Confusing Elevation changes and green breaks?

[markTHEblake]

I recently played a golf course in Indonesia, Gunung Guelis which is a mountain course by Thomson Perrot, and some of the elevation changes were crazy. However what this does is severely affects you eyes in perceiving the elevations around you.

Uphill approach shots/putts appear to be downhill, greens breaking left appear to break right and so on. I have checked Google Earth, and I am not sure how accurate it is with the elevation, but it confirmed my experience. One Par 3 was 8m uphill but it looked like a downhill shot to me. If we did not have caddy's to advise, you would probably be a basket case by end of the round.

I have mostly being a home track golfer all my life, but this highlights what happens when I play some other courses sometimes, when overshoot or come up short and cannot understand why.

So how does one learn to judge the elevation changes accurately (without cheating with a rangefinder with slope) because obviously our eyes are not reliable enough?

[Webster]

Had you been drinking?

[Haystacks]

Had you been drinking?

Dehydrated from a bad dose of the squirts!

[Webster]

Could be. Although he wouldn't be the first person to be fooled by the slopes in Indonesia

[Haystacks]

Could be. Although he wouldn't be the first person to be fooled by the slopes in Indonesia

:wink:

[LarryLong]

Reminds me of Flowergirl's home track at Rosebud Park. Every green breaks towards the ocean, but every second time you line up a put you swear it is sloping the other way.

[backintheswing]

In 2009, I played the World Amateur Team event in Malaysia. The 2 courses we played over 4 days were Bukit Jawi and Bukit Jambal. Both of these courses were extremely hilly and there is no way you could read the breaks unless you had a good caddy. At Jambal, I had a guy caddy for me who used to caddy for Andrew Tampion on the Asian tour. His knowledge of the greens and how far I hit each iron was amazing. He watched me warm up and then clubbed me and read every putt for 2 days. Was great stuff. I shot 73 one day around Jambal and that course has hosted the Malaysian Open when VJ won it.

At Jawi we had Indonesian girls caddy for us, and all they could do was clean your clubs.

I later learned that Bukit means mountain.

[Choppa1]

I've played Gunung Geulis (Rainbow Hills) a number of times as I lived in Jakarta for 2 years, and it is renowned for the deceptive elevations/reads. You definitely need a caddie, and there will be lengthy discussions that go "it's uphill, no it's downhill, look at that it's uphill, no boss it's downhill ....."

Great course, as are most of the 40+ within an hour of Jakarta.

Aaah .. memories, and thoughts of next holiday trip there later this year!!

[Courty]

Sounds to me like you've got vertigo, Blakey.