PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, July 7, Bangpra – Stableford
It was another fine & sunny Monday morning as we made our way to The Growling Swan and were all looking forward to re-visiting the popular but challenging “Monkey Course”, Bangpra.
There were several new arrivals so welcomes were handed out to Len Hardingham from Perth, Western Australia who I had not seen for about 20 years, John Pierrel from Houston, Texas back with us for another 4 months, John Davis back after a few weeks in the UK, veteran Ken Hole returning after a holiday in Bali and Bent Agerbo who is back from Denmark for his bi-annual visit to Pattaya.
Bob Akapita, Geri Crilly & Gerd Riedler.
We departed the GS right on time at 8.45 am and headed off through the Monday morning traffic up number 7. Our 2 mini vans made very good time and we arrived at the golf course after just a 40 minute drive and as is the norm just lately at most courses the car park was almost empty.
Our scheduled tee time was 10.30 am (their idea, not mine) but as there was hardly anyone there we were invited to start at our leisure so after a practice putt or two we headed down to the first tee. As there were 22 in the field it meant 2 three-balls so to speed things up we sent them off first and the first one got away 35 minutes ahead of our booked time at 9.55 am.
There were no groups to be seen ahead so these 2 groups left the following four-balls for dead and in sunny and hot weather we commenced our round, finding the golf course in terrific condition with most of the greens up to their usual “Bangpra” tricks, so it was crucial to stay below the hole!
For a change we did not spot one monkey and it was suggested that perhaps it was too hot for them and indeed we found it necessary to keep up the water intake, even stopping for a rest just before the 16th tee. We did slow down a bit due to the heat and our round was completed in four hours & twenty five minutes.
We had 2 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 13 and Division B for golfers on handicaps of 14 and over with three places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pin on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th & 18th greens.
For the third game in a row it was that man again, Gerd Riedler, who stole the show and despite losing a shot off his handicap he scored 35 points and won Division A. With two on 34 points a count back was needed which saw Martin “Toddy” Todd (19 point back nine) finish second and John Pierrel (17 point back nine) was third.
John Davis, Russell Calcutt & Ken Hole.
For his second win in a row it was Bob Akapita who finished on top of Division B with 33 points, 1 point ahead of Ken Hole in second place and John Andersom finished third with 31. It was interesting to see that no-one was able to play to their handicap or better on the day.
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 by Geri Crilly.
Division A (0-13)
1st Gerd Riedler (7) 35pts
2nd Martin Todd (8) 34pts
3rd John Pierrel (12) 34pts
Division B (14+)
1st Bob Akapita (16) 33pts
2nd Ken Hole (18) 32pts
3rd John Anderson (26) 31pts
Near Pins: 2nd – Ebrahim, 8th – Ken Hole, 12th – Kevin Waycott, 17th – Martin Todd
Long Putts: 9th – Kevin Waycott, 18th – Mike Allidi
Thursday, July 10, Khao Kheow – Stableford
We had a good field of 25 signed up after a couple of late inclusions and with the help of “Papa”, who took a couple of passengers in his car we were able to use just 2 mini vans.
After gathering at The Growling Swan we welcomed back Alan “Colonel” Sanders from the Gold Coast in Australia and said farewell to Geoff Bracegirdle who will shortly be returning to Perth in Western Australia. Everyone was on time so we were able to depart 5 minutes ahead of our 8.30 am scheduled time and we headed off up number 7, arriving at the course just 37 minutes later.
After checking in we found that it was to be C & B nines in that order and when arriving at the tee on C1 it was unusual to see many people there waiting to tee off, the result of a 40 person competition. Our allocated tee time was 10.06 am and we feared that we would be teeing off considerable later than that but in actual fact our first group was able to get away just 4 minutes behind schedule. The down side was that many of the groups ahead were five-balls, some with carts and some walking so we knew it was going to be a slow round but “what the heck” – we were out there playing, the sun was shining and the golf course was in excellent shape although the greens were considerably slower than usual but firm and true.
As expected it was a very slow round but the weather was not too hot and we completed our full round in four hours & fifty five minutes. We had 2 Divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 15 and Division B for golfers on handicaps of 16 and over with four places in each Division. There were also rewards for nearest the pin on all the par threes and longest first putts on the B9 & C9 greens.
The golf course was playing quite tough as no-one played better than their handicap and in Division A there were 2 golfers tied with 36 points and after a count back we saw the win awarded to John Davis (18 point back nine) with Martin “Toddy” Todd (15 point back nine) coming in second. There were 2 golfers on 35 points which meant another count back which resulted in “Big” Bill Steinman (18 point back nine) finishing third from John Pierrel (15 point back nine) in fourth spot.
More count backs in B Division with 2 on 36 points which enabled Ken Hole (19 point back nine) to be declared the winner from last start NAGA winner Geri Crilly (17 point back nine) in second place. Yet another count back was needed to determine third & fourth places and Bent Agerbo (14 point back nine) won that little contest, with Eric “Judge” Black (13 point back nine) finishing in fourth place.
The Growling Swan NAGA Awardwas won by Russell Calcutt.
Division A (0-15)
1st John Davis (15) 36pts
2nd Martin Todd (8) 36pts
3rd Bill Steinman (9) 35pts
4th John Pierrel (12) 35pts
Division B (16+)
1st Ken Hole (18) 36pts
2nd Geri Crilly (26) 36pts
3rd Bent Agerbo (19) 32pts
4th Eric Black (16) 32pts
Near Pins: B3 – Mike Gosden, B8 – Dick Braimbridge, C3 – Ebrahim, C8 – Gerd Riedler
Long Putts: B9 – Andrew Allen, C9 – Bob Akapita
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 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.
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454 005.
