PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, April 1, Bangpakong – Stableford
Once again we had an excellent turnout of 38 golfers despite a couple of late withdrawals and we were all anticipating another great day at one of our favourites, Bangpakong Riverside Golf Club.
As we assembled at the GS for yet another early start, we welcomed PSC Social Chairman Nigel Cannon, Eric “Judge” Black from Geelong in Victoria, Jerry Dobbs from Australia, Nid from Bangkok, Gordon Clegg from Saudi Arabia and Gary Williams & Jason Hann from Melbourne. It was also great to see Richard & Carole Kiubicki with us once more but sadly they will soon be returning to the UK & Cyprus after four months of golfing here in Pattaya.
Peter Blackburn, Wendy Bernek & Frank Donnelly.
When we arrived at the golf course things were quiet so we were able to send our first four-ball away just 10 minutes later than scheduled at 9.40 am on a hot morning where water intake was going to be essential.
As for the condition of the course, some of the fairways have many dry spots and early morning watering resulted in a few soggy areas but the greens were as usual magnificent and all in all the course was as much a delight to play as ever.
As mentioned earlier, it was quite hot with not much of a breeze but we managed to get through the front nine in two hours & ten minutes. There was no-one directly in front of us all day so we were able to maintain a reasonable pace, although as it got very hot a quick stop after the 11th green was needed and we completed the round in four hours & twenty five minutes.
As the results came in afterwards it was quite remarkable that the A Grade golfers found the course very much to their liking as anything under 40 points did not get in the first seven!
We were able to have 2 Grades with seven podium spots in each. A Grade was for handicaps 0 to 19 and B Grade for 20 and over. We had nearest the pins on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
Mike Gosden, Peter Grey & Alain Taddei.
It was your writer, Peter Blackburn that had a “day out” by winning the A Grade section with 44 points, just one ahead of Peter Bye in second place and Brad “Bad” Todd third with 42 points. It was a pleasure to watch some great golf as one of my partners, Richard “Tricky Dicky” Kubicki (24 point back nine) made par on every hole on the back nine and took fourth spot on a count back from Ebrahim (19 point back nine), with both having 41 points. There was another count back for sixth & seventh place with Wayne Harman (23 point back nine) beating Paul Hack (18 point back nine) after both carded 40 points.
Being unable to find his clubs or caddy prior to teeing off did not deter Frank “Woody” Donnelly who easily won the B Grade with 43 points, 4 points ahead of the “adequately lubricated” Jerry Dobbs in second spot (don’t know how these guys do it!). Dave Neal finished third with 38 points and Carole Kubicki was fourth on 35 points.
Deciding fifth & sixth places was a drawn out affair which resulted in the count back determining that fifth place went to Thientong Charoenrung (17 point back nine, 11 points on the last 6 holes, 7 points on the last 3 holes and 3 points on the last hole) from J C Lhoste (17 point back nine, 11 points on the last 6 holes, 7 points on the last 3 holes and 2 points on the last hole) – both had 34 points. Two players had 33 points and Duangjai “Kae” Tusagad (19 point back nine) won the count back for seventh spot from Rita Zoebelli (17 point back nine).
A Flight (0-19)
1st Peter Blackburn (11) 44pts
2nd Peter Bye (16) 43pts
3rd Brad Todd (18) 42pts
4th Richard Kubicki (12) 41pts
5th Ebrahim (16) 41pts
6th Wayne Harman (14) 40pts
7th Paul Hack (14) 40pts
B Flight (20+)
1st Frank Donnelly (23) 43pts
2nd Jerry Dobbs (23) 39pts
3rd Dave Neal (24) 38pts
4th Carole Kubicki (25) 35pts
5th Thientong Charoenrung (20) 34pts
6th J C Lhoste (23) 34pts
7th Duangjai Tusagad (22) 33pts
C Flight (24+)
1st Patrick Poussier (30) net 70
Near Pins: 4th – Peter Blackburn, 7th – Richard Kubicki, 13th – Peter Blackburn, 16th – Dr Brian Vale
Long Putts: 9th – Nigel Cannon, 18th – Mike Allidi
It was also time to declare the Golfer of the Month Award for March, 2013. The award is determined by the highest total of a golfer’s top four stableford scores for the month, so obviously a minimum of four games must be played. Results were as follows:
1st Duangjai “Kae” Tusagad 155pts
2nd Suparp “Anna” Korboon 146pts
3rd Mike Gosden 145pts
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 Wendy Bernek and adhering to instructions from her absent husband Ken she gracefully donned the cap and posed for the photo. Martin Todd took Deefa for the usual walk and collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our ever generous Growling Swan golfers.
