PSC Golf from the Bunker Boys at The Ranch
Monday, August 17, Khao Kheow C & A – Stableford
Compared to many of the courses at this time of year (dry & brown), Khao Kheow was in excellent condition Monday, with beautiful green fairways and greens only a tad slower than normal. It’s a lovely track that takes its maintenance seriously.
15 Bunker Boys made the trek up the motorway with high hopes of standing at the forefront of the podium later in the evening. The overall performance was fairly good with an average stableford score of 30 points. Mashi and Les Cobban led the way with 35 each, Mashi edging out Les on the count back. Les Hall took third with 33 points and Raleigh Gosney was fourth with 32.
Medal winner Tony Robbins.
1st Mashi Kaneta (15) 35pts
2nd Les Cobban (8) 35pts
3rd Les Hall (24) 33pts
4th Raleigh Gosney (16) 32pts
Near Pins: Jerry Waselenkoff, Mashi Kaneta, Raleigh Gosney
Wednesday, August 19, The Emerald – Medal
Today’s round was the tale of the tortoise and the hare, but not in Aesop’s sense of the moral ambiguity of “haste makes waste”, or “slow and steady” wins the race, but rather as the marriage of opposites wherein the first group completes the round in three hours and the second group trails in after a round of five hours. The very slow play of the second group resulted in the third and final group self-destructing with not a single player turning in a card (NR) upon completion of the round. Ouch! The moral of this story is very clear: “Try Very Very hard to keep up with the group in front of you!”
Peter Habgood was back in form, throwing a club rather than slamming it into the ground, after an errant shot but, unfortunately, the wedge found a nearby pond rather than the numerous brown/hardpan areas. Oops! It’s looking like he’ll be down to 12 clubs for his next round.
The seven players that did manage to keep their cool and turn in their cards (including some of the tortoises in group two) finished with an average net score of 78.
1st Tony Robbins (15) net 72
2nd Peter Allen (28) net 74
3rd Raleigh Gosney (16) net 76
Near Pins: Geoff Parker, Colin Greig, Jerry Waselenkoff
Friday, August 21, Eastern Star – Stableford
It’s not difficult to understand why only eight players showed up at The Ranch for the drive over to Ban Chang. The “Star” is getting dimmer and dimmer with rough, sandy & hardpan areas throughout many of the fairways. Lack of rain is a contributing factor, of course, but the fact is that many of these areas are dead and will only be brought back to life by reseeding or resodding. Sad, but true! That being said, the greens were in pretty good shape, and at 1,300 baht with buggy it’s not a bad place to practice hitting off of cement, or sand, or dead crabgrass.
Your scribe would suggest that management work overtime to get the track in shape for high season, or leave the 1,300 baht with buggy in place throughout the year.
1st Geoff Parker (15) 36pts
2nd Colin Greig (8) 36pts
3rd Raleigh Gosney (16) 30pts
Near Pins: Colin Greig (2), Gerry Cooney.
Note: The Bunker Boys, a PSC affiliated golf society, plays out of The Ranch Bar on Pattaya 3rd road (in front of the fire station, and almost opposite the Buffalo Bar). We play on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and meet at The Ranch at 9am for breakfast and transport. Contact Buff on 0860465091 or 0806055663 for all enquiries or check website: www.bunkersociety.com.
