PSC Golf from The Growling Swan
Monday, Sept. 16, Pattana C & A – Stableford
It wasn’t raining but it looked as if it could as we gathered at the Growling Swan to prepare for our departure to the classy Pattana Golf Course and the field was quite good at 24.
We were happy to welcome well known Pattaya Hotelier Rosco Langoulant and his mate Paul Rodgers from Australia, John Stewart from Queensland, Jim Hallett from Halifax in the UK and after just a week and a half back in Perth, Australia Brad “Bad” Todd with us once again for another month. We also said farewell to Frank Donnelly who is off back to Bundaberg in Queensland for a couple of months.
Paul Rodgers, Ebrahim & Stu Rifkin.
Everyone was on time so we departed the GS five minutes early at 8.25 am and after a 45 minute drive our 2 mini vans arrived at the golf course where it appeared to be reasonably busy and check in was swift, particularly now that they have stopped photo copying everyone’s PSC Membership Cards. We were told it was to be C & A nines in that order so off we went and under overcast skies our first group teed off 15 minutes early at 9.45 am.
No carts were allowed on the fairways so with three of our group in carts we knew that it would be a fairly slow round and preferred lies through the greens was the order of the day. The course was in great shape and the greens very well maintained as we proceeded whilst continually looking upwards expecting a downpour any minute but thankfully there were only a few drops and then the weather cleared.
The course was quite wet after much recent rain but the relief rule made things a little easier so I expected the overall scoring to be fairly good. The first nine took two hours & fifteen minutes and slowed down a fair bit on the second nine due to groups being slotted in ahead of us an A1 but we managed to complete the very enjoyable eighteen holes of golf in four hours & forty five minutes, quite slow but fair enough under the conditions. It had been a very enjoyable day with excellent company on a very good golf course.
We had 2 Grades – A Grade for handicaps 0 to 13 and B Grade for handicaps 14 & over with 4 places in each grade. There were also rewards for nearest the pins on the four par threes and longest first putts on the A9 & C9 greens.
Mark Stapleton & Kevin Waycott.
Newcomer Paul Rodgers won the A Grade section with a very good 39 points and with two on 37 points a count back was needed which saw Paul “Hacky” Hack (18 point back nine & 12 points on the last 6 holes) finish second from Mike Allidi (18 point back nine & 11 points on the last 6 holes) who finished third. The consistent Kevin “Wayco” Waycott came in fourth with a steady 36 points.
Another count back was required to determine the winner of B Grade with two golfers on 36 points and it was Stu “Heineken” Rifkin (17 point back nine & 13 points on the last 6 holes) who was the winner from Frank “Woody” Donnelly (17 point back nine & 11 points on the last 6 holes) in second place. Yet another count back was needed with two on 35 points and John Davis (18 point back nine & 11 points on the last 6 holes) took third place from Mark Stapleton (18 point back nine & 10 points on the last 6 holes) in fourth spot.
A Flight (0-13)
1st Paul Rodgers (13) 39pts
2nd Paul Hack (10) 37pts
3rd Mike Allidi (3) 37pts
4th Kevin Waycott (11) 36pts
B Flight (14+)
1st Stu Rifkin (14) 36pts
2nd Frank Donnelly (20) 36pts
3rd John Davis (23) 35pts
4th Mark Stapleton (25) 35pts
Near Pins: A3 – Martin Todd, A8 – Mike Allidi, C2 – John Davis, C7 – Mike Allidi
Long Putts: A9 – Frank Donnelly, C9 – Martin Todd
The Growling Swan NAGA Award (awarded to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won for the very first time by the very likeable Ebrahim and he accepted the award like the very good sport that he is.
Thursday, Sept. 19, Greenwood C & A – Stableford
Once again there were overcast skies as we gathered at The Growling Swan in readiness for the journey to Greenwood. We had a full field of 24 signed up but alas – Number 1 Growling Swan Delinquent Peter Grey was not there. I whizzed over to his place on the motor bike to find him moaning & groaning due to a dose of the “Don Bradman’s” and alas we were down to 23.
We welcomed back Stephen Newton, who had been working in Indonesia, and also Phil Holmes who is here on holiday from Perth, Australia.
Departing the GS 5 minutes early at 8.25 am it was a slow trip in drizzling rain and 60 minutes later we arrived at the course to find a fair bit of activity but we were still able to hit off 5 minutes ahead of schedule at 10.00 am. It was a “gloomy” day weather wise and there was light rain for most of the day and naturally the course was quite wet so with no carts on the fairways preferred lies through the greens were allowed.
The course was as usual in good condition considering the amount of water it had been getting and most of the tee shots got zero run and in some cases actually came backwards a few inches. Not to worry though as we love our game of golf and although the drizzling rain kept up it wasn’t enough to warrant pulling the “brolly” out and we completed the round in four hours & fifteen minutes after enjoying the day and the very good company.
We had 2 Grades – A Grade for handicaps 0 to 18 and B Grade for handicaps 19 & over with 4 places in each grade. There were also rewards for nearest the pins on the four par threes and longest first putts on the A9 & C9 greens.
It was ‘Mr Consistency’ Kevin “Wayco” Waycott who finished on top in the A Grade section with 38 points, just beating John Pierrel who finished second with 37. Alain “Inspector Clouseau” Taddei was third with 35 points and Mike allidi fourth on 34.
There was an absolute “bolter” in the B Grade with Mark Stapleton carding 41 points and winning from Russell Calcutt who was 12 points further back in second place. With 2 players on 28 points a count back was required which saw Max “Corsets” Bracegirdle (14 point back nine) finish third from Thientong Charoenrung (13 point back nine) in fourth spot.
A Flight (0-18)
1st Kevin Waycott (11) 38pts
2nd John Pierrel (11) 37pts
3rd Alain Taddei (16) 35pts
4th Mike Allidi (3) 34pts
B Flight (19+)
1st Mark Stapleton (25) 41pts
2nd Russell Calcutt (36) 29pts
3rd Max Bracegirdle (25) 28pts
4th Thientong Charoenrung (19) 28pts
Near Pins: A2 – Mike Allidi, A6 – John Pierrel, C6 – Kevin Waycott
Long Putts: A9 – Martin Todd, C9 – John Pierrel
The Growling Swan NAGA Award was well won once again by Niall Stuart and he accepted the award with pride but unfortunately as the previous winner of the NAGA had taken it home & forgotten to bring it back there was no cap to be worn.
Max then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers.
Note: Growling Swan Golf welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low & high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays & Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan (formerly The Bunker Bar) in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8.00 am with transport departing at 8.30 am. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn @gmail.com.
We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is Lawn Bowls and Wednesday is Indoor Bowls. All are welcome and for anyone that is interested the transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10.00am on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454 005.
