Monday, August 26th
Bangpra
1st Hubert Stiefenhof (17) 42 points
2nd Greg Berry (16) 33 points
3rd Michael Brett (17) 32 points
4th Craig Dows (10) 31 points
Near pins Craig Dows, Jimmy Carr & Michael Brett
Something of a mini exodus over the weekend with the departure of Luc Albert, and Mick McMahon hard on the heels of Anders Nielsen. Nevertheless we were able to assemble a field of sixteen for the game at Bangpra despite Gaz’s brother not making an appearance, perhaps one day when we least expect him. We are getting close to the time when we can expect an influx of seasonal visitors.
The Bangpra course was in fine condition today as are just about all courses at present and at an all-in fee of thirteen-fifty baht was excellent value, just about the best on our roster.
For some inexplicable reason nobody was able to post a decent score today apart from Hubert Stiefenhofer who left everybody in his wake with a very well compiled score of forty-two points, he simply couldn’t miss a put today. A long way back to thirty-three points where we find Greg Berry, with Michael Brett a stroke further back. For the first time in a long time Craig Dows made it on to the winners list bringing up fourth with thirty-one points from a ridiculous handicap of ten down all the way from three, (has he no shame?) By the time the club championship rolls around he may find himself on fifteen or more, currently he seems distracted by other matters. Three near pins were taken, surprisingly nobody got on the Gordon Melia twelfth green as the tee was pushed right back to over one hundred and eighty yards, the others went to Craig Dows, Jimmy Carr, and Michael Brett.
A change to the schedule for the remaining two games of the month with Pleasant Valley back on as well as Silky Oak which hasn’t been on our roster for over a year.
Wednesday August 28th
Pleasant Valley
1st Greg Berry (16) 42 points
2nd Andy Winterburn (19) 35 points
3rd Craig Dows (10) 35 points
Ner pins.Colin Greig, Greg Berry, & Craig Dows X 2.
A very pleasant day for golf at the aptly named Pleasant Valley Course where the surrounding scenery is as good as it gets. Despite recent and overnight rain the course was in surprisingly good condition, we expected it to be much wetter and decided the play pick, clean, and place, as it turned out it wasn’t necessary as there were no accounts of mud or plugged balls.
We were pleased to see Jack Best make an appearance today, his first since his return to Thailand several weeks ago, maybe now we will finally see the return of the unpredictable Gary Smith. We had a number of absentees for a variety of reasons, it was last game for Stuart Stammers who is taking a trip to Bali, Stuart looked like bowing out in a blaze of glory with some of the best ball striking off the tee you could wish to see, unfortunately the rest of his game didn’t match
Bubbling along just in the frame for the past few weeks and looking like he might produce a big number, today was the day for Greg Berry with a sparkling forty-two points in first place, a full seven points clear of second placed Andy Winterburn who edged out Craig Dows on countback, a wipe on the last due to poor decision making was enough to do it for Craig. All the near pins were taken going to Greg Berry, Colin Greig and Craig Dows who got two.
Apart from Tony Robbins who had his usual moan about the course design and the position of some tees ( some of the blues were back on the black) on a few holes, everybody else was full of praise for the course which is in as good condition as any other we play
Occasionally we get visitors to the Bunker who are not conversant with the norms of golf in Thailand. Some dont know how to mark a scorecard, others have never heard of stableford and are all at sea when it comes to filling in their scorecard. A more serious issue relates to hygiene. If a visitor to the Bunker requires transport to and from the course they should take with them a change of clothing and shower after golf. Subjecting fellow passengers to bo after four/five hours in the hot sun is unacceptable.
Friday, August 30th
Silky Oak
1st
2nd
3rd
Near pins.
After over a year away we finally returned to Silky Oak today, a course that divided opinions. With five par fives and five par threes it could at least be described as unusual. A couple of long carries from the tee proves too much of a challenge for the shorter hitters, some choose to play from the forward tees on the offending holes forfeiting a stroke in the process. Usually the same players have a high handicap and can afford the stroke, some of the weak at heart decided to give it a miss altogether.
It’s a course with no two holes alike so it keeps you on your toes for the whole round which it has to be said is not a bad thing. We were all waiting to see if Dave Galvin could repeat the heroics of his previous visit when he amassed a huge score, from memory in the mid forties alas it was not to be.
Remarkably not a single person had a complaint about the course today, it was in excellent condition, it almost goes without saying that all courses are at their best this time of year. Today, however, there was quite a strong wind blowing which kept scores lower than they might have been.
Having led from the start and looking like a runaway winner of golfer of the month Les Cobban failed to show today when the chips were down, was he hiding from some notorious Mexican drug cartel or some other nefarious activity? To our great surprise having threatened/promised for months Garry Smith finally made his long awaited return to the Bunker.
With a burst of spectacular golf Greg Berry not only won today but also went past Les Cobban to take golfer of the month, he had been there or thereabouts all month but came with a rush in the final games to take it away from the absent Les Cobban. Second place when to
Hubert Stiefenhofer, runaway winner at Bangpra.
Greg Berry, another runaway winner at Pleasant Valley And Golfer of the month.