The Pattaya Links Golf Society
Monday, Dec. 18, Royal Lakeside – Stableford
A visit to Royal Lakeside is always a treat for golfers and twenty one golfers were keen to test their skills against this splendidly presented course. Fairways were lush and the consistent greens were as good as any we have played in the past few months.
Mick Coghlan made the statement early that the wind would die down soon. He failed to mention which day. The conditions were not good for the golfers who get some altitude into their shots.
Although the wind did play havoc with shot making, there were still many very good score cards coming in. None was better than that of Chris Walsh (h/cap 24) with a sparkling 40 points. It was a day for the Irish, as Chris’s countryman, Colm O’Donovan (20) was right behind with an excellent 39 points after a bit of a ragged start.
Next in line came the Canadians: Rod Stevens (24) scored a handicap beating 38 points to beat his compatriot Harry Lankoff (19), who scored 35 points after surviving a three-way count-back.
Four near pin prizes were won by Tony Browne, Rod Stevens, Len Jones and Colm O’Donovan.
The beat nines for non winners came from John Malet De Cateret (front, 20pts) and Mike Wilsher (back, 17pts).
Wednesday, Dec. 20, Pattavia – Stableford
The word around town is that the Greens at Pattavia are getting quicker and more treacherous. 17 of our 18 players who travelled the 331 can attest to that. Otherwise, the fairways and general condition of the course is as we have come to expect, always presented well.
Gerner Lykke (12), in his last game before returning home to Denmark, managed to be the only one to play to handicap and 36 points won the day for him.
The next three players all scored 33 points, with Wayne Peppernell (14) winning the count-back to take second spot from Colin Smith (13). Ralph McConnell (15) took fourth place with his 33 points.
Down on numbers a little today so no near pins but we decided to pay for ‘2’s and Colin Smith was the only player to collect with his effort on the fourth hole.
The best front nine (non winners) came from Gerry Conway (20pts) and best back nine from Niall Caven with 15 points.
Friday, Dec. 22, Crystal Bay – Stabelford
Of our 29 starters, only 3 of them adapted to the mixed course conditions, all scoring very well with 36 points. All were in “B” flight so we needed to go to a count-back and Pat Murphy found his best play on the inward half with a 20 point haul to take top spot. Very close behind was Helene Lindberg with 18 points on the back nine to stand in second place and Peter Henshaw was wishing the C course was used for the count-back. We paid to four places and Chris Walsh filled that spot on 34 points.
Wayne Peppernell, with 35 points off his new handicap of 14, took the honours in the “A” flight and is now a clear leader in our golfer of the month. Peter Wilson doesn’t play often, but when he does he is usually getting a mention, and today scoring 34 points got him second place, ahead of the just returned Martin Patch on 33. Takeshi Hakozaki, a member at CB, made 32 points for fourth.
Four near pins out, but only three were won, coming from Takeshi (C4) Rod Stevens (C7) Graham Pratt (B6).
The best front nine (non-winners) came from Paul Chesney (19pts) and back nine Stuart Thompson (20pts).