PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, April 9, Khao Kheow – Stableford
There were 15 Outbackers today playing A & B at Khao Kheow, with A1 a gentle warm up hole to start us off, with no water or OB to capture any wayward balls, unlike the three tough following holes, the long par 5, the horrid par 3, with all down the right and then the uphill Index 1; if you’ve got half a dozen points after that start, you’re in with a shout! The courses were in good condition from tee to green
After nine holes, the black clouds and thunder started rolling around the course and we all thought that the game would be called off for at least half an hour and that we should venture into a Watering Hole, but fortunately we managed to escape any downpour.
Friday podium placers (from the left): Svenn Ole Lund, Dave Buchanan, Doug Campbell and Chris Davisson.
Going down the 18th Hole (9th on B) John Cogan and Suzi Lawton were all level, in their final match before John leaves for Ireland next week. John two putted for a bogie and Suzi one putted for par to win the match; poor John was beside himself, lying down on the green with his legs up in the air and arms waving while Suzi was doing a dance. Children!
There were three ‘2’s from John White, Grant Airey & Suzi Lawton.
1st Darren Cook (29/Hi26.7) 38pts
2nd Suzi Lawton (18/Hi19.9) 38pts
3rd John Cogan (18/Hi16.8) 37pts
Monday, April 9, Burapha A & B – Stableford
24 Outbackers travelled to Burapha for our normal Monday outing and we played A and B courses from the blue markers. The day was hot and humid until the last few holes when a light rain arrived which cooled everybody down. The course had copped a lot of rain over the weekend and Burapha were closing the course all day Tuesday to do some major repairs to bunkers.
The A course was in great condition and fairways, tees, rough and greens had all been cut and bunkers raked and playable; the B course, the fairways and tees had been cut but the rough was especially brutal around the greens and bunkers and a lot of bunkers had not been fixed and some were GUR but generally it was just a tough day.
Welcome to some new members, Steve Ward, Stewart O’Brien, Dave Wilkie, Jeremy Sait, Jason Hilton and Arthur Stokes.
There were no ‘2’s on the day so we played two divisions with five places in each division.
Division 2 was won by Les Easton with 36 points on his 20 handicap on a countback from David Maddox on his 23 handicap with third place going to John O’Keefe (21) on 35 points; Bob Lindborg (24) took fourth losing on count back and Howard Marsden (23) finished in fifth with 33.
Division 1 was won by Jim Brackett with the best round on the day, 41 points on his 9 handicap, from Svenn Ole Lund with 37 points on his 18 handicap, third place going to Capt’ Steve (12) with 34 points; fourth placed Kerry Beck (13) scored 33 points beating Owen Lloyd (9) on count back.
Div A (0-18)
1st Jim Brackett (9/Hi6.4) 41pts
2nd Svenn Lund Ole (18/Hi14.9) 37pts
3rd Steve Mann (12/Hi9.7) 34pts
4th Kerry Beck (13/Hi10.3) 33pts
5th Owen Lloyd (9/Hi6.3) 33pts
Div B (19+)
1st Les Easton (20/Hi16.2) 36pts
2nd David Maddox (23/Hi18.5) 36pts
3rd John O’Keefe (21/Hi17) 35pts
4th Bob Lindborg (24/Hi19.8) 35pts
5th Howard Marsden (23/Hi18.6) 33pts
Tuesday, April 10, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
There were just 10 players today (9 men and 1 lady) who went to PCC to play the front nine twice; first 9 white tees, and the second 9 blue, with red and white for the lady.
The course was deserted and the rounds were about 3½ hours. Work has already begun in earnest on the back nine and a number of new tees are being built on the front nine, which is in reasonable condition.
Today we said ‘goodbye’ to the jovial – ever smiling – John White who returns to Dublin for a few months, also it was the last Tuesday for Ian Covill who returns to the UK to continue his medical treatment. All Outbackers look forward to the return of these good friends.
The hamster man John White (22) led the way with 35 points, and a ‘2’ bringing an even bigger smile. Returning after a few weeks away Terry Marney (29) took second place, also with 35 but losing on count back.
Tuesday’s regular organiser, ‘Chad’ Barry Chadbourn (21) was 3rd with 34 points.
The other ‘2’ was from our regular ‘Tuesday girl’ Noy.
