Yukio Kikuchi gets Tommy’s hat

IPGC Golf from The Haven

Monday, April 3, Pattavia – Stableford

CSS 72

Division 1 (0–16)

1^st Mark Cooper (11) 36pts

2^nd Dave Edwards (13) 33pts

3^rd Kevin Blake (6) 30pts

4^th Gary Brown (9) 29pts

5^th Paul Hubbard (12) 29pts

 

Division 2 (17+)

1^st Yukio Kikuchi (19) 41pts

2^nd Larry Gibb (21) 37pts

3^rd Paul Davies (21) 35pts

4^th Hal Hart (19) 33pts

5^th Wilf Wellman (30) 33pts

 

A wet week of golf with a few delays started out at Pattavia where the general conditions were very good and with the greens playing quite a lot slower than usual, the CSS for the day remained at 71.

There were enough interested players to require two divisions with the spilt being fixed at 0 to 16 and 17 and above for the second division.

Mark Cooper led in the first division after returning a level handicap card without a single zero to win by three from Dave Edwards in second place.  He, in turn, was three ahead of third placed Kevin Blake while Gary Brown placed fourth after winning a count back over Paul Hubbard with a better 16 to 13.

The second division was taken by Yukio Kikuchi who had an outstanding round of five under handicap, easily his best round for over a year with the group.  Larry Gibb was unlucky to have found the winner in such good form as he had to settle for a well-earned second place with a one under handicap round.

Paul Davies had listened well to instructions “to keep the ball below the hole” prior to the start and but for the last hole managed to keep to that advice to take third place after a very steady round.  Hal Hart won a count back with Wilf Wellman for fourth place with a better 17 to 14.

There were no 2s in either of the divisions.

 

Wednesday, April 5, Pattana A & B (white tees) – Stableford

CSS 76

1^st Yukio Kikuchi (19) 35pts

2^nd Larry Gibb (21) 32pts

3^rd Peter Skinner (9) 32pts

4^th John Carlin (18) 31pts

5^th Shuichi Kodaka (17) 31pts

6^th Rod Crosswell (17) 31pts

 

The once a fortnightly trip to the Pattana Resort, where the A and B courses were the day’s test, found the course as usual to be in absolutely tip-top shape.

With the B course included, it was decided to play the ninth hole as a par-six from the alternative tee to make the Standard Scratch for the day 74 from the white tees, which meant a rather long course measuring almost 6,900 yards.  It was of little surprise to find the CSS went out two to 76.

Playing the 9th on the B course was an interesting experience which the players agreed was a good option and with the average score for the hole being 1.85, it will surely figure again with the group.

Yukio Kikuchi took another one away from Larry Gibb after a solid round of one under handicap, winning for the third time in succession and he was duly awarded the “Tommy Cooper Fez” at the prize presentations but his imitation of a one-liner did not got down so well as only one of the audience, Shuichi Kodaka, understood the punch line.

Larry Gibb placed second after winning a count back over Peter Skinner with a better 16 to 14.  John Carling then won a three-way count back with a best 16 for fourth place, with Shuichi Kodaka taking fifth with 14 and Rod Crosswell sixth with 13.

Once again there were no 2s in either of the divisions.

 

Friday, April 7, Phoenix Gold Mountain & Lakes – (white tees) – Stableford

CSS 76 NC

1^st Hal Hart (19) 31pts

2^nd John Tallett (26) 30pts

3^rd Dave Edwards (12) 30pts

4^th Shuichi Kodaka (17) 30pts

5^th John Carlin (18) 29pts

6^th Russell Gilroy (19) 27pts

 

With the low season prices one again in force the group returned to Phoenix Gold where the Mountain and Lakes nines were in play. The course was found to be in much better condition than the last time it was played by the group with the fairways in particular worthy of mention.  One negative is that the bunkers are still overfilled with very soft small grained sand that mostly supplies a semi or fully poached egg lie, whatever the trajectory at which the ball entered.

The day’s play was also seriously affected by the weather which caused an hour’s stoppage and left the course well drenched and contributing to the CSS going out to 75 and the day being a non-counting event.

Hal Hart was the best at five over handicap and just one ahead of a three-way count back for second place which John Tallett won with a best 16, with Dave Edwards taking third with 15 and Shuichi Kodaka fourth with 13.

John Carlin placed fifth with 29 points and Russell Gilroy celebrated his return in sixth another two back.

Once again there were no 2s in the first division but Yukio Kikuchi made up for not winning on this occasion by cleaning out the second division multi-rollover pot.