Monterez Golf and Country Club : Night Golfing

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I felt there was a need to adjust the 'review' posts on the courses I play.

Previously, I was rating courses according to course conditions, course difficulty, caddy rating and clubhouse facilities. For starters course difficulty is subjective and caddy ratings were at times irrelevant. So, in a bid to improve the reviews, I have decided to 'grade' a course on the following  6 categories. Each category is worth 5 points

"Value : Did I get my money's worth?

Staff : Were they competent? Did they provide above average service?

Course Conditions : Things like greens, fairways, bunkers 

Aesthetics : Landscaping etc

Amenities : Things like food and beverage, whether there is a driving range, pro shop etc.

Experience : Did I enjoy the round? Would I want to play the course again?"

Without further adue, here's the first review for 2015, the Monterez Golf and Country Club.

Monterez is an 18 hole golf course and is one of two courses in K.L offering night golf. The other being Kelab Golf Sultan Abdul Aziz which has suspended night golf for the time being apparently. So golf bookings are basically divided into two sessions:-

Day golfing from 7am - 4pm 

Night golfing from 4pm - 7pm. 

Although we pushed the envelope and finished past 10pm as I recall. So I guess they are pretty flexible about the time.

The Club House itself is rather old but presentable and they have a fairly well stocked pro - shop. I managed to snap up three pairs of Greg Norman shorts for about RM280.00.

Apart from the pro-shop, there is also a driving range (didn't check it out) and a golfer's terrace for the hungry and thirsty golfer.

The buggies were really old and the brakes on the buggy we had was in dire need of maintenance.

We were asked by the starter to tee off from hole 10. Coincidentally, there was a twosome (two brothers) behind us who suggested we play as 4 balls, which we did. The more the merrier we always say.

From the get go, I was pleasantly surprised at how narrow the fair way was and like clock work, I proceeded to hook my drive to the rough on the right. So off we go (buggy on track by the way).

The course was fairly dry and along the way, I spotted several patches of cow grass amongst the bermuda grass on the fairway. Playable, but a sign of neglect and lack of maintenance surely. That unfortunately was only the beginning. The greens were something else.

This my friends, was the green (or should I say "brown") Make no mistake, the greens were filled with brown patches and bald in places. 

Clearly there was some green maintenance being carried out (with the sanding and the holes) but conditions were shocking. Worse greens I have ever putted on, period. Putts and chips would bobble offline so unless you were a pro, it didn't really matter how good your short game was.

It didn't help that there were a couple of greens that were playable in between (no more then 5 greens were playable). Had us feeling teased!

But we moved along and as the light started to fade, the flood lights soon turned on and I was keen to finally experience night golf.

These were some powerful floodlights so it was brighter then I expected. Though that can only be said about the fairway and greens. Beyond that lies a dark world altogether. So, accuracy was key as I soon discovered. Somehow, I was even having trouble spotting the ball on the fairway and I was struggling with the shadows as well. It made putting that much harder.

There were only two flights playing that night. So while we were able to play at a leisurely pace, it was somewhat eerie too. It didn't help that the marshall who was tailing us would turn off the flood lights once we moved far ahead enough so we would hear the lights turn off and darkness would immediately descend.

One of the 'playable' greens. 

Eventually we made our way to the last hole and after we completed our round, I made a very quick visit to the empty rest room and we then made our way back.

As a matter of interest, Malaysian Top Amatuer Gavin Green holds the course record of 62. I believe this was back in 2010 and I am really curious if the greens were better then. 

Onto the ratings!

Value : 4/5

We paid RM78.00 each (green fee + buggy, twin share) which is cheap. Sure the greens were crap and buggies were old, but you get to tee off later in the evening and still finish a round of 18 holes. 

Staff : 3/5

The reception staff was rather quick and efficient. Took us about 5 minutes to get from paying to the tee box. The Marshall on the other hand patiently waited for us to finish playing a hole and made sure we were far enough before he started turning off the lights, bless him. Though apart from that, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

Course Conditions : 2/5

The greens in general were Crap.

Aesthetics : 2/5

Nothing out of the ordinary in my eyes. On the whole, the landscaping was rather 'meh' plus some of the water hazards were questionable in colour. 

Amenities : 3/5

The clubhouse though old had a pretty well stocked pro-shop, driving range, practice green and golfer terrace. Restrooms were spacious and clean too.

Experience : 2.5/5

A rather mixed experience this one. It wasn't an expensive round and I will definitely try night golf again in future. But there was no fun watching your putts and chips bobble and bounce in every other direction but the hole. Until they fix the greens, I will probably give Monterez a miss.

Total score: 16.5/25

Up next, Templer park!