Monday, December 30th
Greenwood C & A, White tees
1st Greg Berry (17) 40 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (21) 38 points
3rd Mark Hayward (17) 37 points
4th Steve Downes (6) 36 points
5th Mick McMahon (14) 34 points
6th Robby Watts (13) 33 points
Near pins Stuart Tinkler, Craig Dows, & Mick McMahon
The last game of the year was played at most peoples favourite course on the C & A nines, finally we got to play the C nine after several visits when it was not available to us. The course was remarkably damp and soft with pools of water in some places, one feels the sprinkler system had been overused throughout the night. A very pleasant temperature with a blustery wind blowing making for benign conditions.
A good field of twenty-eight were on hand, in fact we had to turn away a couple of late comers as we didnt have enough transport to accommodate them, unfortunate as it was, it emphasised the value of pre booking
The age old problem of slow play was evident again today which wasn’t helped by a cart breaking down on the front nine and having to be replaced, we are open to suggestions as to how we tackle this problem, something with which even the Pro circuit are wrestling.
Having endured months of frustration with his game and threatening to give the game away Greg Berry finally found his real game today with a sparkling forty points to take first place. The reigning Club Champion Jimmy Carr took second place with thirty-eight points. Jimmy even honoured us with his presence at the presentation, a rare and welcome occurrence. The sob story of the day goes to third placed Mark Hayward.who appeared to be cruising to victory only to inexplicably wipe the last two holes, that’s golf for you, just when you think you have it made it just gets snatched away.. The ever consistent Steve Downes had his normal thirty-six points to take fourth place. Having battled with his game all day Mick McMahon took fifth place with a brilliant par on the four hundred and twenty two par four A9. The final place in the winners circle went to Robby Watts in sixth place with thirty-three points. Near pins were as listed.
There was absolutely surprise with golfer of the month, as expected Steve Downes took it with his first ever win in this competition, one thing is assured, it won’t be his last. Jimmy Carr made a valiant effort to overtake him but left himself too much to do, as did Hubert Stiefenhofer who had a mediocre day, particularly with the putter which makes scoring impossible.
Wednesday, January 1st 2025
Treasure Hill
1st Keith Hemmings (26) 33 points
2nd Dave Ashman (26) 32 points
3rd Jimmy Carr (21) 32 points
Near pins, Michaael Brett, Hubert Stiefenhofer, & Mark Hayward X 2.
It seems that many of the Bunker Boys let in the new year in grand style with the effect that most were unable to front up for the first game of a new year, so we had the smallest group for a very long time. It could also be that Treasure Hill is not everybody’s favourite course. It’s a peculiarity of Treasure Hill that on many occasions they indulge in some ridiculously silly nonsense, today we were not allowed to check in until 11.00am despite there being nobody waiting to tee off, finally after much cajoling we did eventually get away on time. Another issue which grates with people is that for high season carts are compulsory and cost eight hundred baht when the green fee is five hundred, most peculiar.
Today was a day for the high handicappers with all three in the winners circle north of twenty handicap. A first for Keith Hemmings who made it to the top with thirty-three points. Dave Ashman beat Jimmy Carr on countback for second place
All the near pins were taken With Mark Hayward having his name on three flags only to lose the seventeenth to Hubert Stiefenhofer, Michael Brett got the other one.
For the next few months we expect our numbers to be in the low thirties with a number of arrivals expected in the coming days.
Friday January 3rd
Pattavia
1st Paul Smith (8) 45 points
2nd Hubert Stiefenhofer (15) 40 points
3rd Keith Hemmings (26) 37 points
4th Steve Downes (5) 34 points
5th Raleigh Gosney (24) 34 points
6th Keith Norman (20) 33 points
Near pins Steve Downes, Colin Greig, Hubert Stiefenhofer, & Kevin LaBar.
A field of thirty assembled at the Sports Lounge for the last game of the week at Pattavia. The course was in ok condition but a blustery wing made life difficult for some, others seemed to have no problem with it. The fairways were cut tight and were hard, the greens were slippery as usual. For the high season the pace of play was a pleasant surprise with most finishing within four hours.
An outstanding score of forty-five from Paul Smith off an eight handicap raised a few eyebrows, still a magnificent score which apparently could have been even better. A full five strokes back to second place where Hubert Stiefenhofer took the honours. Following on from his win at Treasure Hill on Wednesday Keith Hemmings went four better today taking third with a solid thirty-seven points. As usual Steve Downes was in the frame taking fourth on countback from Raleigh Gosney. A total of five players ended up on thirty-three, unfortunately only one could win which turned out to be Keith Norman. A remarkable low runner with the driver earned Kevin LaBar a very good near pin on the seventeenth, the others went to Steve Downes, Colin Greig, & Hubert Stiefenhofer.
It looks like we are now deep into high season with big numbers for every game, we are in the fortunate position of having too many cars most of the time so some drivers are not getting the number of passengers they would like and it’s tricky trying to spread them around to be fair to everybody
Winner at Greenwood Greg Berry
Keith Hemmings, winner at Treasure Hill
Paul Smith, winner at Pattavia.