PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, August 4, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
They came out of the woodwork for this one as we had 36 golfers on the starting sheet which reduced by one when we had a late withdrawal in the morning.
There were many welcomes to be handed out which included PSC Social Chairman Nigel Cannon, veteran Hugh O’Donnell back with us again, Aussies Phil Taylor & Lyndon “Teflon” Przbylski, Jason Schembri from Melbourne, Pattaya residents Chris Wilmott (formerly of St. Andrews in Scotland) and Neil Fidele (formerly of Somerset in the UK) and Craig Duncan, Gary Jones and “Aggro” from Perth, Western Australia. It was sadly time to say farewell to Alan Sanders who will shortly be returning to the Gold Coast in Australia.
Craig Duncan, Jim Groves & Alan Sanders.
Most of us had not been to Pattaya Country Club for well over two years and we were looking forward to seeing what the outcome of their extensive renovations was. It was refreshing to have such a short journey to a golf course and after making our way through the Pattaya Monday morning traffic we arrived at PCC just 25 minutes later.
The “Boss Lady” was waiting for us to help with our check in and things went very smoothly, enabling us to take our time with preparation before we presented ourselves at the first tee. There was a group teeing off just ahead of us and as we prepared our first four-ball for the start a shower of rain caused us to run for cover but this only lasted a couple of minutes.
It was obvious that much work had been done on the course, particularly with the greens and many changes to the bunkers and the front nine was fairly impressive. The second nine was not as good as the first but is obviously a “work in progress” which will only get better over the next few months. There were the usual people who were not really happy with the course but the majority of us enjoyed it and looked forward to playing it again in the not too distant future.
Gary Monley & Peter Blackburn.
A Division was won by Craig Duncan with 35 points and with 3 golfers on 34 points the resultant count back saw Kevin “Wayco” Waycott (19 point back nine) finish second from Martin “Toddy” Todd (16 point back nine) in third place and Gerd Riedler (15 point back nine) was fourth.
Jim Groves had the best score of the day and won B Division with 39 points, four points ahead of John Davis in second spot. With 3 players on 31 points another count back was needed which saw Chris Wilmott (18 point back nine) come third from Keith “Kissy” Buchanan (15 point back nine) in fourth place and Ken Hole (13 point back nine) just missed out.
In C Division it was Alan “Colonel” Sanders who finished on top with 35 points and in another count back with 2 golfers on 33 points it was Graham “Grunter” Buckingham (19 point back nine) who finished second from Neil Fidele (18 point back nine) in third place. Another count back to decide fourth place saw Gary Jones (19 point back nine & 15 points on the last 6 holes) just finish ahead of Patrick Poussier (19 point back nine & 14 points on the last 6 holes).
Division A (0-12)
1st Craig Duncan (11) 35pts
2nd Kevin Waycott (11) 34pts
3rd Martin Todd (8) 34pts
4th Gerd Riedler (6) 34pts
Division B (13-19)
1st Jim Groves (14) 39pts
2nd John Davis (15) 35pts
3rd Chris Wilmott (16) 31pts
4th Keith Buchanan (14) 31pts
Division C (20+)
1st Alan Sanders (25) 35pts
2nd Graham Buckingham (21) 33pts
3rd Neil Fidele (24) 33pts
4th Gary Jones (25) 32pts
Near Pins: 5th – Phil Taylor, 7th – Jim Groves, 12th – Gary Jones, 16th – Gerd Riedler
Long Putts: 9th – Jim Groves, 18th – Alan Sanders
The Growling Swan NAGA Award, awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day was won by Jayson Schembri
Thursday, August 7, Crystal Bay, C & A – Stableford
Another terrific ‘low season’ field of 34 were signed up to play one of our favourites, Crystal Bay and there were several returnees & newcomers to welcome. These were Vince Romeo from Melbourne, Tiziano Dal Pastro from Italy, Paul Jackson from Melbourne, Alan White plus Russell Hall also from Melbourne. It was also time to say farewell to Niall Stuart who will shortly be off to New Zealand but he assures us that he will be back in a week or so.
When we arrived at the course it appeared to be very quiet. After checking in and preparation we made our way down to see The Starter who informed us that we would be playing the C & A nines in that order. The numbers in the field caused us to have two three-balls so we sensibly sent them away first which meant they got away 8 minutes ahead of our booked time of 10.00 am.
The weather was great although fairly windy which was good as it helped to make playing conditions a little easier although it made some holes rather tough into the wind. The golf course was in very good condition although some of the greens were a touch bumpy which at time set some challenges.
The two three-balls slowly got away from us and we completed a very enjoyable round in four hours & fifteen minutes. The company was excellent, weather was perfect and the course was as usual in top “nick”.
Your writer, Peter “Blacky” Blackburn shook off his very poor recent form and won the A Division with 40 points, which was 4 points better than Takeshi Hakozaki who finished second. With 3 golfers on 35 points a count back was needed to sort out third & fourth and it was Martin “Toddy” Todd (19 point back nine) who got third spot from John Pierrel (18 point back nine) in fourth place with Mike Allidi (17 point back nine) just missing out.
Division B was a close affair with 2 players on 41 points and it was Alan “Woodsy” White (22 point back nine) who was declared the winner from John Davis (19 point back nine) in second place. Graham “Grunter” Buckingham finished third with 33 points and Ernie Picken was fourth on 32 points.
In C Division there was a “bolter” with Gary Monley’s 41 points easily good enough to win from Russell Calcutt, 7 points further back in second place. Yet another count back was required to determine third & fourth with 2 golfers on 33 points and it was Tiziano Dal Pastro (18 point back nine) who got the “chocolates” from Geri “Birdy” Crilly (15 point back nine) in fourth place.
Division A (0-14)
1st Peter Blackburn (11) 40pts
2nd Takeshi Hakozaki (12) 36pts
3rd Martin Todd (8) 35pts
4th John Pierrel (10) 35pts
Division B (15-22)
1st Alan White (18) 41pts
2nd John Davis (15) 41pts
3rd Graham Buckingham (21) 33pts
4th Ernie Picken (21) 32pts
Division C (23+)
1st Gary Monley (33) 41pts
2nd Russell Calcutt (34) 34pts
3rd Tiziano Dal Pastro (24) 33pts
4th Geri Crilly (25) 33pts
Near Pins: A8 – John Davis, C4 – Alan White, C7 – Walter Baechli
Long Putts: A9 – Mike Allidi, C9 – Jayson Schembri
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was won by Growling Swan Mine Host Peter Grey and he accepted the award like the good sport that he is.
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.
