PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, March 2, Burapha – Stableford
A warm welcome to Ed Butcher and another twenty Aussie golfers here for the first day of the 3rd annual APT event, who joined us on A and B, swelling the numbers here to eleven groups.
The forward white tees contributed to some good scoring, with the locals featuring somewhat better than the tourists who had a very busy schedule in front of them during the upcoming week.
Top scorer of the day was Robert Barnes with 42 points who said afterwards it was one of those days when almost everything went right and the putts dropped. Bob won Div B by four from course regular Peter Stonebridge on 38, who in turn beat both Aussie visitor Garry Cook and Jarod Braithwaite on count back.
Kev Hamilton, winner of the DeVere monthly medal, flanked by Wayne and Sunanta Cotterell.
Div C was won by Bob Mattes with 40 points, another excellent score, with Keith Miller (38) in second while Stephen Blazsanyik (37) edged out Bob Lindborg who had his best score for some time, also with 37.
Tony Gilchrist won the top division with 39 points, from Andre Coetzee on 38, and Peter Nixon and John Cunningham followed up next, both with 37s.
There were seven ‘2’s from Mark Ritchie A3 & B8, Jim Brackett & Garry Castairs(A3), Rob Barnes (B3), Peter Nixon and Ed Butcher (B8).
Rob Barnes was Monday’s top scorer at Burapha.
Outback opinion: Weather – early light rain, very hot; Check in – quick and friendly;Tee time – early; Fairways – a lot of run; Rough – light; Greens – average; Bunkers – damp; Value for money – acceptable; Pace of play – under four hours; Drink stations open – all open; Restaurant – not visited (price).
Div A (0-11)
1st Tony Gilchrist (11) 39pts
2nd Andre Coetzee (07) 38pts
3rd Peter Nixon (11) 37pts
4th John Cunningham (06) 37pts
Div B (12-19)
1st Robert Barnes (13) 42pts
2nd Pete Stonebridge (19) 38pts
3rd Garry Cook (14) 38pts
4th Jarod Braithwaite (17) 38pts
Div C (20+)
1st Bob Mattes (23) 40pts
2nd Keith Miller (21) 38pts
3rd Stephen Blazsanyik (20) 37pts
4th Bob Lindborg (27) 37pts
Tuesday, March 3, Phoenix – Stableford
Our groups to Phoenix have increased weekly since we started going there a few weeks ago; no doubt due to the good work of the new Phoenix management together with a much friendlier price and warmer welcome than we had before.
Ed Butcher of the APT Group receives his prize from the only lady on the tour, Karen.
We played the Lake and Ocean courses this week but for the immediate future we will swap over to the better Mountain and Ocean combination, with the Lakes course closing for a dramatic redesign effort. Even on a weekly basis, we have noticed an improvement in the quality of the course and greens with a lot of water being applied to turn the course ‘greener’.
We had 34 competitive players trying their best to get the “winner takes all” honours. 5 players shot better than handicap which would indicate that our slope and rating used for Phoenix is spot on. Due to the large group, we split it into two divisions this week, a 0-15 index and 16 up.
The honours for the B division went to Bill Hewitt, playing off 17, with a fabulous 39 points. Rannay Singh, who hasn’t played for some time with the Outback, took the honours in the A division with 38 points, scoring 22 points on the back nine from his 13 handicap.
We had two ‘2’s both on O5, from the Outback ambassador at Phoenix, Terry O’Connor, and Patsada Ryves.
Well done to all our winners and looking forward to continue with the success we have at Phoenix!
Div A (0-15)
1st Rannay Singh (13) 38pts
2nd Patsada Ryves (12) 36pts
3rd Barry Copestake (12) 34pts
Div B (16+)
1st Bill Hewitt (17) 39pts
2nd Brenton Shaw (21) 39pts
3rd Reijo Heiskanen (18) 38pts
Wednesday, March 4, Khao Kheow – Stableford
Khao Kheow offered a very fair holiday price for this Macha Bucha Day, with 20 players turning out to play the A & B nines. With the exception of John O’Keefe’s 41 points, whose scorecard opened like this: 4/3, 5/3, 3/3, 5/3 and 3/3, nobody broke par on this tough track. John won his division by a country mile, 6 ahead of Waldo (35) and Aussie visitor Kev Timbrell was a further six shots back on 29 to take third.
Steve Mann’s 34 points was enough to win Div A, from Gary Croft and Peter Nixon, both with 32.
All the members of the 2015 APT Group pose for a photo at The Outback.
A special welcome back to Gary Croft (Crofty) and his mate Tony May, who had a great day scoring not many points and had to buy his playing partners almost as many beers as points for failing to drive past the lady’s tee, five I believe. Those playing partners not only included Crofty but also Graham Johnson, who we have not seen for a long time and Phil Mitchell, who believe it or not, I think was having his first ever game with the Outback.
There were four ‘2’s; the first, quite literally from Steve Mann, who eagled the first hole (A1) by holing out his second shot, from a bunker I believe; and three more regular ones, all on the island green (B8) from Ed Butcher, Waldo and Suzi.
Outback opinion: Weather – hot, Check in – good; Tee time – early; Fairways – wet in places; Rough – ok; Greens – grainy, difficult to pace; Bunkers – soft sand; Value for money – good for a holiday; Pace of play – a bit slow, caught up with a 5-ball; Drink stations open – all open; Restaurant – excellent as usual.
Div A (0-16)
1st Stephen Mann (11) 34 pts
2nd Gary Croft (14) 32 pts
3rd Peter Nixon (11) 32 pts
Div B (17+)
1st John O’Keefe (19) 41pts
2nd Stephen Blazsanyik (20) 35pts
3rd Kevin Timbrell (21) 29pts
Friday, March 6, Green Valley – Medal
Today was our Monthly Medal, sponsored by Greg Hirst of DeVere Financial Group but unfortunately Greg was unable to play or be at the presentation today through work commitments. The Medal was switched back to today as our visiting group, the APT boys, were moved to Phoenix, thus releasing sufficient tee times.
We had 29 players today and we can tell it is getting nearer to Songkhran by the temperature as things start to warm up, not that the golf was particularity hot, or even warm.
The scores today were very ordinary and nobody broke handicap; all I can think of is that the greens were not consistent and needed cutting as the course was once again in good shape and only a handful of golfers playing in front of us.
‘Big’ Kev and Eng (Sunanta Cotterell) were tied at the top, both with net 73’s but we only have one trophy to award, so it went to Kev by virtue of his better back nine. Course specialist Bob Finley was third with 74 and Eng’s husband, Wayne, was fourth on 76, before three players all tied up with net 78’s; last month’s Medal winner John Player, Suzi and Jimmy Little.
Unbelievably the “Low Gross” was Jim Brackett with 86!
Suzi Lawton got the only ‘2’ on the 8th.
Today also marked the end of the APT group’s four-day tournament, with the overall title going to their tour leader Ed Butcher.
Outback opinion: Weather – hot and breezy; Check in – good; Tee time – 20 mins early; Fairways – good; Rough – light; Greens – 1st nine fast, back nine slow; Bunkers – average; Value for money – good; Pace of play – 3½ hours first groups, 4hrs 20mins at the back?; Drink stations open – all open.
T1st Kevin Hamilton (14) net 73
T1st Sunanta Cotterell (20) net 73
3rd Bob Finley (13) net 74
4th Wayne Cotterell (11) net 76
T5th John Player (17) net 78
T5th Suzi Lawton (24) net 78
T5th Jimmy Little (20) net 78
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 081 578 1956.
