Monday, September 15th
Plutaluang North & West.
1st Murray Greig (21) 39 points
2nd Steve Elles (9) 35 points
3rd Michael Brett (19) 33 points
Near pins Dave Perry, Mick McMahon, Murray Greig, & Michael Brett.
The North and West were the chosen nines for today’s game at Plutaluang. This is a venue that doesn’t excite people too much, hence a small number today. The course was in as good condition as it could be although a bit damp. After a couple of holes it was decided that we should play pick, clean, and place as mud-balls were a problem on the first two holes. Once again the wind was blowing which rarely seemed to favour us.
Speed of play became a real issue for the last group losing several holes on the group in front of them and thereby allowing other groups to cut in to fill the void, they were at least an hour behind the second group. A spectacular crash on the last three holes prevented Murray Greig from a forty plus score, nevertheless thirty-nine was not too shabby and gave him first place. In contrast a mediocre start followed by a good recovery saw Steve Elles take second place with thirty-five points, Steve is always in the winners circle and is currently leading the golfer of the month race by a margin. Normally the putter is the problem for third place Michael Brett, today it was the pitching wedge which consistently came up short. Near pins were as listed.
Despite being in monsoon season there was no threat of rain, in fact blue skies were everywhere, no doubt it was raining somewhere as we could see dark clouds to the North in the far distance.
Wednesday, September 17th
Mountain Shadow
1st Dave Galvin (22) 29 points
2nd Mick McMahon (12) 27 points
3rd Colin Greig (14) 27 points
Near pins Colin Greig, Mick McMahon, Robby Watts, & Dave Galvin.
A hot and humid day for our midweek game at Mountain Shadow. Despite heavy overnight rain the course was in remarkably good condition. Even with rain falling on the way to the course we enjoyed a bright sunny if humid day. Some courses get a name for something peculiar to that course like Bangpra is known as the monkey course, Navy is sometimes known as the dogs course, Mountain Shadow could rightly be called the pigeons course, there were flocks of them particularly around holes three to five.
Despite the good condition of the course, scoring was amongst the lowest we have seen in a very long time with nobody able to breach thirty points. Dave Galvin was the best of a bad lot with twenty-nine points. Mick McMahon took second on countback from Colin Greig. All the near pins were taken, Dave galvin was the only one to hit the seventeenth, the others went to Robby Watts, Colin Greig, and Mick McMahon. Friday’s game is at Greenwood where we expect normal service to resume with much more respectable and less embarrassing scoring.
Friday, September 19th
Greenwood
1st Mick McMahon (12) 41 points
2nd Michael Brett (19) 35 points
3rd Robby Watts (12) 34 points
Near pins Craig Dows, Rob Folland, & Mick McMahon X 2
So far this monsoon season the rain seems to start at about 9 pm leaving the days relatively dry for golf as it did again today. It was an overcast day with a blustery wind blowing which once again rarely if ever seemed to favour us, a weird phenomenon. The course was in good condition as Greenwood alway is, but it was still necessary to play pick, clean, and place..
Very pleasing to report that scoring was of a much higher standard today compared to the debacle of Wednesday when nobody could get above thirty points. An outstanding round of forty-one points saw Mick McMahon take first place in a round that contained three birdies with two more birdie opportunities missing by a whisker. A birdie on the last saw Michael Brett squeeze past Robby Watts into second place.
Next week we have games scheduled for Crystal Bay, Burapha, and Pattaya Country Club so we are expecting a bigger turnout than this week.
Winner at Plutaluang Murray Greig.
Winner at Mountain Shadow, Dave Galvin.
Winner at Greenwood, Mick McMahon
