IPGC golf from The Haven
Monday, Dec. 24, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
CSS 73
Division 1 (0–18)
1st Alwyne Burley (18) 40pts
2nd Alan Pilkington (8) 36pts
3rd Phil Groves (7) 32pts
2nd Division (19+)
1st Shane Heavey (19) 31pts
2nd Dave Thompson (20) 31pts
3rd Mick Lowe (19) 29pts
Playing from the blue tees at Mountain Shadow is always a good test, and with the course having been designed for golfers with handicaps of 15 or less it is notoriously difficult to play to ones handicap, especially for those with more than a 15 handicap on the card.
Phil Groves.
This definitely proved to be the case on this occasion as only the winner came in with a return lower than expected with only one more player matching par. This ensured that the CSS for the day moved out to 73 and that Alwyne Burley, the winner of division one, would receive and extra shot reduction for the following week’s games.
His four under was achieved with two 20-pointers on each nine and left him with a four shot margin over second placed Alan Pilkington, who may well have thought he had done enough to win.
Phil Groves was none too pleased with his return for the day at four over but it left him in third place by a wide margin over the fourth placed man.
The second division really reflected the difficulty of the course, even though it was in first class condition from tee to green with true, if somewhat slow, greens that were as fair as could be.
Shane Heavey just edged into first place after winning the count back over Dave Thompson with a better 11 to 10 over the last six holes after they had tied the nine at 17 apiece. Mick Lowe was surprised but happy to find himself in third spot after a quiet outward half was followed by a disappointing second nine.
In the 2’s competitions Benny Hansen had the lone one in the second division whilst Rick Schramm and Shuichi Kodaka shared the second division pool.
Mike Hill.
Before the presentations were made the were welcome backs for Dave Thompson, Benny Hansen, Peter Hall, Mick Lowe, Bob Pratt and Jens Gunnarsson.
Wednesday, Dec. 26, Phoenix – Monthly Medal
Division 1 (0–15)
(Blue tees CSS 77 NC)
1st Wayne Challis (13) net 80
2nd Jens Gunnarsson (15) net 80
3rd Joe Niisato (12) net 81
Division 2 (16+)
(White tees CSS 72)
1st Mike Hill (24) net 70
2nd Alwyne Burly (18) net 72
3rd Paul Taylor (19) net 74
Once again at Phoenix for the monthly medals played as usual from the blue tees in the first division and the white tees in the second division, with both divisions playing under stroke-play conditions and rules as would be expected from a competition called a medal. This may sound rather strange to many, but there are some medals played in the area that would better be described as modified medal competitions, with maximum strokes allowed on a hole before a pick-up without holing out, which is not quite how the rules were written.
Shane Heavey.
The divisions as usual were split at 0 to 15 for the first and 16 and above for the second.
The first division struggled all day from tees that were as far back as possible from the front of every tee box, making the measured length of over 6,800 yards seem even longer and ensuring that the scores for the day spiraled well above the expected norm – all of which meant that the CSS for the day went out to 77 and the day became non-counting for upward review for the first division players.
The best of the day was returned by Wayne Challis, who could not believe he was in a count back for a medal with a score that would normally find its way into the nearest bin, but on the day it was enough to claim his first medal win after taking the count back with a 37.5, with Jens Gunnarsson scoring 38.5 for second place. Joe Niisato said it was the highest winning score he could remember having but one that enabled him to win third place.
The second division from the white tees was an altogether different affair as Mike Hill ran out the winner with a two under handicap return that underlined the difference of the courses from the two different tees. It was a very solid return that did not include any triples and proved to be enough by two to keep him a head of playing partners Paul Taylor in third and Alwyne Burley in second place after they had been drawn together as qualifiers in the Gold and Silver Medals.
Wayne Challis.
There were no 2’s in the second division but Jens Gunnarsson managed one in the first division to sweep the pot.
Prior to the presentations there were welcomes for new members James Sexton and Iichi Matsumoto.
Gold and Silver Medals
Division 1
Gold Medal
1st Phil Groves
Division 2
Gold Medal
1st Mike Hill
Silver Medal
1st Alwyne Burley
Friday, Dec. 28, Khao Kheow B&C (Yellow tees) – Stableford
CSS 72
1st Hal Hart (25) 40pts
2nd Phil Groves (7) 38pts
3rd Shuichi Kodaka (15) 37pts
4th Shane Heavey (19) 34pts
5th Mike Hill (24) 31pts
6th Al Rolnik (18) 31pts
Khao Kheow is back to its old self with the course in great shape and most of the GUR back in play and it is playing just as hard as it always was, so it was surprising to many and not least Phil Groves when he discovered at the prize giving that his 38 points was not good enough on the day as it would normally have been found at least a couple in front as the winning total. But on this day it was Hal Hart, who returned a four under card for the win and earned himself a two shot cut in handicap along the way.
Hal Hart.
Hal’s round started with six three-pointers in the first seven holes which set him on his way, much to the discontent of one or two of his playing partners who had thought they were in for a good payday based on his recent performances. He then ended the nine on the C course with twenty two points and came back with eighteen for his best round in Thailand and the well deserved win.
Phil Groves has won many competitions in the past and so was not too disappointed to be second with a good score over a tough test after a few recent disappointing rounds.
Shuichi Kodaka defied the local knowledge as he birdied the ninth on B course to just slip into third place one shot behind for another good result.
Shane Heavey, having struggled through the last few rounds with a back problem put them well behind him as he took fourth spot with a two over handicap score.
There were no 2’s in the first division but there were two in the second division when Al Rolnik and Pater Hall had one each playing in the same group on the island green 8th on the B course after they had both hit six irons on to the green as it was playing a lot longer than the 128 yards shown on the card.
Back at The Haven there was a welcome for new member Jimmy Kent and welcome backs for Keith Emerson, Mike Dabanovich, Bubbles Davies and Dave Howden.
Note. If you would like to play with The Haven group, you can contact mobile 082 219 0965 or call in to The Haven Hotel, at 185 Soi 13, between Beach Road and 2nd Road. All transportation to the course is arranged and you do not need to sign up prior to the day, but you should be there by 8.15 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the days that you wish to play. A schedule of courses to be played can be found on our web site at www.thehaven-hotel.com.
