PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Dec. 16, Pleasant Valley – Stableford
We had a smaller field than normal signed up for the day’s competition at Pleasant Valley, which was surprising as the 750 baht green fee voucher offer is excellent value for this fine layout.
We all met at The Growling Swan in readiness for the trip and welcomed back Volker Buley for one of his many trips to Pattaya and it was of course great to see him again.
Roy Dayton, Volker Buley & Mike Allidi.
Our 2 mini vans left the GS right on time at 8.30 am and after a very good run arrived at the golf course 41 minutes later to find not many people there so we were invited to tee off at our leisure. Our first four-ball got away 10 minutes ahead of schedule at 9.50 am and found the golf course in fine condition although the greens were somewhat slower than we have been used to of late but nonetheless it was very good value for money.
We had left behind the early morning Pattaya rain and although there were rain clouds above they soon cleared away and we were left with another fine & hot day. We proceeded at a steady pace and after being held up a couple of times on the back nine we completed a very enjoyable round of golf in four hours & twenty minutes.
We had 2 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 18 & Division B for golfers on handicaps of 19 and over with three places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pin on two of the par 3’s and longest first putts on the 9th & 18 greens.
Well, that very fine golfer Mike Allidi was at it again and after having one eagle, 6 birdies and 3 bogeys in compiling his 67 gross he won the Division A with a terrific 42 points. Ebrahim came second with an excellent 42 points and veteran Ken Hole finished third on 40 points.
Division B was won by Roy “Plums” Dayton with an excellent 44 points and in second place came Bent Agerbo with 40 points and JC Lhoste continued his good form and finished third with 39 points.
Division A (0-18)
1st Mike Allidi (3) 44pts
2nd Ebrahim (18) 42pts
3rd Ken Hole (17) 40pts
Division B (19+)
1st Roy Dayton (26) 44pts
2nd Bent Agerbo (20) 40pts
3rd JC Lhoste (23) 39pts
Near Pins: 8th – Mike Allidi, 17th – Peter Blackburn
Long Putts: 9th – Frankie Sharratt, 18th – Ken Hole
The Growling Swan NAGA Award (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won by recent arrival Volker Buley who accepted the award like the good sport that he is.
Thursday, Dec. 19, Green Valley – Stableford
It was time for our monthly visit to the classy Green Valley Golf Course to take advantage of the special “High Season” rates and its popularity was confirmed with a terrific field of 36 golfers signed up to play. With a few travelling by car there were 3 mini vans required and we assembled at The Growling Swan in readiness for the journey.
Sandy Leiper, Mike Gosden & John Davis.
There were many hearty welcomes to be handed out including Russell Goldsworthy from my old Golf Club in Perth, Gosnells, Paul Sharples back from Oman for some R & R, Pattaya residents Jack Robertson & Mashi Kaneta, Jayson Schembri from Melbourne, Dave Fletcher on R & R from Australia, Alex Lyle from Scotland and Ian Jessiman from Central NSW, Australia.
Everyone was on time so we were able to depart the GS right on schedule at 8.30 am and we proceeded to the course, arriving there just 33 minutes later and of course it was quite busy. Our scheduled tee time was 10.13 but we actually were able to send our first four-ball away at 10.05 and in fabulous weather conditions we commenced our round and began to enjoy this beautifully prepared Golf Course.
It was in great condition with lush fairways and magnificent greens which were in fact a little bit too slick for some but very firm and true. The pace was quite good with minimum hold-ups and our extremely enjoyable round of golf was completed in four hours & twenty two minutes. Don’t you just love the weather at this time of year, plenty of sun and not too hot? – just another day in paradise!
We had 3 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 14, Division B for golfers on handicaps of 15 to 25 and Division C for handicaps of 26 and over with four places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pin on the four par 3’s and longest first putts on the 9th & 18 greens.
The A Division was won by the in-form Mike “Hunter” Gosden who had 37 points, just 1 point better than Russell Goldsworthy in second place. With 2 golfers on 35 points a count back was necessary and it resulted in third spot being awarded to Sal Brizzi (18 point back nine) with your writer Peter “Blacky” Blackburn (16 point back nine) in fourth place.
Another consistent golfer, John Davis won the B Division with 35 points, 1 point better than Ebrahim in second place and Ken Hole finished third with 33 points. There were four golfers with 31 points vying for fourth spot and the count back saw JC Lhoste (17 point back nine) taking the honors from Mark “Westy” West (14 point back nine), Ian Jessiman (13 point back nine) and Bent Agerbo (11 point back nine).
In C Division it was Sandy “Cindy Lauper” Leiper who was victorious with a fine 37 points and there were 2 golfers on 33 points vying for second & third places with the resultant count back awarding second place to Roy “Plums” Dayton (17 point back nine) from Gary Monley (11 point back nine) in third spot. Yet another count back was required to sort out fourth spot with 2 golfers on 32 points and it resulted in Andrew “Turtle” Allen (18 point back nine) edging out Geri Crilly (12 point back nine).
Division A (0-14)
1st Mike Gosden (14) 37pts
2nd Russell Goldsworthy (4) 36pts
3rd Sal Brizzi (7) 35pts
4th Peter Blackburn (13) 35pts
Division B (15-25)
1st John Davis (19) 35pts
2nd Ebrahim (18) 34pts
3rd Ken Hole (17) 33pts
4th JC Lhoste (23) 31pts
Division C (26+)
1st Sandy Leiper (35) 37pts
2nd Roy Dayton (26) 33pts
3rd Gary Monley (34) 33pts
4th Andrew Allen (35) 32pts
Near Pins: 9th – Volker Buley, 12th – Russell Goldsworthy, 16th – Duangjai Tusagad
Long Putts: 9th – Kevin Waycott, 18th – Paul Sharples
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was won by Alex Lyle who accepted the award like the good sport that he is. Max then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn @gmail.com.
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454 005.
