Day 69 and 70 2022/2023 Viking Neptune World Cruise. Day 2 and 3 in Bali, Indonesia.
Our second day in Bali was one that we were really looking forward to. We had planned our adventure long before we left Canada and we had met Dave from Australia on the Neptune who had been wearing a shirt from this place. Our driver Sugar picked us up at 6:45am to make sure that we made it through traffic to arrive at our destination with about 30 minutes to spare. We were taking the long causeway toll road we could see from our ship which crossed from Benoa to Nusa Dua.
Early morning in Bali.
Sugar knew where he was going, but it seems the entrance to where we wanted to go was now the exit, so he rolled his window down and spoke to the guard and we made a few more turns before finally arriving at our destination.
Bali National Golf Club which opened in 1991 as Bali Golf & Country Club, Nusa Dua, Bali. The Sultan of Brunei opened the golf club along with Suharto, the President of Indonesia
The golf club has received many awards and was voted the best golf club in Indonesia and 5th best golf club in Asia/Pacific. We were really looking forward to playing this highly rated golf club!
The clubhouse is built around an internal courtyard with a soothing water feature.
The cost of golf was just over $415CAD which included green fees, carts and 2 caddies. We have our own clubs, so we did not have to rent clubs. After paying for our green fees and caddies, we both went downstairs to the nice and cold, air conditioned lockers. We had brought a change of clothing for a shower after golf, because with the hot and steamy temperatures of 30C plus 85% humidity, we knew we would be looking forward to showering after golf!
As we walked down the stairs to the locker rooms Richard looked at me and said "This could be Pebble Beach caliber of golf, without Pebble Beach prices!"
The ladies locker room was bone chillingingly cold. Nice!
We went outside the clubhouse to find the caddie master who introduced us both to our two caddies: AYU for Richard and CAROLINE for me. The carts have special stands on the back of them, which the caddies ride, while holding onto the back of the golf cart.
Caddie Master at Bali National Golf Club.
The caddies took us to the putting and chipping area which was behind the 18th hole. We never did find out where the driving range was located until part way through the round. I guess many people don't venture to the range, since it seemed like it was in the middle of the golf course somewhere.
We were starting on the 10th hole today. There is no way anyone could walk this golf course because of how spread out it is.....and of course how hot it is!
After a few minutes of putting and chipping we headed down the path to the 10th hole.
The cart path to the 10th hole.
We crossed over a few roads on the way to the 10th hole, that were entrances to hotels. The golf course it appears is situated within a gated area with a number of very high end hotels in Nusa Dua. In 2022 Bali hosted the G20 and this area of Nusa Dua is where the G20 was located. Of course the G20 members must also have golfed at Bali National as we saw 'G20 2022 Bali National Golf' embroidered golf towels in the pro shop.
The caddie master had said that he would be sending out a single to play with us and that we should wait when we got to the 10th tee. We waited and the next thing we knew 2 Ozzies showed up with their caddies and they teed off before us, since we were still waiting for the single to show up.
10th hole, dog leg right, par 4 310 yards from the white tees; 279 from the red tees.
All we could see were sand traps everywhere on the 10th tee!
Lots and lots of sand....
More sand from my tee box.
The single never did show up, so we played as a twosome with our caddies, which suited us just fine.
Richard and his caddie AYU.
Lots of water everywhere!
3rd hole, par 3: 156 yards from the white tees, 142 yards from the red tees.
We played the front nine in just under 2 hours. It was STINKING HOT! Thankfully I have NUUN tablets that I brought with me (I buy them on Amazon) to add to my drinking water. I found Richard a Gatorade that we had bought in Mooloolaba which he drank after already finishing one bottle of water. We brought lots of water from the Neptune with us, as well as getting water included in our green fees.
Richard and our caddies walking over the bridge to the island green par 3, 6th hole, which was on our back 9.
I looked in the fish food jar, but there was nothing to feed to the fish.
Oops...someone did not make the green, so he was able to take a drop just off the green. If you look closely you can see how much Richard is sweating in his golf shirt. Our caddies with their long sleeves, long pants and gloves on both hands and big hat and visor did not seem to be hot!
Richard playing the 8th hole. He had a lot of real estate to clear, but he made it over!
I was able to find a cooling towel that I had put into my golf bag a few rounds ago. Richard and me shared the cooling towel dipping it into the cooler on the side of our golf cart, that had ice cold water in it. I would wear the towel for a hole, and then I would rinse it out and give it to Richard to wear for a hole. We have more of these cooling towels so I will have to remember to pack them with me whenever we go out again in the hot climates we are visiting.
