ARROUND JAKARTA GOLF COURSE

Jakarta Modern Golf Club

Living up to its name suggesting modernity, the Modern Golf Course is actually part of a huge sports complex incorporating not only a golf course but also courts for tennis, squash, badminton and table-tennis. It also has an Olympic-size swimming pool, a resort theme pool complete with an outdoor restaurant, a fully equipped fitness center, an aerobic studio, a sauna with whirlpool, a steam room and jacuzzi, function rooms for meeting and training session and even a ballroom for wedding, birthday and other social gatherings.

If night golf in this 18-hole Par-72 6,311-yard Peter Thompson-designed course won't youl long after the sun has long set, all the rests certainly will!

Bukit Pelangi Golf Club Golf Club of Jakarta - As the name suggests (Bukit Pelangi translates to Rainbow Hill), Bukit Pelangi is perhaps one of the most beautiful golf resorts in the Jakarta-Bogor area. Destined to take its place among the world's best, it certainly is one of the top courses in Indonesia. Designed by Michael Poellot, it takes full advantage of a picturesque setting and carefully adapts to the abundant natural resources of the site in making it a spectacular golf landscape. Each fairway is carefully crafted onto the site to create an exciting series of 18 holes, each distinctly different from the last. More than anything, it is a course where you have to manage well. Distance and power are not the most critical elements required here. Finesse and quality will be well rewarded, for this course encourages initiative and good placement shots. From the clubhouse, the view on the entire site is spectacular. From most of the fairways and greens, players will have a bird's eye view of the mountainous Bogor and Puncak region as well as the adjacent Gunung Geulis Golf Club's East Course; just do not hit your ball there, retrieval might just complicate things!

Club Golf Bogor Raya Klub Golf Bogor Raya is an 18-hole 6,195-meter Par-71 Graham Marsh-designed course located on the hillside 500 meters above sea level beside the climbing windy road to Bandung. It is less than an hour's drive from Jakarta and is therefore generally considered part of the golf scene of the capital city. It is relatively old and has mature trees lining much of the fairways. It is also characterised by the scenic hilly surrounding with the majestic hilltop as the backdrop. The course has been described as challenging in the long drives, having difficult approaches and hard to read greens. There are also quite a few sand bunkers around and they certainly do not help with easing course difficulty. And yet, many find it rewarding in the end for accepting the challenge. Certainly the four sets of tee help in some way to make a round of golf here an enjoyable outing for most.

Emeralda Golf Club - A mere 25 minutes' drive from downtown Jakarta if taking the Jagorawi Toll Road, the Emeralda is considered very easily accessible by any degree of traffic congestion of this sprawling capital city. Designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, this 27-hole course consists of three 9-hole courses with a combined distance of 9,775 meters.

The Arnold Palmer-designed River Course is generally considered the most golfer-friendly of the three 9s. With the river traversing much of the fairways, it provides more fun for players of all levels than for risk-seekers for low scores. The Lake Course which is also designed by Palmer appears more testing with numerous water hazards spotted amongst lush green vegetation and gently rolling hills. Perhaps the most unconventional among the three 9s and as well to most other golf courses around, the Plantation Course combines the natural terrain and vegetation found in this part of the world with remnants of tall coconut trees of the old plantation estate placing it apart from the usual mountain and lake surrounding of most other courses. To a certain extent, this characteristically Jack Nicklaus-designed course also raises the degree of difficulty somewhat in the form of hazards of a less familiar kind: coconut leaves waving at the tree tops. Despite, the numerous sets of tee will ensure playability for all levels.

Championships staged by Emeralda Golf Club include: The Indonesia Open - 2006, Johnnie Walker Super Tour - 1997 and The Volvo Masters Asia.

Gunung Geulis Country Club - Designed by Wolveridge & Thomson, Gunung Geulis Golf Club offers two fine 18-hole courses, namely the East and the West Courses. The West Course is the older of the two but both offer impressive views of the surrounding hills and jungle environment; 'Gunung Geulis' is after all in the local dialect for 'Beautiful Mountain'. In fact the East Course opens up a view of the nearby Bukit Pelangi Golf Club.

Technically both courses offer equal challenges but in their own ways. The East Course is shorter and is divided into the first nine of Valley Course and the second of the Hill Course. Buggies are compulsory here. The West Course starts with its Signature Hole#1 where the tee-shot takes a carry over and lands on a tight fairway some 200 yards down below where several sand traps await on one side and OB area on the other. Not much of a welcoming party you think, but it sure signals what's on hand for the rest of the holes.