Hole In One

Out of the blue sky flies the Bangladesh Air Force consisting of three military fighter jets. My playing partners and I were at the end of the runway on the Army Golf Course, a 9-holer of 2,945 yards we were surprised to find on our trip to Bangladesh where my nephew was finishing a missionary teaching assignment. His Dad and brother and I decided to meet him and travel in Southeast Asia for 3 weeks afterward.

The day before we played we saw the course while riding in crazy traffic in a CNG (a small caged scooter type vehicle with 5 of us inside) in Dhaka, the capital city of some 16,000,000 inhabitants. We called the course from our hotel and set up a tee time for. We were excited to be playing golf in this foreign land. We learned the course was on the Army Base, so when we tried to enter we were informed we needed a pass, and we were not going to get one for our golf game. It turned out there were actually two courses and the one we planned on playing was off-limits to us. However, the other course we could and did play.

The notable aspect of this course was caddy-required play and we quickly had an entourage accompany us to the driving range. I am left-handed and needed rental clubs but, at first, there were none. I was approached by the club pro who informed me he had left-handed clubs available for $22 and I quickly accepted his offer. Off to the first tee we all went - it was a processional consisting of our playing foursome and 8 more young men - one caddy per player and one ball spotter per player.

Very few people were playing - I counted another 4 players in all as we played the 9 twice. The course was generally in good condition and reminded me of a course you would see in the San Joaquin Valley of central California. It was generally flattish with push-up greens with a bunker protecting the green front left and right. Greens were somewhat slowish and were grainy with gentle sloping and slight mounding.

We bought golf balls and tees and away we went. Nothing new about these balls - they were worn from around the course with at least 4 water hazards, it's easy to see where they came from. The caddies didn't speak much English - mine was Surnam, a 14 year old with little schooling, as is the case with most children in Bangladesh. Only 1 in 8 are provided a public education; the rest are schooled privately (rare for a local) or are illiterate. They earn very little and live poorly on a meager subsistence of less than $1,000 a year. Despite this economy, we found everyone friendly and upbeat and optimistic of their plight.

After a non-descript front nine of 45, we drank some juice and readied for the back nine. My marginal play continued where on the 12th hole, a par 5 with two water hazards to clear resulted in my taking a shank induced 8, I plodded onto the next hole, #13, a short par 3 of 147 yards. On my tee shot, I decided on a 6 iron and hit it well into the sunlight. The shot was straight and true with a slight fade. We saw the ball land in front of the green and run toward the hole when, to my surprise, the spotters began yelling and guess what? - I made a hole-in-one! It was my second, the first in 1976 in Stockton, CA and now, one in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I doubt I'll ever return to the site but we took pictures and I kept the ball, a Staff Special #5 with someone's black magic marker emblazoned with "FA" in a most grungy state. It will take its prominent spot with my collection of logo golf balls I buy when I visit a new course (here they had none).

The experience was surreal: we didn't even suspect there was a golf course in Bangladesh, playing with 8 caddies/spotters, most spoke no English, resembled a wayward caravansary and finally, our equipment was a hodgepodge of leftovers from another era. I will hark back to this experience when I hear others complain about playing a cheap ball or having to play with a torn glove or when the greens are bumpy. A picture is worth a thousand words and my shot will always stay with me. See for yourself!