Monday, August 19th
Khao Kheow C & A.
1st Les Cobban (10) 34 points
2nd Geoff Parker (23) 34 points
3rd Greg Berry (15) 33 points
4th Alan Sullivan (14) 33 points
Near pins.Raleigh Gosney, Anders Nielsen, & Luc Albert
Following years of dedicated service to the Bunker Boys our Club Captain Niall Glover decided over the weekend that his time was done and duly resigned his position. With no succession plan in place the task of running the show will be shared by several members, mostly committee members. This is a desirable change as its a very big burden for one person to do everything. As a result some changes will take effect immediately, some courses not previously booked will return to our playing roster and the presentation time will return to 7.00 pm, a timeslot preferred by most, particularly those who indulge in a little post golf activity. We thank Niall for his years of service and wish him well in whatever direction his golfing activities take him.
Imagine our surprise when on Monday morning we discovered that we didn’t have a booking at Khao Kheow, quite how that came about remains a mystery. They were however able to accommodate us at either a 9.50 am or 11.30 am time slot so we chose the former which meant a very rushed departure from the Sports Lounge. As it happens everything worked out fine and we enjoyed an early finish with the first three-ball back in the clubhouse by 1.50 pm, the earliest finish possibly ever..
We were advised that the B nine will be back in action next month, at present it looks great following fairly extensive renovations. The A & C nines today were fine, the fairways were cut a bit too tight for some peoples liking. Work crews were out all over the course preparing for the high season, so the course will be in top condition.
For this course scoring would be considered modest at best, nevertheless competition for places was tight with Les Cobban in a rich vein of form taking first place from Geoff Parker on countback. Also a countback for third and fourth with Greg Berry taking it from Alan Sullivan. The difficult A3 near pin was unclaimed, a surprise given a field of nineteen, the other near pins went to Raleigh Gosney, Luc Albert, and Anders Nielsen.
For those who prefer a superior course a game is being organised for The Vintage course in the near future, following recent rain we expect the course to be in superb condition.
Wednesday August 21st
Bangpakong Riverside
1st Les Cobban (10) 44 points
2nd Anders Nielsen (28) 43 points
3rd Mick McMahon (15) 42 points
Near pins Andy Winterburn, Hubert Stiefenhofer, Stuart Stammers, & Mick McMahon.
On a course where scoring is usually high today it was exceptional with no fewer than eleven out of thirteen golfers scoring thirty-six or better, so good in fact Hubert, Stuart and Jimmy with forty-one points each couldn’t make it into the winners circle, likewise Colin Greig and Dave Galvin both with forty points. Colin had a remarkable twenty-six points on the back nine including two birdies. Continuing on from his win on Monday, Les Cobban shot the lights out with a magnificent forty-four points, being the good citizen that he is he rang the bell back at the bar, a moment in history to remember. In his last game before returning to his native Denmark Anders Nielsen also shone brightly with forty-three points with Mick McMahon taking third a further stroke back. Near pins went to Mick McMahon, Stuart Stammers, Hubert Stiefenhofer, & Andy Winterburn.
The Bangpakong course was in as good a condition as you could wish for with a beautiful carpet of grass on the fairways and greens that ran true. A big tree planting operation is taking place at the course which is quite ironic given that only a few years ago they removed a whole lot of trees for no apparent reason
Today’s game was painfully slow with a whole society out ahead of us who seemed totally oblivious to the fact they were holding up the whole course, even worse they seemed to have never heard of the etiquette of golf appearing to be deliberately slow when there was no holdup ahead of them, golf can be frustrating at times.
Friday, August 23rd
Eastern Star
1st Jimmy Carr (21) 37 points
2nd Tony Robbins (24) 35 points
3rd Ross Schiffke (22) 33 points
4th Dave Galvin (22) 33 points
Near pins.Witt Mann, Alan Sullivan, & Michael Brett.
It’s not inconceivable that the most irritating people you are likely to encounter can be found on golf courses, people who do not know what they are doing or couldn’t care less about others. We have over the last few weeks endured some of the slowest golf games you can imagine. Given its low season one shudders to think what it’s going to be like in high season. Today the first group rumbled along at a good pace until the sixth hole where it all came to a grinding halt and continued in the same vein to the end.
A field of seventeen somehow became split up somewhere along the way with some finishing very late, five hour rounds are not many people’s idea of fun, hard to know what to do about it. The marshal was out and about on the course but seemed either ineffective or powerless to fix the problem
On another irritant, a former Bunker Boy seems to have made it his life’s mission to comment on social media about matters about which he knows nothing. Goes without saying if he confined himself to matters about which he knew something then he would be redundant. As they say “empty vessels make the most noise”
Today’s scores were a far cry from Wednesday’s exceptional scores, to be fair there was also a huge difference in the difficulty level between the courses, Bangpakong was very forgiving, the reverse was true of Eastern Star. Rolling back the years Jimmy Carr followed up his forty-one points on Wednesday with a match winning thirty-seven points today and just like Les Cobban on Wednesday rang the bell. All high handicappers in the winners circle today with Tony Robbins taking second. Ross Schiffke edged out Dave Galvin for third place. Only three near pins were won going to Alan Sullivan, Witt Mann, & Michael Brett.
Next week’s roster sees two changes to the original schedule with Pleasant Valley on Wednesday and Silky Oak booked for Friday after over a year off the roster.
Winner at Khao Kheow & Bangpakong Riverside, Les Cobban