Pattaya Sports Club - Promoting Sports and Supporting Local Charities

Hugh O'Donnell, Blacky & Stu Rifkin

Monday, 15th March – Pattana, B & C – Stableford Welcome back to Dave Neal from Birmingham, UK and greetings to 6 handicapper Michael Winterburn from Vancouver, Canada. Numbers were once again down as is to be expected at this time of year and 29 of us assembled at Café Kronborg in readiness for the trip to Pattana. The Admiral’s thumb was still painful so he decided to rest it for the week and resume next Monday. Having departed spot on 0815 we arrived at the classy Pattana 50 minutes later and as usual went through the arduous process of once more having each of our PSC membership cards photocopied as we paid our green fees. If someone could please explain why this process is necessary it would be greatly appreciated. The course did not appear to be overly busy and our first group was able to tee off 20 minutes ahead of schedule at 0940. The golf course was as usual in great shape although the greens were at times inconsistent where speed is concerned but other than that it was a pleasure to play this fine course. Playing off the yellow tees shortened the holes somewhat and that was fairly obvious as the scorecards came in afterwards, particularly in A Flight. It was rather hot with little wind so several stops for drinks were necessary but we managed to complete our round in four and a half hours. The smaller field reduced us to two flights, A Flight for 0 to 17 and B Flight for handicaps of 18 and above. Rewards...

  BULLY BYRNES BASHES THE BOYS.   Yes, it's that rogue from the auld country coming up trumps again. Very soon he will be going back to Ireland again where no doubt he will not be able to play as often (and in such pleasant weather) and he will become mortal like the rest of us again.   A blistering 39 points gave him the first prize (You will forgive me for not inserting a photo this time. We are fed up of seeing his big grin every week?).   In second place was the ever consistent GARY BLACKBURNE with 34 points and in joint third was BOB NEYLON, KEN AKESTER and MIKE GERRARD all with 32 points. BOB NEYLON having the better back nine.   Technical prizes went to ROGER ISON (2) KEN AKESTER and MIKE GERRARD, with anyone else who attended receiving a lucky draw prize as well as their first drink free.   Time is fast catching up on our organisers of the CHARITY event on TUESDAY 30th MARCH 2010.   There are still a few tee times open and the format is a two ball scramble of any combination of man and woman alike. (Plus anyone who is not too sure which side of the fence they are on yet. We can toss a coin to decide which tee they play from?).   The entrance fee for the competition is 600 baht which will go towards the aim of 50,000 baht for new drinking water facilities at the BAAN JING JAI orphanage in Pattaya. Any guest or non Phoenix member playing on the day can enjoy a special green fee rate of 800 baht plus 250 baht caddy fee and carts are priced at 700...

  Photo: Michael Fischer on the left with Dale Murphy on the right.
"Mother nature had mercy on the golfers from Three Sisters this 17th of March (St. Patrick's Day) at the Pattaya Country Club. Fifteen players began teeing off at 0630 with heavy overcast skies keeping the temperature down and a slight breeze making for a really nice golf outing. Some portions of the fairways were soaked while several greens seemed to need watering. As the last group came off the skies opened up and a real gully-washer came down. Sheltered back at Caddy Shack II, Herbie Ishinaga provided snacks and spicy dogs for the hungry players. A tally of the cards showed Michael Fischer coming in with a 36 with Dale Murphy close behind with a 35. Bob Benda also had 35 points but lost on the count back. Sus Ige, Arnold Van DerGraaf, Jim Hern and Gordon McKnight chased the leaders to no avail."
 

Thursday, 11th March – Pleasant Valley



Gerard Pierson, Blacky & Andre Van Dyk

Due to an injured thumb The Admiral was unable to take his place in the field so we were left with 34 golfers ready to take on the somewhat challenging and ever improving Pleasant Valley. We should have had a field of 35 but our dear friend Kevin Dinan had a brain freeze and drove out to Rayong Country Club instead. Leaving myself to “steer the ship” we departed Café Kronborg right on time at 0815 and arrived at the course 50 minutes later. It was good to see the colourful Mr Walter Baechli back with us after his month or so of serious cycling and John Swanson and Jerry Garcia were also welcomed back into the fold. The Admiral’s absence meant we were a threesome in the first group and we teed off 25 minutes ahead of schedule at 0935 in perfect conditions, not too hot but with a fairly stiff breeze. The course was as usual looking a treat and the greens were excellent but I am compelled to make some negative comments regarding the caddies at this course. At least half of the field made comment afterwards that their caddies were nowhere near up to the standard that is expected. At least one of them had never even walked this or any other golf course previously so obviously did not have a clue and some others were merely there for the purpose of pulling the bags. I understand that they have to start somewhere but surely the course management can do what other...

Poottida Murphy on the left with Bob Benda on the right

"Only sixteen players challenged the potential rain that never came..well it did spit just a bit. The clouds and cool breeze made for a really delightful 18 holes at the Pattaya Country Club this 10th of March. Someone may have left the sprinklers on all night as the fairways were a bit soaked in places, but otherwise the course was just fine. Bunkers were a bit hard. Back at Caddy Shack II just down Old Siam Road the usual snacks were on hand as well as spicy and cheesy-dogs provided by Herbie. The cards were checked and the game, or lack thereof, discussed. Coming out on top once again was Poottida Murphy with a handicap of 25 she roared in with 38 points. Just one point behind Poottida was Bob Benda with a respectable 37. Right behind Bob were Piranan Phanchai and Dale Murphy, both carding a 36. It's hard to see the great ones fall but one gentleman, who only weeks ago carded a 41, came in today with a 19. Could it be because he could not see well until the 8th hole? A good time was had by all. Come on out, beat the heat and join us at our early tee off at 6:30 am."
 

