Pattaya Sports Club Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, January 24th
Khao Kheow Country Club
1st Kob Glover (22) 39 points
2nd Paul Smith (4) 38 points
3rd Gerry Cooney (19) 38 points
4th Kevin LeBar (14) 35 points
5th Steve Durey (19) 35 points
Near pins Kevin LeBar X 2, Les Cobban, & Kob Glover.
A & B were the assigned nines for today’s game at Khao Kheow where we had a decent rollup of twenty-three. For some strange reason, the course was sodden in a couple of areas, but overall it was in good condition. The greens were a bit quicker than we are used to at this course.
It may be that people are finally getting the message about slow play as we had a very pleasant game today with no holdups due to this plague. Long may this trend continue.
Today’s winner, Kob Glover, is becoming a real force at the Bunker Boys. We may have to adopt a more gender-neutral name for our society in the near future to reflect the more inclusive nature of the group. Not only did Kob win today with thirty-nine points, but she also got her usual near pin and leads that competition as well as being amongst the contenders for golfer of the month.
Following up on last week’s good form, Paul Smith was in the frame again Monday, taking second place with thirty-eight points beating Gerry Cooney into third on countback. A countback was also required for fourth and fifth places with Kevin LeBar edging out Steve Durey. Kevin also managed to get a very close near pin on the island green which naturally he birdied and Les Cobban took the remaining near pin.
Shot of the day went to Ken Davidson who managed to snag one of the rare birds, an eagle, while his playing partners were not paying attention and missed the deed. Some wags were asking did he really get it or was it just a figment of his imagination? As a former club champion Ken is very capable on his day.
Wednesday, January 26th
Plutaluang Golf Club N & W
1st Niall Glover (16) 30 points
2nd Neil Jones (24) 30 points
3rd Stuart Tinkler (16) 30 points
4th Paul Smith (4) 29 points
Near pins Paul Smith, Gerry Cooney, Jay Babin, & John Hughes.
It seemed like an eternity since we last played the Navy course and given the reaction of many today it may be a long time before we return again. It just felt like everybody got beaten up and nobody managed to master the course or accumulate a decent score. As with Treasure Hill, there were trees to negotiate all over the course, many in completely inappropriate places which just added to the difficulty of playing off the very coarse grass on the fairways. A few masochists did comment that despite all that they enjoyed the day.
Plutaluang is always a bit of a surprise and you just never know what you are going to get, be it a gardener for a caddie or a cart that dies after only a few holes. Today something new when on the ninth tee a rather aggressive big monkey made a couple of charges at a female caddie. Luckily she had a rake in her hands and was able to fend it off, all a bit scary. It’s common to see monkeys bare their teeth, but rare to see them aggressively charge at somebody.
Another disrupted round with the first group running up against a very slow five-ball on the second tee, so they went cross country to the fourth tee and continued on from there.
It feels like the Glovers are dominating proceedings at the Bunker Boys lately. On Monday, Kob took the honours with an excellent thirty-nine points, Wednesday it was husband Niall’s turn to take first place albeit with a modest thirty points. Neil Jones and Stuart Tinkler also had thirty points and finished in that order on countback with Paul Smith a stroke further back. All the near pins were taken with one each going to Paul Smith, Gerry Cooney, Jay Babin, and the wily John Hughes.
Friday, January 28th
Emerald Golf Club
1st Dave Ashman (26) 38 points
2nd Michael Brett (16) 36 points
3rd Kob Glover (21) 34 points
4th Paul Smith (4) 34 points
5th Neil Jones (24) 33 points
Near pins Gerry Cooney, Bengt Engstrom, Gez Williams, & Michael Brett.
A less than pleasant greeting at Emerald when we found out that the green fee was three hundred baht more than the agreed price at the time of booking. It’s fair to say that many might not have played had they known. In light of what deals are on offer at other better courses, this was not value for money today, and could see Emerald off our roster for the foreseeable future. There may be big plans ahead for this course but right now it was not up to scratch, in particular, the greens were very substandard.
One of the more pleasing aspects of today’s game was the speed of play which once again was very good with no holdups. It could be that everybody in carts is a big help. Curiously, this week Google ran an article by Lee Trevino on slow play back in the seventies, clearly a problem that has afflicted golf for many years and one that should be easy to fix with a change of attitude.
Like a bolt out of the blue Dave Ashman took the honours with an excellent thirty-eight points. It’s been a while for Dave so it was nice to see him back in the groove again. Michael Brett took second with thirty-six two ahead of Kob Glover and Paul Smith, third and fourth respectively on countback, whilst Neil Jones brought up the rear with thirty-three in fifth place. All the near pins were taken with one each going to Gerry Cooney, Bengt Engstrom, Gez Williams, and Michael Brett.
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