The Pattaya Golf Society (IPGC) at the Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society began the new week with a visit to Emerald on Monday, April 28, to play a stableford competition on the course which is still undergoing fairway repairs and is therefore not in the best of conditions, and the greens were still slow.
The round was just one day short of the third anniversary of John Mason’s “ace” on the thirteenth and he sponsored a near pin on the tough par three to celebrate, and Tommy Wicklund almost repeated the feat with a tee shot which finished just three inches behind the hole for the prize. Birdie ‘2’s were achieved by John Chelo and Erik Anttonen whilst Chris Smith and Tommy Wicklund produced a brace of birdies for a share of the pot.
In the main event Robbie Taylor scored 37 points for fourth place, with Ken Grimes, Andrew Purdie and the redoubtable Brian Talbot sharing the win with 38 points each. The bar’s consolation prize went to Dave Plaiter and the Booby Bevy went to Wayne Morrison for the lowest score of the day.
Edwards emerges from the shadows
On Wednesday, 30th April the Pattaya Golf Society turned out at Mountain Shadow to play its monthly medal round on the course from the blue tees. The day began with a very overcast sky but it continued to improve and the course was in excellent condition with very consistent and quick greens.
The single flight enjoyed a fine competition with Mike King occupying fourth place with net 76, and David Thomas taking third with net 73. Brian Talbot ended his trip with net 71, showing again what a consistent golfer he is with a series of scores which will be difficult to match when next he joins the PGS later in the year.
The winner was Dave Edwards, for whom the last six months has been the proverbial golfing nightmare. His quality has never been in doubt but his swing had lost all its length and accuracy and at times resembled a bag of spanners. His best gross score of eighty gave him net 67 and was no more than the hours of practice and trial and error deserved. Hopefully he never has to tread that particular road again!
There were no birdie ‘2’s and the Booby Bevy went to the Norwegian pair of Bent Saeverud and Gubbi Innvaer who submitted stableford scores not strokes.
The day’s golf had been an enjoyable one and for Dave Edwards a turn in the road and a return to better times.
Patience & putts – prerequisites at Pattavia
Great strides have been made by the new regime at Pattavia since the reopening of the course last year and the Pattaya Golf Society visited the club on Friday, 2nd May, to play a stableford round. Sadly things got off to a bad start when there were no caddies available for the pre-booked group and a late start inevitably ensued.
Play eventually got underway with a motley collection of caddies from Pattana as well as the home course and some golfers were disadvantaged with no advice given regarding the subtleties of the greens, which may well be the most difficult to putt on in the area.
In the single flight Jesper Hansen, Murray Edwards, Gubbi Innvaer and Mike Firkin all shared third place with 32 points. Playing his final round this trip Bent Saeverud recorded 33 points to share the win with Craig Thomas, ironically both golfers making their first visit to the club.
Dave Plaiter took the ‘2’s pot with a fine effort on the thirteenth. Roy Basset won the consolation beer and the Booby Bevy went to Willie Barbour for his low score of the day.
The presentation ended on a sad note with the initial reports of the sad passing of one of the group’s old friends, Jean Morel, earlier in the day. God bless you Jean, we’ll all miss your comradeship and your smile.
