The Pattaya Golf Society at The Elephant Bar
1st Anders Haglund (14) 36pts
T2nd Phil Carter (13) 34pts
T2nd Mike Marshall (15) 34pts
Three groups from the Pattaya Golf Society ventured up Highway Three to play Crystal Bay on Monday 21 July. After being allocated C and A nines, the first group got away early on a course far from busy.
The PGS has not had Crystal Bay on its rota for some time, due to the standard of the greens encountered on our last visit. Following some positive feed-back from what we thought were reliable sources, we were keen to get this otherwise popular course back on our schedule. Unfortunately, whilst the fairways and general layout is good, those putting surfaces are still sub-standard.
Perhaps that part-explains why the winning scores, often around 40 points on this course, were today more modest. In second-equal place were two visitors from Australia, Phil Carter and Mike Marshall, both playing their first round with us this trip. In first place, playing in only his second round with the PGS was another newcomer, Anders Haglund, this time from Sweden. It is nice to see our PGS regulars doing all they can to make the recent arrivals feel so welcome!
The lucky beer draw went to Toshihiro Aoki. The Booby Bevy went to Geoff Reynolds following his, to some, dubious explanation of discovering a Thai pro-shop with no balls.
There were two ‘2’s today, C4 – Anders Haglund, and C7 – Erik Anttonen.
A special mention goes to both Phil and Mike, who along with two of their peers, all volunteered shots from their handicap following discussion about recent changes to how Golf Australia (GA) now administers its handicaps.
Other Pattaya golf societies really do need to appraise themselves of the changes brought in by GA in January of this year. Not to do so may see visitors from Australia unwittingly provide an inflated handicap.
Green Valley – A lovely walk in the park.
1st Tom Murphy (20) 42pts
2nd David Thomas (10) 38pts
T3rd Phil Carter (13) 34pts
T3rd Larry Slattery (18) 34pts
T3rd Murray Edwards (21) 34pts
Four groups from the Pattaya Golf Society made the short 40-minute trip down Highway 36, to the Rayong Green Valley turnoff. After paying a green-fee/caddie fee of 1350B (walking), the first of our playing groups were at the starting tee some 20 minutes early. It was only after they had teed off that a four-ball belonging to “Mr Mike” turned up to claim their rightful spot on the tee. The starter had mistakenly believed our first group belonged to Mr Mike. TiT! May pen rai.
Green Valley was in its usual very good condition; the fairways invariably offered a good lie and the bunkers were superbly presented, the compact sand offering the chance to play genuine attacking shots. The greens were perhaps over-watered in that any high approach shot stopped dead in its own significant indentation. This meant that many putting surfaces wore the scars of pitch-mark repair that had left many bald spots. A minor point in the overall context of things – a great course combined with superb weather made for a lovely walk in the park.
Today’s scoring showed just two players under par, one significantly so. This player, Tom Murphy, a visiting Aussie playing with the PGS for the first time, had the sort of round we all dream about. “Yeah right” I hear you doubting Thomas’ intone. But in this case, the player, when registering with the IPGC, had supplied a hard-copy printout of his Golf Australia handicap, complete with details of his last 20 rounds. Tom’s superb winning round was deservedly applauded by all at the presentation.
A warm welcome was extended to new IPGC members, Dianne and the aforementioned Tom Murphy, from Queensland, Australia. It was Dianne who received the day’s Booby Bevy, in part a welcome but also to ensure she didn’t feel left out, given her other half had swept up the day’s big prize.
There were three ‘2’s today; two by Phil Carter on holes 5 and 16, and one by Jon Batty on 12.
A great day’s golf played on an excellent course in superb weather. Can’t get better than this, can it?
Pattavia – best VFM golf in Pattaya
1st Tom Murphy (20) 38pts
2nd Mike Marshall (15) 37pts
3rd Erik Anttonen (9) 36pts
4th Takeshi Hakozaki (9) 33pts
Friday 25 July saw the Pattaya Golf Society take a good turnout of six groups up the 331 to the much-improved Pattavia Century Golf Club. Golfers past would recall the name Century Conburi, Pattavia’s predecessor.
The course, benefiting from significant sponsorship from Chang, has had a facelift that redefines the word facelift. In short, both the course and clubhouse have gone from downright ugly to absolutely stunning. And the current promotion price of 850B green-fee caddie-fee represents the best value-for-money golf deal going.
Whilst the course layout is testing, the real challenge starts on the greens. Many of the day’s pin placements were on slopes where the grain followed the gradient. With grain having such influence on speed of putt, it was not too difficult for a gently-stroked four-footer shaving the hole, to finally come to rest some 15 feet away. In stark contrast, the return putt, uphill and into the grain, had to be hit firmly to have any chance.
Today the Pattaya Golf Society welcomed back old friends; Steve Jones from the UK, and Tim Dale from WA, Australia. It also said farewell to Erik Anttonen, Finland, Willie Barbour, England, and three Aussie visitors from WA; Phil Carter, Mike Marshall and Dick Batson.
Today’s field size warranted four podium places, and with the course playing tough, each one of them deserved their rewards. In-form winner, Tom Murphy, enjoyed his second win in as many starts, whilst Mike Marshall had his best round this trip. PGS regular Erik Anttonen made it three golfers who matched or bettered par; an excellent performance given today’s pin-placements.
There were two ‘2’s, from Erik Anttonen on 4, and Tom Murphy on 17.
Back at the Elephant Bar, the Booby Bevy went to the deserving John O’Sullivan who managed to lose his keys – house and car – meaning he had to organise a break-in to obtain a back-up set. He later discovered where they had gone – to the bottom of his golf bag. Perhaps the Booby Bevy combined with the free meal, which is always provided to the golfers, helped a little.
