The Bunker Boys Golf Society
Monday, May 22, Crystal Bay (white tees) – Medal
1st Neil Carter (13) net 69
2nd Colin Greig (11) net 74
3rd Geoff Parker (14) net
Near Pins: Neil Carter, Mashi Kenata, Geoff Parker
A surprise awaited the less observant of our members today on the first tee when they were reminded that it was a medal round. Whilst medal is good for golf discipline it not the favourite format of many.
It seemed we were a bit slow off the first tee with the first group having to wait for caddies and carts. Despite the course being empty play was slower than it needed to be – it is very hard to police slow play without an independent adjudicator, it would seem the only answer is to group consistently slow players together and put them out last off the tee.
Today temperatures were the highest we have encountered this season and by end of the round, everyone was saturated in perspiration. The conditions didn’t seem to affect the winner Neil Carter though as he returned a fine score of 3 under his handicap. Neil is looking like a serious challenger for “Golfer of the Month”. The other two in the frame were Colin Greig and Geoff Parker whose positions were decided on count back. Only three of the four near pins were claimed.
Wednesday, May 24, Kabinburi Sports Club (white tees) – Stableford
1st Neil Carter (12) 35pts
2nd Colin Greig (11) 34pts
3rd Les Cobban (9) 33pts
Near Pins: Colin Greig (2), Les Cobban
Having experienced the wild life at Crystal Bay on Monday and celebrated the fact we hadn’t encountered snakes it had to happen, today we had snakes. Luckily no problems. The course was not up to expectation, the fairways were cored and sanded in places and not in others, and the greens were extremely slow, but at its best it’s easy to see how good this course could be.
Scoring was not of the highest standard, probably due to the slow greens, with Neil Carter taking first place. The rest of the scores are best ignored.
Thursday, May 25, Kabinburi Sports Club (white tees) – Medal
1st Tony Robbins (20) net 73
2nd Mike Brett (16) net 73
3rd Les Cobban (9) net 75
Near Pins: Geoff Parker, Tony Robbins
What an inspired choice to make an overnight stay in Kabinburi with two rounds of golf when our booking at Bangkapong was cancelled. Just 3200 baht for accommodation and two rounds of golf including caddie was excellent value. Rooms at the Serenity Resort and Spa were excellent, the food was top shelf and the service cordial and professional.
The golf course, though not at its best in parts on the first day, was improved enormously overnight and provided plenty of challenge. The maintenance staff must have worked hard to clean up all the scarified areas and brushed in the sand on the fairways. It seemed that golfers adjusted quickly today to the slow greens and played much better.
At 8,052 yards Kabinburi lays claim to being the longest course in Thailand and has six tee positions on every hole, enough to accommodate all standards of golfers. Though the fairways are generous there are enough water hazards throughout the course to encourage caution with many shots. Risk and reward was the order of the day.
Today’s round was medal, an unforgiving format where one bad hole can ruin an otherwise good round. The winner on the day was Tony Robbins, beating Michael Brett into second place on count back.
It has been suggested that this trip becomes a bi-monthly event and the suggestion has much merit. The possibility also exists to arrange an inter-society competition, and if the pricing can be replicated there is no reason why this could not happen.
Friday, May 26, Pattaya C.C. (white tees) – Stableford
1st Mike Brett (16) 39pts
2nd Tony Robbins (20) 38pts
3rd Colin Greig (11) 36pts
Near Pins: Colin Greig, Peter Allan, Mike Lloyd, Stuart Tinkler.
After the well turned out second day at Kabinburi, Pattaya Country Club course was a disappointment, being in such poor condition. The front nine had fairways in need of mowing, covered in sand and generally in very shabby condition while the back nine was only slightly better, except for the greens which were in good shape but uncharacteristic slow. This course has a few things in its favor:
(1) Its proximity to Pattaya
(2) A better than average clubhouse
(3) A course which is essentially a good interesting layout with plenty of variety.
Rain threatened all day but luckily held off, however, it was hot and humid until the back nine when a cooling breeze came up. The quality of caddies covered the full spectrum from excellent to untrained. The speed of play was satisfactory except when there was a wait for caddies to catch up with their player, a frustration people struggling with their game could ill afford.
Under the circumstances, scoring was of a reasonable standard. After scrambling well all day the eventual winner Michael Brett returned a respectable thirty-nine points, reversing positions with Tony Robbins from the previous day. Third place went to Colin Greig who is locked in a battle with Geoff Parker and Neil Carter for ‘Golfer of the Month’.
