Pattaya Sports Club Links Golf Society
Friday, June 19 Eastern Star Stableford
A golf course in very good condition with well grassed fairways and greens running truly, and enough pace to see the ball run away if you missed a downhill putt.
We played from the white tees, which are a little longer than we would play at most other courses, and we played preferred lies, although that was hardly necessary except for some wet areas around the greens.
The weather was overcast but never threatened rain and there were some nice breezes during the day. So, why such low scores?
It seems that it was just one of those days when every one of our eighteen golfers made hard work of it. Very hard work, judging by the scorecards.
Earlier in the week, we held up Tony Browne as an example of what time and practice can do for your game, after he had scored 39 points. On Friday, however, the wheels fell off and he finished with just 21 points, but that was a long way from the worst score.
The best score we could muster was 32 points, and that from Mike Firkin who won the day on countback over Bill Copeland’s 32 points.
The next three placings all came in with 31 points and, after needing to go to the last six to separate them in a countback, saw Billy Buchanan in third spot followed by Karl Flood on his home ground and then, after a mix up was sorted, George Mueller took fifth place.
The ‘silly hat’ was decided early on when it was discovered that I had left the ‘near pin’ markers tightly locked up in the clubhouse and, later on, had plenty of reminders of my error. With no near pins this had now changed the prizes to five placings.
Winners at Eastern Star
1st Place – Mike Firkin (24 – 32 pts c/back
2nd Place – Bill Copeland (10) – 32 pts
3rd Place – Billy Buchanan (12) – 31 pts c/back
4th Place – Karl Flood (14) – 31 pts c/back
5th Place – George Mueller (14) – 31 pts
Best Front Nine (non winners) – Connie Walsh – 16 pts
Best Back Nine (non winners) – Mike Jeffreys – 19 pts
This was the first opportunity for most of us to travel on the newly opened Highway 7 extension road and what a difference. Not only cutting a chunk of time from the journey, with no traffic lights to contend with, and the traffic was sparse, which made for a comfortable ride and stress free for the driver.
Eastern Star has never been regarded as a high scoring course, but the results next time here will very likely be much better than today.
Take nothing away from Mike Firkin though, a win is a win.
Back to Links Bar early where Joy’s ‘meal of the day’ was Chicken Massaman Curry and Rice for 120 baht.
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