PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Feb. 15, Khao Kheow – Stableford
Thirty something golfers showed up today, some eager with anticipation and others wondering what they were doing lining up to get in a bus when they should have stayed in bed with their sore heads.
Upon arrival at the club we had a half hour or so to kill before our allotted tee off time. During this period we were all were kept entertained by JC (Lhoste) roving up and down the buggies and in and out of the club house looking for his golf clubs. He claimed he was the first to line his bag up behind the bus for loading back at the Swan so knew he hadn’t forgotten them. After claiming someone must have stolen his clubs he noticed a lone caddie with a bag waiting for an owner. On closer inspection he noticed that the bag was very similar to his and concluded that he had brought someone elses clubs to the course!
(L to R) Colm Mullen, Jim Groves & Frank ‘Paco’ Waterhouse.
We teed off the longer yellow tees after some deliberation by our Marshall (John Anderson). He deduced that as we had played off the shorter tees the last time we were here, and indeed the last two games had also been played off the shorter tees, it would be a longer walk today.
So it was a 6,742 yard stroll off the B and C tees in comfortably hot conditions which only four golfers managed to master by playing to their handicaps or better.
The presentation of the course was as usual very good and the greens were running truthfully and rapidly.
Stu Rifkin, who now hails by his new nickname Cassa (aptly applied by Jeff Melon who claims a Casserole is an “Up market Stew”), found some long lost form with the aid of ten San Miguel’s to take out pole position, posting a solid 39 points. He was closely followed by Rita Zoebeli performing admirably with 38 points, and Roy Dayton and Alex Field both firing 36 points to cap the “Master golfers list” today.
A Flight (0–17)
1st Stu Rifkin (16) 39pts
2nd Bill Wilkinson (11) 34pts
3rd Patrick Engels (11) 33pts
B Flight (18–25)
1st Roy Dayton (22) 36pts
2nd Alex Field (18) 36pts
3rd Ernie Picken (24) 35pts
C Flight (26–36)
1st Rita Zoebeli (26) 38pts
2nd John Anderson (29) 35pts
3rd Gerri Crilly (28) 32pts
Near Pins: C3 – Paul Jackson, C8 – Graham Rice, B3 – Kae Dayton, B8 – Andrew Allen.
Long Putts: C9 – Kae Dayton, B9 – Troy Pickford
Thursday, Feb. 18, Eastern Star – Stableford
On an overcast morning 30 golfers headed out from The Growling Swan to tackle Eastern Star GC. Looking back through records it has been around 10 months since we had played here. So the challenge was on.
(L to R) Roy Dayton, Rita Zoebelli and Stu ‘Cassa’ Rifkin.
The weather was quite balmy and with plenty of cloud cover it made it a little unpleasant, but eventually the cloud cover lifted and afforded us some welcome relief.
The greens were in superb condition, fairways were slow to start but as the day got longer they dried out and some run was obtained.
We played from the yellow tees, which unfortunately did not agree with all but as we have such a broad range of golfers it is important to keep all happy and we play from the back as often as we play from the front.
Three divisions were played with the 3 winners producing some great scores. Jim Groves took out Div 1 with a whopping 45 points while Paco and Colm Mullen won the second and third flights with 41 and 42 points respectively.
Division 1
1st Jim Groves (13) 45pts
2nd Martin Todd (10) 33pts
3rd Steve Younger (12) 31pts
Division 2
1st Frank Waterhouse (20) 41pts
2nd Mike Gosden (18) 40pts
3rd Ebrahim (17) 37pts
Division 3
1st Colm Mullen (26) 42pts
2nd Jerry Dobbs (23) 36pts
3rd Bernie McCart (31) 31pts
Near Pins: Paul Jackson, David Marshall, Peter Grey, Mike Gosden.
Long Putts: Tom McMahon (2).
Back at the Swan, D-For was let off the chain to collect for the needy in Pattaya. The Growling Swan last month donated a 65,000 baht water filtration system to the children at the Wat Pong School, another beneficiary of these generously given funds by the Growling Swans players and patrons alike. We are currently collecting for the families of the 2 caddies that were killed whilst leaving Pattaya CC golf course. To Date we have approx. Bt.15,000.
Note: The GS is a friendly golf outlet and caters for and encourages all golfers male and female to have a hit at any of our weekly outings. We generally play Mondays and Thursdays at one of the many fine golf courses in and around Pattaya. Please contact Peter Grey if you are interested on 0861 503086.
The Growling Swan also caters to the bowls enthusiasts. Bus transport departs the GS on Sundays at 10 AM to play for open grass bowling at The Retreat. Please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454005 if you wish to partake. The cost including return bus transport, bowling fees and a hot lunch is less than 400 baht so great value for a day out.
