PSC Golf from Tropical Bert’s
Tuesday, Oct. 7, Bangpra – Stableford
Well hasn’t it poured down of late, it seems every time I look out onto Beach Road the heavens have opened and the water is rushing down the street.
As I looked out on Tuesday morning it was raining as usual and the sky did not look good. I feared a sad end to the day. We started off for Bangpra under heavy skies and falling rain and the weather did not seem to improve and until we were close to Bangpra.
Surprisingly carts were allowed on the course which had drained well; the fairways were fine, the greens acceptable and the rough soggy and wet. All in all we had a good time and got around well, even if we were a bit windswept.
Landis Brooks (right) with Bob Watson.
Back at Bert’s soon we were quickly able to declare the results. Not that they were very pretty, but on a hard day for golf we all said what a great day. The winner with 34 points was Landis Brooks ahead of a count back on 33 points that saw Bob Watson in second, Andre Van Dyk in third and Don Carmody in fourth. In fifth was Max Scott with 31 points.
Near Pins: Tom Herrington
Friday, Oct. 10, Greenwood – Stableford
On Friday the Tropical Bert’s golfers prepared to tackle Greenwood. We had a few faces not seen in a while and there were many hearty handshakes. Every golf outing lately is prefaced by worrying about the rain that might come, or the rain that just was. Such was the case this Friday. Still, the weather looked clear compared to recent days, and no rain forecast. After breakfast at Bert’s everyone saddled up for the long trek to Greenwood.
Greenwood is an excellent layout and good value, and that was obvious as soon as we arrived since there were at least two other golf groups playing this day. Everyone knows Pattaya needs more rain, but as far as golf courses go there can be too much of a good thing. Our A & C course condition could politely be described as soggy, but also the word swampy comes to mind. ‘Lift and clean’ was immediately invoked, but even so the course played very long, and even low drives had virtually no roll. Fortunately most greens are elevated and were in good condition.
Walter Baechli (left) and Bob Watson (right) accuse Tom Herrington (center) of stealing first place at Greenwood.
Such conditions lead to unpredictable results, and no one would speculate how the scores would end up. When all was tallied it came to pass that Tom Herrington (18) won on count-back over his playing partner Walter Baechli (17), both having 39 points. Tom has been in a golf funk lately so could this be the sign of a comeback? In third place was Bob (Mr. Consistent) Watson (3) with a fine 38 points off his microscopic handicap, followed by Tom Cotton (24) who won a count-back over Mark West (14) both with 34 points, and then Mike O’Brien (22) with 33. Quite a day it was!
Near Pins: Bob Watson, Maurice Roberts, Steve Hamstad.
