PSC Golf from the Tropical Golf Group
Tuesday, Sept. 29, Greenwood – Stableford
What a lovely day I thought as I looked over my balcony first in the morning, as even at that early time the sun was shining. What could possibly spoil such fine day I pondered?
The road up to Greenwood was in bad shape was a factor in us getting to the start a few minutes late, where we were told we would be playing the C & B nines in that order. The course has seen a fair bit of rain of late and we expected it to a wet, and this was confirmed by the fact that carts were restricted to the pathways only. I hate that, you end up walking more than some who play the course without a cart. This was a day to employ the ‘slice’ to keep then ball near the cart path but of course the ‘hook’ took over. It all got a bit tiring.
Bob Watson (left) with Andre van Dyk (centre) and Maurice Roberts.
Because of the wet condition of the course there was little run on the fairways but the greens were not too damp and ran quite fast and true, however the rough was especially difficult to get out of once you got in.
As we got to the last few holes we felt a sprinkling of rain, but moving a bit faster we managed to get in before the rain started in earnest, catching out the other groups.
Boy did it rain, the deluge was on and it hammered down. We made a dash for the cars and tried to negotiate the road up to the gate which was badly flooded. The rest of the drive back was not good either but we arrived back safe and sound to find that Pattaya had not had anywhere near the amount of rain we had experienced.
Dick Warberg (left) presents the MBMG Golfer of the Month prize to Mashi Kaneta.
Cold and happy to be back we got on with the presentation. There were some good scores but the best on the day was Bob Watson who had 40 points and won on count back from Andre Van Dyk in second. The main taking point of that was that Bob shot a gross 70, a great round indeed. In third place was Maurice Roberts with 39 points.
Mashi Kaneta was leading the MBMG Group Golfer of the Month race by 5 points going into the day’s round and the only way he could lose it was if Andre won at Greenwood. Mashi was therefore very complimentary of Bob’s great round as it allowed him to pick up the MBMG monthly award and leave Andre thinking about what might have been.
Near Pins: Bob Watson (2), Maurice Roberts, Mikito Homma.
Friday, Oct. 3, Pattana – Stableford
On Friday the Tropical Golfers treated themselves to a visit to Pattana golf course. Not that expensive of a treat because coupons made this course reasonably affordable, but we don’t get to play there enough. It was drizzling with dark skies as the Hopefuls met for the coffee and breakfast, and a couple of little faith decided to cancel for fear of the weather. Mistake!
Pattana is a first class venue all around: Locker rooms, staff, and the golf course itself are all excellent. Despite overcast skies and a slight 10-minute drizzle that didn’t even stop play it was good golf weather. We got round the course in good time and gathered in the fine restaurant area to go over the results.
It was all very close, but when the counting was done Dick Warberg (H/cap 19) sneaked into first place with a respectable 34 points on a multi-step count back. It was good to see the organizer get something back for his efforts. Ted Morris (15) took second place honors also with 34 points and rounding out the announcements was John Pierrel (13) in third with 33.
