The Vintage Club
1st Niall Glover (11) 38 points
2nd Craig Dows (5) 35 points
3rd Les Cobban (7) 35 points
Near pins Craig Dows, Kevin LeBar, & Les Cobban X 2.
We began a new month of golf in fine style with a game at The Vintage Club in the Bangkok suburb of Samut Prakarn. This club claims to be a “World Class Golf Venue” and it’s difficult to dispute that claim. Competition ready to host the Thai LPGA this week the course was in pristine condition and well worth the extra effort to get there, a drive of ninety minutes.
It was hard to find any fault with the course; in particular, the greens were superb. A green fee of thirteen hundred baht walking was excellent value for a course of this quality and with universal approval no doubt we will make a return visit before too long. The green fee also included a food voucher to the value of two hundred baht to be spent in the clubhouse adding to the lure of the club.
Unfortunately, the weather put a bit of a dampener on the day, heavy rain started falling on the first hole and never stopped all day, only eased off to a drizzle. Play became increasingly difficult with grips and gloves wet and casual water on many parts of the course. Despite that, we soldiered on to the end and a few overcame the adverse conditions to record decent scores.
Top of the heap Niall Glover took first place with an excellent thirty-eight. Craig Dows and Les Cobban both recorded scores of thirty-five with Craig taking second on countback, he also managed to bag a near pin with Kevin LeBar while Les Cobban took two. Last game of this tour for Craig and David Prior, both returning down under for a few months.
Wednesday, August 3rd
Pattaya Country Club.
1st Jay Mitchell (25) Net 70
2nd Gary Smith (10) Net 71
3rd Robby Watts (8) Net 73
4th John Turnbull (11) Net 74
Near pins Jay Mitchell, Hubert Stiefenhofer, John Turnbull, & Gary Smith.
The monthly medal round was played at Pattaya Country Club in overcast and blustery conditions. Rain threatened all day and a few drops did fall but didn’t interrupt play. The wind however was a different story, constantly changing direction and intensity and making play tricky; if one was paranoid they might think the wind was always against them. The course held up remarkably well despite recent rain and carts were allowed on the fairways, so no need for pick, clean, and place.
A strong group of fifteen despite several regulars so competition was keen, we had a couple of first timers who found themselves in the winner’s circle despite playing with borrowed clubs. Despite having four wipes in Stableford terms Jay.
Mitchell took top spot with a net seventy, one might reasonably conclude that his handicap was generous, all things considered. The very consistent Gary Smith took second place with a net seventy-one. Robby Watts returned to form after a few off days to take third place with a net seventy-three, while the second newcomer John Turner completed the scoring with a net seventy-four.
All the near pins were taken with one each going to Jay Mitchell, Hubert Stiefenhofer, John Turnbull, and Gary Smith. In a remarkable turn of events, only Robby and Hubert were present at the presentation so quite a sizeable contribution was made to the very deserving cause, the delinquent fund.
Friday, August 5th
Pattana B & C
1st Jay Babin (21) 37 points
2nd Michael Brett (15) 35 points
3rd Bil Richardson (12) 34 points
Near pins Raleigh Gosney, Niall Glover, Bil Richardson, & Robby Watts.
A rare day of late when there was little or no prospect of rain, the wind was a problem yet again, blustery and continually changing direction, making for difficult conditions.
Due to the wetness of the course, we decided to play off the yellow tees as opposed to the whites as was the original plan, once again this proved problematic as several had without notice been moved forward close to the reds making a mockery of the distance indicated on the card. Still, with the wind and zero run on the fairways, the course proved a challenge and this was reflected in the scores returned.
A couple of courses are proving to be happy hunting grounds for Jay Babin and Pattana is one such course, he took first place with thirty-seven points. A poor finish with only two points on the last two holes robbed Michael Brett of the chance to outdo Jay, finishing two strokes back. Bill Richardson took third a further stroke back. All the near pins were taken with one each going to Raleigh Gosney, Robby Watts, Bil Richardson, and Niall Glover.
There are times when we go for long periods without a “Hole in One”, This year we have had four already, the latest addition to the list is Raleigh Gosney who after thirty-five years since his last aced the B.
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