yiyad123
Joined: 09 Jun 2011 Posts: 101
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Posted: 08.10.2011, 03:51 Post subject: San Fernando: A Clipse of Golf History in the Philippines |
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You may be an avid golfer who has travelled around in Southeast Asia and played in most of the known courses on the golf map. However, the chances are you would not have discovered this little course nestled on the coast facing the Luzon Sea, just about an hour or so drive west of Baguio City.Ping G15 irons To call it a non-descript would unfairly douse the enthusiasm of the many mostly local golfers who gather every late afternoon for the game;discount golf clubs nonetheless it could have been passed off as just one of the many courses in the Philippines, built during the time of the American administration and now awaiting either an upgrade, if fortune has it, or a slow death from neglect and then become completely overwhelmed when a new and modern course gets built in the vicinity, except that Wallace Golf Club, Ping G15 Driverthe only club in the city of San Fernando, Province of La Union, is unique!
Built in 1975 primarily for the US Airborne Division stationed here, it is the only course with sand-green in the entire Philippines! Not to raise undue expectations, the Wallace course is actually a simple Par 36 2,600-yard course with Hole#1 starting from the thatched-roof club house some 300 yards away from the sea and curving along the coast before turning at the lighthouse back towards the club house.Ping G20 Irons The Signature Hole – one takes the liberty to call it that - is Hole#4 Par 4 307-yard dog-leg right with a 265-yard straight hair-clipped by tall trees at the turn before the straight again to landing. Not exactly a piece of genius in the course design but even if you have the driving prowess you might still be well tested to make the green in two. Period.
Way back in Baguio City Sixto began his career in the golf course as a caddy. But he was no ordinary one unless you consider caddying for the infamously great President Marcos as an ordinary job on the course. When they first met, Marcos was only a Congressman. By the time he became President of the Philippines, Sixto was already firmly his personal caddy. As he noted, Marcos did not change a bit after becoming the President and that impressed him a lot. It was the great President who made sure that his golden words of ‘always look back to where you came from before embarking further in your life’ were firmly imprinted in the mind of the then young Sixto.Ping G20 Driver For that Sixto remained grateful. Perhaps the saga of the Marcos’ legacy could have become a little clearer and more easily resolved if everyone trusted the integrity of the great President as much as Sixto did: Marcos was a regular mean handicap 8, but his good card scores were never taken seriously by the media. _________________ yiyad zhang |
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