PSC Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, January 20th Pleasant Valley Stableford
1st Tony Berry (14) 34 pts.
2nd Tony Robbins (19) 34 pts.
3rd Stuart Tinkler (17) 34 pts.
4th Les Cobban (8) 34 pts.
5th Derek Stephenson (17) 33 pts.
Near pins Phil Mashiter, Patrick Kelly, Peter Kelly, & Michael Brett.
A smaller than expected field of twenty-one turned out for the first game of the week at Pleasant Valley. It’s a pity this course still suffers from its history when some years ago it was disparagingly referred to as Unpleasant Valley. Today it is in great shape, lush, well grassed and very well maintained. Sure it has some challenging carries for shorter hitters, other than that it’s hard to find fault.
A stiff breeze blew on the front nine which made scoring difficult as was reflected in the scorecards returned.
Remarkably four golfers as listed finished on thirty-four points and had to be separated on countback, with Derek Stephenson in his last game of this tour taking fifth place one point adrift. Another in his last game Phil Mashiter snagged a near pin with the Kellys, Peter, and Patrick taking one each, where was Eddie? The final pin went to Michael Brett.
Wednesday, January 22nd Eastern Star (White Tees) Stableford
1st Tony Robbins (19) 34 pts.
2nd Jimmy Carr (17) 30 pts.
3rd Colin Greig (12) 29 pts.
4th Keith Norman (12) 28 pts.
Near pins Colin Greig, Eddie Kelly, & Michael Brett.
A very frustrating day for the Bunker Boys at Eastern Star on Wednesday. The course was very crowded, probably overbooked, so we had to endure a forty-minute delay before tee-off time and then again on the back nine. There were holdups on just about every hole with sometimes groups of three or more congregating at various tees. Very quickly frustration levels grew, concentration slipped and most golfers lost their appetite for the game and just about went through the motions. This was reflected in the scoring which was amongst the worst seen for a long time. If there was a consolation it was that we were able to use PSC vouchers on the day which made the green fees a little more reasonable. Darkness had fallen by the time we made it back to Woody’s Bar.
A number of players had good front nines but the frustration simply put paid to any hope of a good back nine. The only one to put together any type of score was Tony Robbins who took first place with a lowly thirty-four. Jimmy Carr, who has a very low tolerance for holdups, took second with thirty points. Colin Greig had nineteen on the front nine but again succumbed to the frustration of repeated delays and faded away to twenty-nine with Keith Norman bringing up the rear.
Curiously, despite all that, there were a couple of very close near pins and one green that remained vacant. Eddie Kelly, who missed out on Monday, got one Wednesday with Colin Greig and Michael Brett getting the other two.
For all practical purposes, we are very close to the end of the high season even though it doesn’t occur officially till the end of March, so with a bit of luck we won’t encounter another day like this for a long time.
Friday, January 24th Khao Kheow A & B Medal
1st Robby Watts (9) Net 70
2nd Ken Elmore (19) Net 71
3rd Kob Glover (26) Net 72
4th Alan Sullivan (12) Net 73
5th Les Cobban (8) Net 73
Near pins Robby Watts, Roland Davison, Neil Jones, & Les Cobban.
What a pleasant change to have a drama-free Friday game of golf. No delays, no cancellations, and no mad scramble to try and find a game somewhere. Our medal round at Khao Kheow went smoothly, we checked in ahead of time and the marshal generously put us out on A1 ahead of a big group so we enjoyed a hassle-free round on a course that pleased everyone with its condition.
A field of twenty-two played at a good pace and finished in good time. If there was a hassle it was on the motorway where an accident slowed traffic right down for a couple of kilometers on the way back to Pattaya.
After a few games off, Robby Watts came back Friday and brought his best game with him taking first place with a net seventy. As always Ken Elmore beavered away quietly with a steady game plan and took second place with seventy-one. After a long layoff, Kob Glover returned Friday and put in a solid performance in third place with net seventy-two, nice to see a lady back in our ranks again. Another rare visitor, Alan Sullivan took fourth on countback from Les Cobban. Les took one near pin with the others going to Robby, Roland Davison, and Neil Jones.
On the sixteenth fairway, one of our members who shall remain nameless was seen to put a sixty-degree lob wedge shot into the lake left of the green quickly followed by the club. Golf sometimes does that to you. A moment of joy for all Jimmy Carr’s playing partners when Jimmy lost all his sixes.
