Teeing it up in the South Pacific

There are only two golf courses around Savusavu, one at the Namale Resort and the other at Koro Sun, a resort just a bit further down the Hibiscus Highway.   I had done some research on Koro Sun before leaving the states and it was clear on their website that this was not “destination golf”, so I decided to investigate Namale.  Collin, who runs the dive operation at Koro Sun, suggested I get in touch with the director of golf at Namale, a US native named Bill, and try to get a “mates rate” or something of a break off of the $150 Fijian to play with rental clubs for just 9 holes.  Since we are traveling as lightly as we can on this trip, I didn’t bring my clubs or even golf shoes. I packed one golf shirt, an extremely lightweight shirt that I bought at the Diplomat resort in South Florida in 2005.  I did bring one golf ball, a personalized Titleist NXT Tour that is emblazoned with BANGERT in blue letters.

I called Namale and told Bill the story of going around the world and how I was going to blog about playing golf and hopefully even write a book about the experience but needed to get a price break whenever I could.  He didn’t seem impressed at all with going around the world story and explained how the rates were set by the owner of the golf course who he said basically built the course for himself and was okay letting resort guests play at what I felt were high prices.  He said he would check with the owner and get back to me, something I never expected to happen and those expectations were met.  Since Annie and the kids were going to go snorkeling at Koro Sun with Collin and Jeanine the next morning, I decided to go ahead and play Koro Sun, which only wanted $35 Fijian to play with rental clubs. 

There is no pro shop at Koro Sun, so I went to the reception desk in the main lobby of the resort and talked to a woman named Mela, who got me set up with a set of rental clubs with a bag that fortunately had three other golf balls:  a Pro V1, from around 2002 it appeared, along with a Nicklaus brand ball and a driving range ball.  With my BANGERT ball added to my arsenal, I felt I was good to go.  The clubs themselves were of a slightly older vintage, probably the late 80s to early 90s.  There was a driver, a Taylor Made three metal (the kind with tiny nubs so my arms aren’t always flying off the back swing-obscure Bare Naked Ladies reference), a three iron, four iron, two five irons, a lefty six iron, two eight irons, a nine iron, and three putters.  No wedges, so I had to be creative with the 9 iron around the green.  Mela impressed on me that this was not “up to par” golf, that it was “adventure” and “jungle” golf.  As I headed for the first tee, I had no idea just how accurate her words would be. 

I couldn’t find the first tee, as there were no directional signs like you find at most courses, but I did find the first green.  They didn’t provide any score cards, just a sheet that was a map of the property which gave a rudimentary layout of the course. 

I found a grassy spot about 50 yards from the first green, whipped out the 9 iron and placed the Pro V1 smartly on the green.  The greens at Koro Sun aren’t mowed much and are very bumpy and I managed to get the ball in the hole in two strokes, then tried to find the second tee.  I saw a worker with a Koro Sun shirt walking by, so I asked him about the second tee location, and he vaguely pointed in the area of some raised ground, but then said just to hit from a grassy area.  I was only wearing some Teva sandals and had brought some anklet golf socks, thinking I might wear them but a few steps into the soggy fairways made me decide to keep the socks in the bag. 

As I played the next two or three holes uneventfully, I was struck by how well I was hitting the ball with technology that dated back two decades.  I hit a couple of crisp 8 irons and even a nice five-iron, which made me start to doubt my obsession with my fitted Mizuno 220s with a two-degree flat lie that I used back at home.  The challenge with the course was walking through the extremely soggy fairways.  I was hitting decent shots, but the ball was plugging and the problem got worse on the fifth hole.  It was the longest hole on the course, but the first 150 or so yards of the hole were covered in knee high grass, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to find my ball, even if I just striped it down the middle.  So I found a spot further down the fairway, and hit a layup shot with one of the two eight irons I had to choose from.  It went right down the middle, but didn’t bounce at all and I knew it was the last time I would ever see that Pro V1, always a painful realization.  I found a dry spot where I dropped the Nicklaus ball and aimed for the green which was surrounded on three sides by water, about 110 yards away, or so I thought.  With no yardage markers in the fairway to guide me, I hit the Nicklaus ball just a little short of the green, making a nice kerplunking sound in the water filled with lily pads.  I went up to the green with the realization that all I had left was my BANGERT ball and the range ball.  I dropped the BANGERT ball just short of the green and chipped up and two putted.  Now I had to find the sixth tee, which I did after a hike across a bridge and up a paved path that had no signage whatsoever but led me to an elevated tee that looked out over what could be a fairly pretty hole of about 220 yards of distance. 

