PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Dec. 1, Greenwood – Stableford
The C and A nines were the challenge for today, played in that order with the A nine used for count back purposes.
Fred Cuypers from Perth, Western Australia and Peter Bailey from Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia were welcomed.
The weather was pleasant, the fairways a bit heavy underfoot due to rain the previous evening whilst the greens were as smooth as a suppository coated in Mr Sheen.
Two farang five-balls hooked in at the half way mark in front of us, so the second stanza was as crowded as a group of transvestites around Dame Edna’s clothes line.
Left to right: John Anderson, Russell Calcutt and Stuart Rifkin.
Ebrahim continued his good form, handing in forty one points to finish atop the podium whilst Colm Mullen came home with a wet sail and scored thirty nine.
John Anderson, who commented “if you thought Bridget Bardot’s face has done a million miles you should see my golf swing”, broke his handicap for the first time in Thailand and also scored thirty nine points to take third spot.
Don Richardson rounded out the place getters with thirty eight.
1st Ebrahim (14) 41pts
2nd Colm Mullen (17) 39pts
3rd John Anderson (30) 39pts
4th Don Richardson (13) 38pts
Near Pins: Fred Cuypers A2, Ebrahim A6, Don Richardson C3 and Bob Akapita C6.
Long Putts: John Coetzee A9 and Don Richardson C9.
Our lady golfer Kae collected the coveted Compass Cap with a score lower than the scribe’s bank account interest.
The resident hound was the happy recipient of many donations for the needy children of Pattaya and the punters are once again thanked for their generosity.
Thursday, Dec. 4, Crystal Bay – Stableford
Another three buses left the Growling Swan with the forecast heavy rains not daunting the players, although two called in with health issues and could not make the day.
The course was busy, however we managed to tee off the white tees (6,450 yards) a little earlier than our 10 a.m. start time, using the A and C nines. Despite the course being busy the first group finished their round in four hours and ten minutes.
The presentation of the course was very good and the greens were in fine condition and certainly not as fast as many of the recent courses we have played.
Welcomes were made to ‘Big’ Johnny Parr, visiting from Rory’s territory in Northern Ireland, and Michael Catillon from France, who joined his French mates who play regularly at the Swan.
The expected rains fortunately never eventuated for us, however we noted how lucky we were as on the way back to Pattaya the roads were soaking wet only five minutes after leaving the course, and rains persisted intermittently all the way home and a deluge hammered down ten minutes after arriving back at the Growling Swan.
The field was divided into two grades with A grade being taken out by Stu Rifkin, who seems to have recovered from a tennis elbow issue that has seen him laid up from golf for a while. His 40 points was well clear of the consistent Sal Brizzi with 36 points and third was Ebrahim (Al Ansari) with 35, who beat the unfortunate Fred Cypers on a count back.
B Grade was well won also with a fine 40 points from John Anderson, however he only narrowly defeated Roy (I don’t believe it!) Dayton on a count back as Roy shot a fine round of 40 points too. Third place went to Bob Akapita with 36.
A Flight (0–17)
1st Stuart Rifkin (17) 40pts
2nd Sal Brizzi (6) 36pts
3rd Ebrahim Al-Ansari (14) 35pts
B Flight (18–36)
1st John Anderson (30) 40pts
2nd Roy Dayton (23) 40pts
3rd Bob Akapita (18) 36pts
Near Pins: A5 – Roy Dayton, A8 JJ Harney, C4 JC Lhost, C7 Michael Catillon
Long Putts: A9 Ebrahim Al-Ansari, C9 Sal Brizzi
Russell Calcutt graciously accepted the Compass Cap for the day’s lowest score and generously donated to Deefa the Charity Dog.
Note: The Growling Swan is a friendly PSC Golf outlet and welcomes all lovers of golf to join in and have a fun day out with us. We generally play Mondays and Thursdays with buses mostly departing at 8.30 am. Please contact Peter Grey on 0861 503086 if you are interested in a game.
The Growling Swan also caters to the lawn bowling enthusiasts. Bus transport leaves the Swan at 10.00 am to play at Coco’s under cover synthetic lawn bowls on Sundays and at the Retreat Lawn Bowls grass greens on Wednesdays, also departing at 10.00 am. The cost including bus transport, green fees and hot lunch is approx 300 hundred baht, so great value for a day out. Please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454005 if you would like to come along.
