The Pattaya Golf Society (IPGC) at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar
On Wednesday, 10th October the Pattaya Golf Society travelled to St Andrew’s to play a stableford competition on the testing course. With the recent stormy weather the course was soft and yielding and the greens were on the slow side.
A heavy storm held play up after nine holes and it was the group’s misfortune on the restart to be behind a very pedestrian Asian five-ball whose sole intention seemed to be to see it through until darkness fell. The day was therefore destined to be a long one with scores to match.
Three people returned the same winning score, 32 points, and to Ken Grimes, Jim Ferris and Gary Bolger went the plaudits. There were three birdie ‘2’s with Jim Proctor muscling in an improbable chip on the fifth to join Wichai Tananusorn and Larry Slattery’s more conventional efforts on the tenth.
Rabbi’s free beer draw was won by Ray Jackson and the Booby Bevy was held over until the next outing because the “jobsworth” of a marshall who had informed the group that the policy in high season at Green Valley was to “call” all the par threes, was not present in Soi Buakhao. Check your insurance golfers, Green Valley could be a dangerous place during the next few months!
Gruelling golf at Greenwood
The Pattaya Golf Society ended the week with a visit to Greenwood to play a stableford round on the C and A nines. The recent monsoons have almost swamped the province and Greenwood somehow has survived but with very soft, even squelchy fairways and slow greens. Another long day lay ahead of the group, thankfully swelling each round with returning friends after a very flat low season.
Norwegian golfer Gubbi Innvaer always tries to perform to his best and on this day his third place return of 30 was a credit to his patience and nothing more than just reward for his efforts. Two golfers shared the win with Margaret Wilkinson proudly matching the efforts of Tony Thorne with 31 points, the latter finding some form at last after a couple of torrid months.
Larry Slattery came up with his second successive birdie ‘2’, this time on the long C3 hole, with the Scottish trio of Donnie McKinnon, John and Mark Malpass picking up the Booby Bevy for their plodding efforts on a course completely new to them. Thus another PGS week ended after tough rounds in testing conditions.
