Carrick, who interestingly in his young career, was in turn an apprentice to Robinson.

The influence of Thompson in the work of both Robinson and Carrick is quite obvious as you negotiate around Twin Rivers. Thompson, who designed other great Canadian courses such as Banff Springs in Banff, Alberta and The Highlands Links in Nova Scotia, let the natural

PREVIOUS PAGE - OPENING PICTURE: A secluded green in the middle of dense pine forest at Twin Rivers Golf Course.

THIS PAGE - TOP: A beautiful and biodiverse golf course with stunning flora.

BELOW LEFT TO RIGHT: A mini waterfall breaks the serenity of the golf course; Natural hazards that enriches both sight and playing experience; Driving towards the green with the spectacular Newfoundland views in the backdrop.

terrain dictate the design and was a master at molding wilderness type golf courses. Twin Rivers is a glowing statement to the creativity of all three designers.

The Par 71, Twin Rivers course is routed through some very scenic landscape in addition to spectacular views of Clode Sound. The reason the course got its name, the Northwest and Salmon rivers, both cut through the property and come into play on a number of holes. The course is not long at 6,546 yards but what it lacks in length it more than makes up for in degree of difficulty and required strategy to score.

Both the required positional play and jaw-dropping scenery hit you on the very first hole. The fairway runs down hill with a dogleg to the right. The corner is well trapped so ball placement is vital. As you line up your second shot to an elevated green, the ocean is the backdrop to the hole.

On the second hole the Atlantic Ocean really comes into play if you decide to move to the back tees on this 521-yard Par 5. Your drive must carry about 180 yards over an ocean inlet and sand traps to reach the safety of the fairway. It’s a risk reward type of shot that could set up you up nicely or cost you dearly.

The fifth, sixth and seventh holes are all solid par 4s and ball position off the tee is so important because all three fairways are sloped heavily to the right. There are lots of trees and brush to catch errant shots. The eighth hole brings the Northwest River into play. This par 3 is 161 yards from the back tees over the heavily rocked river which is indicative of Newfoundland. The green is shallow with rock outcropping and traps behind it.

The inward nine starts with a short par 4 but a very strategic hole. The hole is only 319 yards from the back tees but it’s a narrow fairway with a small pond protecting the front of the green. The par 3, eleventh hole is a difficult one that plays 214 yards from the white tees and 243 from the back. You need to play to the right and let the slope carry the ball onto the green.

Another par 3 hole follows on the twelfth that is all carry over water. It is a very picturesque hole looking up river. After that, golfers get back-to-back par 5s on holes fifteen and sixteen. The 16th and 17th take on a whole different look than most of the course. They have a links feeling with dunes, wide open fairways and are fairly flat. This area at one time was a landfill site.

Most golf courses don’t end with a par 3, but Twin Rivers does and what an incredible 18th. The hole plays 175 yards from the back tees over the raging and churning waters of Salmon River and to a green about 80 feet below. If, after playing this course, you can’t remember all the holes, you’ll certainly remember this one. It is definitely a Newfoundland postcard photo. An exciting finish to a very dynamic golf course.

And, if you haven’t had enough golf after playing the Twin Rivers course, the resort also has a nine-hole tract called Eagle Creek. It’s a more relaxing course that plays to a length of 2,266 yards and is a mix of par 4s and par 3s and a short 385-yard, par 5 thrown in at the finish. It’s a good, overall test of your game.

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Bud Vincent CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: The Viking community that is a UNESCO World Heritage site just outside Terra Nova Resort and Twin Rivers Golf Course; A marina that possibly alludes to the Viking’s past exploits on seas; Staying at Terra Nova Resort and Golf Community gets people feeling neighbourly; A unique landmark surrounded by wooden fencing; A natural beauty to behold as an ice glacier floats from the Arctic down south; Overview of the resort community and UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Terra Nova Resort, which encompasses 220 acres and open year round, is about a two-hour drive from the provincial capital of St. John’s, which boasts an international airport. Air carriers can connect from Canadian centres such as Halifax and Toronto and internationally from London. The property, long considered one of the Atlantic region’s top golf and vacation resorts, has 79 rooms and suites and several two and three bedroom chalets.

Newfoundland has a deep seafaring tradition and the fishery has been a part of the province’s history and cultural fabric. So when dining at the resort, either in the Clode Sound dining room or Mulligan’s Pub, seafood is quite evident on the menu. Items such as fish chowder, seared Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon and, of course, cod tongues and cheeks are tasty traditions.

The resort is fitted for business conferences and many social functions plus has an outdoor pool with a retractable roof, hot tub, sauna, tennis and basketball courts and a fitness centre. Off the resort there are some very interesting experiences afforded to visitors. You can see icebergs in August drifting by lazily off the province’s north coast; go whale watching in a place that has the world’s largest concentration of Humpback whales and a huge variety of marine mammals; or go sea kayaking, hiking in the national park or explore the fjords cut by glaciers millions of years ago. You can also venture into many small and traditional seacoast villages and visit the historic sites in nearby Trinity and Bonavista.

And there is still golf. In the port city of St. John’s and its surrounding area, there are a number of high quality courses such as Clovelly with its two courses The Osprey and Black Duck; the award winning semi-private course Glendenning, and in Pippy Park overlooking the city and harbour, is Admiral’s Green which has hosted a number of Canadian championships and the Canadian Pro Tour.

Approximately 45 minutes east of St. John’s is The Wilds at Salmonier River, a resort course that is as breathtaking visually as it is challenging. And if there was a reason for an extended stay, a trip across the province to the West Coast would be it. West Coast Newfoundland is stunning and dotted with more golf courses such as the highly regarded and visually spectacular Humber Valley Resort Course.

