Murder in Malaysia

Today's star newspaper, I noticed two articles covering two separate murder cases that took place years ago.
One involved a carpenter/shop assistant who murdered his lover, and the other a successful businessman accused of killing his nephew with the help of two employees and his maid as a witness.
If you can't guess the outcome, I'll tell you- the poor guy gets death and the rich guy acquitted. The worst part is, he got away because he just simply didn't turn up to be served! What a joke, all he had to do was go live abroad for a few years and then the courts threw out his case.
If you're Malaysian you'd agree that this comes as no surprise to you, after all we're boleh-land. Can do is the attitude most Asians take when we need to get the job done. Can do means you'd better have the cash to put your money where your mouth is.
In the headlines today we also have a very prominent figure standing up to charges of fraud against the government. I can't predict the future, but as a Malaysian I already know the outcome.

Old Glory

Not long ago, the month of August would see an overwhelming amount of flag draped cars on the city streets. Everyone would be in the spirit of Merdeka, and on the eve,roads would be backed up for miles because of the hoards of people making their way into town to celebrate.
2010, things are a little different now. There are proposals to pass into law mandatory display of the flag on cars traveling on Merdeka day. There are peoples and groups that go out of their way to display defiance, writing anti themed songs, protest videos and such. Why all the disharmony? We have to look deep into ourselves for the answer. Denial is what comes to mind. Change is happening all right, in a slow but big way. For better or worse, depending on who you ask is very much debatable. For the bosses things are good for them, for the workers not so great. For the captains so-so. The bosses need only to keep the captains happy-ish. The captains will try to keep the workers happy-ish with false promises and small rewards. As long as bosses can close an eye on their captain's mischievous behavior and be able to absorb some small losses, it's better not to fire them. Without the support of the captains, the bosses wouldn't have the support of the workers, and would ultimately lose their title of 'boss'. This method would eventually fail as more workers become captains and bosses themselves. Yes, some will themselves fall into the cycle, but many now educated and realize that the rest of the successful world does not accept this kind of system. Most of them realize that it's a non-sustainable system, and everyone wants to live an honest life. Nobody wants their children to be like them. Nobody wants to see their children being unfairly treated. Everybody wants a fair and equal chance of making it in this world without being hindered by the color of their skin or whatever god they believe in.
My country has a fantastic opportunity to make good on the promises our forefathers made. My country sometimes i don't know if I have the right to call my own, depending again on who you ask. My country can be great, but it's not going to take fancy slogans to do it. Tall buildings are great but that's not gonna do. Great fortune and wealth isn't gonna cut it either. All the bickering only serves to create more confusion and distrust. People want good people, and we can get good people for sure, it's what we're born with so that should be a piece of cake. We are all born perfect, why didn't we remain perfect as we grew up? If we choose, we're not far from being the perfect person we were born to be. We were once perfect, so somewhere inside us lies this perfect person we once called ourselves. When we can come to terms with our perfect selves, problems will be easy to resolve.
I saw less than five cars with flags this year.

Sanctuary Lakes golf course

Photo op on the 1st hole

Smiles after a good drive

View from the Clubhouse

Tough Par 5 on a windy and cold day. Did I mention COLD day?

Some Melbourne Golf

Sanctuary Lakes golf course in melbourne, nice links course that's
quite easy if there's no wind.
Played here with Todd form the albert park driving range. It was
winter-ish so we had wind, rain, sunshine all in one par 3 hole. Quite
an amazing experience for me, not quite what i'm used to weather wise.
I remember hitting a pw to a 130m pin only to get it 80m because of
the headwind.

This is the Albert Park driving range. It's in the middle of Melbourne CBD and it's also the place the do the F1 racing. The track runs right around the lake and right by the range. Many tour players practice here, Geoff Ogilvy, Danny Lee and Marcus Both have been spotted here.

I spotted Marcus Both on a nice sunny but cold winter day. I liked observing him practice. He was kitted out in full tour gear, shirt tucked in and all. He looked the business. He spent an hour hitting balls in the private/ pro area and then came out putting for an hour or so before going back to hit more balls.
The practice greens here are superb. Chip and putt all day. Bring your own bag of pro v1's or hit the range balls, yellow callaway war birds. On the practice greens people usually leave the balls behind, so you can pick them up and chip with them or back into range and hit them out. The balls here are quite expensive, like A$8.50 for 50 balls, but well worth it if you spend some time to chip and putt. They can be quite anal with the golf bag though, they won't allow them in the facility. You'll have to carry all your gear by hand or leave your bag in the ProShop. I sometimes take the train there so it's quite troublesome to just carry all your gear by hand all the way there. I just bring the whole bag anyway and most of the time the guys let me bring it in( I guess they trust my honest face). Sometimes the girl there won't and makes me leave it in the shop. No problem but you kinda worry about your gear if you can't see it, so you can't help but to go back to check if your Scotty is still in the bag.

