BALI BACK ON COURSE
Bali Back On Course - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Bali Back On Course | |||||
| By: John Digby, Issue 17 – Summer 2004 | |||||
| (Bali, Le Meridien Resort, golf courses, The Bali Golf and Country Club) | |||||
| FROM ANCIENT TEMPLES TO TRANQUIL RICE PADDIES, BALI OFFERS GOLFERS A HOLIDAY TO REMEMBER. | |||||
| Most Australians go to Bali to relax, soak up the culture, visit the beach or go surfing. But one of this Indonesian island’s hidden treasures is its golf courses, set in beautiful, lush landscapes, designed by some of the world’s best golf architects, and largely kept in great condition. There are three good courses all readily accessible to the casual visitor or that can be played as part of an organised holiday package using one of Bali’s many five-star luxury hotels as a base – and they are all within 90 minutes’ drive from the international airport at Denpasar. As is the custom in Indonesia, when you pay for your round, you get a local caddy to show you the way, help you select the right club, tell you where to hit the ball, and read the greens for you – guaranteed to improve your game from the first tee. The three courses are the oceanside fairways of the Bali Golf and Country Club at Nusa Dua, Greg Norman’s fabulous Nirwana course at Le Meridien Resort (pictured above), about 90 minutes’ drive from Denpasar, and Handara Kosaido Country Club, an hour’s drive up into the cool and mountainous Bedugul region of the island. Norman’s championship course, near the famous Tanah Lot temple complex, is one of the most dramatic the great Australian player has designed, and has been voted Asia’s top course. The course and five-star, 278-room resort are set on 100 hectares of which 70 per cent is given over to the natural vegetation. Some of its challenging holes have been rated as the best individual holes in Asia, especially the par-3 seventh and par-4 thirteenth. It makes the best use of the natural surroundings, including towering palms and rice terraces, with the seventh hole among the most dramatic you’ll find anywhere as you hit from cliff-top to cliff-top beside the Indian Ocean. Norman said of his course: “Every golf course designer dreams of the perfect landscape to fashion into a beautiful and challenging course. There’s no doubt that the physical characteristics of the Nirwana course site are conducive to doing just that.” Right from the opening hole, sitting in a coconut grove and flanked by rice paddies, players will experience creeks, lush vegetation and ocean backdrops to rival any course worldwide. The resort itself lives up to its five-star luxury standing offering a totally Balinese experience with spacious rooms, all with balconies taking in great views of the course or coastline, and decorated in the local style. It has three pools, a water slide and a lagoon with a man-made white sand beach and waterfall. Handara Kosaido was designed by another Australian champion, Peter Thomson, and his partner, Michael Wolveridge, whose company is responsible for many top courses around the world, including The Links at Port Douglas in Far North Queensland. Handara, designed 25 years ago, sits in the crater of an extinct volcano and is surrounded by a tropical rainforest as well as near-vertical crater walls and impressive mountain backdrops. It is perched at more than 1,000 metres above sea level and the resulting cool temperatures make golf here a very pleasant experience. It’s a deceptively difficult 6,400-metre, par-72 course that has plenty of bunkers, lakes and other water hazards. The country club itself has accommodation in 77 rooms and bungalows, and includes a fitness centre, spa and traditional Japanese baths and tennis courts. The Bali Golf and Country Club, a 6,280-metre course that takes in ocean and coconut grove views, is close to many of the major five-star hotels in Nusa Dua (see below). The course, designed by Americans Robin Nelson and Rodney Wright, features three distinct settings. The first few holes take you uphill and inland through tropical vegetation until, from the seventh onwards, the course plays downhill towards the ocean offering views of Nusa Dua and distant volcanoes. Holes 10 to 16 are located a 10-minute ride away from the front nine in a coconut grove, where you might be playing a different course, with the par-3 twelfth playing 124 metres across water from the tee. Holes 17 and 18 are links holes, the first playing towards the beach and the second towards the clubhouse along a lake that follows the fairway from tee to green. It’s a real championship course, where UK major winner Nick Faldo holds the course record of 63 shot during the 1994 Dunhill Masters. Match that and you can do without the local caddy’s help. Bali has had its share of tragedy in recent times, so why not lend a hand in the recovery process on a golf holiday to remember. | |||||
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