Another Doug Carrick design, it is considered one of the top 20 courses in the country. So if you are looking for something different, adventurous and away from the maddening crowds, and a promise of some good golf, Newfoundland may be just the spot.

Bud Vincent

www.terranovagolf.com For more information on golf in Newfoundland and Labrador, contact Golf Newfoundland and Labrador at golf@hnl.ca.

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Resort Golf Academy

Le Manoir du GoLf

evian resort

Learning the game in the purest place on earth.

by Dav i D J. W h y t e

Standing on the precipitous northern edges of the Alps is a golf resort nestled between the snow-capped mountains and glassy Lake Geneva. Evian Resort is an integral part of the village of Evian-les-Bains. A fleet of shuttle buses ferry guests between the resort’s two hotels, golf course, golf academy, tennis courts and casino.

This is also home to the famous Evian mineral water.

They arrive via bubbling springs high up in their Alpine fortitude and flows straight towards the Evian Water Bottling Plant creating perhaps the finest and purest mineral water on the planet. And here’s an interesting fact: it takes two hours to mountain bike from the base of the Chablais Massif mountain range to town but the spring water needs 200 years to make the same journey.

Hôtel Royal is the grand dame and has been in operation since the late 1800’s. It is currently completing a major 70

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renovation and will reopen in all its completed glory this summer. Its sister Hôtel Ermitage, is a 4-star with the qualities of five. It offers superb service and comfortable rooms with incomparable views over the lake.

This area is purpose-built for a healthy lifestyle. Close to the Alps, skiing through the winter is popular. And during summer, sparkling Lake Geneva offers water as well as outdoor activities from rafting to mountain biking. From Evian, day trips to nearby Lausanne, Yvoire, Chamonix, or Montreux are possible.

Le Manoir du GoLf Surrounded by a driving range and a 4-hole practice course, Le Manoir du Golf looks like a small hotel. You can in fact hire its seven elegant bedrooms and suite. Housing a golf academy that boasts one of the finest facilities in the continent, the 37-acre plot offers a covered driving range that is strategically placed at various locations

to replicate different types of shots on the golf course.

Taking practice to another level, its short 4-hole course lets students perfect their groundwork before hitting the full 18.

Here, there are three flags on each green to practice different types of approaches.

Le Manoir du Golf in Evian presents eight specific training programs that are directed towards real situations on a real golf course.

It’s a progressive system designed to help players of every level improve and ingrain what they learn.

Access to the academy is free of charge for guests of Hôtel Royal, Hôtel Ermitage or Le Manoir du Golf.

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Swing TipS “I am a great believer in self-discovery”

Patrick Terru

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Self-discovery in any sport is the most powerful tool a player can grasp. A teacher brings you something of value in each lesson but your own feedback is priceless. It’s not the teacher’s hands on the club; it’s yours. It’s all about your own feedback and what you learn from it.

I like to make things really simple for students here at Le Manoir. This is just a game and you already know how to play it.

I’m serious when I tell my students, “You already know how to do it!”

Here’s an example. You know the difference between hitting the top of the golf ball or reaching the ground too early and how that feels. So which part of the ball would you aim at? The bottom. And that’s really all the information you need. You should slide the club head underneath the ball and allow the club and its built-in design to make it fly. Just know that simple fact and your body and brain will take care of the rest.

Another area people get caught up in is looking for perfection in their golf swing, something which is impossible.

Our brain does not understand the idea of doing things perfectly so we should not ask it to achieve perfection. It is unnatural and ultimately ends in failure and disappointment. ‘Perfect’ should not be a goal, no matter what level you play at. By holding the club well, maintaining good posture and making a rhythmic swing you then let your body and brain perform what they naturally do.

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Dynamic Sequence Everyone has a different physique and this obviously has its effects.

Look at Jim Furyk for instance or Bubba Watson. The golf swing is still however an athletic move requiring the ability to deliver a dynamic sequence. There are four segments within that sequence; the hips, the leading arm, the hands and the golf club - in that order. This is the sequence of all good players and one you should work towards in a full swing. It is worth noting that in the short game, it is more club first, then arms, shoulders and hips. This helps to control power and distance.

TarGeT pracTice Learning to have a good posture is important, a decent grip is important. But nothing is more important than aiming properly.

Golf is a target game so always practice with a target in mind.

People concentrate on their swing too much during practice when they should be targeting. You should stare at the target and only glimpse the golf ball, not the other way around. Reprogram your neurosystem by staring at the target on the practice ground, then on the golf course. Pick a definite target and stare at it for three or four seconds. You’ll find a marked improvement in results.

Lie anGLe The club head has a sole and a purpose. It has been designed to work in a certain way and the more we understand and apply this, the better we’ll hit the ball. The lie angle is a factor that dramatically affects the accuracy of the shot. It is perfect when the sole arrives at impact parallel to the ground. This is a very good reason to have your clubs properly fitted but it is also a good swing thought to have as you address and swing through the ball. cLub anGLe Golf is a game of angles and one of the most important is the angle of the club at address and at contact. The driver’s angle is different from the iron but you should accommodate that naturally because of the length of the shaft. What you should be aware of is the angle of the clubhead in relation to the club head. In general, the shaft should angle slightly forward. Again you are using the club in the way it has been designed and you need to return the shaft and club head back to this position at impact to deliver the club head properly to the ball.

How To pracTice Finally I want to say something about the way you practice. The game is random on the golf course where you hit a different shot every time. If you block practice i.e. empty a full bucket with a 7-iron as I see many people do, you are often practicing and ingraining bad habits. You should change the club every four or five golf balls. Aim at different targets and create fluidity to your practice rather than rigidity. In other words practice as you play.