I use zinc oxide lip balm on my lips recommended by my dermatologist (ELTE MD), because the sun is so strong it burns my lips. I don't think I've ever been hotter on a golf course in my life. It was so hard to focus on the back nine because of the heat. I was really loving my new golf dress though that I had bought in Mooloolaba. It was very airy, and not clingy at all, which was perfect for the very hot conditions we had golfing in Bali.
A very hot selfie by HOTTE!
The back nine was a bit slower and we caught up to the threesome in front of us, so we spent the time taking photos and trying to stay cool while we waited.
Richard and AYU. How about those steps and sculptures up to the blue tee box? I've never been on a golf course before that had so many ornate statues.
Still smiling despite the heat!
Mugging for the camera.
We finally came to the 9th hole, which was our last hole.
Wow! What a finishing hole. We felt like we were at TPC Sawgrass playing the 17th hole at The Player's Championship. 130 yards from the white tees; 105 from the red tees, with wind in our face.
We both teed off and we both had excellent shots into this tough finishing hole.
There is a lot more undulation on this green up close, than we could see from the tee box.
Bali National Love Golf sign behind us on the 18th hole.
Richard is standing near his ball. Two feet behind the pin is my ball mark and my ball is to the right of the ball mark. Now let's see if our caddies give us the correct read on the green to make birdie!
Well Richard's caddie gave him the correct read, but he did not listen to her. My caddie gave me the wrong read, and my ball stayed outside the left edge of the cup, where she had told me to put the ball. So both of us only made par on the last hole. Richard tipped the caddies. We were told to tip them 200,000 IDR, which would have been about $18 CAD, but Richard gave them 300,000 IDR each, or about $28 CAD. It is not an easy way to make a living in the heat. The golf course plays cart path only, so there is a lot of walking back and forth to the ball. The caddies have a very innate sense of what the yardage is from the ball to the green, despite being on the cart path. I used my golf laser from my ball to the pin, and my caddie Caroline would bring a few clubs with her for me to choose which club to hit. Caroline quickly understood my yardages on my clubs and she always had the right club available for me to hit.
We were really hot and hungry after golf as our tee time had been very early at 7:50am. We were glad to be finished though before the real heat of the day was starting. Our British friend Steve and his wife Sue arrived at Bali National Golf Club shortly after we had sat down for lunch. Richard had agreed to loan Steve his golf clubs, so Steve didn't have to rent clubs. Steve had played with us in Mooloolaba and loved Richard's CRANK driver, so he was very happy to be able to play with Richard's entire set at Bali National. Sue was not golfing, but she was happy to sit in the golf cart, covered up, and watch Steve and some of the other guys from the Neptune golf.
I was absolutely drenched sitting in the air conditioning and I wished I had already taken my shower, before ordering lunch.
Now that's the look of a very hot golfer! A cold Bintang was definitely what he needed after golf. We were so hungry waiting for our food, that we also polished off a tin of these Pringles Indonesian knock off potato chips. They were not bad actually.
I could not figure out what this flavour of potato chip was, so we did not open it. With the flames up the side of the packaging it probably was something really spicy!
My delicious mixed green salad at Bali National Golf Club.
Richard played it pretty safe and had the spicy chicken wrap, French fries and aioli.
The prices at the golf club for lunch were a bit higher than most other places we have been in Bali, but hey? I guess we were paying for the privilege of air conditioning and the fact it was Bali National Golf Club!
We both had our very refreshing showers after golf, and Richard sent our driver Sugar a What's App text to have him come and pick us up at the club. We had asked Sugar to take us around sightseeing after golf so we had a full afternoon of adventure awaiting us.
The internet is really awful on the Viking Neptune. I would like to be able to continue with our Day 2 in Bali blog, but I think for now I will pause and alleviate some of my ongoing frustration with the internet and come back to writing about the rest of Day 2 later today. We are at sea today and I've had nothing but trouble with my Ipad keyboard as well, which has decided not to co-operate for the full alphabet. Luckily I have a Windows Asus VivoBook with me which we purchased last summer in anticipation of bringing it with us on this trip. The issue I have is getting access to my photos, which are all on my Iphone or Ipad. I have Icloud set up on my laptop, but for some reason I cannot seem to access my photos from Icloud. When I get a better internet, perhaps I can figure this out. In the meantime, I will upload Day 2 Bali, Part 1 for your reading enjoyment!