Pattaya Sports Club Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, March 2nd Treasure Hill Stableford
1st Dave Ashman (22) 37 points
2nd Michael Brett (16) 35 points
3rd Tony Plummer (17) 32 points
Near pins Alan Harris X 2, & Michael Brett X 2.
In just a week since our last visit to Treasure Hill, the course had improved markedly. It seems a bit of rain fell locally to complement the very active watering and grooming by the greens staff. The fairways were mostly green and well grassed, the greens were well cut and in good shape and the tee boxes were the best of any of the local courses.
With mass departures in the last week, our numbers fell off a cliff with only ten fronting up. This may also have something to do with the difficulty of the course and several residents giving it a miss. Scoring was as difficult as ever, a society out in front of us fared even worse than us with greater numbers, so it made our scorecards look a bit better.
With a solid front nine and a very good back nine of twenty points Dave Ashman took the honours with thirty-seven points. Several lip out putts relegated Michael Brett to second place with thirty-five points, while a rare visit from Tony Plummer saw him finish in third with thirty-two points.
Alan Harris and Michael Brett shared the near pins with two apiece, one from Michael Brett was close to his first ace, better come soon as time is ticking. One golfer from the society in front of us did get an ace.
With travel restrictions in place due to coronavirus and various other factors its looks likely we are well and truly back to low season numbers for the foreseeable future. This may have a silver lining as courses may be forced to return to low season green fees earlier than normal to try and attract more players.
Wednesday, March 4th Pattana Sports and Country Club Stableford
1st Jack Penny (19) 42 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (17) 37 points
3rd Alan Harris (9) 37 points
Near pins Raleigh Gosney, Keith Norman, Rocky Ishikawa, & Michael Brett.
Following several months away the Bunker Boys made a return to Pattana and were immediately met with a surprise. When we went to check-in we were told our booking was for 8.30 am, a time most Bunker Boys are crawling out of bed. As it happens it didn’t matter as the course was very quiet, some caddies remarked how quiet it had been and how little they were earning.
Another surprise when we got onto the course to find how damp underfoot it was, clearly, they have been getting rain that hasn’t been falling on other courses in the area. Only very rarely was there a need to move a ball from an overly wet area. The greens seemed to vary in speed quite a bit and caught out a few people. The skies were overcast and grey with the temperature cool for this time of year.
A mixed bag when it came to scoring with a couple of excellent returns, the remainder best forgotten. Jack Penny played not only his best round at the Bunker Boys ever but also his best anywhere for a long time. Even in his native New Zealand, he hasn’t had a score of forty-two for a while. The secret to his success was the putter, his playing partners remarked on how many one putts he had. Clearly, the pace of the greens wasn’t a problem for him.
A return to form for Jimmy Carr saw him take second from Alan Harris on countback with thirty-seven.
Near pins were shared between Rocky, Keith (nibbles) Norman, Raleigh Gosney, and Michael Brett. A penalty should have been imposed on the last group who were so slow they lost a full four holes on the group in front of them. So much for speeding up play, clearly they were oblivious to the many signs around the course urging “say no to slow play”.
Friday, March 6th Bangpra Stableford
1st Alan Harris (9) 37 points
2nd Barry Murnin (17) 32 points
3rd John Hughes (22) 31 points
Near pins Alan Harris, Barry Murnin, & Gary Warburton.
A pleasant surprise for the Bunker Boys Friday at Bangpra. No waiting till the appointed time to check-in, just do it and off we went to the first tee straight away. As a result, we had a quick round and were finished by about 3.00 pm. Very few other golfers on the course, our lead group ran up against a five ball on the closing holes. The course was just as dry as last time, but a very strong wind on several holes made play almost impossible. By Bangpra standards the greens were surprisingly slow. As a result, scores were modest at best.
A big troupe of monkeys played havoc on the eight green moving balls around for fun, one even removed a near pin marker, something we haven’t seen before at this course. We had the impression there had been a cull on our last visit but clearly not as today monkeys were everywhere.
Alan Harris playing his last game, for now, made a decent score of thirty-seven to take first place. Alan has been in a rich vein of form on this trip consistently making the winners circle and playing to his handicap. Five strokes back Barry Murnin took second with thirty-two points and John Hughes brought up the rear a point further back.
Only three near pins were won going to Gary Warburton, Barry Murnin, and Alan Harris.
Today was the first time we had an issue with transport but this was quickly resolved by our fearless leader Jimmy with some quick negotiations with a taxi driver from next door to Woody’s bar.
 |
 |
 |
