PSC golf from the Outback Golf Bar
Monday, March 19, Banyan Hua Hin – Stableford
After a couple of late withdrawals, 61 golfers plus friends headed off on Sunday (18th) to play the inaugural Hua Hin Handicap. It was an easy drive straight up highway 3, on to the skyway, turning off at Rama 2, past the enormous triple headed elephant, over one of the most stunning bridges to be seen; and some three and a half hours later arriving in Hua Hin.
The group was split between two hotels, City Beach and The Thipurai but being only about 100 metres apart, the dual location presented no logistical problems.
The winner, Don Everett (centre) with runner up Rod Crosswell (left) and third placed Barney Clarkson.
Hua Hin at night has a lot to offer, although generally more expensive than Pattaya, it’s a much cleaner town with many small sois bustling with a vibrant nightlife of bar and restaurants with almost a Southern European flavour.
The first round of the three day competition was on Monday (19th) at the stunning Banyan course, where the management once again excelled themselves with their hospitality and organisation. The weather was also amazing, wall to wall sunshine with a light breeze that strengthened throughout the day to a stiff breeze at the outside restaurant at the clubhouse.
The course was beautifully manicured and the greens around 9.5 on the stimp; Joe (the Pro) said a couple of weeks ago they had been up around 11 but they were plenty fast enough! The fairways were a delight with never a bad lie and we played from the white tees at around 6,200 yards but the tricky sloped greens kept most of the scores very honest and it was true to say that most “if only” tales were about the missed putts.
Not only was there a three day competition but also the regular daily comp. split into four divisions; with probably Div B being the most competitive with a handicap range of just three (12–14).
The top score of the day came surprisingly from Andy Makara with a fabulous 41pts, completely trouncing the rest of his division (Div D) and setting himself up for a big lead in the overall. The minor places some seven shots back had three tied on 34pts, led by Chris Van Hausen, followed by Don Everett and regular Outbacker, Brian Maddox.
Jim Bryan headed Div C on 36pts ahead of the Sugarman (35) and the newly appointed Outback Golf Secretary, Suzi Lawton also on 35.
Div B had the only other player to break handicap, Murray Hart, with a fine 37 with Rod Crosswell snapping on his heels with 36, Jeff Calrow & Mick Leighton one point further back and the pack right behind as many more scored between 32 and 34.
Big hitting Lloyd Shuttleworth shot a level handicap 36pts in the top flight, as did Brian Holden playing off just one shot more, with the minor places being filled by Mark Reid and the new Outback Captain Steve Mann, both on 35.
There were six ‘2’s from General Jack (hole 2), Keith Buchanan & Paul Greenaway (hole 4) and three more on hole 17; from Murray Hart, Pete Stonebridge and big Steve Poznanski.
Div A (0-11)
1st Lloyd Shuttleworth (5/Hi6.6) 36pts
2nd Brian Holden (6/Hi7.5) 36pts
3rd Mark Reid (7/Hi8) 35pts
Div B (12-14)
1st Murray Hart (13/Hi13.9) 37pts
2nd Rod Crosswell (13/Hi14) 36pts
3rd Jeff Calrow (13/Hi13.7) 35pts
Div C (15-20)
1st Jim Bryan (15/Hi15.4) 36pts
2nd Sugar Ray Handford (17/Hi17.7) 35pts
3rd Suzi Lawton (18/Hi20.6) 35pts
Div D (21+)
1st Andy Makara (31/Hi30.9) 41pts
2nd Chris Van Hausen (24/Hi24.4) 34pts
3rd Don Everett (22/Hi22.2) 34pts
Tuesday, March 20, Springfield – Stableford
And so to Springfield for round two, a Jack Nicklaus resort style course of some maturity now, compared to the modern style of Banyan the previous day. Almost 40km north of Hua Hin, we arrived here in about 35 minutes with the exception of one player, who thought he’d have a look at Petchaburi first and ending up playing the course back to front by joining the General’s three ball on the tenth and then playing the front nine on his own with a marker. There were a couple of other bits of drama as two of the players couldn’t be found and also for some unknown reason, the course managed to run out of carts.
It was another splendid day for weather with not a cloud in sight but the course looked a little tired compared with Banyan, yet was in very acceptable condition and set to play A & B from the blues (6,600 yards), played long, particularly the back nine, heading back into a good wind.
Using the rating and slope of this course, most were playing off about two shots more than Banyan and the slightly higher handicaps led to different divisional splits.
The scoring was generally good with three guys collecting 38pts aided probably by much easier greens than Banyan; one of them being Don Everett who won Div D and the other two were Rod Crosswell and Sel Wegner both in Div B.
Al Bryce (37pts) comfortably won Div A by three from Jock Drummond (34) and Kissy Buchanan (33).