I teed up the range ball, and hit the 3 wood pretty well and saw where the ball landed, just short of the green, probably about 200 yards away.  There was no path leading down toward the fairway, so I made my way down the hill and into what turned out to be knee high grass where you couldn’t see where you were stepping.  My feet were soaked by now, and as I worked my way toward the green, something of a decent size scurried through the grass, probably a mongoose. Certainly a varmint, perhaps a member of the varmint cong, but with no Carl Spackler to help me out with a plastic explosive shaped like a squirrel or a rabbit I chose to forge onward with the lyrics “these are men, America’s best, silver wings upon their chest” ringing in my ears.   (Caddyshack reference, either you get it or you don't, sorry!)  Once I got to the area just short of the green where I hoped the two red stripes on the range ball might help me locate it, I realized there was no way that was going to happen, so I dropped the BANGERT ball just short of the green, hit another decent chip shot with the nine iron and two putted once again. 

This is where the true challenge of the Koro Sun golf course began, sort of it’s version of Amen Corner at Augusta.  But instead of throwing grass clippings in the air on the twelfth tee and looking at the flag on 11 to see which way the swirling winds were blowing over Rae’s Creek, I had a more fundamental challenge to deal with:  Where in the hell is the next hole?  The sixth green was shoved into a hillside and there was no obvious sign of the seventh tee or even any sort of path to get to it.  I looked at the layout on the printout that Mela had given me and it showed that the seventh tee should be to the right of the sixth green and the seventh green should be to the left of the sixth green.  But I saw no tee box to the right and to the left was just a grass covered hillside with no path or even a worn down area that indicated anyone had ever walked there before.  Ever.  I decided to climb the hill, hoping I would find something at the top, which I did and voila, it was the seventh green.  I looked back to the right over the sixth hole and saw no sign whatsoever of a tee for the seventh hole.  There was one spot deep into the hillside that looked like it might have been used for a tee box sometime during the first Clinton Administration, but that was it.  Again, I dropped my cherished BANGERT ball short of the green, showed my prowess with my 9 iron and two putted.  The eighth tee was the only tee box clearly marked, but when I looked out over where it directed the approach shot, I didn’t see anywhere to hit the ball. It was a valley with some palm trees and no fairway or green in sight, and down to one ball, the holy BANGERT ball, I wasn’t about to tee off knowing there was a good chance that even a well-struck shot could end up lost. 

I was starting to think I would just have to play imaginary golf and walk into the clubhouse and wait for Annie and the kids to be done with their snorkeling, which wasn’t scheduled to happen for another two and a half hours or so.  The eighth hole has a ridge running through it and when I got my soggy sandals to the top of the hill, I saw the 8^th green in an attractive setting with the ocean as a back drop about 120 yards away.   

Assessing the situation, I calculated the chances of losing the BANGERT ball were pretty slim, so I dropped it on the top of the ridge, pulled out a 9 iron, and hit it on target but just over the green.  A nicely executed 9 iron pitch shot put the ball on the green for another two-putt which allowed me to turn my attention to the 9^th hole. 

It was worth the wait and the hike through the rice paddies of Koro Sun as the 9^th was a straight ahead 190 yard par three which looked pretty dry.  I pulled out one of the 5 irons, trying to ignore the voices in my head saying, "you’re hitting the BANGERT ball, the last one you have and there is a road to the right and some bures (Fijian villas) on the left" and managed to stripe one down the middle,  that bounced (!) in the fairway, coming up about 20 yards short of the green.  I  again displayed a deft touch with my 1978 era 9 iron, chipped up and actually made the ten foot putt that had more hops that Kobe Bryant.  My mood was further improved by the music coming from the resort reception area, the song House of Cards by Radiohead, echoing through the palm trees.  It’s one of my favorite Radiohead songs and spurred my decision to go back and play the 9^th hole again, considering no one was behind me for probably about, oh, say a week or two.  My second try from the tee with the five iron went a little closer to the green, and I chipped up again with the nine iron, two putted and decided to head back to the tee with the four iron.  I chunked that one some, coming up short of where I hit the 5 irons, so I went back to the tee with the four iron again for my fifth attempt at this hole.  This time, I hit the Palm Springs Desert Classic 4 iron pin high but just to the left of the trap guarding the green.  The 9 iron probably needs to be re-gripped as I used it another time to put the ball on the green and two putt.   

It was almost time for our taxi driver, Sirah to show up, so I thought I would take one more swipe with the four iron at what had become my favorite golf hole in Fiji.  

As I went back to the tee, I saw Sirah’s taxi drive by, and knew this would be my final tee shot at this hole.  Trying my hardest to avoid my annoying habit of having too much lower body motion in my swing, I made a smooth pass at the ball and hit a majestic shot that actually made it on to the green about 20 feet from the pin.  Two putts and I was done with golf at Koro Sun and, while the golf was not “up to par”, the “adventure” in the “jungle” left me with a true appreciation of what golf is really all about.  It’s not  the latest technology or swing theory, it’s about advancing the ball toward the hole by whatever means possible in as few strokes as you can. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or broken down by Peter Kostis on the Minolta Swing Vision.  It’s just you and the elements and the golf course and you make the best of it.  Something I hope I’m able to do more of in the coming weeks and months wherever our trip may take us.