PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Tuesday, July 30
As we were unable to negotiate a decent green fee rate at Green Valley for a Monday round it was decided to change the golf day to Tuesday this week to take advantage of the Sports Day rate. This resulted in a reduced field and 14 of us met at The Growling Swan to prepare for the trip to the course.
It was a 10.40 am tee off so our scheduled departures was 9.00 am instead of 8.30 am and we got away from the GS 10 minutes earlier than scheduled on a fine but rather gloomy Tuesday morning. Upon almost completing the 45 minute journey to the golf course the heavens opened and as we arrived the rain was torrential but we had faith! It bucketed it down for about 30 minutes and then abated to a drizzle so it was decided that we would proceed, despite the fact that word had it that most of the greens had been recently sanded.
Nolan Wise, Shane Young & Paul Hack.
For the first time ever while playing golf in this country (24 years now for me) the drizzling rain continued throughout the whole round of golf and actually ceased as we walked off the 18th green. It had been wet and at times a bit uncomfortable but the company was great and it was a very enjoyable round which took just a bit under four and a half hours.
With the smaller than normal field we had just the one Grade with five placings and also nearest the pin rewards on the four par threes.
The winner on the day was Irishman Geri Crilly with a fine 38 points, with Martin “Toddy” Todd breathing down his neck to finish second on 38 points. Alain “Inspector Clouseau” Taddei finished third with 35 points and with 2 golfers on 33 points the count back saw Mike “Hunter” Gosden (18 point back nine) finish in fourth place from Peer Bruun (16 point back nine) in fifth spot.
1st Geri Crilly (26) 39pts
2nd Martin Todd (8) 38pts
3rd Alain Taddei (16) 35pts
4th Mike Gosden (12) 33pts
5th Peer Bruun (12) 33pts
Near Pins: 4th – Mike Gosden, 9th – Ken Hole, 12th – Ken Hole, 16th – Paul Hack
The Growling Swan NAGA Award for the worst score of the day was won by Max “Corsets” Bracegirdle and he accepted and wore the award with pride for a short time back at the bar.
Thursday, August 1, The Emerald – Stableford
The Emerald Golf Course was the venue for the day and there were 25 golfers signed up to tackle this challenging layout.
With most of us assembling at The Growling Swan we welcomed back Paul “Muncha” Moloney from his work in Liberia, West Africa and also newcomers Kurt Eric Persson and Seesa Phompinmon from Pattaya. It was sadly time to say farewell to our good friend Bent Agerbo who was returning to Denmark on the weekend after his bi-annual holiday in Pattaya.
Geri Crilly & Max Bracegirdle.
We departed the GS 5 minutes early at 8.25 am and proceeded south, encountering just a light shower which cleared up during the 48 minute journey. Upon arrival we found the golf course very quiet and were able to tee off at our leisure so our first four-ball got away 15 minutes ahead of schedule at 9.45 am.
Having heard a few adverse reports regarding the state of the golf course recently we were pleasantly surprised to find that all was good and the several patches of GUR on some fairways did not pose any real problems. There was sand on some of the greens but once again all was good and putting was not a worry to most.
The weather was great and not too hot although it did become a little humid later in the round but our pace was quite good with no-one ahead of us and the round was completed in the reasonable time of four hours & fifteen minutes.
We had 2 Grades – A Grade for handicaps 0 to 24 and B Grade for handicaps 25 & over. There were also rewards for nearest the pins on the four par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
Paul “Hacky” Hack had a day out on this difficult golf course and scored 41 points to easily win the A Grade, 4 points ahead of your writer Peter “Blacky” Blackburn in second place and Sal Brizzi 1 point further back in third spot. It was a four-way count back for fourth spot with 35 points being a popular score and it was Bent Agerbo (20 point back nine, 13 points on the last 6 holes, 6 points on the last 3 holes and 3 points on the 18th hole) finishing ahead of Mike “Hunter” Gosden (20 point back nine, 13 points on the last 6 holes, 6 points on the last 3 holes and 1 point on the 18th hole). The other 2 who missed out were Ken Hole (18 point back nine) and Kevin “Wayco” Waycott (16 point back nine).
In the B Grade it was Shane “Jockey” Young who stole the show and finished first with 37 points from Andrew “Turtle” Allen on 36 points and Paul “Muncha” Moloney finished third on 35 points. With 2 golfers on 32 points a count back was needed and it was Mark Stapleton (16 point back nine) who grabbed fourth spot from Seesa Phompinmon (12 point back nine).
A Flight (0-24)
1st Paul Hack (11) 41pts
2nd Peter Blackburn (11) 37pts
3rd Sal Brizzi (7) 36pts
4th Bent Agerbo (20) 35pts
B Flight (25+)
1st Shane Young (31) 37pts
2nd Andrew Allen (36) 36pts
3rd Paul Moloney (32) 35pts
4th Mark Stapleton (25) 32pts
Near Pins: 5th – Kevin Waycott, 7th – Sal Brizzi, 13th – Ken Hole, 15th – Mike Gosden
Long Putts: 9th – Andrew Allen, 18th – Kurt Eric Persson
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was well won by good sport Nolan Wise and he accepted & wore the award with pride for a long time back at the bar. Toddy then read out the fines, of which there were many and then was kind enough to parade Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan (formerly The Bunker Bar) in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn @gmail.com.
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 084 345 4005.