John Player, Ian Jones and Suzi Lawton were all tied at the top of Div C on 34pts and needed to be split on count back with John edging out Ian & Suzi in that order. Other notables were Tim Balfour (37) third in Div B with Tony Pieroni (35) fourth; and David Earthrowl and first round leader, Andy Makara tied on 34 in Div D.
There were three more ‘2’s from Al Bryce, Wetni Christie & Ian Jones.
Div A (0-13)
1st Al Bryce (10/Hi9.5) 37pts
2nd Jock Drummond (5/Hi4.6) 34pts
3rd Keith Buchanan (13/Hi11.8) 33pts
Div B (14-16)
1st Rod Crosswell (15/Hi14) 38pts
2nd Sel Wegner (15/Hi13.4) 38pts
3rd Tim Balfour (14/Hi13.3) 37pts
Div C (17-22)
1st John Player (22/Hi20.1) 34pts
2nd Ian Jones (20/Hi18.2) 34pts
3rd Suzi Lawton (22/Hi20.6) 34pts
Div D (23+)
1st Don Everett (25/Hi22.2) 38pts
2nd Barney Clarkson (28/Hi25.7) 35pts
3rd David Earthrowl (23/Hi20.7) 34pts
Thursday, March 22, Banyan Hua Hin – Stableford
Another beautiful day here at Banyan, as we prepared for the final round of thus inaugural 54 hole Hua Hin Handicap, with Andy Makara somewhat surprisingly hanging on to his first round lead, with a fighting 34pts at Springfield on Tuesday. He led the way with 75pts ahead of Rod Crosswell (74pts) and Don Everett (73pts); Suzi Lawton made up the last player of the final group out with a two day total of 69.
There was a whole bunch of guys on 68 and 67 but they would have to produce something special to trouble the leaders.
Eager for an early start to help those returning later to Pattaya, General Jack, electing not to play, got the groups away early with the final group teeing off shortly before 11am, some 25 minutes ahead of schedule.
It was clearly tough out there, even though Joe (the Pro) said that the greens had been slowed down and were easier than a couple of weeks ago, but they had been rolled. As the cards came in, so did the tales of woe; loads of three putts and four putts had ruined many card as the back nine greens were very tricky if your ball was in the wrong place.
Div B fared the worst as a surprised Gavin Perfect collected the top spot money with a mere 33pts from Rosco on 32, with four more tied on 32.
Chris Davisson paved the way in the premier division with a fine 37pts, four clear of Brian Holden and a resurgent Paul Bourke both with 33. (Gentleman) George Bishop matched Chris’s 37 to take Div C from Suzi on 34 and Vic Barton with 33 but the best score of the day was once again in Div D, as Don Everett put another very steady round together for another 38pts. Brian Maddox and Barney Clarkson also batted well for their 37’s.
There were another five ‘2’s today from Mark Rossiter, Rosco, John Greenhalgh, Suzi & John Pead, bringing the three day total to just 14.
Div A (0-11)
1st Chris Davisson (10/Hi11) 37pts
2nd Brian Holden (6/Hi7.6) 33pts
3rd Paul Bourke (7/Hi8) 33pts
Div B (12-14)
1st Gavin Perfect (13/Hi13.7) 33pts
2nd Rosco Langoulant (14/Hi14.5) 33pts
3rd Rod Crosswell (13/Hi13.4) 32pts
Div C (15-20)
1st George Bishop (16/Hi16.7) 37pts
2nd Suzi Lawton (18/Hi20.6) 34pts
3rd Vic Barton (19/Hi19.6) 33pts
Div D (21+)
1st Don Everett (22/Hi21.4) 38pts
2nd Brian Maddox (22/Hi22.5) 37pts
3rd Barney Clarkson (26/Hi25.7) 37pts
Final Results
1st Don Everett 110pts
2nd Rod Crosswell 106pts
3rd Barney Clarkson 105pts
4th Andy Makara 104pts
5th Suzi Lawton 103pts
All the scores were in the computer by 4.30 and it was just a matter of letting the software do the work to find out who had won the overall. General Jack welcomed everybody once again to this great week and announced that Banyan had already been booked for the final day of the 2nd Syd LeBron Memorial Putter on 30th August as had Black Mountain been secured for day 2 on Tuesday 28th. It was generally agreed that Sea Pines would, subject to confirmation, be the first day on Monday.
He also went on to thank Banyan for their excellent presentation of the course and wonderful golfing experience to which there was great applause. So to the ‘2’s, all 14 of them and nobody getting two of them:- Mark Rossiter, Rosco, John Greenhalgh, Suzi, John Pead, Jack Moseley, Kissy, Paul Greenaway, Muzza, Pete Stonebridge, Steve Poznanski, Al Bryce, Wee Christie and Ian Jones.
