IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at the Elephant Bar
The Pattaya Golf Society visited Greenwood on Monday, 13th October to play a stableford competition on the A and C courses and found a course in good condition given the current weather. Preferred lies were the order of the day but it was not necessary to lift and clean after every shot.
A healthy four group field signed in with only four cars in the car park – probably belonging to staff – and an empty course beckoned before tee off time.
As “run” was limited and a strong “two club” wind blew all day scores would be limited and third place was taken by Mr Len with 33 points, Jesper Hansen missing out on a podium place by one point for yet another round! In second was Jon Batty who had recorded thirty points by the fourteenth tee but only managed five more in a disappointing finish. For the second round running Andrew Purdie made his mark with a sub-par round, this time forty points defying logic on the day. It was a “long” player’s day obviously.
Wednesday’s podium (from left): Jon Batty, Andrew Purdie and Wichai Tananusorn.
Jon Batty recorded the only birdie ‘2’ of the day, on A2, and Keith Melbourne enjoyed the bar’s free beer as the non winner of the day. The Booby Bevy went to Larry Ang for his low score of the day.
The good news is that Greenwood’s special low season rate is continuing until 31st December and the PGS will certainly be back there soon to take advantage of the course’s astute business sense and course management skills.
Purdie’s three-peat
Following a call from Khao Kheow to advise us that they intended coring 18 greens on the day we were scheduled to play, we decided to move our booking to Eastern Star. The fact that Khao Kheow gave us that option was much appreciated. We will reciprocate.
The day stayed fine and warm for our four groups. We decided preferred lies were the order of the day, as large patches of bare ground could be seen on the fairways, especially in front of greens. To be fair, the white GUR markings were in evidence, but they did not cover all patches. The putting surfaces were in the last stages of recovery from recent coring, and still held liberal amounts of sand.
Ken Page recorded the ‘perfect shot’ at Mountain Shadow.
This course always plays tough; a tribute to its length (6575) and the fact that the penalty for straying too far left or right (water and OB) are severe. In short, 36 point normally wins here and that is exactly what Andrew Purdie scored to give him his third win in a row. The big hitting Aussie will soon feel the handicapper’s wrath, which will please him and his playing partners.
Coming a close second was the consistent Jon Batty, and playing partner Wichai Tananusorn, ensured the three-ball completed the podium through his third placing. This same playing group also accounted for the ‘2’s of the day, with Andrew birdying the 13th and Wichai the 17th.
Back at the Elephant Bar, John Tallett drew the lucky beer draw. The booby bevy went to Alan Flynn for the mishap he suffered even before departing for golf; giving him and all of us a reminder never to take security for granted. Luckily very little was lost, so a cheap lesson was provided – a reminder to keep your door locked.
1st Andrew Purdie (11) 36pts
2nd Jon Batty (9) 35pts
3rd Wichai Tananusorn (8) 33pts
Ken’s perfect shot
Friday 17 March saw the Pattaya Golf Society take four groups to Mt. Shadow, to play a stableford competition from the blue tees. The course was well presented, the fairways offered run whilst the putting greens were nearly back to the normal Mt Shadow standard, following recent maintenance. It was good to see the lakes once again full of water.
Play started early as the course appeared to be light on customers. One group didn’t have long to wait until witnessing the day’s highlight – a Hole-in-One on the par-3 eighth. Scot Ken Page holing out with a superbly hit 6-iron which travelled past the hole before spinning back and into the cup! Ken’s caddie had insisted on the choice of club, twice overriding Ken’s preference for a 7-iron. Good value, these caddies.
There were two ‘2’s; amazingly, one on the par-4 tenth, scored by Larry Gibb after holing out from his second shot. The other ‘2’, a more conventional one, came on the 15th by David Thomas. Both these feats, however, counted for nothing as the ‘2’s pot was awarded to Ken Page.
Given the well-presented course and good conditions, scoring was modest. A tight result saw the four podium placegetters split by just two stableford points.
Back at the Elephant Bar, welcomes were made to four new members; Brad Lewis, Paul Herring and Dave Angus-Crouch, all from NSW Australia, and Larry Gibb from Singapore. The lucky beer draw was picked up by newbie, Brad Lewis, whilst the booby bevy went to Keith Melbourne following his “mare” of a round. The presentation was concluded by the awarding of an IPGC Hole-in-One golf bag to Ken Page, who then rang the bell for all the golfers present.
T1st Dave Lehane (15) 34pts
T1st Larry Gibb (23) 34pts
3rd David Thomas (8) 33pts
4th Dave Angus-Crouch (16) 32pts
Congratulations to the winners, but a special mention goes to Ken Page, for executing golf’s perfect shot. Well done, Ken!
