PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s
Tuesday, July 13, Phoenix – Stableford
This course is in many respects the closest to Pattaya for the general golfer and thus is usually fairly heavily used. The drive there is very straight forward and one can get there in quick time. The layout consists of three nine holes and on this day we were to play the Mountain and Lake nines.
Traffic was fairly quiet on the drive down there and with the book-in being quick we were on the practice tee well in advance of our time. It did however give us time to practice our putting, something we do not normally have the chance to do.
Dick Warberg.
Onto the start on the Mountain, we found the ground soft but not soft enough for any special rules to be brought in. So off we went pretty much on time as one would expect here. This is a course where there are so many warnings about that one can be bemused, and amused, by many of them. On this day the warnings were not needed, we were all good boys, probably because it rained most of the time and we needed to keep going.
It started to rain half way through the first nine, but we battled on and got wet. It reminded one of a rainy day on a course in UK. It just rained, not heavy but consistent, so we plowed on. It made the day difficult as the fairways were a bit soggy and the balls started to pick up mud, the rough got difficult and hard to get out of, and the greens became unpredictable. A difficult day indeed!
Once showered, I went down to the restaurant to find as expected that very few of our players were there, as they usually all are at other courses. The few who were there commentated on the fact that they enjoyed the food and the prices were now reasonable. It takes a long time to lose a dodgy reputation.
Back at Bert’s it was soon time for the results and I thank Gez Tracy for sponsoring the ‘Near Pins’. Also to Bert for ‘The Golfers Special’, of which Dick Warberg had two! The winner with 35 points was the aforementioned Dick Warberg ahead of Steve Hamstad in second on count back. In third was Mashi Kaneta with 34 points ahead of the scribe Derek Brook in fourth on count back. In fifth was Daryl Evans with 32 points. T.T.F.N.
Near Pins: Gary Lemon, Mick O’Brien, John Hackett
Steve Hamstad.