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Resort Golf Academy

evian resort GoLf Course Pure and simple, the Evian course offers fun challenges to all levels of play.

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perched on the hillside between mountain and lake and commanding magnificent views in either direction, the Evian course weaves through wooded hillside on three different tiers. But there are no strenuous climbs as most of the holes are relatively flat playing along sun-kissed terraces.

At just over 6,500 metres, it is not a long course; nor is it difficult but it presents a balanced challenge, ideal certainly for the LPGA’s Evian Championship and for golfers of all levels. Standing on the tee, the main challenge on most holes is psychological. Faced with seemingly narrow landing areas, in practice there’s more room out there than you envisage.

The 1st and 2nd are good examples, a tight start but a good introduction to the nature of the track. All along fairways are narrow, lined with trees and rich, thick rough meaning going offline is punishable and costly. Playing for position rather than length is more advantageous and perhaps this is why the course is so well-suited for the Ladies tour.

The signature hole 5 offers heart-warming views. To the north is Lake Geneva with the town of Lausanne glinting on the opposite shore whilst behind the green is a fabulous vista of Dent d’Oche, the highest summit of the Chablais Massif at 2,221 metres (7,287 feet) in altitude. Back to the hole, two new lakes have been added to this uphill par 3 to concentrate the mind on hitting a solid, fully committed shot.

It is interesting to note as the course unfolds, there are typical slopes towards the lake on the fairways - but not the greens. All 18 have been completely rebuilt with emphasis put into movement. The end result is impressive. This is perhaps the course’s main defense; they are large and capable of offering at least five pin positions over gently moving ground.

If the greens are not at tournament speed, they are harrowing to putt on. Indeed players on the LPGA Tour, consider Evian’s greens the most difficult on the circuit.

On the 16th is a little par 3 whose narrow green can send bad shots into the water. Pin position makes a difference here but the lack of depth to the green always makes it tricky. The closing four holes have been dubbed the ‘Evian Puzzle’ offering a series of hillocks to negotiate.

Here, there are no flowers or fancy furniture - just straightforward golf the way nature intended. And, of course, it is ecologically 100 percent pure.

www.evianresort.com Resort Golf Academy Information & Bookings: +33 (0)4 50 81 53 80 or email: academy@evianresort.com

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Collection Showcase

Skeletal surprise Putting a delicate perspective to the proverbial ‘can of worms’ expression.

P h oto g r a P h e r: c h i n g S t yl i S t: o n g w e i S h e n g

Tourbillon Messidor in plaTinuM by bregueT Golf Vacations

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golden bridge in ceraMic by coruM

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VillereT squeleTTe 8-day in rose gold by blancpain; openworked selfwinding royal oak in sTeel by audeMars pigueT; skeleTon Tourbillion ManufacTure in rose gold by ulysse nardin

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classic fusion skeleTon Tourbillion Jewellery in king gold by HubloT; porTugieser Tourbillon MysTere squeleTTe in plaTinuM by iwc; gerald genTa sappHire Tourbillon in wHiTe gold and gold by bVlgari

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TradiTionnelle openworked in wHiTe gold

by VacHeron consTanTin; rM055 bubba waTson asia ediTion in wHiTe aTZ by ricHard Mille

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Collection ★ Golf

Hyatt Open 2015

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HUA HIN — Hyatt Regency Hua Hin, Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok and Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort, in association with the Banyan Golf Club, invited amateur golf enthusiasts to join the Sixth annual “Hyatt Open 2015” – a two-day tournament.

36 holes of golf were played over two days on Saturday, 18th and Sunday, 19th July 2015 at the Banyan Golf Club, Hua Hin. The Hyatt Open 2015 Champion was awarded with the Hyatt Open Trophy in a traditional silver Claret Jug design.

The annual event was organised to promote Hua Hin as a golf and wellness destination while showcasing hospitality of Hyatt Hotels and Resorts in Thailand.

From leFt: mr. Adam Zilber, Grand Hyatt erawan Bangkok’s Hotel manager; mr. Gordon Fuller, Area Vice President and General manager of Grand Hyatt erawan Bangkok; Khun Panadda Ariyasajjakul, the Champion of Hyatt open 2015; mr. Stacey Walton, Director and General manager of Banyan Golf Club Hua Hin; mr.

Christian lueke, Hyatt regency Phuket resort’s Director of Sales and marketing.

From leFt : Sammy Carolus, General manager of Hyatt regency Hua Hin, tanes Petsuwan of tourism Authority of thailand (tAt), Suphon Wattanavekin

This year the first ever female winner was Panadda Ariyasajjakul seen in above image. Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Thailand hosted a Charity Gala Dinner where the live auction raised 1.2 million Baht for The Beaumont Ruam Pattana School in Chaiyaphum province and Baan Pandinsamer School in Krabi province; both charities assist school development, education and create amazing impact to young lives.

Hyatt regency Hua Hin 91 Hua Hin-Khao takiap road Hua Hin, Prachuap Khiri Khan, thailand, 77110 tel: +66 3 252 1234 http://huahin.regency.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

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Collection

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Suitespot

Conrad Koh Samui Stylish luxury pool villa in tropical Samui is awaiting.

