PSC golf Bunker Boys @ The Ranch
Monday, May 19, Plutuluang W & N – Stableford
This was our first visit of the year to the Navy course because we tend to avoid playing here in high season due to previous bad experiences with organizational issues when the course is busy. The current low season green fee price offers good value for money and we elected to play the West and North courses, which are probably the more challenging of the four nines here.
The course was surprisingly quiet and the weather was sunny with a gentle breeze, so conditions were almost perfect to reacquaint ourselves with this popular venue. Our three groups were able to tee off immediately and the leading group soon disappeared into the distance with no golfers ahead of them throughout the round. It was immediately obvious that the course was in excellent condition and even the usually slow greens were running at reasonable pace.
Tony Robbins.
Tony Robbins reveled in the conditions to produce his best round for quite some time, scoring 24 points on the front nine and coming back to the clubhouse with an unbeatable score of 41 points. Second and third places were decided on a count back with in-form golfer Thomas Nyborg edging out Geoff Parker.
Tony Robbins completed a fine round by taking three of the near pin prizes with only Dave Keats preventing him from making a clean sweep of the day’s prizes.
1st Tony Robbins (14) 41pts
2nd Thomas Nyborg (18) 36pts
3rd Geoff Parker (13) 36pts
Near Pins: Dave Keats and Tony Robbins (3)
Wednesday, May 21, Laem Chabang A & B – Stableford
A rare visit for us to this excellent course designed by Jack Nicklaus, taking advantage of the discounted green fee rate being offered during May as part of their 25th anniversary celebration.
We elected to play off the blue tees, which with a course distance of 6,578 is the nearest to our standard distance of 6,500 yards, but this immediately proved to be tough decision as several players struggled to reach the fairway on the first hole!
The weather was almost perfect with sunny skies and a freshening breeze, and the fairways were lush, although the greens showed signs of recent sanding and were running slower than expected. The course was surprisingly quiet and our three groups completed the round in double quick time taking full advantage of the compulsory buggies.
It was always going to be a challenging day’s golf and in the event Thomas Nyborg was the only player to play to his handicap, recording his fourth win of the month which gives him a commanding lead in the race for the Golfer of the Month title. Geoff Cox took second place ahead of Ken Davidson, who was playing the final game of his visit before returning to the U.K.
Although many players struggled to record a respectable score, everyone agreed that they thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play on what is truly a championship course
1st Thomas Nyborg (18) 36pts
2nd Geoff Cox (15) 35pts
3rd Ken Davidson (21) 31pts
Near Pins: Geoff Cox, Gerry Cooney.
Friday, May 23, Treasure Hill – Stableford
T’was the morning after the military coup and your scribe sat drinking coffee with Buff at The Ranch, wondering how many intrepid souls would venture out for a game of golf under martial law, or would they prefer to stay indoors watching the army version of TV. In the event we eventually managed to scrape a small group together and headed off up the 331 not really quite knowing what to expect.
We arrived at the course to find there were no tanks in the car park (and hardly any cars either!) and when we signed in we discovered there were only a total of seven other golfers on the course ahead of us.
We decided to play off the yellow tees and set off at our leisure in bright sunny weather, and it was soon apparent that the course was in great condition. All the recent work on the surrounds of the greens has now fully bedded in and the greens (bar two which were scruffy), were in good shape. A consequence of the new surrounds is that several of the greens are significantly smaller than previous, so what has always been a difficult course is now even more demanding.
With no other golfers in sight we moved at a good pace until we eventually caught up with a group ahead of us on the 12th hole, but they were so surprised to see us that they waved us through immediately!
Geoff Parker produced the best score of the day, including a chip-in birdie from the greenside bunker on the handicap 1 hole, while Thomas Nyborg fell apart on the final two holes and had to be content with second place.
1st Geoff Parker (13) 34pts
2nd Thomas Nyborg (18) 30pts
3rd Tore Eliassen (17) 28pts
Note: The Bunker Boys are a PSC affiliated golf society, who now play out of The Ranch bar on Pattaya 3rd Road (in front of the fire station, and almost opposite the Buffalo Bar). We play on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so if you enjoy a fun day out and a friendly but competitive golf competition why not come and join us. We meet at The Ranch at 9 a.m. and new players are always welcome.
Contact “Buff” on 086 046 5091 or 080 605 5663 or go to website: www.bunker society.com.
