PSC Golf from The Outback Golf Bar
Monday, Dec. 29, Burapha – Stableford
Business still appears to be slow at Burapha, as our seven groups had the A course to themselves only to catch up with two slower groups who made the B course 40mins longer to play. However we still finished in about four hours.
Les Easton celebrated his return by winning Div B with 37pts from Bob Lindborg (36), Jean-Guy Gaudet (35) and hello again to Peter Macnoe, who took fourth on count back also with 35pts.
Grant Airey won the top division with the day’s best score of 39, beating Tommy Jensen on 37, while Jarod Braithwaite played better today to take third with 36 and a jet lagged Andre Coetzee was next with 34.
From left clockwise: Jarod Braithwaite (seated), Les Easton, Jean Guy and Grant Airey.
There were four ‘2’s from Tommy Jensen (A3), Carl Luke &Jean-Guy Gaudet (B3) and Andre Coetzee (B8).
Outback observation: Weather – sunny with a cool wind; Check in – friendly & quick; Tee time – early; Fairways – dry with lots of run; Rough – fair; Greens – fast and true; Bunkers – variable; Value for money – reasonable for high season; Pace of play – four hours, course quiet; Drink stations open – three open; Restaurant – not visited.
Div A (0-18)
1st Grant Airey (11) 39pts
2nd Tommy Jensen (18) 37pts
3rd Jarod Braithwaite (17) 36pts
4th Andre Coetzee (07) 34pts
Div B (19+)
1st Les Easton (24) 37pts
2nd Bob Lindborg (25) 36pts
3rd Jean Guy Gaudet (19) 35pts
4th Peter Macnoe (21) 35pts
Wednesday, Dec. 31, The Emerald – Stableford
New Year’s Eve and a very rare visit to the Emerald proved to be a resounding success as some 39 players turned out to play this gem of a course on the last day of 2014.
Kim Danboise (centre) flanked by Adrian Schmidt (left) and Peter Bye.
Roughly rated and sloped a few years back by myself and a PSC team at 69.6/133 from the whites, it was quite clear from the scoring today that the rating is on the low side and the slope is a bit steep. This will be added to the long list of courses to be re-rated and sloped by a new team, which includes both courses at the Navy, Greenwood, Khao Kheow, Pattavia, Pattana and Pattaya Country Club to name but a few.
Sugar Ray demonstrated his love for this course by winning the John Preddy Memorial here a few weeks ago and he went out and did it again today, scoring 38 points, including two ‘2’s, to win Div B and in the process he was one of only three players who equalled or bettered Jack’s target for the day of 38 to win the 500 Baht bonus voucher to be spent in the bar. That feat was matched also by Eddy Beilby with day’s top score of 40 to win Div C and Brendan Cope, runner-up in C also with 38, leaving Jack some 1500 baht out of pocket!
Minor places were filled in B Flight by Andy Goodwin 2nd with 34, John O’Keefe 3rd with 34 and welcome to Robbie Taylor 4th on 33.
In C Flight, 3rd and 4th places were taken by myself (34) and Ken Grimes (31), welcome to you too Ken.
Returning to the course rating briefly, the big indicator that it is too low is that the top score in Div A was only 34 points. When using the EGA handicap system, which we used today, although the slope is applied in the same way as the USGA system, in addition you have to subtract the rating (69.6) from the par of the course (72) and subtract that amount (2.4) from the resulting course handicap, so low markers handicaps actually go down.
The very consistent duo of Peter Nixon and Geoff Stimpson both had 34 points in Div A, ahead of Bob St. Aubin (33) and Steve Mann (32).
There were seven ‘2’s from & Murray Hart (5th), Carl Luke & Robbie Taylor (7th), Kim Danboise, Alex Graham & another from Sugar Ray (15th).
Outback observation: Weather – sunny with a strong wind early; Check in – very efficient; Tee time – on time; Fairways – reasonable, patchy; Rough – fair; Greens – tricky as ever; Bunkers – variable, some not raked too well; Value for money – excellent for a holiday; Pace of play – about four and a half hours; Drink stations open – all open (3); Restaurant – not visited.
