Francis Chan, CGCS, oversees Kinrara Golf Club in Malaysia. Photos by Kylie Yup
His goals don’t sound any different than the golf course superintendent down the street at Anytown USA. The only difference is Francis Chan, CGCS, isn’t exactly near almost any of you.
Even while he is in a continent far, far away from America, his industry goals certainly sound like something a superintendent in the U.S., United Kingdom, Australia or anywhere else would concur with.
“I worked with different clubs, owners and budget, yet all with a common goal: produce a consistent golf course, especially greens, throughout 365 days, regardless of whether it’s rain or shine,” says Chan, a 14-year GCSAA member who is director of golf course operations at Malaysia’s Kinrara Golf Club, a public facility in the Asian country. He also is a golf course operations director for Greencare Services.
Chan’s original path to this industry wasn’t exactly a straight shot. Or smooth. Far from it. That didn’t stop him, though.
The beginning of a journey
Chan is a native of Kuching, Sarawak — the largest city on the island of Borneo, which features a tropical rainforest climate. It also is the site of golf courses, including a place where GCSAA’s first Old Tom Morris Award recipient made quite an impact.
Chan with Nur Syakirah, an intern from a local university, helping the maintenance team.
Damai Golf and Country Club, a resort course in Sarawak, opened 30 years ago in 1996. It is the first Arnold Palmer-designed course in Malaysia, under the name of the golf icon and 1983 Old Tom Morris Award winner. Overall, Malaysia has more than 200 golf courses in a country with roughly 35 million inhabitants.
Life as a youth in Malaysia was “routine and peaceful,” according to Chan. As he matured, Chan didn’t have a life in golf on his radar. Asked if he learned about working on a golf course in high school or college, Chan says, “No, my tertiary education is unrelated to golf course maintenance.”
After graduation, Chan joined Kemira, a Finland-based global company focused on sustainable chemical solutions for water-intensive industries. Once he departed from Kemira, Chan’s journey led to a well-known golf industry company. “I worked with Nufarm as a sales and technical executive in the turf care division before I joined golf course maintenance,” Chan says.
His time with Nufarm aided him in becoming familiar with the golf side of things. “Both of my first employers provided me a good foundation in fertility and agronomical knowledges,” Chan says.
Once Chan finally entered the golf course side of work, his entry soon created conflicted feelings. “I started at the right time but the wrong place,” he says.
Slow start but a happy ending
Chan had no plan to become a golf course superintendent — not until one of his Nufarm clients sought his presence at its golf course. In 2010, Octville Golf & Country Club Resort in Johor, Malaysia, targeted him. Immediately. The course wanted him in right-now fashion, naming Chan a first-time superintendent to guide its resurgence. If he only knew. “I think I started at the right time (to become a superintendent), but at the wrong place,” Chan says. “The maintenance service provider decided to quit the operation, and the owner of the resort rang me for assistance. He offered me to manage the place.”
Thinking he was prepared to oversee Octville, it didn’t take long for Chan to realize the task was daunting. “I believed that being equipped with all the technical knowledge, I could manage and turn around the course in no time. But truth can be cruel,” Chan says, “and I underestimated the damages that had been done by the previous operators of the course, and I overestimated the leniency from management toward me. Conditions were going south, everything seemed to be not working, members complained, and management was putting pressure on me.”
The club hired a consultant. Chan was given 30 days to turn things around. He was disillusioned. “I was totally devastated,” he says.
If anything, Chan proved to be a fighter. He sought assistance from a former client and golf course superintendent from Singapore, Lim Hua Kiat, who lent practical and technical support. “His ‘we practice action over words’ with radical accountability helped me. He shared with me what reality is and his know-how,” says Chan, “and we managed to turn the course around in a month at Octville. The course was in dire straits and I challenged my critics. The rest is history.”
Tariq Aziz (seated) is one of Chan’s team members at Kinrara Golf Club, a public facility.
A comeback, part two
Upon his arrival at Kinrara GC, Chan faced another fixer-upper.
In 2025, a Golf Digest story called Malaysia “a golfing paradise,” with excellent and challenging courses. It’s a country in which golf major champion and 2018 Old Tom Morris Award recipient Ernie Els has multiple Els Designs properties. Kinrara GC isn’t one of Els’ designs, but it needed plenty of work upon Chan’s arrival. “The golf course was neglected in late 2024 and shut down for three months before my management took over,” Chan says. “Armed with 20 skilled crew, we managed to resurrect the course before reopening for play in September 2025. Seeing the golfers back with smiles and showering gratitude toward our workmanship is kind of a special moment for me and my team.”
Kinrara GC is 18 holes in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia. Greens are Tifdwarf bermudagrass with native fairways (Axonopus compressus). In the southeastern sections of the U.S., it’s known as Southern carpetgrass. It’s also known as tropical carpetgrass.
Because of the tropical climate in Malaysia, golf is played throughout the year. Malaysia couldn’t escape the COVID-19 pandemic, and there — as was the case elsewhere — golf served as a needed break from being stuck indoors. “Golf was given a lifeline and got popular with youngsters, thanks to great publicity by many Asian golf leaders, including the PGA and LPGA,” says Chan, who, along with his wife, Maysun, have daughters Kylie, Zene and Joey. Chan and his family have been to the U.S. numerous times — most recently in 2024, when they visited Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon.
Irfan Ullah performing part of his daily tasks at Kinrara Golf Club.
Still, golf does have a rival in Malaysia. “I guess the country’s No. 1 sport would be badminton,” he says. “I play badminton occasionally, but it’s not my favorite sport. I do golf and very much enjoy a round with my daughters. And they definitely play better than me as I await my first hole-in-one.”
One thing is certain: Chan aced the CGCS thing. GCSAA’s database noted that as of last month, Chan was one of 882 active CGCS members in GCSAA — and one of 18 active CGCS members outside of the U.S. Wherever he was on the job, no matter the challenge, big or small, Chan was determined to prevail. He says, “I devoted myself to golf.”
Howard Richman (hrichman@gcsaa.org) is GCM’s associate editor.