Heavenly nested by clear blue water of the gulf of Thailand overlooking the local islands of “Koh Tan” and “Koh Mudsum” and next to green bushes of the beautiful mountains where Conrad has complimentary speed boat tour on daily basis and relax in idyllic surroundings at the Conrad Koh Samui luxury resort. Stay in a luxury villa with a private balcony that overlooks the pristine white beach. Swim in your private 10-meter pool. This luxury property contains four amazing restaurants, At Jahn Restaurant, Executive Chef Woothigrai Mungjit brings an inspirational, innovative approach to Thai fine dining at Conrad Koh Samui. He and his sommeliers work together to create carefully selected menus that pair the finest vintages with excellent Thai cuisine finest imported 84

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ingredients and traditional Thai cooking, techniques to create memorable pan-Asian signature dishes this restaurant has won so many awards up to date.

Azure BAr & Grill Set up next to an infinity-edge pool for a glass of cocktail in the evening and watch the sun goes down, surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens, the relaxed, open-air Azure Bar and Grill is perfect for guests that seek a more casual dining option on the resort. At twilight, a magical transformation occurs when the music and lighting changes to reflect the colorful evening skies, making for a sophisticated yet relaxing ambiance that seamlessly glides from happy hour to dinner. Anticipate a savory dish paired with excellent wines and all-night stargazing. zeST Conrad Koh Samui’s all day dining venue, providing casual indoor and outdoor dining options. Centrally located, Zest offers a superbly executed and expansive international breakfast flowing into an exciting lunch selection with vibrant Pan-Mediterranean flavors married to fresh, local, and organic ingredients. Dinner becomes an elevated affair with a change of ambiance to create a contemporary dinner environment.

The Cellar A private cellar containing more than 3,000 vintages, located at the highest point in the Conrad, guests enter this atmospheric room through a large wooden door to be met with an imposing table lined with specialty bottles and a variety of original artwork.

To STay There are many types of rooms ranging from one bedroom to three bedrooms. All suites are fully equipped with top amenities and all rooms attached with stunning views of the Gulf of Thailand and most are with 10-metre long private pools and Jacuzzi. Enjoy absolute ocean views from every pool villa, beautiful sunset and a fully equipped gymnasium.

Indulge in a personalized holistic treatment at the resort’s two-storey luxury spa. Each spa treatment room has its own private deck with a beautiful view of the sea.

Enjoy the peaceful sea view from the private manicure and pedicure salon. Exercise on the outdoor wooden yoga deck, or sunbathe on the 180-meter floating pier. The elegant, airy meeting room is an ideal venue for conferences and social events.

Easily accessible from Bangkok Airport, Koh Samui is an idyllic tropical island, with soft white beaches, lush jungles, and miles of beautiful azure sea. Explore the nearby Fisherman’s Village in Bophut to get a sense of the island’s cultural heritage. Savor the flavors of Bophut’s many specialty restaurants. Conrad Samui provide daily pick-up and drop-off to and from the airport along with city of Chaweng beach town for residents to get acquainted with the islands and neighborhoods.

The best resort hotel in Thailand at the Asia Pacific Hotel Awards 2014-2015, Conrad Koh Samui invites guests to escape for a weekend like never before. Guests who book a four-night weekend stay at Conrad Koh Samui and/ or Conrad Koh Samui Residences with the resort’s best available rates will receive a complimentary one-night stay, in addition to the three paid nights. Guests can choose to spend the 4th night for a beach hideaway experience in Koh Samui at Conrad or travel to Bangkok for a one-night weekend stay at Conrad Bangkok to enjoy a city retreat.

The resort’s best available rates at Conrad Koh Samui start from THB 24,000 per night for an Oceanview One Bedroom Pool Villa (exclusive of taxes and service charge).

49/8-9 Moo 4, Hillcrest Road, Taling-Ngam, Koh Samui, 84140, Thailand Tel: +66-77-915 888 email: Conrad_Koh_Samui@conradhotels.com www.conradkohsamui.com https://www.facebook.com/conradkohsamui

TermS and CondiTionS Offer is subject to availability for any weekend stays, beginning Thursday, Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday nights only at Conrad Koh Samui.

Must book a minimum of 4-night stay at Conrad Koh Samui and at least three days in advance of arrival between September 1, 2015 and November 30, 2015 and completed stay between September 4, 2015 and December 22, 2015.

Offer includes one complimentary 4th night stay at Conrad Koh Samui or one complimentary night weekend stay (beginning Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday nights only) in a Deluxe room for single/double occupancy at Conrad Bangkok.

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Move

The Driver’s ChoiCe

Three cutting-edge cars for driving enthusiasts show how technology is increasingly allowing engineers to push the envelope for high performance.

By L e o w J u - L e n

It used to be the case that building a car for speed and driving pleasure meant giving up a few things. Comfort, fuel economy and user-friendliness were some of the attributes that had to be sacrificed on the altar of high-performance. But these three cars show how innovations such as lightweight construction, electronic stability aids and drive-by-wire steering can deliver thrills without compromise.

BMW 7 series Can true luxury and maximum driver appeal ever be married in one vehicle? It’s a mission the BMW 7 Series has tried to accomplish ever since its creation, and the latest model might just have done the job. The new 7 Series, due in Singapore early next year, has the size and presence to be a worthy flagship to the marque, and it pampers rear passengers like nothing the brand has ever done. Long wheelbase models will have an Executive Lounge option that gives the boss at the back extra legroom, a fold-up table, a folding foot rest, and a removable 7-inch touchscreen controller.

But to deliver the brand’s trademark handling sharpness, the new 7 Series relies on groundbreaking weight-loss technology via a technique called Carbon Core construction, where parts of the car’s frame are carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) surrounded by conventional metal making it almost 130kg lighter than the current car. It gives the new 7 Series the effortless agility and athleticism of a much smaller car, improving acceleration while lowering its thirst for fuel. The basic petrol version, the 740i, hits 100km/h in a scorching 5.5 seconds, and the most frugal version, the plug-in hybrid electric 740e, returns more than 47km per litre of petrol.

