IPGC golf from The Haven
Monday, Dec. 6, Green Valley – Stableford
CSS 71
1st Rodney Hayes (9) 38pts
2nd Roar Berger (25) 37pts
3rd Martin Grimoldby (6) 36pts
4th Steve Bickle (15) 36pts
5th Kevin Hamilton (16) 35pts
6th Rod Howett (25) 35pts
Two holiday days in a week meant a second trip to Green Valley on consecutive days, but with half of the previous days field having played the new Silky Oaks course there was still a good turnout for the day’s outing even allowing for the extra pricing as many players prepared for the upcoming Santa Scramble to be held on the 17th of the month.
Rodney Hayes.
Rodney Hayes continued where he left off before returning to Oz, hoping to see crushing wins in the cricket until the urn was safely back in the southern hemisphere. Unfortunately quite a few of the players were reading from a different page in the book, resulting in a hastily arranged flight to Thailand where the sledging is not quite so fierce, although a different perspective seems to have made little difference to the results. So it was a fine effort to slip right back into the winning mode, considering the overweight of troubles carried in the baggage.
Rodney’s success was at the expense of Roar Berger who was seeking to win on his birthday following a three shot cut in handicap but had to be satisfied with second place, plus a tuneful solo version of happy 73rd Birthday by The Doc, who had obviously been celebrating earlier.
Martin Grimoldby was another to strike early on his first return outing winning the count-back over Steve Bickle by 19 to 17.
Kevin Hamilton slipped into 5th also with a better count-back of 11 to 10 on the back six after tying the inward nine at 16 each with Rod Howett.
There were no 2’s in the second division but Rick Holmes and Martin Grimoldby shared the first division pool.
Before presenting the prizes The Doc welcomed new member Rick Morgan and also welcomed back Wilf Wellman, Tom McCarthy, Paul Hartley, Brian Beaupre, Brian Randall, Martin Grimoldby, Denis Jamison and Stephen Lewis.
Wednesday, Dec. 8, Bangpra – Stableford
CSS 73
1st Stephen Lewis (21) 37pts
2nd Declan Lyne (24) 36pts
3rd Kevin Townsend (11) 36pts
4th Shuichi Kodaka (19) 35pts
5th Mark Armstrong (25) 35pts
6th Russell Exley (7) 33pts
Bangpra was in excellent shape but an obviously demented green keeper decided that everyone would get full value for the day setting the tees back as far as they would go from the white positions that were in most cases on the blue yardages.
Stephen Lewis.
But apart from the CSS being slightly affected in an upward direction, the competitors handled it pretty well even allowing that the greens were at their fearsome worst having been trimmed to professional speed, three putts were the norm for many.
Stephen Lewis, another to hit form immediately following his arrival, led in the field with a one under handicap round to add another win to his list gained out of Soi 13.
Declan Lyne just failed to win his first competition having started on the 10th hole in a two tee start, and returning a four under handicap for the nine looked in good shape until the tricky 8th, his 17th, took a serious bite out of the card with an unfortunate zero, but it did ensure second place in the count-back with Kevin Townsend, who had played the course the from the 1st tee, which Declan won by 22 to 20.
Shuichi Kodaka took fourth place also by a count-back with a better 18 to 17 to leave Mark Armstrong in fifth with Russell Exley strangely out of sorts in sixth.
With all the par 3’s playing to their full length it was not surprising that there were no 2’s in the first division but Tom McCarthy hit a cracker off the second tee, on this day placed some 176 yards back, to secure the only one in the second division to sweep the pool and rollover.
Before the presentations were made Leslie Cobban was welcomed as a new member and John Teague and Richard Dobson were welcomed back and there was a farewell for a couple of months to Yasuo Suzuki.
Friday, Dec. 10, Rayong C.C. – Stableford
CSS 72
1st Fred Chadwick (15) 36pts
2nd John Squitiero (18) 35pts
3rd Rod Howett (25) 35pts
4th Shuichi Kodaka (17) 34pts
5th Dave Howden (13) 34pts
6th Al Griffiths (12) 32pts
On the second holiday day the hopefuls were at Rayong Country Club, surely an exaggeration in name, where the conditions were about as poor as one could find, with the fairways rock hard and the greens variable from one to another and allied to the general condition of the course it all made for a very unsatisfactory days golf no matter what the price.
Fred Chadwick made one of his rare appearances following his arrival from his center of excellence in Manchester, managing not only to awake in time to get transported to the course in time but also turned on the sort of performance he normally reserves for the young and old in his health spa when demonstrating the technique required for lifting more than two and a half times his body weight, all on a diet of mushy peas and cod fillets and without a steroid in sight. In the end it was a close call with John Squitiero almost getting up to deny Fred but just failing by one and having to settle for a second place winning the count back with Rod Howett in third, by 18 to 16.
Shuichi Kodaka returned another within buffer zone round and a better count back of 19 to 18 which left Dave Howden in fifth and Alan Griffiths in sixth.
There were no 2’s in the second division but Brian Beaupre bumped one in to take the first division pot including the roll over.
Back at The Haven there were welcome backs to John Squitiero, Brian Burt, Steve Howard, Fred Chadwick and Alan Griffiths, the later returning at last following a very nasty rib injury incurred whilst taking part in the South East Thailand Free Diving contest held earlier in the year, in his back yard fish pond.
Note: If you would like to play with The Haven group you can contact mobile 084 782 4582 or call in to the hotel at 185 Soi 13 between Beach Road and 2nd Road. All transportation to the course is arranged and you do not need to sign up prior to the day, but you should be there by 8.30 on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays on the days you wish to play. A schedule of courses to be played can be found on our web site at www.thehaven-hotel.com.
