The Golf Club weekly review
Monday, July 10, Green Valley (white tees) – Stableford
1st Mark Wood (9) 39pts
2nd Greg Furneaux (18) 38pts
3rd Butch Furneaux (9) 36pts
Green Valley is not in good shape at all. They should have waited until the other 18 at Silky Oak was completed and then just shut down RGV for a year and do the job right. I can’t imagine this renovation turning out well, but I sure hope they prove me wrong. The greens are fine but those fairways are a joke.
Butch and Sundance are back in town! Yep, the Furneaux boys got things rolling the right way and both found a spot on the podium here today. Chicken dinner went to the right honourable Mark Wood with 39 points whilst our buddy Peter Thomas claimed the fame of the Caddy Smile near pin.
Tuesday, July 11, Parichat Links (yellow tees) – Stableford
1st Butch Furneaux (9) 37pts
2nd Masao Ishikawa (17) 36pts
3rd Greg Furneaux (18) 28pts
Ah yes, nothing like a bit of controversy by booking Parichat Links! This course is like the Vegemite ads, you either love it or you hate it, but after getting in a few rounds it does grow on you. The location is fantastic and we have found the condition of the course is usually very good. When they tempt us with a 1,200 baht all in offer how can you refuse?
Those Furneaux boys were at it again and dominated the leaderboard, allowing only Ishi in for second place. Butch had another great day and was top of the charts with 37 points. Greg was a bit fortunate to score with only 28 on the card and beat brother Butch on the near pin.
Ishi plays with us a lot when visiting from Japan and being a youthful 73 years young, always walks the course!
Thursday, July 13, Khao Kheow A & C (yellow tees) – Stableford
T1st Alan McKendry (11) 33pts
T1st Phil Smedley (12) 33pts
T3rd Wayne McKenna 32pts
T3rd Mark Wood 32pts
T3rd Nick Handscombe 32pts
T3rdMasao Ishikawa 32pts
There was a decent turnout for the comp today as 16 blokes joined us for a fine day at Khao Kheow. As it turned out, 6 of them ended up in the money. It was wet underfoot so very little roll out there, but no rain was to be had during play. It ended up being a near 5-hour round as the groups ahead paid no attention to the clock and no marshals were out there to speed them up.
It was Alan McKendry and Capt. Phil who ended up the surprise joint winners with 33 points. That must have been a shocker as Phil read through the scorecards and saw nobody had 34 or more! Wayne McKenna also nicked the Caddy Smile near pin prize but had to settle for just a par. No free beer for you Wayne!
Friday, July 14, Pattavia (yellow tees) – Stableford
1st Grant Dohnt (14) 38pts
2nd Masao Ishikawa (18) 36pts
T3rd Nick Handscombe (14) 32pts
T3rd Brendon Gallagher (0) 32pts
After a week of trying we finally played a course in excellent condition. Pattavia Century is in great shape and well worth the extra 15 minutes’ drive to get here.
This is allegedly a Nick Faldo designed course and has a similar layout to Kings Naga and The Emerald courses that also bear his name. They have tamed down the greens here which makes the course far more enjoyable and fair.
I think we all would wish to play off scratch. Just to be able to control the ball to go where you want it and have very few surprises out there would be heaven… one would think. The catch to that is you can make no mistakes and that is the situation our mate Brendon has, but he managed to get joint third with Nicky Handscombe. Scratch golfer Brendon is recovering from a shoulder injury but is starting to return to form, so watch this space.
Once again we saw Ishi on the podium, but victory was had by visiting Grant Dohnt with a clever 38 on the card. On this course, that is usually quite enough for the win.
