PSC Golf from the Tropical Golf Group
Tuesday, July 31,
Royal Lakeside – Medal
Just what makes the hour long drive with tolls so enticing when so many courses are so much closer to home? It just must be that when we make the trek to these courses we do so with confidence that the course will be presented in great condition with well grassed fairways, fair rough and consistent greens. Top that off with a fair price to walk and you have a day that is hard to beat. So with this being our Monthly Medal, four groups headed out to play the game in its purest form; count all the strokes, no picking up, and subtract your handicap in hopes of turning in the best “Net” score of the day.
After arrival our groups were soon out on the course under fantastic weather and course conditions. The course presented excellent fairways, well maintained bunkers and greens running at “10” on the Stimpmeter.
With no delays during the round, the pace of play was excellent, and for the second week in a row, the cards were all in, and after a drink in the clubhouse, all were on the road back to Pattaya by 3:00 p.m.
On this day, it must be said that the players won over the course with 10 out of the 15 players meeting or beating their handicap and 7 of those having scores in the 60’s. With two players recording net 64’s, the winner of the July mug with a net 30.5 on the back 9, was Alan Sullivan (c/h 15) over Mick Coghlan (23), recording net 32.5 on the inward 9. They were followed to the podium by Gordon Clegg (27), net 65; Andre Van Dyk (17), net 66; Colm O’Donovan (21), net 67; and Mashi Kaneta (16), net 68, excellent scoring under excellent conditions by all.
Friday, August 3,
Emerald – Stableford
With small numbers today we arrived to a near empty parking lot, a sizable line-up of caddies and carts, and no crowd near the first tee. Most took advantage of the 1350B “All In” deal and our groups were headed down the first fairway well before our scheduled tee time.
The course was in reasonable condition, carts allowed on the fairways, no “Ball in Hand” in force, and seemingly it was a great day ahead. But wait a minute, with all groups started and spread across the first three holes the heavens opened up with a heavy shower. The sky didn’t appear that this would last long and so it was. The rain stopped as quickly as it had started but it returned 15 minutes later and we were forced to dash back to the shelter of the clubhouse.
Twenty minutes later the rains stopped once more and we decided to carry on, soaked shirts, shorts and all. It was a good decision as the course drained quickly and with drops for casual water allowed, play proceeded at a reasonable pace. Showered and changed, cards collected and after the easy drive back to Pattaya, we were soon ready for the presentation.
Maybe due to the difficulty of Emerald, complicated a bit by the early weather problems, the scores this day were a bit lower than usual for this group. The ever steady John Davis (c/h 12) topped the podium with a solid 35 points followed by Don Carmody (33) and Mashi Kaneta (15) turning in 33 points to take 2nd and 3rd respectively. Best 9 hole scores for those not on the podium were by Dick Warberg and Mick Coghlan.
