PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, June 3,The Emerald – Stableford
With a field of 21 golfers signed up we met at the Growling Swan in readiness for the journey to Emerald and there were several welcomes to be handed out. Graham “Grunter” Buckingham was back from his annual sojourn to the UK, Eddie Townsend from Perth, Western Australia, Paul Jackson who is here for 6 weeks from Melbourne, Australia and newcomer Ed Wyckoff, formerly from Alabama, USA but now residing in Pattaya.
Everyone was on time so we headed off South in 2 mini vans and did encounter some light rain during the journey which prompted Eddie Townsend to remark on 2 occasions that we would be getting wet bums during the course of the day. He was later fined for making these foolish & inaccurate remarks so should think twice before making weather predictions in future.
Geoff Bracegirdle & Ed Wyckoff.
We arrived at the course 45 minutes later where the place was practically deserted and invited to tee off at our leisure. Under overcast skies our first four-ball teed off 15 minutes ahead of schedule and with no-one to be seen in front of us we proceeded at a cracking pace, completing the front nine in just one hour & forty five minutes. The rain clouds disappeared of course and conditions were perfect for golf as it was not too hot and there was a gentle breeze.
The golf course was looking good but there were many GUR areas on the fairways and the greens were quite slow, particularly on the front nine after recent coring & sanding. Nonetheless it was still a pleasure to play this excellent but tough layout and our good pace continued enabling us to complete the full round in the very good time of three hours and forty minutes.
We were able to have 2 Grades with four podium spots in each. A Grade was for handicaps 0 to 16 and B Grade for 17 and over. There were rewards for nearest the pins on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
It was very tight at the top of A Grade with 2 golfers on 38 points and the resultant count back saw newcomer Ed Wyckoff (20 point back nine) finish first from the in-form Kevin Waycott (18 point back nine) in second spot. With four players on 36 points another count back was necessary to decide third & fourth places and it was Ebrahim (20 point back nine & 15 points on the last 6 holes) edging out your writer, Peter Blackburn (20 point back nine & 14 points on the last 6 holes). Missing out on a podium placing were Alain “Inspector Clouseau” Taddei (19 point back nine) and Ken Hole (15 point back nine).
Geoff Bracegirdle returned to form and finished on top in B Grade with 36 points, 2 points ahead of Irishman Geri Crilly in second spot. Eddie Townsend was third with 32 points and Graham “Grunter” Buckingham’s 31 points was enough to earn him fourth place.
A Flight (0-16)
1st Ed Wyckoff (10) 38pts
2nd Kevin Waycott (10) 38pts
3rd Ebrahim (15) 36pts
4th Peter Blackburn (11) 36pts
B Flight (17+)
1st Geoff Bracegirdle (20) 36pts
2nd Geri Crilly (27) 34pts
3rd Eddie Townsend (17) 32pts
4th Graham Buckingham (24) 31pts
Near Pins: 5th – Ken Hole, 7th – Ken Hole, 13th – Kevin Waycott, 15th – Ebrahim
Long Putts: 9th – Ed Wyckoff, 18th – Mark West
The Growling Swan NAGA Award, (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won once again by Sandy “Leiperfrog” Leiper who naturally accepted the award in fine spirit. Unfortunately the organiser, yours truly forgot to bring the NAGA cap so Sandy was unable to wear it and was devastated when told that he would not appear in the photo.
Thursday, June 6, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
Following the withdrawal of your writer due to a motorbike accident on Wednesday we were down to just 15 golfers for the journey to Mountain Shadow and as we assembled at the Growling Swan we welcomed Tony Yemn from Western Australia who was with us for the first time. I farewelled the guys at 8.35 am, 5 minutes later than scheduled and am told the journey was just 44 minutes.
The course was looking good and the first group got away about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, completing the round in about four hours & ten minutes.
Due to the smaller field we just had the one grade and went down to five places. There were rewards for nearest the pins on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
In top spot was veteran Ted Morris and his 37 points was the best score of the day. With 3 golfers on 34 points a count back was required which resulted in Ebrahim (17 point back nine) finishing second from Sal Brizzi (16 point back nine) in third place and Paul Hack (15 point back nine) was fourth. Another count back saw Mark West (18 point back nine) finish fifth, edging out the luckless Geri Crilly (16 point back nine) with both having 33 points.
1st Ted Morris (12) 37pts
2nd Ebrahim (15) 34pts
3rd Sal Brizzi (7) 34pts
4th Paul Hack (11) 34pts
5th Mark West (14) 33pts
Near Pins: 5th – Ted Morris, 8th – Ebrahim, 15th – Paul Hack, 17th – Ebrahim
Long Putts: 9th – Geri Crilly, 18th – Sal Brizzi
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was won by newcomer Tony Yemn and graciously accepted the cap. Dick “Reverend” Braimbridge was kind enough to parade Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
I would appear that a good time was had by all. I would personally like to thank Paul Hack, Graham Buckingham and Dick Braimbridge for stepping in and covering for me on the day – Well done boys!
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan (formerly The Bunker Bar) in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn@ gmail.com.