Here's a picture of the F1 track that goes around the lake, the sports complex, the golf course and the driving range.
I love Melbourne :)

Video of my swing :)

Tiger's Daily Routine

taken from TW's site .. I wonder what kind of days he is having now that he's in trouble with the wife. Although I will never respect him the same way again, he still is THE golfer of our time. I hope all the best for his family, and hope we all only copy his swing and not his swings.(lame attempt at being funny)

6:30 a.m. - One hour of cardio. Choice between endurance runs, sprints or biking.

7:30 a.m. - One hour of lower weight training. 60-70 percent of normal lifting weight, high reps and multiple sets.

8:30 a.m. - High protein/low-fat breakfast. Typically includes egg-white omelet with vegetables.

9:00 a.m. - Two hours on the golf course. Hit on the range and work on swing.

11:00 a.m. - Practice putting for 30 minutes to an hour.

Noon - Play nine holes.

1:30 p.m. - High protein/low-fat lunch. Typically includes grilled chicken or fish, salad and vegetables.

2:00 p.m. - Three-to-four hours on the golf course. Work on swing, short game and occasionally play another nine holes.

6:30 p.m. - 30 minutes of upper weight training. High reps.

7:00 p.m. - Dinner and rest.

Low Spinner

The key is to use the flange or the back of the sole on a wedge with an open face. The more you have the face open, the more you can spin it. Play the ball about center of a slightly open and fairly narrow stance with hands slightly forward. Hold on to the release through impact with hands forward while focusing on taking ground contact with the flange of the club. Never let the clubhead pass the hands. The result should be a low spinner with a bounce and check. You have to make sure you stay aggressive as clubhead speed will also add spin and help keep the ball from climbing up the face, which will only add trajectory not spin and will hamper distance control. This shot, once learned, is actually very simple and is very easy to control distance with. With softer greens you can actually get the ball to spin back from 30-40 yards.

Keep in mind, you don't need MD, SM or Y grooves if you play a spinny ball.

I forgot to mention that this shot is controlled by the body, i.e. hips and shoulders vs hands and arms.

open club face.. on this shot, the ball is heading in the direction of somewhere in between the cluster of balls

the bounce is the curved part of the club head where the 60* is stamped

test post

let's see if this works:)

bogor raya in jakarta

We drive through the traffic crazy Jakarta and it takes about 2 hours to get there. There's nothing much to see.. it's mainly poor Jakarta and a little pathetic compared to the Paradise of a Golf course we're heading to. Funny..makes you think how they build such a nice place in the middle of a really crappy town.The entrance isn't anything grand but the people there are super-nice. The girl at the reception is super cute too. I'd ask her out if I was a single boy.
The Pro shop/Registration is exceptional. Fully equipped with all the new gear and again, lovely ladies (you'll hear a lot about them in this post). I must say it's one of the nicest Pro Shops I've been to, and to top it is the great hospitality extended by their staffers.

Left of this is the Pro Shop and to the right is the Clubhouse.. again it's beautiful serene surroundings.


From where I was seated in the clubhouse, looking at the Proshop. On the right is the practice green and driving range, which is out in the open... wah like the way the pro's practice..hitting off the turf.Here's a pic of the clubhouse on the right, far left is the driving range and near left the practice green...just SUPERB!

Our caddies were very good(at least mine was) and they were quite pretty too..

This is another picture from the Clubhouse after we played.
Hehe.. I shot 75 from the Championship tees! I also made 1.3 million that day! Now I know how it feels like to win a Major..haha!
I guess the 'feel good' atmosphere contributed significantly to my performance there. I want to go there again. I wouldn't mind playing bad there at all.

EAGLE!

I got my first eagle today that prompted me to start this..my golf dairy!

Been playing for ages..say 6-8 years and finally down to a low handicapper. A tour wannabe that has not realized his full potential or a tour wannabe who doesn't realize he's past his fullest potential. I'll find the answers as this blog develops.

Today I shot a 5 over 77 on a relatively easy course but fairly damp as a downpour developed after our second hole. Play resumed after 45 minutes. Pretty dull and normal until the eagle happened. I drove the 8th to 1 ft of the pin with a slight fade.

I had an eagle and a birdie,8 pars and i guess 8 bogeys. Driver and 3 wood was acceptable, and short game was exceptional*. *note to self- reverted back to ball on right toe for low chips and made more use of the 54*. This made for attacking the pin when I could and the 50m was executed with the 54 running it to the pin.

Oyah before I forget- also reminded myself to turn my back against the target to get maximum rotation for the driver.

It's like a love affair .. It hurts like a heartbreak when I hit it bad, and when I hit it good it's like levitation.