PSC golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, July 21, Plutaluang E & S – Stableford
Plutaluang was the venue for the first event of this particular week and many of us had not played here for quite a while so we were looking forward to the visit. After a late withdrawal the night before we were left with a field of 19 which is still pretty good for the “low season”.
We assembled at The Growling Swan and welcomed Keith “Kissy” Buchanan who was back having a game with us and as all were on time, even Patrick, we departed the GS 5 minutes early a and headed South down Sukhumvit, arriving at the Navy course 44 minutes later. We checked in and at 500 baht green fee this was terrific value and we were informed by the Starter that East & South nines were our designated nines for the day, so off we went to the tee on East 1.
John Pierrel, Seesa Phompinmon & Lindsay Slender.
With no-one ahead of us our first group, a three ball hit off ten minutes ahead of schedule and although the three of us were walking we maintained a fairly steady pace. The weather was fine with intermittent sun but it was extremely humid and the course was in good shape with many of the greens being quite quicker than I had remembered on these 2 nines, although several of them had sandy patches on them.
We breezed round the front in just over 2 hours but when we arrived at the tee on South 1 there was a five-ball just hitting off. After waiting about 15 minutes we played our tee shots and as we walked up the fairway a course Marshall drove up and said something to our caddies & then shot ahead and spoke to the group in front. Shortly after that the five-ball disappeared and we suspect that they had started on the wrong tee and had gone back to the correct one. The “road” was now clear so we continued on and managed to complete the full round in four hours & twenty minutes.
Several golfers took a liking to the course on the day and none more so than John Pierrel who won the A Division with a terrific 42 points. John was one of my playing partners and played some excellent golf shooting a 77 gross. In second place came the 3 handicapper Mike Allidi who shot a gross 73 for his 38 points and Mike “Hunter” Gosden came third with 37 points. Commiserations went to Bob Akapita who scored 36 points but he did win a golf ball for playing to his handicap or better & not finishing on the podium.
Lindsay Slender has been spotted frequently headed up third road with his golf bag over his shoulder and obviously has benefitted from the practice as he scored 40 points and won the B Division. In second place came Patrick Poussier with a fine 39 points and Bent Agerbo was third with 32 points.
The Growling Swan NAGA Award (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day) was won by Seesa Phompinmon.
Division A (0-16)
1st John Pierrel (11) 42pts
2nd Mike Allidi (3) 38pts
3rd Mike Gosden (13) 37pts
Division B (17+)
1st Lindsay Slender (26) 40pts
2nd Patrick Poussier (22) 39pts
3rd Bent Agerbo (20) 32pts
Near Pins: E5 – Mike Gosden, S4 – Keith Buchanan
Long Putts: E9 – John Pierrel, S9 – Geri Crilly
Thursday, July 24, Burapha – Stableford
It was time for our monthly visit to the classy Burapha Golf Course to take advantage of their special Sports Day rate and its popularity showed as we had an excellent field of 28 signed up to play.
As we assembled at The Growling Swan prior to departure there were many welcomes handed out including Paul Sharples back from Oman for some R & R, Glen Henriksen also on a break from his work at Barrow Island off the coast of Western Australia, Andrew Purdie from Brisbane, Neil Skilton from his travels and James Artura from Massachusetts, New York. It was sadly time to bid farewell to Bent Agerbo who was returning to Denmark after his 3 week bi-annual trip to Pattaya.
Martin Todd, Niall Stuart, Ken Hole & Alan Sanders.
Everyone was on time so our 2 mini vans departed the GS 3 minutes ahead of schedule and after just 30 minutes we arrived at the golf course to find that it was not overly busy. After a leisurely check in we presented ourselves to the Starter who informed us that we would be playing the A & B nines and would be able to tee off somewhat ahead of schedule.
We were soon called to the A1 tee and our first four-ball got away 16 minutes before our booked tee time. The weather was great, not too hot with a nice breeze and the golf course was in great shape as ever with lush fairways and beautifully prepared greens. There were groups ahead of us but we never really caught them up and our first nine took just one hour and fifty minutes. The good pace continued through the second nine and we completed a very enjoyable round of golf with terrific company in three hours and fifty five minutes.
Martin “Toddy” Todd was the winner in A Division with 35 points, 1 point ahead of the consistent John Pierrel in second place and Neil Skilton finished third with 32 points.
There was some tremendous scoring in B Division with veteran Ken Hole winning on 44 points, just 1 point ahead of Bent Agerbo in second spot and Bob Akapita was third with 34 points.
In Division C it was Alan “Colonel” Sanders who took out first place with a fine 38 points and with 2 golfers on 35 points a count back was required which resulted in Tom “TC” Cotton (17 point back nine) finishing second from Geri Crilly (16 point back nine) in third spot.
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was won by Niall Stuart and he accepted the award like the good sport that he is and wore the red cap for a while in the bar afterwards.
Division A (0-12)
1st Martin Todd (8) 35pts
2nd John Pierrel (11) 34pts
3rd Neil Skilton (7) 32pts
Division B (13-21)
1st Ken Hole (18) 44pts
2nd Bent Agerbo (20) 43pts
3rd Bob Akapita (16) 34pts
Division C (22+)
1st Alan Sanders (26) 38pts
2nd Tom Cotton (23) 35pts
3rd Geri Crilly (26) 35pts
Near Pins: A3 – Bent Agerbo, A6 – Bill Steinman, B3 – Bob Akapita, B8 – James Artura
Long Putts: A9 – Tom Cotton, B9 – Martin Todd
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.