Yet, perhaps the most fascinating technology is its ability to park itself while you stand outside and command it with the new smart “Display Key”. That allows it to drive itself in and out of parking spaces too tight for you to even open the doors.

It will even pilot itself at low speed to take the hassle out of traffic jams.

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Ferrari 488 GTB This Ferrari’s tale is one that you can partially tell with numbers. It has eight cylinders and two turbochargers, and together they make 670 horsepower.

That gets the sleek coupe to 100km/h in three seconds flat. Rather coyly, Ferrari says it will do “more than 330km/h”. Theoretically, this is a car that could whisk you from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in a little over an hour, traffic (and traffic police) permitting.

Yet, what the numbers fail to capture is just how breathtakingly violent the Ferrari 488 GTB’s acceleration is. The first time you put your foot down in anger, nothing prepares for the instantaneous, apocalyptic lunge to the horizon. Ferraris are supposed to be fast, of course, but the 488 GTB is on a different plane altogether.

That is very much by design. When conceiving the 488, Ferrari set down goals for improvement over its predecessor, the 458 Italia, and then applied whatever technology was at its disposal to achieve them. In some areas the engineers outdid their targets; the new Ferrari’s aero efficiency (that is, the amount of downforce the body generates divided by the resulting wind resistance) is the best the company has ever achieved.

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Indeed, the 488’s greatest trick is how easy it is to drive quickly in spite of the engine’s immense power. The various traction and stability control systems curtail the turbo V8’s violence when needed (say, in the rain), but in safer conditions like the racetrack, they indulge all manner of driver exuberance. Engage “CT Off” on the steering wheel’s manettino — the F1 racing inspired driver mode switch — and the Ferrari permits long, lurid tailslides while its electronics keep a watchful eye so they can prevent the driver from overcooking things and spinning off the track.

Ultimately the Ferrari feels like a car designed by geniuses to make you feel like one yourself, behind the wheel. Make no mistake, though: as skilled as you feel driving a 488 GTB, there is digital wizardry in the background to make it happen. The numbers that truly define the new Ferrari are all 1’s and 0’s.

Infiniti Q50 Sport Chances are you can name the usual suspects

in the compact executive market because they are all around you — BMW’s 3 Series, the Mercedes C-Class, even Lexus’ IS… the streets are all but littered with them. But a distinctive and still exclusive alternative exists in the form of Infiniti’s Q50, a hugely underrated sedan that exemplifies the qualities Japan does best: craftsmanship and precision engineering.

Our choice is the range-topping Sport version, with its aggressive styling features, generous equipment package and high-quality sound system, but whichever version you decide on, the Q50 has an exquisitely presented interior. A large touchscreen system keeps the dashboard’s presentation neat, while the cabin’s build and quality are very much the stuff of the best luxury cars around.

Yet, Infiniti prides itself on delivering driving thrills, and the Q50 Sport has a trick or two up its sleeve. A 2.0-litre turbo engine and seven-speed transmission launch it to 100km/h in a brisk 7.2 seconds, but the Infiniti’s trump card is the fact that it’s the world’s first drive-by-wire car.

Its ground-breaking Direct Adaptive Steering can sever the mechanical link (via a clutch on the steering column) between the steering wheel and the suspension arms that aim the front wheels, letting an electronic system make fine adjustments in response to what the driver does. This means bumps never jolt the steering in your hand, and you can tune the steering weight and response precisely, until it is exactly as you like it. The drive-by-wire system does take getting used to, but it shows how seriously Infiniti caters to drivers. And in that respect, it makes the Q50 quite literally wired for success.

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Collection

★

Time

Slim d’Hermès Koma Kurabe From Sèvres porcelain to traditional Japanese art.

Hermès takes us to the Japan of traditions, in

the shade of a flowering cherry tree, to enjoy a more than millennial-old celebration: Koma Kurabe, the famous Japanese horse race.

Interpreted through 12 one-of-a-kind models each distinguished by different details, the Slim d’Hermès Koma Kurabe watch is graced with a porcelain dial reproducing this horse race that is organised once a year in Kamigamo Shrine (built in 678 AD) in Kyoto. Crowds continue to flock there from all over the country in order to pray for peace and good harvests, while enjoying the sight of the horses and the beautiful spring day.

An authentic travel invitation, this exceptional timepiece is the first time in the watch industry that French porcelain is combined with the Japanese art of Aka-e painting, created by the expert brush of master artist Buzan Fukushima.

It all begins near Paris, in the ateliers of Sèvres, a major centre of porcelain making in Europe for more than three centuries.

The artisan pours the barbotine (soft liquid porcelain known in English as grout, slurry or slip) onto a plasterboard substrate that will absorb the water and retain only the clay.

The paste thus captured is cut to the required size on a metal base, before several days of drying. Then comes the so-called biscuit’ firing, followed by full polishing in order to eliminate any remaining flaws. It is then time for the delicate enameling

operations requiring four to six fine-layered applications of a colourless glaze, and as many firings. After this, the plates suspended in the furnace by means of the prior perforations made along their edge, before being cut and shaped to form dials.

The porcelain becomes a work of art at the brilliant hands of Buzan Fukushima, one of the rare artisans who still exercises the Aka-e technique that enjoyed its heyday in 19th century Japan. A legendary exponent of this traditional painting on porcelain made in Kutani, in the Ishikawa Prefecture of Japan, the master deftly wields his brush to create subtly graded shades of red and ochre, which he coats with a fine layer of gold to complete his work of art. Three firing operations are required to fix the motif of this scene conveying a dream-like vision of Japan. A dream that the master artist has brought to life for the first time on a watch dial for the maison Hermès, accustomed as he is to expressing his art on larger decorative objects such as vases or dishes.

