Golf for all at the Outback Golf Bar
Monday, August 24 – Syd LeBron Putter (Day 1)
In one of the customary Hua Hin Tours from the Outback, 66 players and friends travelled down on an exceptionally quiet Sunday to contest the 5th Syd LeBron Memorial Putter. Two other players, who flew in from Australia, were already in Hua Hin, arriving two days earlier, making a full field and a low season record, of 68.
Jack had booked the usual reliable hotels, the Thipurai and City Beach, both in the centre of the bar and restaurant area; leaving an easy stroll out at night negating the need for taxis or tuktuks. First port of call for many was of course the Outback Golf Bar in Hua Hin before dispersing amongst all the excellent establishments to be found in this great little place.
(from left) John Lawton & Andy Butterworth and Freddy Starbeck.
Here, golf is No.1, as all the courses allow walking although on these trips, very few do. Black Mountain’s reputation precedes it and never fails to appeal, even though they just don’t seem to be able to stop spending money but close behind is the spectacular Banyan which remains an excellent test of golf, although rated somewhat easier than perhaps it should be.
Springfield was the chosen course for Day 1 on Monday and was in excellent condition throughout; carts were allowed the course with no real sign of the rain that had fallen prior to our arrival and it remained dry for us but the wind did get up a bit, making the eighteenth in particular, very tricky. The white tees on paper are shortish and given an easy rating of 69.6/119 but in reality, it’s nothing like that at all and plays considerably harder.
Player of the day had to be the ebullient Freddy Starbeck who is often heard but perhaps not so often seen, as he marked his best gross round ever (78) and I believe he’s only been playing for about six years, to amass 42pts, the day’s best and with it winning Div B playing off his reduced course handicap of 11.
Hua Hin Tour top three: (from left) Paul Hack, Denis Steele and Greg Hill.
Close behind Freddy, dressed in the most outrageous trousers that you’re ever likely clap your eyes on, was Brian Rought with an excellent 41pts, which won him Div C. Chris Voller battled his way round for a very fine 36pts to take Div A, again off a reduced handicap due to the course rating and Jim Connelly, a very late entrant to the trip, recovered from an indifferent start to post an excellent back nine and win Div D on 33pts.
Other notables included local Hua Hin resident and one of tournament favourites, Greg Hill, Murray Hart and Bernie Stafford, all of whom shot 36pts, playing in Div C.
The three day ‘2’s accumulator got off to a great start with seven ‘2’s being chalked up, mostly on the 6th from Pat Regan, Mark Rossiter, Russell Gilroy, Colin Jenkins & Leslie Kertesz. The other two came from Bernie Stafford (4th) and Greg Hill (10th), the latter holing out his second shot on the par-4 for a points haul of 5!
Div A (0-9)
1st Chris Voller (07) 36pts
2nd Mike Missler (07) 34pts
3rd George Gardner (07) 33pts
Div B (10-12)
1st Freddy Starbeck (11) 42pts
2nd Kim Danboise (12) 35pts
3rd Denis Steele (12) 34pts
Div C (13-16)
1st Bryan Rought (16) 41pts
2nd Greg Hill (16) 36pts
3rd Murray Hart (13) 36pts
Div D (18+)
1st Jim Connelly (20) 33pts
2nd Patrick Carty (23) 33pts
3rd Tim Knight (24) 32pts
Tuesday, August 25 – Syd LeBron Putter (Day 1)
Black Mountain really is a course that shouldn’t be missed; it’s an absolute must but on this occasion we decided to adjust the rating and slope, as in March when we played, 25% of the field played to handicap or better and nearly half of those got 40pts or more. Arguably, this course is supposedly harder than Banyan but our statistics say otherwise hence the easing of the rating and the decrease in the slope.
We were away on time at 10am with a cloudy start as rain threatened towards midday but never actually materialized. 66 players today as Jack declined to play through an injured hand after a terrible round at Springfield and Scott, one of our newcomers withdrew due to a bad back. The par-3 third hole was still a temporary and although short, did not give up many ‘2’ as it was not receptive and difficult to get the ball to stay on the green.
John Lawton, who was sick the day before and went to bed early dosed up with various drugs, emerged as fresh as a daisy and going out last in a three-ball he promptly recorded the day’s best score of 39pts to win Div D. Maybe we should have given him a drugs test!
Good to see Mike Padilla and Maurice Copan back on tour with us and Mike celebrated his return with an excellent 36pts to take second in Div D.
There were three 38’s, from Denis Steele and Paul Hack taking first and second in Div B respectively and another from Greg Hill, which gave him Div C. Div A went to Andy Butterworth, who was another player to welcome back to the tours, with 37pts.
