PSC golf from the Outback Golf Bar
Monday, Nov. 8, Burapha – Stableford
Burapha today and the wind was blowing hard, so Capt’ Bob said white tees, even though we were playing A & B. The course was in great condition producing some good scores plus the usual ordinary ones.
Joined by a large Irish contingent from Ballybunion Golf Club and a couple of blokes from Tipperary, the numbers were up to 35, and it was good to see the greens staff can get on the course with the mowers as the rain seems to be gone, making it a pleasure to play golf again with the ball running instead of plugging. The lucky draw for free green fees in the Burapha restaurant is going well and seems to be appreciated by all.
Robert McVey, left, with a couple of the Irish Raiders and Kissy Buchanan, right.
It was back to the Outback for a BBQ afterwards, that went down well and this will continue every golf day from now on, quite simply a dog or a burger at the moment, either for 50 baht. You don’t have to be a golfer to attend you just have to be here, starting around 3.30 p.m.
When it came to presentation time the Capt’ had difficulty pronouncing the names of some of the winners but with help from our Irish mates he got a lesson in how to pronounce Mahoney and Maher – don’t worry fellas, I’ve got it now.
Welcome back to Terry Smith, who we haven’t seen for a while as he spends much of the colder winter months in South Africa, in amongst his brief trips here; still playing well off nine and scoring 38 points today to win Div A from James Mahoney (also 38) and the consistent Raji (37).
Another one of the Irish raiders, this time Billy Maher, took Div B with the day’s top score of 39, ahead of Mike Holmes (38) and two more Irish raiders, Mike & Dan, both with 37.
Bill Peach & Sid Ottaway shared the same score of just 36 in Div C, Bill getting the nod in the customary manner; ahead of five guys, all on 35 points; which was a ‘no contest’ count-back as Ed Delaney had an amazing 11pts on the front but 24 on the back!
There were eight ‘2’s from Pat Tracey, Bob Philp, Bob Noble, Steve Mann, Mike Holmes, Raji & Terry Smith had two.
Note: Bob Noble’s ‘2’ was an eagle on the par 4 fourth hole on A and also the news reached us that he had an ‘air shot’ in the bunker on the 18th. Well done Bob!
Div A (0-12)
1st Terry Smith (9) 38pts
2nd James Mahoney (5) 38pts
3rd Amarjit Banwaitt (8) 37pts
Div B (13-17)
1st Billy Maher (16) 39pts
2nd Mike Holmes (13) 38pts
3rd Mike Nagel (13) 37pts
Div C (18+)
1st William Peach (21) 36pts
2nd Sid Ottaway (24) 36pts
3rd Eddie Delaney (27) 35pts
Tuesday, Nov. 9, Pattaya C.C. – Stableford
Another good turnout at Pattaya C.C. with 17 Outbackers arriving to play in absolutely ideal weather with a good stiff breeze to keep us all cool; the only problem is – the greens, however, the course remains popular for its location, layout and of course it’s very reasonable membership fees.
Raji ran away with it with an excellent 41 points off 8 (now 7) H/cap, which we hear included a couple of eagles, his comment being that it was a very short course. Hmm! Probably more like he is a very good player, he’s already got 9 points on this month’s ladder.
The big hitting Owen Lloyd (2nd) was told by his caddie to take a three wood on the tricky 17th and to swing easy but somehow he managed to hook the ball up to the group teeing off on the 16th as Chad displayed his cricket prowess, nearly catching the ball. He had a shot in, just, with his feet standing in the bushes.
Geoff Moodie had 35 points standing on the 16th tee and finished on the 18th with the same 35 to take fourth, three behind Paul Smets in third with 38.
There were only two ‘2’s, both about four foot putts from Geoff Moodie.
1st Amarjit Banwaitt (8) 41pts
2nd Owen Lloyd (13) 39pts
3rd Paul Smets (19) 38pts
4th Geoff Moodie (26) 35pts
5th Frank O’Neill (20) 34pts
Wednesday, Nov. 10, Greenwood – Stableford
At long last they (the Greenwood management) have opened the best nine they’ve got, the ‘C’ loop. Kept under wraps for so long, one wonders why they use it so little; in conjunction with the ‘A’ loop, this adds up to as good a course you can find anywhere locally.
Eighteen Outbackers took it on today in ideal conditions but nobody ran away with it, with the top score being just one better than handicap, 37 points from our organiser for the day, Steve Mann. However, it was all very close with Dan Willits & Andy Butts, tied on 36 and Sid Ottaway & Jim Peachey, tied on 35.
There were three ‘2’s from Jeff Bunn, Sean Johnston & Tony Garnett.
We’re back here again on Weds 1st December; let’s hope with a few more groups and that loop C is open.
1st Steve Mann (11) 37pts
2nd Daniel Willits (12) 36pts
3rd Andy Butterworth (12) 36pts
4th Sid Ottaway (24) 35pts
5th Jim Peachey (13) 35pts
Friday, Nov. 12, Khao Kheow – Stableford
A packed house at Khao Kheow, as the regular Outbackers were joined by some 22 gentlemen from Ireland, some of whom played with us before at Burapha, swelling the total to 59 players today. The course was in magnificent condition, playing B & C the yellow markers with a little wind it played quite tame with some really good scores coming in all divisions.
The top score came from Robert McVey in Div B with 43 points – a division unusually of 14 players with a handicap of either 13 or 14; he headed a trio of Irish raiders on 38, 37 and 36 points.
James Mahoney (Irish – 40pts) played well off 5 to take Div A, ahead of three tied on 38, namely Tony Garnett, Capt’ Bob and Paul Bourke. Div C was wrapped up by another of the Irish, Gerry Mernagh (37pts) with only the Aussie “Kissy” (36pts) preventing a clean sweep by the Irish in that division.
Div D also went to an Irishman, this time a resident one, Ed Delaney with 40 points, who probably put together one of his best ever rounds and will surely see his handicap tumble to 24. Sakorn did really well too to take second, getting 38 points off of H/cap 23, two less than her normal one.
A great day was had by all with many of the Irish raiders up there in the placings but they were happy to buy everyone a drink as they said, “this is embarrassing taking all this money off you nice lads”. But the funny part was when they paid the bill, it came to almost all the money they had won between them and were heard to say, “the Capt’ engineered that perfectly.”
On a more serious note though, this course really is great value for money and in such grand condition considering the rainy season has only just finished and to say the greens were excellent also would be an understatement. We wish the Irish lads good luck on their travels as a lot of them are on their way home on Monday, (back to the grind) as we say.
There were four ‘2’s from Capt’ Bob, John Cogan, Kissy Buchanan & Bob Lindborg.
Div A (0-12)
1st James Mahoney (5) 40pts
2nd Tony Garnett (11) 38pts
3rd Bob Philp (9) 38pts
4th Paul Bourke (10) 38pts
Div B (13-14)
1st Robert McVey (14) 43pts
2nd Dan Blake (13) 38pts
3rd Mike Higgins (13) 37pts
4th Mike Nagel (13) 36pts
Div C (15-18)
1st Gerry Mernagh (17) 37pts
2nd Keith Buchanan (17) 36pts
3rd Frank O’Brien (18) 35pts
4th Billy Maher (16) 35pts
Div D (19+)
1st Eddie Delaney (26) 40pts
2nd Sakorn Pramoolchart (23) 38pts
3rd Joe Guerin (19) 37pts
4th Sid Ottaway (24) 35pts
