The Tara Court Golf Society
Sunday, Dec. 23, Green Valley – Stableford
We had our penultimate round of golf here at Green Valley for 2018 today. It was another warm day for the time of year and although the course was busier than lately we still got around in around four hours.
Good scoring in the A flight, which was up to sixteen handicap, and you needed to at least play to your handicap to come in the prizes. We had two players with thirty seven points and Craig Hitchens (H/cap 12) won the countback to claim first place ahead of Jerry Sweetnam (10) who had the consolation of taking a share of the ‘2’s pot.
We then had two players with thirty six points and here Shaun Merriman (14), who has come back in to form lately, won the countback to get the third place and Joe McArdle (16), who had a very good score on the front none but let it slip a bit on the back, had to settle for fourth.
With one notable exception the scoring wasn’t as good in the B flight where we had three players with thirty one points and on the countback Jerry McCarthy (17) came second ahead of Joe Peters (23) in third and Pat Carty (23) fourth. The exception was Peter Henshaw (29) who was six points clear of the rest and he came out the winner with thirty seven points.
We had four ‘2’s today, coming from David Edwards, Nick Caulfield, Donal Lyne and Jerry Sweetnam.
Tuesday, Dec. 25, Chee Chan G.C. – Team Stableford
On a fine and not to hot day, 27 players assembled at the new Chee Chan Golf Resort on Tuesday. The course was in immaculate condition with fairways and first cut rough as good as it gets in Thailand. The greens were true and not overly fast.
As it was Christmas Day we decided to play a team event along with the single stableford. Each team of 4 recorded their best 2 scores for each hole on 1-17 and then all scores counted on the 18th. Team 5, consisting of Nick Caulfield, Shaun Merriman, Jerry Sweetnam and Bob St Aubin came out on top with a combined 85 points. Second and third places were decided on countback with Team 1 of Joe McArdle, Donal Lyne, Michael Healy and Jerry McCarthy pipping team 7 of John Kelly, Richie Martin, Jean Fok Chak and Alex Graham, both teams signing for 81 points.
We also had a prize for the best single card and with a very good 37 points Shaun Merriman (14) took the plaudits.
We had two ‘2’s today, from Nick Caulfield and Michael Healy.
Thursday, Dec. 27, Leam Chabang – Stableford
Maybe it was the effects of all the Xmas celebrations or the fact that we had been playing two expensive courses this week, but we had a small group out today for our annual visit here to this magnificent course at Leam Chabang. We played the C and A nines in that order and they have completely renovated the A nine where they have changed all the grass on both the fairways and the rough and also put in some new bunkers.to make it even better than before.
This course is and always has been something special from the moment you enter the driveway and see the beautiful manicured shrubs etc. It is a pleasure to be here no matter what kind of golf you play.
Sean McNamara (H/cap 16) just arrived last weekend and he took the honors today with an excellent thirty-nine points. In second place was Nick Caulfield (6) with thirty-four and Shaun Merriman (14) took the third and last place for today with thirty-three.
We had no ‘2’s today.