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El Primero Chronomaster 1969

model houses an automatic chronograph movement entirely developed, fine-tuned and produced in-house, El Primero Calibre 4061. Like all El Primero movements, it beats at the exceptional frequency of 10 vibrations per second (or 36,000 vibrations per hour) and can thereby measure 1/10ths of a second.

This chronograph movement with an approximately 50-hour power reserve comprises 282 parts and features meticulous finishes, visible in particular through the famous dial opening. El Primero Chornomaster 1969 displays the hours, minutes, small seconds at 9 o’clock, as well as the chronograph function with a central sweep seconds hand along with 30-minute and 12-hour counters at 3 and 6 o’clock respectively.

It comes with a 42 mm-diameter steel case that is water-resistant to 100 metres and equipped with vintage-style round pushbuttons. It is available on a black alligator leather strap complete with steel buckle.

The Manufacture Zenith is further enriching this major collection by unveiling the El Primero Chronomaster

every 24 hours. The El Primero Calibre 4047 comprises 332 parts serving to display this range of useful complications.

To display these celestial movements at 6 o’clock and the days passing through the large date aperture at 2 o’clock, Zenith has created a dial with a sunburst motif radiating from the centre (silver-toned or black according to the versions), along with circular satin-brushed chapter-ring zone and counter zone at 3 o’clock, while the sun and moon aperture at 6 o’clock is sunburst guilloché-worked on its lower section. Representing the emblematic signature of the Manufacture Zenith, the dial opening onto the beating heart of the movement reveals the regulating organ and its high-frequency vibrations, as well as the meticulous finishing adorning the entirety of this exceptional movement. Available in rose gold or steel versions with a silver-toned or black dial, the El Primero Chronomaster Open Grande Date Moon & Sunphase features a generous 45 mmdiameter case equipped with round vintage-style pushbuttons and water-resistant to 50 metres. It is fitted with a brown (for the rose gold version) or black (steel version) alligator leather strap with matching metal buckle At the heart of the Zenith collections, the El Primero Chronomaster Open line offers a vast

Zenith EL Primero Chronomaster Open Grande Date Moon & Sunphase model in two new rose gold and steel versions. In addition to the chronograph which, like all El Primero movements, measures 1/10ths of a second, Calibre 4047 also indicates the hours, minutes, small seconds at 9 o’clock, large date at 2 o’clock – by means of two concentric discs – as well as displaying the moon and sunphases at 6 o’clock. The latter is a useful and poetic complication specific to Zenith, portrayed by an indication reflecting the double path of the sun and moon by means of two superimposed discs.The transparent upper disc with two polished metallic moons performs one rotation every 59 days, while the lower day/night disc makes one full turn

palette of models, all identifiable by their dial revealing the beating heart of the legendary chronograph movement. A broad range of complications is available in 42 or 45 mm-diameter cases made of platinum, rose gold or steel, with grey, silver-toned or black dials, and fitted with alligator leather straps or steel bracelets. The latest El Primero Chronomaster Open model by Zenith eloquently demonstrates that the most accomplished technical feats can be matched by the most graceful elegance. El Primero, the legendary chronograph movement launched by Zenith in 1969, is housed in a rose gold or steel case framing a dial in shimmering white mother-of-pearl enhanced by 21 diamonds. In keeping with the identity codes of the El Primero Chronomaster collection, this new model features a 42 mm-diameter case with round vintage- style pushbuttons and water-resistant to 100 metres.

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Fashion

The ScripT

The postman An ordinary postman is put in the limelight when he transits between reality and his dreams. Whenever he nods off, the parcel in his hand transmutes into a Prada bag, symbolisng the postman’s fascination and obsession with Prada’s artistic perfection.

The Makeout A couple lock lips and engage in a romantic love chase, where she playfully leads him up the stairs, and displays her Prada Sound bag whenever she can. The Makeout portrays the iconic Prada Sound bag as a symbol of our desire and lust, leading viewers to associate the Prada Sound bag with our deepest desires.

The Battlefield Prada’s Galleria bag is the main star of this short film, and plays a pivotal role in inducing the child to live his fantasy of an experience in the battlefield. In the film, we can observe the Galleria bag from multiple angles, and even from inside the bag, which gives viewers a new perspective of Prada’s namesake, the Prada Galleria.

Dream a Little Dream A compilation of five quirky short films, Prada’s The Postman Dreams, which centres on the Prada Galleria bag, elegantly and masterfully shows off the brand’s immaculate craftsmanship.

By M i c h e l l e ye e The postman Dreams, a series of five short films,

marks Prada’s entrance into theatre as a platform for stylish expression and artistic flair. The short films also serve to further accentuate the charm and luxury of Prada’s bags.

The films transport us to and from between reality and Prada’s endless pursuit of magnificence and beauty, blurring the lines between a typical mundane life and a fantastical experience. As the name suggests, The Postman Dreams heavily draws emphasis on vivid dreams and imagination of the films’ protagonists, and at the same time, infuses the essence of Prada’s bags into the heart of the films.

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The Tree Humorously crafted, this short film depicts a magical tree, which sprouts red and luscious Prada Galleria bags, ready to be plucked and enjoyed by passing motorists. Possibly drawing an allusion to the apples of the Garden of Eden, De Wilde certainly conveys and infuses a degree of sinful luxury into the Prada Galleria.

