new plays
Balinese Beauty: New Kuta's stunning clifftop locale is sure to be a hit with travelling golfers
After a decade of idleness, New Kuta Golf Club is burgeoning along Bali’s most breathtaking balcony. Scott Resch reports. Photography by Tom Breazeale
New Dawn at New Kuta 60
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
WWW.HKGA.COM
WWW.HKGA.COM
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
61
“The last hole is what I call sneaky tough. I’ve watched guys absolutely cake it coming in.”
I
t ’s hard to believe that when you turn off Uluwatu Highway and pass through the gate at New Kuta Golf Club there’s a religious experience at the end of the road — and it’s got nothing to do with Shiva, the Ramayana or a beach break par excellence. The three-kilometer-long drive that leads steeply downhill to a clifftop overlooking Balangan Beach in surf-blessed, spiritually rich Bali is a curious fiveminute journey. When I visited in January, the aged concrete path was potholed and pebbly. Cows were grazing in palm-tree framed pastures that flanked either side. Nowhere along the first kilometer or two was there sign of what lied ahead — further down the drive and in New Kuta’s future. For those who have followed the development of this project on the Island of the Gods, the scene probably wouldn’t come as a surprise. Construction on its centrepiece — an 18-hole Golfplan-designed course — began in 1994 but idled for years after 1998, when the country’s president was ousted from power. Eight years passed before a finger was laid on it again. But when work did resume, it was both serious and skillful. The results prove it. What sits on that balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean now is nothing short of dazzling — one imaginative hole after another, each a chapter in a story that’s been waiting to be told for almost 15 years.
“There’s no question this course has been a long time coming,” admits Stephen Banks, who moved from Vietnam to Bali in November to assume the role of general manager at New Kuta Golf Club. “But it was worth the wait. The seventh is a good example of what makes it remarkable: From a forward tee, the hole is a difficult but manageable par-4 that just happens to be drop-dead gorgeous. From the tips, it’s a par-4 that will test the best players on earth.” At the end of February, it did just that. That’s when 144 players from the European and Asian tours convened at New Kuta Golf Club for the co-sanctioned Indonesian Open. By press time, the tournament was a few days from commencement. But that didn’t prevent Banks, a British PGA Professional, from predicting how events might shake down. “I think they’ll enjoy New Kuta immensely, but not because they’ll eat the course for breakfast,” he said. “If the winner posts anything better than a 12-under for 72 holes, I’ll be shocked.” (Banks was prophetic in his judgement: Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee prevailed with a 12-under total of 276 to win the title by two shots). One reason, perhaps: the prevailing winds, which in the afternoon come screaming off Jimbaran Bay and wreak havoc on ball flight. Nowhere is the effect felt more than down the stretch. From number 14, a par-4 that plays
directly into the fan, 438 yards to cliff’s edge, New Kuta becomes a bear. It’s followed by a relatively short par-3 (153 yards), which is made daunting by a cross-breeze that bats any weakly struck tee shot into the huge, deep trap guarding the front right side of the green. Manage to sidestep carnage there, and there’s still plenty of work to do. Number 16 is a long par-5 with OB left — which is exactly the direction the wind wants to push shots from its elevated tee box — and the potential for a blind approach, should the second shot not find the right half of the fairway. The home hole is a double dogleg par-5 with bunkers positioned to gobble up even good drives and a couple of tall Cook pines standing as obstacle to any third shot that is longer than 100 yards. “The last (hole) is what I call sneaky tough,” said Banks. “Just because it runs away from the coast, and is therefore shielded more from the wind, doesn’t mean it can’t ruin a round. From the clubhouse terrace, I’ve watched guys absolutely cake it coming in.” None of the above is to say the front nine is forgettable. In fact, taken on its own, it rivals a collection of the best inland holes at Kapalua’s Bay Course in Hawaii. Because in addition to the previously mentioned seventh, there’s the par-3 sixth, a 191-yard beast with essentially an island green — it’s literally surrounded by a sea of sand.
Even the straightforward par-4 third is memorable. Looking off the back of the tee box, the lush vastness of the 650-hectare property is revealed, back-dropped to the west by sparkling blue waters surfers have been drawn to for decades. “New Kuta’s tableau has a real appeal,” said Golfplan partner David Dale, who along with teammates Ronald Fream and Kevin Ramsey made several site visits leading up to the course’s grand opening last summer. “There are holes that run right along the sea, but the holes that sit higher on the property have water views that are longer and, in their own way, are more breathtaking. We are very happy with the final product.”
Links-like: Native grasses and a constant breeze makes this a definite seaside challenge
THE KUTA TO COME New Kuta isn’t remindful of Kapalua just because some of their holes feel similar. The pieces of real estate they occupy have something to do with it, too. The club sits on 650 hectares of prime, bucolic property, 30 minutes south of the airport in Denpasar. That’s only a fraction of the size of the equally-pastoral Kapalua development (9,300 hectares). But soon their amenities will rival one another, as well. In fact, the latest New Kuta project is already making noise. Literally. In February, New Kuta developer P.T. Bali Pecatu Graha (BPG) christened the beachfront-hugging Klapa, a 6,000-squaremeter nightclub that instantly became Indonesia’s largest. And by June, the first of five hotels will also be taking guests. Called Le Grande Pecatu, the 60-room boutique lodge is tucked inoffensively off the ninth fairway with views of the course, the ocean and a hillside draped in coconut palms. The rest of the hotels are in some stage of construction — and possess names of notoriety: Best Western, Kempinski and Raffles, which will oversee a suite of luxury villas on the cliffs beside Klapa. The 4,000-square-metre clubhouse opened in January and fast became a post-round hangout thanks to Chef Gusep Gumanti’s fresh interpretation of a Balinese favorite: Lemongrass swordfish.—Scott Resch
62
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
WWW.HKGA.COM
WWW.HKGA.COM
HK GOLFER・APR/MAY 2009
63