Other notables included Andre Coetzee, Pat Regan, Bob Poole and Kevin Blake, a first-timer on tour; all of whom recorded 36pts.
There were fifteen ‘2’s from Barry Copestake, & Andy Makara (3rd). Stephen Mann, Kim Danboise, Pat Regan, Denis Steele & John Pegrum again on the 8th. Martin Grimoldby, Phil Mitchell, Chris Voller & Freddy Starbeck (11th) and Sakorn Pramoolchart and Pat Regan & Denis Steele both had repeats on the 14th.
Div A (0-11)
1st Andy Butterworth (11) 37pts
2nd Kevin Blake (08) 36pts
3rd Andre Coetzee (07) 36pts
Div B (12-15)
1st Denis Steele (13) 38pts
2nd Paul Hack (13) 38pts
3rd Pat Regan (12) 36pts
Div C (16-20)
1st Greg Hill (18) 38pts
2nd Bob Poole (19) 36pts
3rd John Fitzgerald (20) 33pts
Div D (21+)
1st John Lawton (21) 39pts
2nd Michael Padilla (27) 36pts
3rd Tim Knight (26) 33pts
Thursday, August 27 – Syd LeBron Putter (Day 3)
Following the rest day on Wednesday, Banyan was an early two-way start at 9am and we were away on time. The course had been set up at around 6500 yards but many still thought it was a bit long. When we return here next March, we actually play Banyan twice and I promise the first round will be from the whites!
After the first two rounds, Freddy Starbeck (77) held a three shot lead over Brian Rought and Greg Hill both on 74 with Denis Steele in fourth with 72. Going out in reverse order, the aforementioned were the last group out so it was to be sometime before we discovered whether Freddy would hang on.
As the first groups returned, there was still no rain and this tricky course does not give up good scores easily – mid 20’s to low 30’s were generally the norm. Marty Burbidge posted a 37 to win Div A from Andy Butterworth (36), Jim Brackett (34), Chris Voller (33) and a whole host on 31pts headed by J P Maffray on c/b.
The best Div C could do was 35pts from Keith Buchanan with three more on 32, namely Paul Kaiser, Bob Mattes and Greg Hill, with Bob Poole 5th on 31.
Andy Makara showed his liking for this course, as with previous visits, to score 38pts and take Div D from John Fitzgerald and Tony Aslett on 35pts apiece. Paul Hack recorded the top score of the day of 40pts to take Div B ahead of Denis Steele (39) who was five clear of Pat Regan with 34.
There were another eight ‘2’s bring the total ‘2’s pot to 30, the most we have ever had over three days! Today they went to George Gardner, Stefan Hoge, Denis Steele & Sakorn (2nd), Paul Hack (4th), J P Maffray (15th) and Gordon Etheridge & JP again on the difficult 17th.
Everybody was in by 2.30pm and Jack, ably assisted by Suzi and Tim worked hard to get the final results produced. Jack preceded the presentation with a thanks to everyone for their support and a welcome to all the newcomers before assuring all that the tours would continue for the foreseeable future with the next being Chaing Rai & Chiang Mai in October. He then handed the floor over to Andre, the new Outback Golf Bar owner to say a few words. Andre spoke briefly about his plans for the Outback and also of a planned golf tour to South Africa in November 2016.
Eventually the time came and after the daily result was the overall, with Paul Hack moving into third place after his brilliant 40 today on a total of 105, with Greg Hill second on 106 and the winner by five on 111 was Denis Steele, who has been knocking on the door of these events for a number of years. So well done Denis and commiserations to Freddy who did so well to finish fourth on 103. Jim Brackett and Pat Regan shared fifth spot on 101.
Div A (0-11)
1st Martin Burbidge (08) 37pts
2nd Andy Butterworth (11) 36pts
3rd Jim Brackett (07) 34pts
Div B (12-14)
1st Paul Hack (13) 40pts
2nd Denis Steele (13) 39pts
3rd Pat Regan (12) 34pts
Div C (15-19)
1st Keith Buchanan (15) 35pts
2nd Paul Kaiser (18) 32pts
3rd Bob Mattes (18) 32pts
Div D (20+)
1st Andy Makara (28) 38pts
2nd John Fitzgerald (21) 35pts
3rd Tony Aslett (26) 35pts
Overall Positions
1st Denis Steele 111pts
2nd Greg Hill 106pts
3rd Paul Hack 105pts
4th Freddy Starbeck 103pts
5th Pat Regan 101pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Andre on 092 167 4951.
