Monday, September 29th
Eastern Star
1st Michael Brett (17) 32 points
2nd Uwe Jurgensen (25) 28 points
3rd Dave Galvin (22) 27 points
Near pins Steve Elles X 2.
Quite a windy day at Eastern Star for the last game of September. The course overall was good apart from a few greens on the back nine which were a disaster, could reasonably be considered to be lost and will need a lot of work to get them back to their normal playing condition. At times it felt like we were the only ones on the course, word must have gotten out about the greens.
It looked from the start that we were in for a slow round with a three-ball dithering on the tee for a long time before hitting off. When they finally got going they were all over the shop, left and right, one even managed to find his way onto the ninth fairway, thereafter they settled into a decent tempo and never held us up after that.
With none of our regular seasonal visitors not yet arrived and several locals out for a variety of reasons we had a small group today. Scoring was very modest with the winner, Michael Brett taking it out with only thirty-two points, a far cry from Friday’s forty-five points. As is usually the case, the putter which worked a treat on Friday did the opposite today. Second place went to Uwe Jurgensen with twenty-eight points, one ahead of Dave Galvin who hit the ball well, just couldn’t get it in the hole. Only two near pins were taken, both going to Steve Elles.
What a strange game golf can be, at the beginning of last week Steve Elles led the golfer of the month race by fourteen points looking like a clear runaway winner. By the end of the week he had slipped to eight behind, not sure if he or the person who passed him should be drug tested. In the end the trophy went to Michael Brett, with just one exceptional score enough to tip it his way.
Wednesday, October 1st
Pattana Resort and Country Club C & A
1st Steve Elles (8) 37 points
2nd Dave Galvin (21) 34 points
3rd Michael Brett (17) 34 points
Near pins Steve Elles, & Dave Galvin X 2.
Pattaya awoke to black skies and rain tumbling down so the prospects for golf were not looking good. A quick scan of the weather radar showed no rain at the course so we made our way to Pattana. By the time we got there the sky had brightened up markedly, but the humidity was through the roof. Heavy rain had fallen at the course so we opted to play pick, clean, and place which turned out to be a wise choice.
Once again we seemed to be the only ones on the course, one caddie said it was her first game in three days, most unusual for this time of year. It feels like many courses are not reading the room when it comes to fixing their pricing. This is particularly true of Pattana where an ice coffee is now one hundred and twenty five baht, steep by any measure.
We commenced play on the A nine where we could play at a decent pace without any hold-ups. Scoring was about average off the whites which are less than our standard distance, with no run on the fairways this also was the correct choice, normally we would play off the blues, but that was not an option today with no blue tee markers in place.
Steve Elles began his second chase for golfer of the month with a winning score of thirty seven. Dave Galvin took second on countback from Michael Brett. Dave is now a dab hand on the par threes taking two with Steve taking one and one unclaimed on A3.
Friday, October 3rd
Baqngpra
1st Dave Galvin (21) 33 points
2nd Robby Watts (12) 31 points
3rd Michael Brett (17) 30 points
Near pins, Dave Galvin & Michael Brett.
A torrential downpour on the way to the course made play look doubtful, but by the time we reached the course the rain had stopped. Large crowds were milling about at the clubhouse which didn’t augur well and we thought we were in for a long delay and a slow round, however we got away on time. Pace of play was slow but not excessively so.
Despite the rain, the course was in great condition, but as expected there was no run on the fairways. The greens were excellent but the bunkers would benefit from a bit more sand.
Scoring was low by Bangpra standards with only Dave Galvin putting in a decent effort to take first place with thirty-three points. Robby Watts took second one ahead of Michael Brett in third. Only two near pins were taken, going to Dave Galvin and Michael Brett.
We are now deep into monsoon season so we can expect rain interruptions for at least the next few weeks.
Mike Milland is the first of our seasonal visitors to arrive, but too jet-lagged to play today.
September, golfer of the month Michael Brett
Winner at Pattana, Steve Elles.
Winner at Bangpra, Dave Galvin
