The Golf Club weekly round-up
Monday, Dec. 26, Green Valley (white tees) – Stableford
1st Gary Emmett (18) 37pts
T2nd Nick Handscombe (13) 36pts
T2nd Mark Wood (10) 36pts
First off, we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Santa was good to you in the form of something new in the golf bag! We really do appreciate your support of our club, restaurant and bar and hope you have enjoyed many happy times here at The Golf Club in the last year and wish only the best for you and your families for 2017.
Nights have been getting chilly (at least by local standards) and this Boxing Day was no exception. The day trip out to Green Valley was just perfect and one hardly broke into a sweat. That said, there must have been some nerves on that par 3 so no near pin today… all monies go directly to the Caddy Smile bank!
Nicky Handscombe appeared from out of nowhere and tied for second with our very own Mark Wood (who played so well at Wangjuntra the previous) with 36 points.
Gary Emmett has been threatening a win for the past several weeks and today he succeeded to top the podium. This is the last time we will be playing Green Valley with this current hole layout it is all about to change once again. Good luck to Gary, hope it suits your game mate.
Tuesday, Dec. 27, Waterside (white tees) – Stableford
1st Fred Birch (20) 36pts
T2nd Alan Rothwell (7) 35pts
T2nd Jeff Acheson (13) 35pts
Thanks Siam C.C., today we enjoyed a very special promotion at Waterside and played here for only 600 baht more than the low season sports day rate! It was a Christmas treat to get out on this superb golf course, which is arguably, for the average golfer, the most playable of the Siam trio.
Needless to say, the course was in absolutely immaculate condition, the caddies were excellent and the clubhouse staff could not have made us more welcome. The term ‘millionaire’s golf’ was never more appropriate!
We had a full sheet of 20 golfers and in retrospect we should have booked two more tee times. The lads that did get out had a whale of a day. Masaki Shimura claimed our Caddy Smile near pin in a blustery breeze that left few to find the green at all.
With 35 points, Jeff Acheson and Alan Rothwell found themselves in a tie for second place. The man we call “Mr. 47” these days after a blazing round at Green Valley, was in top form here today. Fred Birch loved the wind and sliced through it for a victory at Waterside. Nice going Fred, and another feather in the cap!
Thursday, Dec. 29, Pattavia Century (white tees) – Stableford
1st Nick Handscombe (13) 35pts
T2nd Robbie Taylor (14) 34pts
T2nd Zed Belogavec (20) 34pts
Another good turnout for Pattavia Century saw 28 of Pattaya’s finest hit the links in the pineapple fields. This course only gets better and so long as you are patient and can accept a few 3-putt greens you will have smooth sailing here.
It is worth the extra 15 minutes ride to get here and this outing we had 6 lads who had never played this course, and ended up loving it. This is one of the more challenging courses in the area and just 35 points were earned by today’s winner, but that’s good by Pattavia standards.
Second place was yet another tie which made it the third this week, what are the odds of that? Former medal winner Zed Belogavec (I will bet even he spells it wrong sometimes) had a respectable 34 for a tie with veteran Robbie Taylor. Nicky Handscombe got the chicken dinner this time as his 35 was top of the charts. Nick is here for another week so ya better watch out, ya better not cry!
Friday, Dec. 30, Greenwood (white tees) – Monthly Medal
1st Alan Thomas (7) net 67
2nd Ken Aihara (5) net 70
3rd Jeff Acheson (14) net 71
4th Colin Bate (21) net 72
Phil had his hands full today as 32 golfers were out to test the course at Greenwood for our medal comp. This was the last day of golf for 2016 as we wound things down for the year with a bang. The course was measuring 6,600 yards from the whites and those winds were still a’howlin’ for most of the day.
In fourth place, the smiling Englishman Colin Bates was joining us for the first time. His net 72 was also enhanced by his near pin where he managed to sink the putt for his ‘2’ and a drink from the Guvnah.
Jeff Acheson had his name in lights again this week and 71 on the card bought him a third place slot. It would be crazy to think that a week could go by without Kenny Aihara on a podium and today he shot a great 70 playing off his 5 handicap, but the 8th star eluded him this time.
The December Monthly Medal went to Alan Thomas this time and shooting a 67 net off a 7 handicap is an excellent round of golf. Alan has been around for a few years and plays with us frequently but this was his first medal win. Nice going Alan and hope this bodes well for some great golf in 2017!
