Monday, February 12th
Bangpakong Riverside.
1st Kob Glover (14) 45 points
2nd Bil Richardson (17) 41 points
3rd Jimmy Carr (20) 40 points
4th Tony Robbins (27) 40 points
5th Brendan Harnett (18) 40 points
6th Kevin LaBar (13) 49 points
Near pins Greg Berry, Kevin LaBar, Niall Glover, & Brendan Harnett.
Another course that we haven’t been to in quite a while with today’s visit to Bangpakong Riverside. As always a treat to play with everything just schmick, tees, fairways, and greens in pristine condition, if there was something to complain about and it would be picky were the bunkers, some would benefit from a little more sand.
As it’s a very open and forgiving course the wind which was quite strong had little to no effect on scoring with some of the best most consistent scores returned for a very long time, we seem to be enjoying a spate of very good scores lately, today was on another level. All top ten cards returned were thirty-eight and over, the top six listed above. Special mention goes to Kob Glover with a remarkable forty-five points, and Tony Robbins who wiped the first two holes but still managed forty points. Another real eye-opener was Colin Greig who was seen on a few occasions putting from about fifty yards from the green. In a very hot group where nobody had less than thirty-eight points, octogenarian Jimmy Carr had forty points. All the near pins were taken which was quite an achievement given how long a couple are.
Wednesday, February 14th
Mountain Shadow
1st Graham Davis (9) 40 points
2nd Andy Winterburn (17) 38 points
3rd Mab Jiwa (17) 36 points
4th Doug Conklin (10) 35 points
5th Tony Robbins (26) 35 points
6th Jimmy Carr (19) 34 points
Near pins Ray Banks, Frazer Davy, Craig Dows, & Kevin LaBar.
Once again from the penthouse to the outhouse for today’s game at Mountain Shadow where conditions were very different from Monday at Bangpakong. Always a difficult course it was made just a bit more so today with very dry, bare in some areas fairways, and shabby tees and bunkers. Some found the greens a bit slow but most were happy with them. A field of twenty-six was just about average for mid-February and with very few on the course we got away early and had no delays or holdups.
The run of very good scores continued again today, higher than we normally see at this course. Playing to his handicap for the first time in over a year Graham Davis took first place with a well-compiled forty points, an excellent score at Mountain Shadow. Andy Winterburn took second two adrift, with Mab Jiwa a further two back in third. A countback to decide fourth and fifth where Doug Conklin edged out Tony Robbins, both on thirty-five. Once again the evergreen Jimmy Carr was in the frame taking the final spot in the winner’s circle. All the near pins were taken going to Frazeer Davy, Ray Banks, Kevin LaBar, and Craig Dows fresh back from a sojourn down under. A couple of people were seen talking to Huwee & Ruth on the course, couldn’t be blamed on a bad prawn for breakfast, perhaps there is a stomach bug going around.
Friday, February 16th
Pattavia
1st John Hughes (22) 38 points
2nd Kob Glover (13) 37 points
3rd Tony Robbins (25) 35 points
4th Jon Dean (16) 33 points
5th Frazer Davy (12) 33 points
Near pins, Rob Folland, Jon Dean & Frazer Davy X 2.
Who needs a Tesla with autopilot when you go to the same course every Friday for three months in a row, Bunker Boys cars know the way there by now.
A bit of a surprise for everybody today on arrival at the course with almost all male caddies only available and they were gardeners and maintenance crew, the course sacked several caddies in the last week for being unreliable and only turning up to work when they felt like it, life should be so good. As it turned out several of the male caddies play golf and some to a decent standard so not a total disaster except for those wishing to have a honey on the bag.
The course was as expected, dry, hard, and with tons of run on the fairways.,bare patches were scattered throughout the course and many thought that a preferred lie might be in order.
The run of good scores continued today with the squire of North Oxford John Hughes taking first place with a very creditable thirty-eight points. Kob Glover in rare form took second with a very tidy thirty-seven points despite two wipes. Once again for the third time this week, Tony Robbins was in the frame taking third place with thirty-five with his handicap having been cut by three strokes. Jon Dean beat Frazer Davy on countback for fifth. Frazer did get some compensation taking two near pins with Jon Dean and Rob Folland taking the other two.
Kob Glover, winner at Bangpakong Riverside.
Winner at Mountain Shadow Graham Davis.
Winner at Pattavia, Sir John Hughes.