Golfing in Malaysia

I recently had a very frustating day playing in a public course in Malaysia. I can’t expect everyone to feel the same but share your thoughts with me. The story goes…..

One fine evening in Kuala Lumpur (or rather Petaling Jaya), I was expecting to play a round of night golf with a two friends. Having learnt my previous lesson of not calling in advance to book the advance flight, we had to settle for only 9 holes. Reason being if there were insufficient flights (5 in total), the course reserves the right to turn away any flights for night golf. In which, if I may mention we couldn’t finish because the damned flight in front was too slow and upon the 7th hole we had to play in total darkness. (Please be informed that no night golf means no lights. If you can’t finish, too bad!)

So here we are, we called early in the morning to book a flight for the evening for a full 18 hole night golfing experience. As if by chance, a huge downpour occurred around 2 hours before our tee time. So being a most recalcitrant golfer, we called ahead to ask if night golfing would have to be cancelled. The response was this “the downpour stopped, so your flight should be fine”. The golfing gods have answered our prayer. Happily, we made our way through heavy rain to reach the golf course. Being the first to arrive, I went to the reception counter to confirm our flight. Here comes the good part…

Olaf : Good evening! We have a booking for a flight of 3 balls. Night Golf!

Reception : Sorry but we have to see if there are 5 flights for the evening before we can confirm your flight. (nonchalantly)

Olaf : I’m sorry but we called about an hour ago and we were informed that our flight will be available! (very restraint look)

Reception : Of no! You see if there aren’t enough flights for night golf, we will not allow the flight to go ahead. You see the cost is not enough to cover! (showing how good a staff he was!)

Olaf : I’m sorry but I’m afraid that isn’t good enough for me! If you can’t get enough flights, THAT my good lad is your problem. when we called earlier you did not mention this! I travelled through the rain and many miles to come here and I will not accept “no” for an answer. If you had mention it earlier, we wouldn’t have come! (struggling very hard not to strangle him)

Reception : That’s too bad because, it is out of my hands! you see….. (bringing out the cost factor again)

Olaf : Do you realise that by doing so, you are giving your golf course a bad name! Not to mention, the entire golf industry in Malaysia will not support this sort of service! The least you could have done is advise us in advance of this clause that you have!

Reception : ……… (Goes silent and ignores me!)

There we have it! I wonder how many golf clubs provides this sort of service or has this sort of clause! Bear in mind this public golf course is the very course where the qualifying school is! I wonder how this sort of course have a bearing on the entire golfing industry in Malaysia. Wonder why golfers choose to have their golfing holidays in Thailand. Believe me, it is not because of the caddies, it is the overall service. I have played in many a course in Malaysia (and Thailand) and believe me when I say, the golf courses in Malaysia is excellent and comparable to Thailand. It is the service levels that will kill off our golf courses.

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Article by Olaf Bound.s | Leave a response
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