The Laundromat Featuring a curvaceous lady engaging in a striptease, the short film draws our attention to the similarity between the lady’s sexual appeal and the exquisite Prada Galleria bag.

Watch The Postman, The Makeout and The Battlefield online at thepostmandreams.prada.com

collection

PRIME lives up to its name, a classy

★

Food

contemporary steakhouse that is all about the best. For the 8th consecutive year, PRIME Restaurant has been awarded as Thailand’s Best Restaurant. The man behind these culinary creations is Chef de Cuisine Sethasak, a master of his craft reveals PRIME’s secret to success; top quality of imported beef and the wood-fired oven.

The most fascinating way of cooking, firstly, all the cuts of beef are kept chilled; never frozen, ensuring the delicate intricacies of the flavor remain intact. PRIME offers St. Helen USDA Prime cuts, from corn-fed herds on the pristine pastures of Washington State, USA. We of course offer Tajima Wagyu beef. Related in bloodlines to Kobe beef, these herds are raised in the wild fields of Victoria, Australia and grain-fed for 500 days, in strict accordance with Japanese traditions.

In addition, top grade Miyasaki beef from Japan is available in PRIME.

Primest cut house in town

Sample a slice of something grilled in wood smoke, riverside at PRIME Steakhouse, Millennium Hilton Bangkok.

The finest cuts of meat are nothing without the expert preparation, and our steaks are cooked in woodfired ovens. PRIME offers flavored wood chips that add distinctive tasting notes – Hickory, Cherry Wood and Eucalyptus scented with Mesquite and even Jack Daniel’s.

And for those who prefer, the menu also includes world-class fresh seafood, as well as a dazzling range of mouthwatering desserts.

Menu Highlights are Cream of wild mushrooms & bergamot - 360 THB PRIME Caesar salad - 490 THB • PRIME Tajima Wagyu steak tartar - 950 THB and Seafood Tower – Small 2,900 THB ; Large 3,900 THB

BEEf StEak

All steaks have been aged to perfection and grilled over our unique wood grills.

• Miyazaki Japanese Beef • USDA approved Black Angus beef • Australian 500 days grain fed Tajima Wagyu Details of Prime (Open daily) Location : 3rd floor, Millennium Hilton Bangkok Opening hour : 6.00 - 11.00 p.m.

For further information and reservations, telephone +66 (0) 2442-2000 www.bangkok.hilton.com

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Golf Nike ENGAGE, the newest

Nike ENGAGE Wedges for a better short game.

Retail Price: 5,950THB 225SGD 595MYR

breakthrough wedges, which allows for the sharpest and most accurate short game. With Modern Muscle technology, the Center of Gravity (CG) is located at the center of the club face creating highest level of precision.

The Nike Engage wedges are available in three distinct sole grinds: Dual Sole, Square Sole and Toe Sweep, which are offered to most effectively respond to all types of individual plays and various course conditions.

With three sole grinds made from the hands of Master Craftsman Mike Taylor, the new Nike Golf Engage wedges are the newest solution to help athletes such as Rory McIlroy both score and escape adverse conditions on the course.

The name Engage comes from three important interactions between the golf club and the turf, the club face and the golf ball and the connection between the athlete and his or her equipment.

Nike ENGAGE wedges also incorporated Precision Milled 3x3 Grooves and Garnet Tour Blast which create 57% more spin from all lies on all shots. Alongside with the Tour Authentic Raw Finish, which gives golfers more feel while eliminating glare; thus resulting in better golfing in all conditions.

Square Sole is designed primarily to be played with a squared up club face. This wedge grind features moderate heel relief in the 58/60 and Tiger-inspired leading edge bevel in 54/56 to provide added versatility.

Nike ENGAGE Toe Sweep- The second generation Toe Sweep grind maintains its superior performance from sand and rough while improving versatility on tight lies. The wide toe and narrow heel width allows the club to be laid open at address and stay open through impact in even the deepest of grass. Used in tour victories by Michelle Wie and Rory McIIroy.

Dual Sole offers two distinct sole surfaces for the widest array of shots from any lie. The sole is inspired by grinds used

by Tiger Woods and Rory McIIroy.

Nike Golf – SEA/Pacific Tel: +662-646-6100 Thajchapong Rujeraprapa (Earth) | Brand Communication Executive M: +6692.671.3311 Akhrathep Srinarula M: +668 6902 5566 akhrathep. srinarula@nike.com

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Moments 31 July 2015

↓ Asia Pacific Bentley Golf Invitational Tanjong Course, Sentosa Golf Club In a region’s first, Bentley Asia Pacific invited 76 guests and media

from six countries to the resplendent resort island of Sentosa in Singapore for a special golf and fine dining event. The luxury automobile marque from Crewe, England, delivers a truly bespoke experience for its VIPs from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, to nearby Thailand and Malaysia and of course Singapore. For the 64 golfers who turned up Friday morning at Sentosa Golf Club, it was an intimate affair with many meeting each other for the first time, exchanging notes on their preferred car brand. It was also a classy touch that graced this premier golf club to have so many Bentleys drive into its lobby, as well as cars strategically placed between holes 6 and 7, as well as 14 and 15. Competition winners Eric Faesenkloet and Nico Wamsteker from New Zealand proved to be the best scramble team but the celebratory mood pervades all who were there.

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Moments 15 September 2015

↓ Danang, Vietnam Almost 100 club golfers from 12 countries contested the inaugural Accor Vietnam World Masters Golf Championship in Danang, Vietnam from 7 to 12 September.

The week-long tournament for players over the age of 35 included 4 rounds of Championship golf, nightly social and entertainment events as well as touring the region's popular attractions and tourism experiences.

