Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club : Johor Bahru

This is a much overdue post. This was suppose to go live after the Masters but that already seems like an eternity ago. 

It's just been a very busy few weeks and I haven't touched my clubs since Good Friday (Almost 3 weeks!) when I played at the highly rated Horizon Hills Golf and Country Club.
 

Anyways, so I managed to meet up with an old friend of mine from college who kindly squeezed me into his flight. Thanks Ian!

Just how highly rated is Horizon Hills? Amongst many awards and accolades, it snagged 2nd runner up honors in the Best Malaysian Course category at the 2014 Asian Golf Awards. (1st place went to its sister club, Kota Permai Golf and Country Club).

Value : 3/5

Now the green fees at Horizon Hills are a tad confusing. They have weekday rates, weekend morning / afternoon rates, public holiday rates and Singapore public holiday rates *phew!

We were playing on a Friday morning, so I was rather pleased that we were going to pay weekday rates. Alas, even though it wasn't a Good Friday holiday in Johor, it was a holiday in Singapore and so we paid RM265.00 (excluding caddy fees and tips) which was still cheap for our Singaporean friends, but I couldn't help feeling like I overpaid. 

I didn't lug along my golf set this trip and so had to rent a set from MST. For RM150.00 (RM200.00 deposit) they provided a pretty decent Taylormade set for use. I have seen much worse. (I am not a Taylormade fan, sorry Chris!.. so apart from the Sldr driver, I can't recall what irons I was using but it was fairly forgivable)

Staff : 3.5/5

For starters, the staff at Horizon Hills are polite folks. The guards, the cleaners, the clubhouse staff etc were ever ready to greet with a smile. 

We were assigned female caddies on the day and although pleasant and attentive, our caddy had only recently started and so wasn't very knowledgeable with green reads in particular or lining up putts. I usually rely on the caddy giving me reads on unfamiliar courses. More so when the greens were this tricky.

Now, most balls will have some logo (above) which can be used to indicate the direction / break of a putt. 

Our caddy would tell me 3 balls to the right but would have the indicator pointing left at 10 o'clock which puzzled me a bit. Turns out she wasn't aware you could use the marking, so she picked up something new. 

Then there were instances when she would say "break right" but it would break left. So I ended up lining up most of my own putts.

 
Course Conditions : 3.5/5 

The fairways were in good shape and well maintained. No buggies on course though.

The greens on the other hand were in tip-top shape and were challenging. (very quick and undulating). 

There were plenty of bunkers throughout but most of them were rather shallow and hard which was disappointing. Found myself in the sand a couple of times and instead of playing a 'chip like shot' I took a normal swing and promptly hacked the ball over the green and into the water / other bunker. 

The sand might have washed away with the constant rain so I am not sure how they are usually. Guess it wouldn't be a problem if I stayed out of the bunkers.

Aesthetics : 4/5

The landscaping was nice and more importantly was well kept. But I wouldn't have expected anything less from such a course, so it didn't particularly "wow" me.

Amenities : 4/5

The club house is well equipped with many facilities and it features a modern and spacious design. Plenty of natural light and fresh air, which I appreciate.

Experience : 4/5

Was it a good experience and did Horizon Hills live up to the hype?

Yes, on both counts.

I definitely had a good time. Horizon Hills have done a lovely job keeping their course in shape (except for the bunkers). Their staff are efficient and very polite and that's something you don't see as often. 

The course itself is challenging and really makes you think about your game plan (The Par 5, index 1 at Hole 2 immediately springs to mind). 

So it's great that they have caddies available to offer help. Would have been better if our caddy was more knowledgeable. Blew a couple of holes, but also managed a couple of pars (with the rental set no less) so managed to keep the score respectable. Plus, had very good company too which made for a very fun morning of golf.

Horizon Hills is worth playing in my books but try to play on a weekday and definitely avoid playing on Singaporean Public holidays.

Total Score :  22/30