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December Golf Report

How should I phrase this? In December, I was less undefeated than I would have liked. In fact, I was less undefeated than at any time in recent memory. In fact, in singles matches I may have been completely defeated. I did, however, make a number of impressive birdie dances at some of the finest golf courses in Southeast Asia. 

Did you notice that the birdies come preponderantly on one-shot holes or in pool halls? If you saw my drives this month, you wouldn't be surprised. I was featured prominently in this month's issue of Golf Today magazine, but clearly not for my golfing prowess. 

So what lies ahead for 2012? A few visits to the driving range are in order. And I'll be starting with a clean slate, undefeated and untested from 1 January, so this will be another chance for that elusive undeafeted year. 

Involving Another Journey

A night of quiet and repose in the profound silence of Dingley Dell, and an hour's breathing of its fresh and fragrant air on the ensuing morning, completely recovered Mr. Pickwick from the effects of his late fatigue of body and anxiety of mind.

So begins chapter eight of The Pickwick Papers, and I find myself in a similar situation to the completely recovered Mr. Pickwick. I'm now back to Bangkok after my short sabbatical at the South of Thailand. I wrote and read and worked on many interesting projects; I also visited eight golf courses in four different provinces. And I enjoyed a respite from air travel.

I was looking for some visa photos this morning (one frequently needs photos for new passports and visas when traveling internationally every week) in my drawer of boarding passes accumulated over the past two years. The airlines have fully credited me with miles for these flights, so I took this opportunity to take a quick picture of the boarding passes covering my desk before I threw them away, as I so eloquently did about two years ago with another large pile of boarding passes.

I don't really know what to say about this photo. I'd like to say that air travel on a frequent basis is not especially glamorous. But actually it is, if we take glamorous to mean full of magic and enchantment. Akita, Bangkok, Bandar Seri Bagawan, Catania, Caticlan, Chicago, Chittagong, Dalat, Danang, Dubai, Fukuoka, Haneda, Itami, Kunming, Narita, Hong Kong, Honolulu, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Luang Prabang, Palm Springs, Portland, Seattle, Montreal, Knoxville, Gatwick, Heathrow, Haikou, Hanoi, Glasgow, Manchester, Munich, Frankfurt, Rome, Florence, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Dhaka, Delhi, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta, Chitose, Sendai, Sanya, Saigon, Naha, Guangzhou, Beijing, Colombo, Columbia, Dulles, Pittsburgh, Chennai — there are other cities, not necessary to list them all here. Even considering all the work involved, there is still magic and enchantment in that incomplete list.

As an aside, have you had oysters in Thailand? My friends at Japan know I take every opportunity to eat the fine oysters there. At Thailand one cannot always find fresh oysters, but when one does, they invariably come with plenty of garlic, lime, a special chili paste, another spicy sauce, and fried onions. I had fresh oysters at Phuket and Hua Hin this week, at both places served with these condiments, and I can report that these Thai oysters are delectable. As is Thai food in general.

On Sabbatical

Writing holiday, sabbatical, はたらきもの, abscondence — whatever you like to call it, that is what I'll be doing for the next few weeks. I have a number of writing projects that I intend to complete as I make repair to a salubrious island in Thailand for this work.

I've been assiduous for the last month and have flown twelve times, been to Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam (twice), going through Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport every few days. I've spent a Saturday night watching Muay Thai at Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok and spent a crepuscular morning at Manila on the zoysia greens at Wack Wack.

When I spent much of last September writing at Italy I finished about ten articles, including the Greenkeeper International cover story for January 2010, the recently-published article about dandelions, fertilizer, and the Park Grass Experiment for the Green Section Record, and many articles about turfgrass science for Golf Course Seminar magazine in Japan. I'm really excited about the projects I'm working on right now.

April Golf Report

When you think of golf in April, the Masters Tournament surely comes to mind. And if you follow the Masters Tournament, then the 12^th hole at Bangkok's new Dream Arena course will look familiar to you. In fact, the entire back 9 of Dream Arena would seem familiar to you. I'm quite familiar with the back 9 at Augusta National Golf Club, and therefore I played this replica 9 with a lot of confidence.

And that is how I came to be walking up the 18^th hole with a one-up lead that I would retain to bring my record in this, another undefeated month, to two victories, no losses, and two draws. I am quite proud of the two draws. In each of those matches I was one-down standing on the 18^th tee and in each match I played the 18^th with aplomb to even the match.

I have to give some credit for my astonishing record to Srixon and the Z-STAR. I have been playing various Srixon balls over the past few years but since I started using the Z-STAR for every match last fall, I have run off a streak of 9 wins, no losses, and 3 draws, each of the draws coming with a win on the final hole. I've made an eagle and two birdies in a four hole stretch to pull away for a tournament victory at Boracay, been compared to Manny Pacquiao, and am undefeated now for more than five months. 

Last night I went to celebrate another undefeated month with friends at Bangkok. Bangkok, you ask, or was it Tokyo? Bangkok is quite a multicultural city and I found myself at this izakaya in the center of town for a quadracious evening. I don't know how long I can sustain this undefeated streak. A number of friends are looking forward to our upcoming matches. Stay tuned for the May golf report coming up a month from now in which you will find out how I have fared and how my superb Srixon Z-STAR balls performed.

New Year's in April

Most years I miss the Songkran celebrations because of work at The Masters or other projects that take me outside the Kingdom. This year I was at Thailand for Songkran and participated with relish.

Songkran comes at the hottest time of the year, before the onset of pluvious weather, and there is a lot of water throwing as part of the celebrations. I walked down the street to get my dinner and ended up soaking wet in the washroom cleaning chalk paste from my face. That's Songkran, apparently.

