PSC Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, February 24th Treasure Hill
1st Tony Robbins (19) 35 points
2nd Peter Kelly (13) 33 points
3rd Tony Berry (14) 33 points
4th Roland Davison (15) 33 points
5th Geoff Williams (25) 32 points
Near pins Alan Harris, Roland Davison, Arthur Todd, & Peter Kelly.
A good field of twenty-two rolled up for a difficult round at Treasure Hill. As we arrived the car park looked full so we expected a slow round, but this turned out not to be the case as our lead group was finished in three and a half hours. The course was surprisingly good given no rain for some time; however, good maintenance meant the course was ok, staff were hand watering in some areas. The greens were very slippery with downslope putts proving very challenging so scoring was average. Also, a couple of pin placements were wicked.
Tony Robbins in a rich vein of form recently took first place with thirty-five points, we need a few courses with long water carries to mess with his mind and knock him off his perch. Three finished on thirty-three and were separated by countback in the following order, Peter Kelly, Tony Berry, and Roland Davison, with Geoff Williams rounding out the scoring in fifth place a stroke back. Near pins went to Peter Kelly, Alan Harris, Roland Davison, and Arthur Todd. Shot of the day went to Daryl Vernon who wrapped one of his irons around a tree trying to play from a difficult position amongst the trees, consequently snapping the shaft, a cheaper option would have been to play a penalty drop.
A perennial issue again raised its head today, that of mandatory three hundred baht tip to caddies. Many people would prefer not to have a caddie but accept that this will never happen. What is more difficult to accept is the mandatory three-hundred baht tip which is not seen as a good idea as it provides no incentive for poor caddies to raise their game since they will be compensated the same as a good caddie who does deserve a good tip. In light of the poor quality of many courses due to lack of rain, high season pricing and poor exchange rates many see this as an unacceptable situation, given that the caddies get most of the fee charged by the clubs and end up earning well above minimum wage. making golf expensive compared to other places.
Wednesday, February 26th
Ironman Competition, Golf, Dominoes, & Killer Pool
King Naga
1st Ken Elmore (17) 40 points
2nd Michael Brett (16) 37 points
3rd Keith Norman (14) 36 points
4th Dave Ashman (22) 36 points
Near pins Keith Norman, Tony Berry, Daryl Vernon, Tony Robbins.
The first leg of the Ironman, golf, was played at the King Naga course which was in just about as bad a condition as anyone can remember, brown, bone dry, and with very little grass on the fairways, so a temporary rule of pick and place was implemented for the bare areas of fairway. The greens were ok if a little slow. We had the course to ourselves so a speedy round was completed in about three and a half hours.
Despite the condition of the course, scoring, for the most part, was good, none better than Ken Elmore with a superb forty points. Ken has played some of the best golf we have seen from him, unfortunately, this was his last game of this visit. Second place went to Michael Brett with thirty-seven points despite a serious stumble on the back nine, with three one pointers in a row. Keith Norman and Dave Ashman were third and fourth respectively with thirty-six points. Near pins to Tony Robbins, Tony Berry, Daryl Vernon, and Keith Norman. Back at the bar Dave Ashman rang the bell to celebrate the arrival of his third grandson, congratulations Dave.
Dominoes. People were paired randomly with the winner of the best of three rounds progressing, while the losers bowed out. Some had not played dominoes previously so Daryl explained the rules prior to the commencement of play. Whether by good luck or good management the winner was Dave Ashman despite not having played before, perhaps a bit of both.
Killer Pool. The final leg of the Ironman was killer pool, a game that went for some time before we found the eventual winner, none-other than the boss himself Paul Wood. People accumulated points in each of the competitions depending on their placings in each of the games with the eventual winner, someone who didn’t come first in any of the sports, Daryl Vernon having accumulated the most points declared the inaugural winner by a single point from Dave Ashman and Keith Norman who were tied in second place. This was a fun event and something that should be repeated next year.
A sad week for the Bunker Boys as we bade farewell to several of our seasonal visitors, Roger Tuohy, Keith Hemmings, Tom McMurray, & Ken Elmore, we look forward to seeing all of them back in the ranks again soon.
Friday, February 28th Pleasant Valley
1st Alan Harris (9) 37 points
2nd Neil Jones (22) 36 points
3rd Michael Brett (16) 32 points
Near pins Daryl Vernon, Nick Fazakerly, & Neil Jones X 2.
The last game of the month was played at Pleasant Valley where we had a smaller than usual field due to the large number of people leaving following a long seasonal break from the rigors of northern hemisphere weather. The course was in excellent condition, perhaps the best of any on our playing roster. We even, dare I say, enjoyed a heavy shower of rain which was needed desperately on some of the other courses we play. So we had a fifteen-minute delay mid-round. With the competitive green fees and quality of the course, we should arrange to play this course twice a month until some of the other bone dry courses recover if we get seasonal rain.
A mixed bag of scores with only two golfers achieving a decent score. Top of the list was Alan Harris with thirty-seven points in first place followed a stroke back by the departing Neil Jones on thirty-six. Third went to Michael Brett on thirty-two after another poor day with the putter. Newcomer Nick Fazakerly got a near pin with Neil Jones taking two and Daryl Vernon the remaining pin.
The golfer of the month became a bit of an anticlimax with the man from the sunburnt country Robby Watts winning by a significant margin despite only playing for three of the four weeks. Tony Robbins and Ken Elmore put up a good fight but both fell short in the end. No doubt we will celebrate the win when Robby returns in a few months.
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