The Pattaya Golf Society at the Links Bar
Monday, January 19 saw the Pattaya Golf Society take nine groups to Bangpra for a stableford competition. The split between flights was made at 17.6 and under, giving A Flight 16 players and B Flight 17.
With golfers teeing off both tees post the 11.30 am high-season cut-off, the course was packed. This meant a 5-hour round for most of us. May pen rai – Bangpra in high season often implies just this, meaning golfers who arrive at the course with this mind-set have a better chance of doing well.
Bangpra’s clubhouse overlooking the 10th tee and 18th green.
The course played tough for most. Some greens looked a bit tired and perhaps in need of water. Maybe the level of traffic encountered this time of year accounts for that? Whatever the case, with one exception, the field found the going tough as evidenced by the fact only one player broke par.
Third place on the podium was shared in A Flight with 33 points, whilst this same score was good enough to tie second in B Flight. Second in A Flight was 34 points, just one behind the 35 needed to secure the B Flight Win. But the stand-out winner of the day was A Flight golfer Mark Lang. His 39 points playing off a five-handicap gave him a gross of 74; excellent scoring in trying conditions. This was Mark’s last round with us this trip. He will be missed although some, including Jon Batty, may disagree with such sentiment.
There were five ‘2’s; in A Flight Garry Hookey scored on the 12th, while Mark Lang got two, on the 8th and 17th. Both B Flight ‘2’s were recorded on the 17th, by Keith Melbourne and Chris Walsh.
The Booby bevvy was awarded to John Topping to help him get over what must have been a ‘mare of a round.
A Flight
1st Mark Lang (5) 39pts
2nd Tony Campbell (8) 34pts
T3rd Larry Slattery (17) 33pts
T3rd Dave Lehane (18) 33pts
B Flight
1st Tony O’Neill (23) 35pts
T2nd Phil Mitchell (18) 33pts
T2nd Vic Hansen ( 19) 33pts
Lehane to the fore
Wednesday, January 21 started fine and that was how it stayed when the Pattaya Golf Society took ten groups to Greenwood for a stableford competition. With the split determined at 16.8 and under, the two flights set off early at 10:05, the C and A nines being our course of the day.
The course was well presented with fairways offering good lies, bunkers well raked and compacted, and greens that looked faster than they actually were. The A-nine greens had been recently sanded, making it difficult for balls to check and stop where intended. This course really is superb value for money at 1050 THB green-fee & caddie-fee.
There was just the one ‘2’ – achieved on A6 by Peter Wilson – which restricted podium placers in A Flight to three. Scores were good with two players achieving net-par of 36, whilst the winner went one better with 37 – well done John!
The top two performances in B Flight were better, although third and fourth were over par with 35 and 34 points respectively. The runner-up score was a strong 38 points, but the standout performance of the day was the 40-point haul of Dave Lehane – a feat that suggests he is well out of a recent slump in form.
Back at the Elephant Bar the booby bevy was awarded to Richard Dobson for his worst round this trip.
A Flight
1st John Chelo (17) 37pts
T2nd Dave Edwards (13) 36pts
T2nd Paul Edgar (15) 36pts
B Flight
1st Dave Lehane (18) 40pts
2nd Masashi Iizumi (20) 38pts
3rd Murray Edwards (21) 35pts
4th Dave Plaiter (22) 34pts
Mr. Len Treasures the Hill
With our golf geezer, Mr. Len, taking a rest from organising the day’s proceedings, the Pattaya Golf Society took eight groups to Treasure Hill, to play a stableford competition. The course was well presented with fairways, bunkers and greens in good condition. Nonetheless, this layout has proven over many years to be perhaps the toughest test on our regular rota.
The white tees (6,726 yards) was our course of the day with the two-flight split being made at 17 and under. Scores were remarkably similar between the two flights, with third and second place points being identical. Both winning scores, however, were way ahead of their respective runner-ups. Having his first game of golf since his last visit here in November, Brian Beaupre shot a gross 77 to return an even-par 36-point total, and win A Flight by an impressive 6 points!
Even more impressive however, was the performance of the B Flight winner. With a 38-point haul – eight points clear of the runner-up – a calm and collected Mr. Len showed us all how Treasure Hill can be tamed. A superb performance on a genuinely tough test of golf; well-done indeed!
Tony O’Neill, playing in the B Flight, picked up the only ‘2’ of the day, at the 6th.
Michael McGuigan beat off many challenges for the booby bevy by virtue of his superb tee-shot off the first. So true and long was the drive it prompted one observer to ask, “How can he have such a big handicap when hits the ball so far?” The answer lay in the fact that this grand drive was his second shot – having missed the ball entirely with his first attempt!
A Flight
1st Brian Beaupre (5) 36pts
2nd Steve Evans (9) 30pts
3rd Peter Wilson (7) 29pts
3rd Andrew Purdie (10) 29pts
B Flight
1st Len Jones (27) 38pts
2nd John Tallett (24) 30pts
3rd Tony O’Neill (23) 29pts
Note: From January 26 onwards the PGS will play out of its new clubhouse at the Links Bar, Soi Buakhao, which is situated to the south of the soi between the new hospital and the market.