I quite enjoyed the dinner and this restaurant's take on miang kham with tofu and the substitution of cooked shrimp for the usual dried shrimp. I set a new record with four large pieces of spicy red pepper in one bite. 

  And that wasn't the only record I set during this memorable Songkran. This morning I ran a quadracious half-marathon at Kanchanaburi and won another medal. This race is notable for my running it without training, and for its nearly interminable distance; there was some error, I'm sure, in the measurement of the route, for the announced 21 km were run well before the finish line was in sight.

 So I ended up running along the roads on a hot summer day in Thailand for a bit longer than I had expected. The race began at 05:45, just as the sun was rising over the sugar cane fields and small dairies in this part of Thailand. I was joined in the race by many members of my running club who had also made the trip from Bangkok.

March Golf Report

My record this month was four wins in four matches. I'm undefeated in the first quarter of 2011. In fact, I'm undefeated since early November of last year. And perhaps I am feeling a little bit of pressure, because I fell behind in each of my matches before storming back for decisive victories. 

My match at Sta. Elena GC was long over (I won 6&5) by the time I reached the par-5 17^th hole and blasted this 3-wood shot more than 220 yards across the chasm and over the green, nearly missed chipping in for an eagle and settled for an easy birdie. I would go on to win 4&3 at The Orchard the next day despite falling 3 down early in the match. 

My next match was at Siam CC's Plantation Course, and despite losing the first hole I came back to win 8&7 against a woefully over-matched opponent. My score on the front 9 nearly matched his extensive list of excuses (37 at last count). Of course more than 40 hours on planes, no sleep, rental clubs, jet lag, heat, sweat, unfamiliarity with caddies, not having played for weeks or months, and sundry other excuses were all employed in an attempt to throw me off my game at this challenging course (see below!) but all to no avail; I won the press 6&5.

And then it was on to Thai CC, one of the best courses in Thailand, for a match on a windy spring day against the formidable John Kim.

I played, perhaps, my best round of the month this day, and by the back 9, even Mr. Kim's caddie was exulting in my fine shotmaking. By the time I calmly rolled in a twisting birdie on the 17^th and then nearly birdied the 18^th as well, the match was long over. And so was my golf for the month, as I returned to my work and considered my match schedule for the upcoming months.

Melt My Pinky World

The sign is pretty much self-explanatory, isn't it? Who can resist an ice mountain, as I like to call it, when the shop has such a magnetic appeal? I was at Sriracha last week after the Sustainable Turfgrass Management in Asia 2011 conference, bringing some friends back to Bangkok, and we stopped for a seafood dinner and then had sublime desserts at Sweety Ice. Melt my pinky world indeed! I had coconut flavor, they had mango — we shared, and both were superb.

I have been enjoying a lot of Thai food this week. After my run tonight I had jok moo sai kai. That is rice porridge with pork and a soft-boiled egg. It comes with green onions and slices of ginger and plenty of black pepper. I added a dollop of dried chili to get just the right taste. 

My friend Kirk Fast is an authority on wine. When I see him later this year, I expect he will recommend some fine Pinot noir to me, and he may describe it as possessing hints of crystalllized ginger, crushed juniper, with a hint of molasses and a finish of Sulawesian pepper. Miang kham (see below) has all those flavors and more, and I had some when I came home tonight.

Rather than describe it, I just put some of each ingredient into a leaf, roll it up, and chew. Not quite the taste of an Oregon Pinot noir, but miang kham is much more available in Bangkok. All part of my vicinal diet. Up next, poutine.

February Golf Report

Two birdies on a cerulean afternoon at Bangkok's Alpine GC brought me a draw in my only match this month. You may remember Alpine as the site of Tiger Woods' victory at the 2000 Johnnie Walker Classic. And my unnamed opponent (who has yet to beat me in an 18 hole match) will surely remember this match at Alpine for my stunning birdie at the 18^th to capture a draw.

Too full of Adventure to be briefly described

I have traveled to six countries this month, getting on an airplane once every 54 hours (on average) and staying at hotels from the waterfront at Kota Kinabalu to the noisome streets of Kowloon and to a surprisingly quiet Kanda last week. I returned to Thailand in the early morning hours today and have three consecutive days here before my next departure. 

At Vietnam last week I had the opportunity to take this interesting photograph with Tiger Song, the principal of Korea's Songho Golf Design Group. We smiled as we imagined the mirthsome headline Tiger meets Woods. 

In addition to the advisory and research work that took me to Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, and Vietnam this month, I also went to Japan to teach about turfgrass science in full-day seminars at Tokyo and Osaka. One of the challenges in giving seminars in Asia is that the handouts and other presentation materials must invariably be translated well in advance of the seminars. By the time of the actual seminars, we have a lot of fun. 

And the bow tie adds a rakish flair to the proceedings, doesn't it? 

My Contribution to Global Warming

I flew nine times in the past six days, from Bangok to Saigon to Dalat, then from Dalat to Saigan to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Brunei to Kota Kinabalu, then from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei to Manila, and finally back to Bangkok. The Mount Kinabalu Golf Club at Sabah sits at the base of the 4095 meter Mt. Kinabalu. One could understandably be mistaken for thinking this golf course is in Europe or Canada rather than on the island of Borneo.

From Malaysia I went to the Philippines and made a quick visit to the Anvaya Cove project in Bataan to watch the sunset over the South China Sea and to inspect the grass on the three holes already planted at this exciting new golf and resort community. 

Then it was back to Thailand and a trip to Nakhon Ratchasima for Isaan food and some inspection of grasses growing there. There are wild elephants at Khao Yai, and I expect that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense will be as powerful as a herd of wild elephants in the upcoming Super Bowl.

I couldn't return to Bangkok without an obligatory photo in the sunflower fields. That was my week, in short. I now intend to stay domiciled for a week to reduce my carbon footprint.