Pattaya Sports Club Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, October 25th
Crystal Bay C & A, White tees
1st Niall Glover (15) 38 points
2nd Michael Brett (13) 36 points
3rd Jimmy Carr (18) 35 points
Near pins Geoff Cox, Michael Brett, & Bob Innes X 2.
Despite the amount of rain recently the Crystal Bay course was in good condition, with only a few areas sodden. Luckily the rough had been cut yesterday, otherwise it would have been unplayable. As it was there were heavy swaths of grass clippings in just about all of the rough which fortunately didn’t pose too much of a problem, other than trying to find a ball lodged underneath. There was a marked difference in the speed of the second nine greens over the first nine which took a little getting used to, and caught out a few players.
Yet another solid round from Niall Glover with thirty-eight points. He has all but wrapped up golfer of the month by now. After a couple of weeks in the doldrums, Michael Brett made something of a recovery Monday with thirty-six points in second place, a round that contained seven pars on the front nine before fading on the back. Jimmy Carr took third with thirty-five points. All the near pins were taken with one each going to Geoff Cox and Michael Brett with Bob Innes taking two.
Wednesday, October 27th
St Andrews White tees
1st Geoff Parker (20) 37 points
2nd Geoff Atwell (22) 34 points
3rd Michael Brett (13) 33 points
Near pins Jimmy Carr, Michael Brett, and Niall Glover X 2.
A nice sunny day for what could be our last game at St Andrew’s for some time with a rumour that fees are about to rise, although we have a tentative booking for next month at current rates. There seems to be an expectation amongst golf courses that with Thailand opening to tourism next month there will be hordes of visitors flocking to golf courses so an opportune time to raise prices.
They may find that their expectations are not met and they will in fact drive away the few golfers playing at the currently reduced rates. One never knows but perhaps common sense will prevail. One feels that travel impediments by way of excessive regulation may prove too much for many, and only those desperate to escape another northern winter will come.
St Andrews was in excellent condition Wednesday and well worth the eleven hundred and fifty all-in fees. Dry enough to allow carts on the fairways although caddies for the most part stayed on the cart paths. There are still some areas of rough remaining which would benefit from a good trim, otherwise, the course was faultless.
Geoff Parker is currently enjoying some good form as well as his generous twenty handicap and took first place Wednesday with thirty-seven points. Another high handicapper, Geoff Atwell, took second place with thirty-four whilst Michael Brett rounded out the scoring with thirty-three in third place. All the near pins were taken again with Niall Glover taking two, Jimmy Carr and Michael Brett got one each.
Friday, October 29th
Pattana C & B Yellow tees
1st Les Cobban (8) 37 points
2nd Geoff Cox (17) 35 points
3rd Michael Brett (13) 35 points
4th Steve Durey (21) 35 points
Near pins Geoff Cox, Bob Innes, & Les Cobban.
The Pattana course was in excellent condition for Friday’s round where we played the C & A nines. After so much recent rain it was amazing how well the course held up, even the greens which were a bit substandard on our last visit were very good today.
The day was bright and sunny but a stiff breeze kept conditions mild. However, playing into the wind on the long par fours was challenging for most. The course was quite busy with two other societies out at the same time as us, nevertheless there were no holdups and speed of play was good.
Friday’s winner Les Cobban made his intentions clear from the outset opening up with a pair of birdies. He would go on to set a personal best of five birdies for the round ending with thirty-seven points. Between the heroics there were some loose holes, otherwise he could easily have topped forty points.
The interaction between Les and his caddie is something to behold, it seems he makes his caddie feel like she is responsible for all his good strokes, which is in marked contrast to some others who blame their caddie for their own bad play.
A three-way tie for second, third and fourth with Geoff Cox, Michael Brett, and Steve Durey placed in that order. Only three near pins were taken, going to Geoff Cox, Bob Innes, and Les Cobban.
Since his return from Chile and having a couple of months of golf behind him Niall Glover developed a very steady vein of good form. He started the month at a cracking pace and put daylight between himself and the rest of the group in the race for golfer of the month.
A chasing group of about five players challenged for second but nobody could catch Niall so he ended up winning by a comfortable margin and was duly declared October golfer of the month. In his current form there seems no reason why he won’t go back to back next month.
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