PSC Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, April 11th
Greenwood Golf Club B &C
Medal
1st Jimmy Carr (19) Net 72
2nd Geoff Atwell (25) Net 72
3rd Kob Glover (23) Net 73
4th Michael Brett (16) Net 73
5th Niall Glover (16) Net 73
6th Les Cobban (9) Net 73
Near pins Les Cobban, Robbie Watts, Paul Smith, & Geoff Parker.
The Greenwood course was immaculate for Monday’s game, probably the best condition of any course we have played lately. The fairways and greens were just about perfect, the bunkers flawless, although one did complain that there was too much sand in them, made a pleasant change from unattended, unraked bunkers full of holes left by dogs.
After a couple of weeks of very nice weather, Monday it looked like at any moment we would get a drenching. Luckily, the rain stayed away, although a few drops did fall at different times.
In one of the most evenly contested games for a long time scoring, whilst not spectacular, was very close with two finishing on net seventy-two and four on seventy-three and placed as above. Jimmy Carr should have had a sub seventy score but a ten on the sixteenth cruelled his chances. Perhaps the expectation of what might happen after golf got in his head. One on seventy-two played off a one-stroke lower handicap than he should have which would have altered third place. All the near pins were taken with one each going to Les Cobban, Robbie Watts, Paul Smith, & Geoff Parker.
The closing two holes on the C nine were made even more difficult than normal as the ground staff started fires to clean up rubbish just off the course. This resulted in thick acrid smoke blowing across the eighth and ninth fairways.
Wednesday, April 13th
Mountain Shadow Golf Club
1st Les Cobban (9) 35 points
2nd Robbie Watts (8) 33 points
3rd Michael Brett (17) 31 points
Near pins Hubert Stiefenhofer, Robbie Watts, Kob Glover, & Les Cobban.
The combination of extremely high temperatures, a course in shabby condition, and play at snail’s pace was not the ideal cocktail of conditions for enjoyable golf. We had a caddie collapse on the eighth tee which held up play for about twenty minutes until she could be removed to the clubhouse. Despite that, it took no time till we were again back behind slow players and waiting on every shot. Many commented that they should not have gotten out of bed, which in retrospect would have been a better option.
As expected under the conditions, scores were low to very low with only Les Cobban managing a respectable score of thirty-five points to take first place. Robbie Watts was two adrift in second place with Michael Brett a further two back in third. All the near pins were taken with one each as listed above.
Friday, April 15th
Emerald Golf Club
1st Kob Glover (23) 41 points
2nd Jimmy Carr, (19) 36 points
3rd Michael Brett (17) 35 points
Near pins Michael Brett & Paul Smith X 3.
Another stinking hot day in Siam for our last game of the week at Emerald. There was no wind and at times the heat was oppressive, which affected some more than others. One who struggled massively had only one point after seven holes before declaring he had enough and walked off the course. Just about everyone had carts luckily, as it was not a day for walking.
The red tees are over one thousand yards shorter than the whites at Emerald and our only lady, Kob Glover took full advantage of the shorter distance to post the best score of the day, forty-one points to take first place by a margin of five points. Jimmy Carr took second with a solid thirty-six, twenty-three on the back nine one ahead of Michael Brett in third place. Paul Smith was back to his sharpshooting best again, taking three near pins, although one was a fair distance from the pin but still good enough to beat everyone else. Michael Brett got the remaining near pin.
One of our regular visitors from the UK, John Hughes, and known handicap bandit took first place in a competition at his local North Oxford course.
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