PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Tuesday, June 2, Treasure Hill – Scramble
On the buses heading out to Treasure Hill our golfers looked to ease the load on playing this difficult but great course and, with the weather being perfect, the decision was made to play a Rainbow Scramble i.e. normal 4-ball Ambrose rules but with a twist, you play 6 balls off the blue tees, 6 off the white and 6 balls off the red.
What a great course for a “fun day”, with two par 5’s measuring over 600 yards off the blue tees, two par 3’s over 200 yards (one at 252) and conversely a par 3 of only 87 yards and a par 4 at 280 off the reds. It took a lot of thought and discussion for each group to set their game plan. Over lunch and post-game discussions it was unanimous that the concept was a winner and would be played again.
(L-R) Tom McMahon, Terry Linklater & Mark Stapleton.
In addition we spiced up the novelties and there was an added bonus if you got a near pin from the blue tees. Also we played ‘near pin in 3’ on the infamous par 5, 16th.
Kev Wacott’s team were a little unlucky, lipping a birdie putt on the 16th hole from the blue tees but Ernie Picken and his team of Ebrahim Al-Ansari, Dave Fletcher & Tony Campbell were clever enough to sort themselves out and play the last 4 holes from the red tees and were justly crowned the winners of the event.
Novelty near pins went to Gerri Crilly, Ebrahim (2) and Tony Campbell.
Thursday, June 4, Burapha – Stabelford
On one of the buses, Geri Crilly brought out the April edition of the Irish Golf Digest and tested the patrons with 10 water hazard rules. Discussion was then centered around the PSC local rulings on ‘silver tee’ age eligibility.’ Kev Waycott asked Geri “When’s your birthday Geri?” “ 23rd March”, he replied. Wayco asked again, “What year?” …Geri’s sobering answer, “Every year.”
On this warm, sultry day with 21starters we played C and D nines off the white trees. Many of us hadn’t ventured to Burapha for quite some time, but the course presented well and is considered a good inclusion onto the Growling Swan golfing roster. The low season rates are now quite reasonable, however the ridiculous ruling of compulsory carts forced some of our regulars to choose other options.
The greens were true and some long fairway grass was a solid test for us all, especially the 485-yard, par 4 D9. Several of our stalwarts succumbed to the Burapha challenge, but they’ll be back to joust again.
Surprisingly there was one outstanding score, from our runaway bolter Tom McMahon who is freshly returned to Pattaya from work commitments and today scored a superb 43 points,.
A Flight
1st Tom McMahon (12) 43pts
2nd Graham Rice (14) 39pts
3rd Walter Baechli (13) 37pts
B Flight
1st Mark Stapleton (19) 37pts
2nd David Fletcher (29) 34pts
3rd Bob Cross (27) 34pts
Near Pins: Fred Starbeck C5, Rocky Lawson C8, Walter Baechli D2 & Tom McMahon on D8.
Long Putts: Martin Kempton C9 & Mark Stapleton D9.
Note: The GS is a friendly golf outlet and caters for and encourages all golfers male and female to have a hit at any of our weekly outings. We generally play Mondays and Thursdays at one of the many fine golf courses in and around Pattaya. Please contact Peter Grey if you are interested on 0861 503086.
The Growling Swan also caters to the bowls enthusiasts. Bus transport departs the GS on Wednesdays at 10 AM to play at Cocos on undercover synthetic greens and on Sundays at the same time for open grass bowling at The Retreat. Please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454005 if you wish to partake. The cost including return bus transport, bowling fees and a hot lunch is less than 400 baht so great value for a day out.