Thursday, April 4, Treasure Hill – Stableford
Two late inclusions compensated for the two no-shows, which left us with a good field of 33 golfers ready to take the journey to the always challenging Treasure Hill Golf Course.
Hearty welcomes were handed out to first timer Neil Hurst from Oxford in the UK and veteran Ted Morris joining us once more. We were sadly saying farewell to Brian “Doc” Vale and Wayne Harman who will shortly be returning to Perth and Gary Williams & Jason Hann who are off back to Melbourne in the next few days.
We departed the GS in three mini vans right on time at 8.30 am and headed off up No. 7 and then 331, which as usual was very busy and the usual long delays at traffic lights were encountered which caused our journey to take 55 minutes. We arrived to find the venue almost deserted and after successfully “haggling” over the Green Fee price for a couple of minutes we settled in and were invited to the first tee at our leisure.
Our first group, a four-ball, teed off five minutes ahead of schedule at 9.55 am in hot and sticky conditions and we knew we were going to be in for a hot one so water intake (stronger liquids for some) was going to be essential.
The golf course was looking very good with the greens at times quite slick although several had residual sand on them but certainly nothing to complain about. As the course was extremely quiet we proceeded at a relaxing pace and after pausing a couple of times for sit down drinks we completed the round in four hours and twenty five minutes. It had been a very enjoyable round with our four scoring reasonably well but certainly enjoying each other’s company.
We were able to have 2 Grades with six podium spots in each. A Grade was for handicaps 0 to 17 and B Grade for 18 and over. We had nearest the pins on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
The winner of A Grade with a fine 40 points was Mike “Hunter” Gosden, with Peter Bye 4 points further back in second place. In a count back for third & fourth with 2 golfers on 35 points it was Neil Hurst (18 point back nine) who just pipped Bill McGarvie (16 point back nine). On 34 points Suparp “Anna” Korboon finished fifth with your writer, Peter Blackburn 1 point further back in sixth spot.
Alain “Inspector Clouseau” Taddei won the B Grade with 37 points and Graham “Grunter” Buckingham was second with 34 points. With 2 people on 33 points a count back saw Colin Faraday (20 point back nine) pinch third spot from Brian “Doc” Vale (13 point back nine) and Gordon Clegg was fifth with 31 points. There were three golfers on 29 points vying for the last spot on the podium and it was Sandy “Leiperfrog” Leiper (18 point back nine) who scraped in over Brad “Bad” Todd (14 point back nine) and Duangjai “Kae” Tusagad (13 point back nine”.
A Flight (0-17)
1st Mike Gosden (12) 40pts
2nd Peter Bye (16) 36pts
3rd Neil Hurst (12) 35pts
4th Bill McGarvie (12) 35pts
5th Suparp Korboon (10) 34pts
6th Peter Blackburn (11) 33pts
B Flight (18+)
1st Alain Taddei (18) 37pts
2nd Graham Buckingham (25) 34pts
3rd Colin Faraday (19) 33pts
4th Brian Vale (20) 33pts
5th Gordon Clegg (27) 31pts
6th Sandy Leiper (35) 29pts
Near Pins: 2nd – Wanta Dacha, 6th – Stu Rifkin, 13th – Gary Monley, 17th – Duangjai Tusagad
Long Putts: 9th – Dick Braimbridge, 18th – Ken Hole
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was narrowly won by Growling Swan Mine Host, Peter Grey, who although accepting the award in fine spirit as he always does did actually attempt to persuade the “Captain” to “manipulate” things to achieve a different outcome. This was never going to happen of course and Peter wore the NAGA Cap with distinction for a considerable amount of time afterwards.
Martin Todd took Deefa for the usual walk and collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our ever 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 (formerly The Bunker Bar) 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.
