The Pattaya Golf Society (IPGC) at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society visited an empty Khao Kheow on Monday, 21st May, to play a stableford event on the B and A nines. It soon became apparent why the course is unpopular at present as the B nine was in a very depressed state, resembling a “cabbage patch” in the view of one senior member. Fairways are rough and have an assortment of different grasses growing there, areas of bare patches still exist after months and the greens are woeful with half complete re-turfed areas or heavy sanding. Nowhere exists GUR markers.
Thus the gardening exercise began and ended with James Smith and Alan Pilkington sharing third place with 32 points. Margaret Wilkinson, playing some very solid golf at the moment, came second with 33 points and the field was headed by Joe Niisato with a very creditable 35 points.
Joe also recorded the only birdie ‘2’ of the day on B3. The Booby Bevy went to John Mason after a four hour carousel with nature which saw him enter water, deep grass, sand and a hornets’ nest, whilst managing to accidentally release his nine iron on the Island Hole into the tallest coconut tree near the tee box. It was later retrieved by a workman and cost him one hundred baht for the effort. Well worth the cool beer methinks!
Khao Kheow is not an option at the moment and it is sad to see a once proud course in such a depressed state. Hopefully things will be rectified before the onset of the next high season.
Business as usual for Masa
The Pattaya Golf Society travelled to St Andrew’s to play its monthly medal round on Wednesday, 23rd May and found a quality course in excellent condition. The fairways are rich and full, the greens are consistent, if a little slow and the whole day was one for good scoring.
With the par set at 74, Ken Grimes performed well again to make third place with a level par net 74 whilst just ahead of him was the consistent Joe Niisato on net 73. The round of the day was recorded by Masa Takano, a delicious gross 76 giving him net 69. His golf at the moment is so impressive and is a reward for many hours on the practice range.
There were no birdie ‘2’s and the average net score for the day was 77, again an impressive figure. Well done all and Masa in particular.
Olliffe & Barrell top scramblers
The Pattaya Golf Society played their monthly charity event at Emerald on Friday, 25th May with the popular pairs scramble being the format. Nine teams turned out and with a healthy number of sponsors a good day was in prospect on the course which has seen some improvements in the last few weeks. Garry Hookey, Don Nellis, Rabbi and Mr Len all sponsored near pins and these were won by Margaret Wilkinson on hole five and Masa Takano on the others!
The best total on the par threes was ten and Seil Revels and Masa took the prize. The latter pair were the definite favourites for the main prize but they were pushed into fourth place by Steve Evans and Rabbi who combined well to finish on net 61.8. In second was the pairing of Garry Hookey and Tony Thorne and they finished on 60.4. The winners were a canny blend of long hitting and a high handicap and the very late pairing of Garry Olliffe and Bryan Barrel caught the imagination with an excellent 59 net.
Everyone had a share of the fun on the day and back at the Elephant Bar in Soi Buakhao the group were told that a magnificent 7K had been raised for the PGS adopted charity, the Fr Ray Foundation Outreach Center on Soi Thepprasit. With next month’s event already penned in at Eastern Star golfers can prepare themselves for another fine day out in Ban Chang.
