PSC golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, Dec. 10, Burapha – Stableford
Even though a holiday, an excellent turnout of 29 players came to Burapha (helped partially by the excellent rate on offer) to play A and B from the blue markers; a great test of golf and the course showed its teeth as the wind was up, the greens were slick and the rough was brutal. The course was in good condition but still needs to dry out some more, if only the rain would stop!
As it was a holiday and the course was heavily booked but the pace of play was still good and the starter got us off early again.
Good to have carts for a change as a number of players had just finished marshalling at Amata Springs in the Thai International and Ivan Plunkett needed to try out his new Srixon range ball from Amata Springs. It must have worked as Ivan had the best score for the day with 34 points off his 22 handicap to win Division 2 and a very surprised Rosco (14) won Division 1 with a mere 33 points on a count back from Peter Francis playing off 9 handicap.
Friday’s top scorer Paul Greenaway (left) with Division B winner Sel Wegner.
Mick Indge showed a return to form to have a placing in Division 2, fourth with 31pts and picked up one of the two ‘2’s for the day with the other going to Kev Watson both on A3.
Great to see some old faces return to Thailand in Bill Bishop, Mitch Black and Mike Shreve, welcome back to all as well as the Headland boys, who are with us all week.
Div A (0–14)
1st Rosco Langoulant (14) 33pts
2nd Peter Francis (9) 33pts
3rd Svenn Ole Lund (14) 31pts
Div B (15+)
1st Ivan Plunkett (22) 34pts
2nd Lindsay Parchert (23) 33pts
3rd John O’Keefe (15) 32pts
Tuesday, Dec. 11, Khao Kheow – Stableford
Yippee! At last Khao Kheow had a great turn-out of 29 players playing C & B loops, long may it last after several weeks of low numbers; and what makes it even better is the course is slowly returning to its former glory. It was in good shape today, as there repaired fairways were coming good and the greens on C were like lightning but B’s were slightly, and I mean ever-so slightly, slower.
Jon Welch – winner at Siam Plantation on Wednesday.
Even the staff were more than delighted to see the numbers back up and at this moment they are doing a special promotion for those who take a cart, you get a free beer. What more do you want than to play golf and come back into the club house for a cold beer, delightful. Sorry walkers.
All in all it was a great day out and I think we all enjoyed playing here.
Steve Plant, having his first game since an extended stay in the UK, corrected his handicap from 16 to 13 and promptly went out and shot the lights out with a fantastic 41pts to win Div A by six from all of his fellow playing partners, namely Paul, Paul and Steve. And what made it even sweeter the Brits (Steve Plant & Paul Greenaway) gave the Aussies (Paul Bourke & Capt’ Steve) a bit of a spanking, well done lads!
Div B went to the Headland boys’ tour leader, Lindsay Parchert with 34, for which he has no doubt been snipped unofficially and he beat Colin Faraday & Andy Makara with 32 & 31pts respectively.
Finally, Steve Plant capped off his great day out with the only ‘2’ and a Bell ring at the bar, thanks mate.
Div A (0-16)
1st Steve Plant (13) 41pts
2nd Paul Greenaway (8) 35pts
3rd Paul Bourke (9) 35pts
Div B (17+)
1st Lindsay Parchert (23) 34pts
2nd Colin Faraday (18) 32pts
3rd Andy Makara (28) 31pts
Wednesday, Dec. 12, Siam Plantation – Stableford
A full house of 16 players at Siam Plantation today to play the B & C loops, for the usual early start on a beautiful Thailand day, sunny with a light breeze and not too hot.
Even though Siam has great drainage, this superb course has suffered from the prolonged rainy periods with the fairways being very close to being waterlogged and most players finding plugged balls on the fairways and rough, so it was lucky that we played ‘lift, clean and place’. However, the course generally was still in fine condition, with the greens true as usual and the bunkers also in good shape but the course was the winner on the day with only two players managing to shoot par for the day.
They were both Headland boys as Jon Welch notched up his second victory of their tour, winning with 37pts from one of his fellow tourists, Peter Francis, who scored an excellent 36pts off his handicap of 9; regular member, Steve Poznanski toon third with 35.
There were just two ‘2’s from Jon Welch and Alan Parker.
1st Jon Welch (16) 37pts
2nd Peter Francis (9) 36pts
3rd Steve Poznanski (14) 35pts
Wednesday, Dec. 12, The Emerald – Stableford
At our second venue today, a reduced field of five players here at Emerald after a couple of late withdrawals, where Sugar showed his liking for the venue, to play to his handicap to cruise to the win and welcome to Rick Kaban from Calgary, who took second on 34. Sugar also recorded the only ‘2’.
1st Sugar Ray Handford (19) 36pts
2nd Rick Kaban (15) 34pts
3rd Bob Lindborg (19) 31pts
Friday, Dec. 14, Green Valley – Stableford
Thirty-six players to Green Valley for our normal Friday outing; and it’s pleasing to report that the course has started to dry out after all the rain and the fairways & rough are very good and well manicured; but some bunkers have not been fully restored or had sand replaced but overall they were fine.
The greens have been lightly sanded and were very slick but they were not so true as most of the surfaces were not flat which made putting a bit hit and miss. So hopefully, the greenkeeper will get to work on them as soon as possible to restore them to their normal good condition.
The day was hot and sunny with little or no breeze and some players felt the heat by the end of the round, which took just over four and half hours, but that’s because Green Valley is very heavily booked and this will continue through the high season
Congratulations to Paul Greenaway, who easily had the best score for the day with 41 points off his 8 handicap to win Division 1; with other good scores coming from the recently returned from Aus, Sel Wegner (13), Division 2 winner with 35 points to win by three from the regular podium finisher, John O’Keefe(15) on 32. Ed Horrocks (22), was the Division 3 winner with 38 points from runner-up, David Day (19) on 36.
There were three ‘2’s from Steve Plant, Dennis Pelly and John O’Keefe.
Div A (0–11)
1st Paul Greenaway (8) 41pts
2nd Grant Airey (8) 34pts
3rd Stephen Mann (9) 33pts
Div B (12–17)
1st Sel Wegner (13) 35pts
2nd John O’Keefe (15) 32pts
3rd Martin Kingswood (13) 32pts
Div C (18+)
1st Horrocks Ed (22) 38pts
2nd David Day (19) 36pts
3rd Dennis Farmer (18) 32pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 087 941 2474.