Just as a note; the competition at PCC, playing the front 9 twice, was run using the player’s Handicap Index and not their playing handicap due to a software problem. The scores below reflect the adjusted scores after the playing handicaps have been applied but will not affect the result of the competition as declared. It is hoped the bug in the software will be corrected shortly.
1st Terry Marney (31/Hi29.3) 36pts
2nd Barry Chadbourn (22/Hi21) 35pts
3rd John White (23/Hi21.9) 35pts
Wednesday, April 11, Bangpra – Stableford
So after the trials and tribulations over the last few weeks, General Jack finally got himself out onto a golf course and what better place to play than Bangpra. Great value for money (1,000 Baht) walking and in fabulous condition with the slopey greens making the putting an extra special test.
32 Outbackers here for the experience, as we teed off, dead on time; it was perhaps a little slow for some, about four hours forty but there were a lot a people on the course, which is hardly surprising, given the price. It is pretty certain that the Outback will return here a couple of times during the low season but please be prepared for the round to take a bit more than the average.
Capt’ Steve got himself off to a great start getting up and down from the edge of the first green to make his par before his chip from the back of the second came up short and he missed the putt for bogey. After bogeying the third; he then parred the 4th, birdied the 5th & 6th and parred the 7th for a haul of 14 points in four holes, from which he never really looked back. Good golf mate!
Two Martins filled the top two places in Div B with Crichton (37pts) beating Kingswood (34pts) comprehensively by three shots and Suzi grabbing the third spot, also with 34.
With the course set up with some long par threes it was not a surprise that there was only one ‘2’, which came from Rosco on the 8th.
Div A (0-14)
1st Steve Mann (10/Hi9.7) 39pts
2nd Grant Airey (10) 36pts
3rd Paul Greenaway (9/Hi9.4) 34pts
Div B (15+)
1st Martin Crichton (17/Hi16) 37pts
2nd Martin Kingswood (16/Hi15.1) 34pts
3rd Suzi Lawton (21/Hi19.1) 34pts
Friday, April 13, Green Valley – Stableford
Although yet another holiday, there was an excellent turnout of 36 players at Green Valley for our usual Friday competition, on a bright, breezy, sunny day but unfortunately the breeze died away and the day got progressively hotter and hotter.
The course was still in great condition even though the greens were certainly a lot slower than the previous week. The pace of play was a little slower than normal but all players were finished in under four and a half hours, not bad for a holiday and the course was well booked as evidenced by the lack of car parking spaces.
The Outback is to give up using the EGA handicapping system after a trial period of just under a year; at yesterday’s first meeting of the new Outback Committee, the Outback decided to adopt a true CONGU system of handicapping and considering that a lot of players played with a lower handicap than last week the scores in fact were a lot better. The decision to change was brought about by the complications of player’s handicaps changing as much as four or five shots at different courses and players admitting that they didn’t really know what their true handicap was.
A couple of welcome notes to some Outback newbies; namely Svein Sorenson, recently moved here from Norway and in particular Terry Phur. Also welcome back to Alan Buchanan who joined his Dad, Frank and brother, Dave for a game today.
Division 3 winner was Greg Ritchie who had the best score of the day with 40 points off his 21 handicap, from Sugar Ray Handford with 37 points on his 18 handicap who beat Terry Phur also on a 18 handicap on a count back.
Division 2 winner was Svenn Ole Lund with 38 points on his 15 handicap from Doug Campbell with 36 points on his 13 handicap and in third place was Bobby Driggs with 35 points on his 14 handicap.
Division 1 saw Dave Buchanan shoot a 71 gross for 39 points off his 2 handicap, a great round, second was Chis Davisson (10) with 37 points, from in third place Capt’ Steve (9) with 34.
There were two ‘2’s for the day and they went to Ian Heddle on hole 12 and Doug Campbell on Hole 16.
Div A (0–11)
1st Dave Buchanan (2/Hi1.7) 39pts
2nd Chris Davisson (10/Hi10.4) 37pts
3rd Steve Mann (9/Hi8.9) 34pts
Div B (12–16)
1st Svenn Ole Lund (15/Hi14.6) 38pts
2nd Doug Campbell (13/Hi12.5) 36pts
3rd Bobby Driggs (14/Hi13.9) 35pts
Div C (17+)
1st Greg Ritchie (21/Hi21.1) 40pts
2nd Sugar Ray Handford (18/Hi18.3) 37pts
3rd Terry Phur (18/Hi17.5) 37pts
The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 087 941 2474.
