PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Dec. 9, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
It was yet another fine and sunny Monday morning in Pattaya as we all made our way to one of our favourite golf courses, Mountain Shadow.
We had a terrific field of 34 golfers signed up for the day’s competition with many newcomers and returnees. We welcomed back Bent Agerbo from Denmark, Pattaya residents John Player and Sel Wegner, Goran Asp from Sweden and Jukka Pultinen & Heli Rantala from Finland. We also were saying farewell to Ed “Willie Nelson” Stewart who was returning to Conneticut and then Hawaii after several months here in Pattaya.
We had 3 mini vans which were “chokka block” and we departed the GS 5 minutes ahead of schedule at 8.25 am and headed north on No. 7, making our way through the morning traffic quite quickly and arrived at the golf course 41 minutes later. It was fairly quiet there and as soon as we were ready we were invited to tee off and our first four-ball got away 15 minutes early at 9.45 am.
Mike Allidi, Eddie Townsend, J C Lhoste & Ebrahim.
The weather was fabulous with a nice cooling breeze and the golf course was in super condition with the greens beautifully prepared and at times very slick. We proceeded at a steady pace and although yours truly had steam coming out of his ears after losing a brand new ball at the back of the first green, obviously “stolen” by one of the many dogs on the course, we had a very enjoyable round with terrific company and it was completed in four hours & twenty minutes.
We had 3 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 15, Division B for handicaps of 16 to 19 & Division C for golfers on handicaps of 20 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.
With a fabulous gross score of 69 it was the classy Mike Allidi who won Division A with 42 points and veteran Ted Morris came second with 38. In third spot was Frankie “Goes to Hollywood” Sharratt on 36 points and with 2 players on 34 the resultant count back saw Len Commons (18 point back nine) come fourth, ahead his mate Kevin “Wayco” Waycott (16 point back nine.
Ebrahim continued his good form and won the B Division with a fine 40 points, with Mark “Westy” West second on 39. In third place was John Davis with 36 points and John Player came fourth on 35.
JC Lhoste finally found some form and his 40 points won the C Division ahead of Duangjai “Kae” Tusagad in second on 38 while Kae’s partner, Roy “Plums” Dayton, finished third with 37 points and returnee Bent Agerbo finished in fourth place with 36.
Division A (0-15)
1st Mike Allidi (3) 42pts
2nd Ted Morris (12) 38pts
3rd Frank Sharratt (12) 36pts
4th Len Commons (10) 34pts
Division B (16-19)
1st Ebrahim (18) 40pts
2nd Mark West (16) 39pts
3rd John Davis (19) 36pts
4th John Player (18) 35pts
Division C (20+)
1st – J C Lhoste (24) 40pts
2nd Duangjai Tusagad (20) 38pts
3rd Roy Dayton (26) 37pts
4th Bent Agerbo (20) 36pts
Near Pins: 5th – Ed Stewart, 8th – Frank Sharratt, 15th – Don Richardson, 17th – Mike Allidi
Long Putts: 9th – J C Lhoste, 18th – John Davis
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 Eddie Townsend who accepted the award like the good sport that he is.
Thursday, Dec. 12, Eastern Star – Stableford
Eastern Star was the venue for Thursday’s competition and after a late withdrawal due to sickness and a no-show we ended up with a field of 24, assembling at The Growling Swan in readiness for departure. Today we welcomed back ‘Mr. Colors’ Walter Baechli, Paul Kennedy from Melbourne and Terry Linklatter from Brisbane.
Walter Baechli, Jeff Mellon & Bent Agerbo.
Departing the GS right on time at 8.30 am we headed south and after a very good run arrived at the golf course 42 minutes later to find it fairly quiet and we were invited to tee off when we were ready. Our first four-ball got away 10 minutes early at 9.50 am in glorious weather conditions and the course was looking a treat with lush fairways and well maintained greens.
There were no groups ahead of us to hold us up but we received a “hurry up” from a course Marshall, mainly due to searching for my golf balls a couple of times but we quickened up a bit on the back nine and finished a very enjoyable round of golf in four hours and twenty minutes.
We had 2 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 19 & Division B for golfers on handicaps of 20 and over with three 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.
Division A was won by Walter Baechli with a fine 38 points and Ebrahim came second with 37 points, 3 points ahead of Bill Steinman in third place.
Bent Agerbo (17 point back nine) won the B Division with 33 points in a count back from Andrew “Turtle” Allen (16 point back nine) and in another count back with both on 32 points it was Duangjai “Kae” Tusagad (14 point back nine & 11 points on the last 6 holes) who finished in third place ahead of Frank “Woody” Donnelly (14 point back nine & 10 points on the last 6 holes).
Division A (0-19)
1st Walter Baechli (16) 38pts
2nd Ebrahim (18) 37pts
3rd Bill Steinman (7) 34pts
Division B (20+)
1st Bent Agerbo (20) 33pts
2nd Andrew Allen (35) 33pts
3rd Duangjai Tusagad (20) 32pts
Near Pins: 3rd – Ebrahim, 6th – Alan Sanders, 13th – Duangjai Tusagad, 17th – Peter Blackburn
Long Putts: 9th – Frankie Sharratt, 18th – Bill Steinman
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was won by Jeff “Rock” Mello. Peter Grey, ecstatic about not being awarded the red cap then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
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 [email protected].
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.