Golfers played 2 rounds at both the Greg Normandesigned Danang Golf Club and neighbouring Montgomerie Links. The Competition was segregated into divisions based on age and handicap.

The gross champion in the ladies' division was Robyn Tait from Song Be in Vietnam. Playing off a handicap of 3, Robyn had rounds of 80, 83, 80 and a final round of 76. Kim, from Song Gea was the stableford winner, scoring a 4 round total of 150 points, the best of the tournament.

The mens' 60+ B grade was keenly contested and after four rounds 3 players were tied on 140 stableford points. Hong Kong's Jean Paul Cuvelier won on a countback, ahead of Datu Chuah Kim Seah and Felix Go, both from Wack Wack in the Philippines.

Vietnamese golfers performed well with Jonathon Tait (Song Be), Khan Nguyen (Van Tri) and Vinh Lam Hoang (Sky Lake) winning their divisions, while Tony Briffa (Headland) and Tim Gilder (Peninsula), both from Australia, were the other major winners.

Results for all players and photos from the tournament can be viewed at www.vietnamworldmasters.com Half of the participants came from Australia and New Zealand. The Philippines and Vietnam also had large contingents. Players also travelled from the USA, Canada, Hungary, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and India.

First time travellers to Vietnam, Ronnie and Wendy Triffitt from Australia loved Danang: "I really enjoyed the links design of Danang GC and the greens were so pure. The Montgomerie course was a little more forgiving and the conditioning of the course couldn't be faulted.

We were glad we stayed at the Pullman Danang which is located on a beautiful stretch of beach frequented by surfers. The resort staff were so nice to us. Wendy was a non-golfer and she enjoyed the organised day tours and 96

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cooking classes and meeting the other partners. Hoi An is just magic and we loved the fabulous Vietnamese cuisine."

Pablo Soon from the Philippines has competed in tournaments all over the world and rates the Vietnam World Masters among the best.

"I think Danang is perfect for golf holidays and we were spoilt with the event organisation and hospitality this week. The downtown is just beautiful and we enjoyed the restaurants and bars. We are already locked in to come back next year."

The Accor Hotels Vietnam World Masters is a joint initiative between Australian-based Go Golfing, hosts of the world's biggest tournaments for club golfers, and Golfasian, Asia's largest inbound golf tour operator.

The second annual Accor Vietnam World Masters Golf Championship returns to Danang from 4 to 9 September 2016. For event information visit www.vietnamworldmasters.com

Thailand Edition vol. 12

My Top Ten

Peter Thomson’s TOP TEN

The 19th

Old Tom Morris’s Return

Destination Focus A Passage to India Dalat Swede Sensations

PETE DYE’S FORD PLANTATION COURSE Southern United States GV012005TN_N1.indd 1

Choice Resorts Twin Rivers Golf Course

Resort Golf Academy

Le Manoir du Golf

MAGAZINE OF THE GM GROUP

GOLF VACATIONS THAILAND VOL.12 SEPEMBER-OCTOBER 2015 / 180 BAHT

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The Last Putt

The Thai Pro who leads the way for younger generation Thai golfers

By G e o r G e S o m a pa with thanks to ImG

Today Golf Vacations Thailands Managing Editor George Somapa had the opportunity to talk to the most famous professional Thai golfer Thongchai Jaidee or TJ. He started golf when he was already 16 and didn’t turn pro until the age of 29 which is unconventional to the nature of sports and against the odds. He’s considered an icon of Thai golf since he holds a lot of records:

• Most number of wins – 17 professional wins (6 European Tours) • The first Thai to play all 4 majors • The first Thai to win multiple events in European Tour • Most number of Asian Tour Order of Merits wins – 3 wins • Highest ranking reached amongst Thais – World#32 Amazing, right? Let's hear more.

Could you tell us more about Thongchai Jaidee Foundation and its primary objective ?

Thongchai Jaidee Foundation was founded in 2009 by the vision of myself and my wife Namfon Jaidee. The objective is simply to create opportunities for the younger generation especially in education and golf. So far we have raised up a handful of professional golfers with bright future.

What is the expectation from 1st year event at Black Mountain Golf in Hua Hin?

I hope this event will be the pathway of the younger golfers to start to dream and make their way to the higher level of golf. By having a chance to play alongside with the stars, the role model, I hope they will gain the invaluable 98

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experience. Also this is an ADT level of golf so it’s good that the young players in Thai Tour can battle with the wider range of competitors from Asia.

You are doing so well now on European tour.

Can you tell us more about this?

Yes this is another good year for myself even though it’s a winless year but I’ve been doing good. My putting on average is quite good as the stats show that I’m amongst the best in putting per GIR. Other things are also good. I’m back to team up with Posom, the caddie who’s also my friend and we get on the rhythm well.

As you are a role model for young Thai professional golfers, how do you like to see Thailand Professional Golf industry evolve?

Of course I’ve been through the evolving stages of golf in Thailand and I’m positive with the upward trend.

I’d like to see more of the younger generation playing and having more of the international experience since that’s the key of becoming successful. You don’t only need skills, experience is also what takes you there.

Thailand is now becoming a world-class golf tourism destination and is now number 7 in the world. How do you think you can help bring in more golf tourism to help the Thai economy?

That’s good to know and very impressive. I think that’s also my job to help promote Thailand as I’m sponsored by Tune Insurance who also partner with TAT in promoting Thailand on my front cap space. I feel good taking Thai flag around the world.

Would you like to say anything for the last putt?

If you’re a keen golfer, don’t forget that you can’t be good in a day. Practice makes perfect.