IPGC golf from The Haven
Monday, May 20, Pattana A & B – Stableford
CSS 76 NC
1st Don Everett (21) 38pts
2nd Hal Hart (22) 33pts
3rd Trevor Schirmer (13) 31pts
4th Shuichi Kodaka (16) 29pts
5th Rodney Nabbe (10) 28pts
It was a very good week of golf playing under clear skies and cooled by light winds and the scores were generally very good, excepting for the first of the week’s tests over the pristine A and B courses of the exceptional Pattana course, which is now just a short 35 minutes drive from The Haven.
The recent heavy rains had left the course a bit wet in places making the course considerably longer, especially for the higher handicappers and the returned cards showed the story with the CSS for the day going out to 76 from a par of 73, ensuing that no player’s handicap would be increased for the day.
Hal Hart.
Don Everett was one of those high handicappers but showed great determination and some prodigious hitting, both from the tees and fairways, to return a two-under score that was better by five than his nearest rival and he easily took the top step at the presentations.
Hal Hart was the nearest contender at three-over in second place as he also showed that there were possibly better things to come in the near future.
Trevor Schirmer took the first of his three mentions in the week with his worst return for third place, which underlined the difficulty of the day, while Shuichi Kodaka placed fourth.
One of the lowlights of the day was Rodney Nabbe’s thin one out of the bunker, and with a choice of three carts to hit, he struck his own cart for a two shot penalty and then failed to score from an unplayable lie. This took him out of contention early in the round but he still did enough to take fifth place.
Once again there were no 2’s in the first division but Shuichi Kodaka made it many happy returns as he cleaned out the rollover second division pool.
Prior to the presentations there were welcome backs for Shuichi Kodaka and John Wood, the latter who was just back from Blighty having watched Maggie’s funeral on his own while Phil Stevenson sat steadfastly with his back to the telly in protest wearing his miners helmet and leather apron.
Wednesday, May 22, Greenwood – Stableford
CSS 71
1st Darryl Kellett (16) 37pts
2nd Rodney Nabbe (10) 37pts
3rd Seppo Sadeharju (25) 34pts
4th Trevor Schirmer (13) 33pts
5th Rick Holmes (14) 33pts
Don Everett.
Greenwood is now one of the group’s firm favourites, being only another five minutes drive past Pattana and with its great layout and condition allied to very competitive prices, 1,000 baht for walkers; it always gets a good turnout.
On yet another good day for golf and the course having, as it always does, recovered extremely well from the recent wet weather, the scores were pretty good ensuring that the CSS for the day went down to 71.
With plenty of practice behind him it was not surprising when Rodney Nabbe opened the door for Darryl Kellett to close off another win with a better count back of 22 to 18 after they both returned one-under handicap cards, with Rodney scoring a one-pointer on the last as Darryl wrote down a par for three points.
Seppo Sadeharju has obviously spent some time whilst away on the driving range as he showed some unusual ability with just a sole zero on the card, which pushed him into third place ahead of Trevor Schirmer in fourth after Trevor had won a count back over Rick Holmes with a better 16 to 15 return on the back nine.
Again there were no 2’s in the first division but Darryl Kellett slipped one in to claim the second division pool.
Back at The Haven there were welcome backs for Mick Bogunovich, Rick Holmes, Seppo Sadeharju and Mike Dabanovich.
Friday, May 24, Mountain Shadow – Stableford
CSS 73
1st Hal Hart (22) 42pts
2nd Mick Bogunovich (36) 36pts
3rd Trevor Schirmer (13) 34pts
4th Alwyne Burley (15) 32pts
5th Darryl Kellett (16) 32pts
Visakha Bucha meant that although it was a bank holiday the course was not very busy, with many of the local golfers attending their favourite wat to celebrate this very holy day for all Buddhists. This left the course almost totally clear and resulted in a very acceptable four hour round for most of the players.
Darryl Kellett.
Hal Hart has been having a fine time recently wagering with some of his fellow competitors on their individual scores and having cleaned out a few of them on Monday he went the full hog on Friday with his best score in Thailand. On his way to his lowest ever handicap, Hal beat the field by six and his two fellow wagerers by eight and ten respectively to set up his favourite winners meal of Lobster Hawaiian furnished by the proceeds of the day.
Hal’s fine round showed no zeros, just two 1-pointers and three 3-pointers and three 4-pointers, indicating that he will soon be heading for an even lower handicap to add to the two shot drop that he had earned on the day’s result.
Another comparatively great round was returned by Mick Bogunovich in second place as he went dizzyingly low for what was also his best score in Thailand and with a couple of zeros on the card it indicates that there is still some improvement to come in the future.
Trevor Schirmer took his third placing of the week with his best score as he vainly tried to keep up with Hal in their side competition but too many missed chances cost him dear in the run in to the end.
Alwyne Burley was hoping to replenish some of his expenditure incurred during his working holiday but also had to accept a financial mugging from the winner by some distance, but still managed to win a count back over Darryl Kellett for fourth spot with a better 21 to 17 after a disastrous start to his round.
There were no 2’s in the second division but at last the first division was taken as Trevor Schirmer and Alwyne Burley made up some of their losses to Hal on the day with one apiece.
Before the presentations were made the were welcome backs for Phillip Cass and Alwyne Burley, the latter almost exhausted from his trek to the far north to overview his family’s estates and distribute alms to the local needy. Next visit he is quite hopeful that he will be getting some sort of mention in the will.
There was also a farewell for Allan Heavey, returning to Oz for a few weeks to earn enough to return as soon as possible.
With the holiday having been designated a non-alcohol day, the weary after presentation revelers settled for copious quantities of tea and coffee to pass the hours prior to departure.
Note: If you would like to play with The Haven group, you can contact mobile 082 219 0965 or call in to The Haven Hotel, at 185 Soi 13, between Beach Road and 2nd Road. All transportation to the course is arranged and you do not need to sign up prior to the day, but you should be there by 8.15 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the days that you wish to play. A schedule of courses to be played can be found on our web site at www.thehaven-hotel.com.
