PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s
Tuesday, Oct. 8, Bangpra – Stableford
Just been to England, flew into Manchester, and guess what? It was raining! However, after a day or so it cleared up and was quite good until last Thursday when it really started to throw it down, so the drive to Manchester was in pouring rain, worrying about reports of traffic accidents. No problem, onto the plane, wellies and raincoat off and back to ‘Sunny’ Thailand. Wow, plane landed and back on came the raingear. Felt just like home.
I feel like I should have webbed feet, and the start of the day at Bert’s just carried on with the rain and cold soaking in, with many players not playing but a fair few misguided ‘Golf Nuts’ turning up. So it was into the transport and off to Bangpra with the hope that the course was playable and it would not rain. Well, the ducks were out when we got there and at times I wished we had their webbed feet.
Takeshi Hakozaki with Sunny Khanna.
The course was wet, and as we walked up the first (no carts allowed on the fairways today) it was noticeable the clouds were out and the ground sodden. It was really hard work and I felt this is one of those days to be at work and not on the golf course. Something else out were the monkeys and the first few holes were covered in them, dozens, and I left my caddie by the cart to stop them invading it. They really did not go away all the round, the rain has seemingly brought then all out, and there are some big males amongst them, so be careful.
As said, at times the fairways were very wet indeed, and the walkers got very tired as we went around, those in carts also struggled, especially the right-handers who sliced. However the greens at least were playable and at times if you got above the hole it became as per usual here, very fast.
However a very tired lot of golfers finished and after changing went up to the restaurant. Then it rained, and I mean poured it down. The water off the roof came down in torrents and all the drivers decided to have a break until the rain stopped. But for a long time it did not stop, indeed when we went to the cars the drivers had to take an umbrella in the rain and drive the cars round to the entrance, which was still wet.
The drive back was not nice, but when we arrived in Pattaya we found it had not rained there. Oh joy, the rain was following us.
Time for the results and the winner with 34 points was Takeshi Hakozaki ahead of Sunny Khanna with 32. We then had a count back on 31 points that saw Walter Baechli in third and Brian Parish in fourth.
Near Pins went to Derek Brook, Landis Brooks (2) and Mikita Homma
Friday, Oct. 11, The Emerald – Stableford
It is difficult at the present time to set off to any golf venue and find a rain free day and a course that you do not have to spend time avoiding the soggy ground and in some cases the pools of water. As the golfers met at Bert’s the hope was that this day would turn out fine.
Guilan Liu and Barry Oates.
Soon away, the drive down to Emerald was not too bad and we were soon on the first tee. The sky looked promising but who knows these days. As we went around we found the course in quite reasonable condition with only a few fairways that showed signs of soggy areas. Some of the fairways were under repair but were well marked with ‘GUR’. All in all the course presented no major problems due to the rain of late.
The round finished without any rain and at this time that is very good for the golfers, but even so the course presented its normal test with raised narrow greens and fairways you have to be lucky on to get a level lie. Still this is a course most of the golfers feel at home on as they play it quite often.
Soon back at Bert’s and dry, it was time for the results. In the A Flight the winner was Guilan Liu with 38 points and visiting from somewhere hot and sandy. In second was Alan Sullivan with 36 points and in third was Tom Herrington with 35.
In the B Flight Barry Oates took the honours again with 41 points, ahead of Max Bracegirdle with 37 and in third was Walter Baechli with 36 points.
Near pins were claimed by Tom Herrington, Brian Parish, Barry Oates, Barry Elphick.
We thank Bert and Pu for as usual looking after the golfers so well. T.T.F.N.
