PSC golf from Tropical Bert’s
Tuesday, January 24, Khao Kheow – Stableford
A full house met at Bert’s a little later than usual as we had a later tee off at Khao Kheow. Knowing that we usually have a 1000 o’clock tee off, when we cannot get away to a normal start, it meant we were in for a long day. The old, ‘get there early and maybe we can get away early’ tends to not work very well these days as the courses tend to book their start times very carefully, and so we found it on this day. A full course, we were going to have to rely on the speed of the players ahead.
However we were away as close to the correct time as it is possible with a packed course and as is usual these days the wind was blowing pretty hard if a bit on and off. With a full course we tended to bunch up on the Par 3’s but it was a good time to sit and chat to the other golfers also waiting. Indeed it seemed to sharpen our first group as the ‘Scribe’ put the ball to under a foot at ‘The Island Green’. Beat that Mashi!
Tuesday winners with one of Bert’s finest.
The course at present, besides being a tough, is in my opinion in as good a condition as any around. The fairways are well grassed, the greens quick and true and the rough as penal as ever. This is certainly the complete package at present.
We played B & C and as is normal the C Nine proved to be really the hardest nine, and was harder as soon as we teed-off on C1 into a howling gale, or so it seemed. We always seemed to be playing into the wind on the back nine and this may have contributed to the generally speaking poor scores. Still, we finally stumbled to the end with the Scribe realising that if it came to a count back, he had no chance of winning it.
Back at Bert’s it was soon into the presentation and in the A Flight, 0 to 19, the winner was your scribe with 36 points and most thankful there was no count back after 23 points on the front and a meltdown on the back nine. In second we had a count back on 35 points that saw Alan Sullivan in second and Rob Brown in third. Surprisingly in fourth was Mashi Kaneta with 34 points. It would not be a result if Mashi was not in there somewhere.
In the B Flight we had ‘The Flight of The Ladies’. The Winner with 37 points was Karen Brown on count back over Tom Cotton. In third was Rita Zoebelli with 36 points and in fourth was Carol Kubicki with 32 points. It somehow seemed right that Tom should find himself amongst the ladies.
Near Pins: Alan Sullivan, Derek Brook, John Hackett, Rob Brown
Long Putts: Mike Gaussa, Rob Brown
Friday, January 27, Crystal Bay A&B – Stableford
There was a time when this was a ‘star’ course of the Eastern Seaboard and as far as I was concerned this was my favourite place to play. These days the course is still well liked but has lost a lot of the polish it used to have. The fairways are a bit over used and on this day they were very wet in places, through the rain of late, but buggies were allowed in all areas so we were able to press on. The greens were in quite good condition and were fairly fast and true. All in all, most players enjoyed the day out and the course. One good point is we only had a few drops of rain.
We were soon finished and into the changing room where we were reminded they were on a tight budget as we were introduced to the same towels we had been friends with for many years. Maybe it is the new style as I see many people with ragged edges on their jeans.
Back at Bert’s it was quite full of golfers so after a quick bite to eat it was on with the presentation by Mr. Warberg himself.
In the A Flight, 0 to 18, the winner was Kei Kasami with 40 points ahead of Brian Parish in second with 39 points and Takeshi Hakozaki took third on 38. In the B Flight the winner was Seppo Kuokkanen with 38 points, Pieter Zbinder took second with 36 and Don Carmody came third with 35 points.
Then as is usual it was time for a ‘cold one’. T.T.F.N.
Near Pins: John Marrit, Mashi Kaneta, Seppo Kuokkanen, Brian Gabe
