IPGC Pattaya Golf Society
The Pattaya Golf Society started its week on Monday, July 11 with a visit to Pattana to play a stableford competition from the yellow tees on the C and A nines, which were in excellent condition. The only downside was the lack of run on the fairways and the 6400 yard track was to play more like 6800 yards! Surely a day for the longer hitters?
There were no birdie ‘2’s and the whole pot was shared by the winners. In third place was Toby Glass with 31 points, one behind runner-up Alan Walker on 32. The winner for the third round in succession was Aussie Kevin Timbrell with 38 points and his three shot cut at the weekend is set to give way to more, immediately. It’s a tough game but always fair.
It was good to see old PGS friend Kerry Jonsson after a long absence and the Icelander, fresh from sporting adventures of a different kind in France, is taking a well-earned break from work to hit some golf balls. Hopefully he will leave with Pattaya with warm memories of his golf, certainly as good as the memories of Euro 16.
Glass class
On Wednesday, 13th July the Pattaya Golf Society visited Khao Kheow to play a stableford competition on the B and A nines which were in excellent condition. Teeing off in little wind and high humidity the group found an empty course ahead of them and progress was quick.
Yet again there were no birdie ‘2’s on the tough par threes and the course remained a tough test for the group with Murray Edwards making third place on 30 points and Mr Len in second with 31. Class always shows however and for “class” replace with “Glass” as Aussie Toby made his mark yet again with a fine 39 point haul, twenty-two points coming on the A nine. It was a “cut glass” round and “cut” is certainly the operative word as Toby achieves his dearest wish to reduce his handicap further.
The Booby Bevy was reserved for Kerry Jonsson who managed nine fives on his card indicating a large number of close calls on the greens, but, as he was reminded, nine fives is better than five nines!
Khao Kheow is a good call at present, competition is generally tight and the course is in excellent condition. Give it a go golfers!
Honours shared at Phoenix
Phoenix Mountain and Lakes nines were on the agenda for the Pattaya Golf Society on Friday, 15th July and a moderately sized group took to the first tee before time on a still day in high humidity.
Fairways and greens on Mountain were good and the signs were all there that the prestigious King’s Cup would be played on a good track in two weeks time. After the turn however the Lakes nine was in very shabby condition with patched greens, newly turfed areas and poorly maintained off-fairway tracts. At least it will give some notable tour golfers an insight into what we golfing “plebs” have to tolerate in the pursuit of our game.
The return of a few good friends and some potential new members saw a good competition with Khun Wichai nailing the only birdie ‘2’ on M8 and the usual suspects were setting themselves up for the final push as the round came to a conclusion.
Wichai Tananusorn shared third place with American Jim Dundon on 32 points, Wichai posting the best gross of the day, 84. Sharing first place were Karl Flood and Kevin Timbrell with 37 points each. At the other end of the leaderboard Mike Sim’s card was decided as the most qualified for the Booby Bevy.
Phoenix has so many good qualities as a resort golf course but for those who pay green fees or major tournament charges, more attention should be paid to customer care as one day customers may make the obvious choice.