Div A (0-13)
1st Peter Nixon (11) 34pts
2nd Geoff Stimpson (06) 34pts
3rd Bob St. Aubin (13) 33pts
4th Stephen Mann (09) 32pts
Div B (14-19)
1st Sugar Ray Handford (17) 38pts
2nd Andy Goodwin (17) 34pts
3rd John O’Keefe (18) 34pts
4th Robbie Taylor (14) 33pts
Div C (20+)
1st Eddy Beilby (20) 40pts
2nd Brendan Cope (28) 38pts
3rd Jack Moseley (23) 34pts
4th Ken Grimes (20) 31pts
Friday, Jan. 2, Green Valley – Stableford
Quite a remarkable turnout at Green Valley on Friday on this Bridge National Holiday as the field swelled from around 35 on Thursday afternoon to 62 by six o’clock that evening, giving General Jack a considerable headache as he shuffled everybody around. On the day all but one turned up, which was fantastic, and the one who didn’t show excused himself through injury well in advance, so well done all of you.
We were away early and squeezed the groups out as fast as we could at about six minute intervals, but we did overrun our allotted time a little so my apologies once again to the Green Valley Hackers for delaying you guys by 20 minutes or so.
It was a truly International field with players from England, Scotland, Ireland, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Denmark; a very big welcome to all of you, particularly the first timers with the Outback.
As the first tournament of 2015, and with so many players, Jack decided to break from traditional and go with an overall winner, carrying a good sized purse, which went to probably the most improved player at the Outback in 2014, Kim Danboise with 39 points, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he wins Player of Year either. Well done Kim!
All four podium finishers in Div A recorded 37 points, which was won on c/b by newcomer Adrian Smith followed by Estonians, Kristian Spongolts and Raivo Velsberg while Green Valley regular Peter Nixon was fourth. The margins for the c/b were 21/18/14,18/12 & 15.
Div B went to Finland’s Seppo Konito, also with 37 points and beating Pete Stonebridge on c/b. The minor places were filled by Kerry Rothman (Chopper) and Mark Allen, both on 35.
Finally, the first three in Div C all scored 36, with Greg Hill getting the nod from Scott Wilson and Stephen Blazsanyik (Waldo) with the c/b margins looking like this, 18/13,18/11,17. Reijo Heiskanen took fourth on 34.
Tim Knight kindly sponsored four near pins in celebration of his birthday on the 1st Jan, and they were won by Bruce McAdam, Kim Danboise, Adrian Schmidt and Peter Bye.
There were nine ‘2’s today from Les Easton (5th), Adrian Schmidt, Kim Danboise, Murray Hart & Johannes Murken (8th), Adrian Schmidt & Bob Finley (12th) and Kristjan Spongolts (16th). Steve Mann also had one but we don’t have a record of which hole.
Outback observation: Weather – Clear blue sky throughout with a strong breeze, lessening on the back nine; Check in – good; Tee time – 15 mins early; Fairways – Slightly wind burnt on some fairways; Rough – Dry in certain areas; Greens – Moderate; Bunkers – variable, some not raked too well; Value for money – Good for a holiday rate, especially if you paid Jack in advance; Pace of play – about 4hrs 15mins; Drink stations – all open (5); Restaurant – John & Jeff’s for a beer or 2.
Overall
1st Kim Danboise (14) 39pts
Div A (0-12)
1st Adrian Schmidt (11) 37pts
2nd Kristjan Spongolts (11) 37pts
3rd Raivo Velsberg (06) 37pts
4th Peter Nixon (11) 37pts
Div B (13-17)
1st Seppo Konito (17) 37pts
2nd Pete Stonebridge (17) 37pts
3rd Kerry Rothman (14) 35pts
4th Mark Allen (17) 35pts
Div C (18+)
1st Greg Hill (19) 36pts
2nd Scott Wilson (18) 36pts
3rd Stephen Blazsanyik (21) 36pts
4th Reijo Heiskanen (19) 34pts
Note: The Outback Golf Bar is situated about 6km from Sukhumvit Road along Soi Siam Country. Call Jack on 081 578 1956.
