PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Oct. 28, Eastern Star – Stableford
As previously reported, the Growling Swan President and Chief Organizer (Peter Blackburn) is away in Oz and although in touch daily, he has to rely on the temporary misfits he left in charge and the golfing gods to ensure everyone gets in their round happily and without incident. Well the gods must have been asleep at times on Monday.
Although the mini buses were on time and surprisingly all players checked in at the Growling Swan and were ready to leave ten minutes early, one of our group was missing and a check of the toilets and behind the bar did not reveal him.
Bill Steinman, Niall Stuart, Shane Young & Alain Taddei.
As departure time approached and then passed, we dispatched one of our players with a motor bike to check out the Subway outlet on Soi Bukhow, as someone said he may be there. Negative to that but he was spotted finishing his breakfast at an eatery nearby. Suddenly realizing he was being sought, he quickly paid his bill and jumped on the motor bike for a free ride back to a roaring welcome….of abuse!
The drive to Eastern Star was uneventful thereafter and tee-off time was mostly without incident. The course Marshall advised that carts could go on “some fairways only” so the temporary misfit organizers decided to play off the yellow markers which reduced the yardage from 6,700 to 6,100 (if one can hit the ball straight), and the ‘lift, clean and place’ rule was introduced for the fairways and the first cut only. For those interested, the ladies tee distance was 5,560 yards.
This decision proved sensible to most of us as with very little run on the fairways only three players managed to play to their handicaps or better. There was one player who commented that only golfers with skirts play off the yellow markers but his score was not worth recording on the day … surprisingly yellow is one of his many favorite colours….say no more!
The last two groups were played as fives in an effort to have everyone back in the clubhouse as early as possible. Unfortunately the course Marshall, having watched and let the second last group tee off, came racing up the fairway in his buggy yelling at us “you must have five carts!” (one in our group was walking). With four of the group already on the green and the fifth player about to chip, we explained that it would have been convenient if he had explained this before we teed off!
Ed Wyckoff, Duangjai Tusagad & Geoff Bracegirdle.
After some bantering and the Marshall saying it was common golf law in Thailand that a group of five must all have a cart (news to me but money to be made here so makes sense) he hauled off our walker’s caddy and trolley and left the bag lying on the ground! Rather than cause an international incident we reorganized ourselves to appease the Marshall….and the golfing gods.
True to the course Marshall’s word, the course was quite soggy in many areas with a lot of players losing balls in the soft ground. Many of the greens had been sanded about a week earlier and were inconsistent and mowing of the course had been affected by the wet conditions, however the weather was mostly sunny with a light breeze and as many people have said before, “the worst days golf beats working any day”.
With everyone back in the club house, showered and sipping nice cool drinks, John Pierrel, being our club house organizer on the day, welcomed back Kevin Waycott and said goodbye to Geoff Bracegirdle who was leaving for Australia. John then made presentations.
Roving local golfer Ed Wyckoff was the best Division A player, taking out first spot with a fine 38 points. He was followed in by Alaine Taddei and Kevin Waycott in that order.
Division B was won by departing golfer Geoff Bracegirdle, also with a sterling 38 points, while second spot went to a jubilant Roy Dayton, and another happy Bracegirdle (Max) took third spot with 31 points.
Division A
1st Ed Wyckoff (12) 38pts
2nd Alaine Taddie (16) 36pts
3rd Kevin Waycott (8) 35pts
Division B
1st Geoff Bracegirdle (20) 38pts
2nd Roy Dayton (26) 32pts
3rd Max Bracegirdle (23) 31pts
Near Pins: 3rd – Stu Rifkin, 6th – Roy Dayton, 13th – Rita Zoebelli, 17th – Kevin Waycott
Long Putts: 9th – Max Bracegirdle, 18th – Rita Zoebelli
Duangjai (Kae) Tusagad received the loudest ovation of the day and her partner Roy Dayton was over the moon when Kae was mentioned as the recipient of the Naga Award for worst score of the day. Kae is one of our lovely regular lady golfers and she accepted the award with the grace and humility that has endeared her to all at the Growling Swan.
Deefa was again paraded around to collect donations from all golfers who desired to give a few baht to charity and many generous donations were received. Thank you to all.
Thursday, Oct. 31, Burapha A & B – Stroke
The last Thursday of every month sees the Growling Swan players slog it out on the course and every whack, slash, prod and poke is recorded and the lowest net score wins The Monthly Mug. This is the only time of the month that the presentations are made back at the Growling Swan Bar and after the winner has been presented with their award, he/she has the privilege of having the Mug topped up by any of their fellow golfers for the rest of the evening. Hence it is a fiercely sought after prize!
Today was no exception with many players giving their all and more than a handful being in the running to win, however with one golfer playing a tad better, these others had to be content with a mere podium allocation.
This scribe was unable to play today, so this report relies on the score sheet provided and the innuendo he grasped at the presentations in the evening back at the Growling Swan bar.
After listening to all the usual hard luck stories, Peter Grey (temporary organizer) took the floor and began his presentations. He firstly welcomed Steve Durey and Bernie Ruschmeyer from Oz I think (because I was sitting near them and they sounded Australian), and Toshi Abe from Japan and some other players who have been absent for a while.
Peter then remarked that the course was in its normally well presented condition but lamented on the grass being too long where it shouldn’t be (I think perhaps “his ball” was where it shouldn’t have been but his comment did bring about some applause, which confirms that others had the same thoughts/troubles).
Praise was made to fellow temporary organizer John Pierrel for helping throughout the day with fee collections, card checking and scoring before moving on to the prize winners.
Alain (Inspector) Taddei was the player everyone was envious of, having shot a fine net 69 off his 16 handicap, and thus was the honored winner of the Mug this month.
Division A was won by Bill Steinmann with net 71, one ahead of visitor Bernie Ruschmeyer in second, and third was Tom McMahon on a count back from John Pierrel.
The colorful Mr. Walter Baechli (who was obviously happy to be playing off the white tees today) was the winner of Division B with a net 72 on count back over Steve Durry and third was Ed Stewart, who won on a count back from JC Lhoste, both on 73.
Division C was taken out by Shane (Jockey) Young with a net 71, with Roy Dayton second two back and Gary Monley again in the prize list with net 74 for in third.
Monthly Mug
1st Alain Taddei (16) net 69
Division A (0–16)
1st Bill Steinmann (8) net 71
2nd Bernie Ruschmeyer (12) net 72
3rd Tom McMahon (16) net 73
Division B (17–24)
1st Walter Baechli (18) net 72
2nd Steve Durey (19) net 72
3rd Ed Stewart (19) net 73
Division C (25–36)
1st Shane Young (30) net 71
2nd Roy Dayton (26) net 73
3rd Gary Monley (36) net 74
Near Pins: A3 – Lindsay Slender, A6 – Alain Taddei, B3 – Alain Taddei, B8 – Bernie Ruschmeyer
Long Putts: A9 – Bill Steinmann, B9 – Toshi Abe
Niall Stewart again won the NAGA Award and thus gave many other wayward golfers today a huge sigh of relief. Deefa was the recipient of plenty of generous donations and the children of Pattaya thank you all.
Note: The Growling Swan Golf outlet 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 most times at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter Blackburn on 0806 351 386 or email to [email protected].
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls played at The Retreat and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls at the undercover Coco’s. 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 0843 454 005.
