Monday, February 16th
Bangpra
1st Uwe Jurgensen (28) 41 points
2nd Gerry Cooney (24) 39 points
3rd Paul Smith (5) 39 points
4th Les Cobban (12) 38 points
5th Brendan Harnett (22) 38 points
6th Craig Dows (6) 34 points
Near pins, Paul Smith, Robby Watts, Brendan Harnett, & Michael Brett.
Another late tee time at Bangpra and an overbooked course. Despite that we got away on time and breezed through the front nine without any problems. As happened on previous visits, a holdup on the tenth with several groups waiting, so the remainder of the round was slow.
The course was in good condition, surprisingly the greens were slower than expected. The wind was blowing and curiously as is often the case rarely seemed to favour us.
A field of twenty-seven belie the notion that people only want to play the cheaper courses.
It seems like we are not yet done with the high scoring with some excellent scores returned today, top amongst them forty-one points from Uwe Jurgensen to take first place. With Uwe it seems to be all or nothing, either top position or nowhere. Who could have seen a score of thirty-nine points from eighty-three year old Gerry Cooney beating Paul Smith on countback for second place. Les Cobban faltered on the last to just miss out and had to settle for fourth place just one stroke back but still beating Brendan Harnett on countback. Craig Dows took the remaining sixth place with thirty-four points. All the near pins were taken as might be expected with a large field and were as listed.
Wednesday, February 18th
The Vintage Club
1st Harvey Williams (27) 39 points
2nd Dave Galvin (23) 39 points
3rd Roger Tuohy (15) 37 points
4th Michael Brett (18) 36 points
Near pins Roger Tuohy, Hubert Stiefenhofer, & Mick McMahon X 2.
A breezy day in Samut Prakan for our mid-week game at The Vintage Club where we had a reasonable turnout given the distance travelled.. As always the course was in very nice condition so there were no excuses for poor scoring other than slow play, yet another day where patience was tested. Locals are counting the days when high season is over and we can return to normal golf where courses are less crowded, play is at a reasonable pace, and pricing is more realistic so we can have greater variety on our playing roster.
A field of sixteen made the trip today and some clearly enjoyed themselves with some very fine scoring. A tie at the top where young Harvey Williams came out on top in a countback with Dave Galvin for first place, both with thirty-nine points, imagine the conversation between the two of them on the way back from the course, wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall for that one. Now well into this tour of duty Roger Tuohy blossomed today taking third outright with thirty-seven points. Three were tied on thirty-six but there could be only one winner, Michael Brett who outpointed Keith Norman and Colin Greig on countback, a par on the challenging eighteenth made the difference. Mike McMahon did the business on the par threes taking two, the others going to Hubert Stiefenhofer and Roger Tuohy.
It’s always a long trek up to Samut Prakan but the reward is a very good golfing experience. We look forward to seeing how many make the trip next month.
Friday, February 20th
Pattavia
1st Hubert Stiefenhofer (20) 42 points
2nd Dean Nelson (13) 41 points
3rd Jimmy Carr (25) 38 points
4th Uwe Jurgensen (27) 37 points
5th Alan Howard (19) 36 points
Near pins Alan Howard, Keith Hemmings, Hubert Stiefenhofer, & Witt Mann.
They say that “a bad day on the golf course is better than a good day in the office”, today was a day when one questioned the wisdom of that notion. Things looked ominous from the start. When we arrived at Pattavia only some of the lockers were available in the change room. Matters didn’t improve when we got to the tee to find several groups waiting ahead of us. A fifty minutes delay to start our round was followed by the slowest round in the history of golf. All in all it took close to six hours to complete our round, way too much by any measure. It seems some people are incapable of playing golf at a reasonable pace, ruining the day for everybody, one player pulled up stumps after twelve holes and went home.
While Pattaya hasn’t received any rainfall for a long while, areas to the north did as the Pattavia course was in surprisingly good condition, clearly.rain had fallen in the area recently.
The very good scoring of recent weeks continued today, none better than the winner Hubert Stiefenhofer who was at his best with forty-two points taking first place, he had to delay a dinner function to attend the presentation.. A timely return to form for second placed Dean Nelson, who took second place one back, Dean is due back in Oz within a week. Jimmy Carr is enjoying a very good run lately, could he challenge for golfer of the month? today thirty-eight points was only enough to take third place. Uwe Jurgensen is either hit or miss, today he hit with a very tidy thirty-seven points while Alan Howard returned to form taking fifth place with thirty-six points.
All the near pins were taken as listed.
Perhaps just one week left before we see a big number of departures back to the sunny climes of Europe to bathe in the delights of snow, rain and cold weather, some people have all the luck.
Winner at Bangpra Uwe Jurgensen.
Hubert Stiefenhofer, winner at Pattavia.