Friday, March 5,
Treasure Hill - Stableford
 
Here we go up the 331 to what has become a regular monthly stop on our Friday golf circuit. With the weather warming up and the tourists heading home, the numbers are going down, but that's not all bad.  Certainly makes the job the organizers do a lot easier. On arrival, once again, the parking lot was virtually empty and with a couple groups of visitors booked in ahead of us, our groups were off the first right on time.  
 
The course, once again, proved to be in great shape, with the greens crew on the course cutting and placing some tricky pin placements. Heard a couple comments of buried balls in the green side bunkers but other than that the course received high marks for presentation. Play moved along at a reasonable pace and all were having a drink in the clubhouse after a four and a quarter hour round, while the scorecards were collected and tallied.
 
Back at Bert's 'Burgers and Chips' washed down with a cool brew was the order of the day. There were a couple good scores for the day with a count back required to separate 1st and 2nd as two golfers managed to beat their handicaps on the day, plus someone finally managed to get get a near pin on the long, par 3 second hole. So with a big 'Thank You" to Bert's staff and congratulations to the winners the results as noted below were announced. All are welcome to join us for friendly, but competitivee golf outings. Come on down and put...

Dave Richardson, Carole Kubicki & Ted Morris.


Monday, 8th March – Royal Lakeside It’s apparent that some of our golfing friends have headed back to Europe and other parts of the planet as our numbers are beginning to decline somewhat but we still had a good turnout of 34 who met at Café Kronborg, including newcomer Hakan Nilsson from Sweden and the returning Ronnie Ratti on R & R from Korea. Although Royal Lakeside is a 70 minute drive from Pattaya we knew that it was well worth the extra time to play this ever superb course and as usual we weren’t disappointed. Arriving just before 0930 we were invited to the first tee at our leisure and although were unable to utilize two tees our first group hit off five minutes ahead of schedule at 0955. It was hot of course but the stiff breeze, although affecting some shots helped to cool things down somewhat on this beautifully prepared golf course. The greens were in excellent condition and all in all scoring was reasonably easy, particularly in A Flight. No delays at all except for three stops for drinks saw us complete our round in the very good time of four hours and ten minutes. Reduced numbers meant just 2 Flights with five placegetters in each. A Flight for handicaps 0 to 18 and B Flight for 19 and over. There were of course rewards for nearest the pins on the par threes and longest first putts on the last green of each nine. Veteran Ted Morriss had an absolute day out and his 43 points...

This weeks golf saw us firstly back at the navy nice surprise to find sports day back on tues and thurs had 2 flights with
1st rusty archibald 36 pts 2nd dave clamp 36 pts and 3rd hike king 34pts in the A grade 14 and under and
1st mike benton 36pts 2nd dennis jaycock 35pts 3rd willi 34pts in B grade the pins went to Dennis x 2 mike king and Alan
with Paul sibley slotting a monster on the final hole
Thursday saw us off to Rayong and a surprisingly strong field of 14 many golfers struggled but Cliff Savaell was in red hot iron form collecting 3 of the near pins his playing partner ken little getting the final par 3 with rob gangley picking up the long put
!st Cliff Savaell 36pts 2nd Ken Little 3rd Mike King 4th ian wheeldon all on 33 pts
coming up in march is at as follows
mar 2 Navy
mar 4 Rayong country club
mar 9 Greenwood
mar 11 Treasure Hill
mar 16 Emerald
mar 18 Pattana
mar 23 Khao Kheow
mar 25 PLeasant Valley
mar 30 Century Chonburi All are 10am tee offs so meeting 8 -8.30 PJ s with the exception of Pattana teeoff 11.30 so 9.30 -10.00 PJs

IT'S THE BYRNES BONANZA SHOW AGAIN.
 
I will not dwell on this weeks report too much. I am getting fed up of printing the name HUGH BYRNE. 
When he returned from the good auld country some 6 weeks ago he was a bit rusty, but all the old polish is shining through now. 
The worst part is he seems to save it for the monthly special award (Voucher donated by TRATTORIA ITALIANA). Poor Giorgio will be sick of giving him free food???? 
Incidentally on that subject we think GIORGIO may soon be ready to try his swing out and play golf again. We sincerely hope so. He has been sadly missed for the last 3 months or so. 
So it was the big fella himself HUGH BYRNE with 38 points winning and poor JOHN BARTLEY had to disguise his big grin (thinking that he had won with 38 points) losing on countback. 
Closely following in 3rd place with 37 points was myself, MIKE GERRARD.
 
Near pins went to: - PATRICK BROWNE, MIKE GERRARD, HUGH BYRNE and newcomer JON HAUGEN
 
Lucky draws went to, KEN AKESTER, COLIN GREGG and LOUIS.
 
So we toasted a few of our players a BON VOYAGE who were going back to dear old Blighty to get back to bolstering our pensions up. COLIN and RODNEY GREGG, LOUIS and STEFAN. 
Very serious note now is the CHARITY BASH at the end of the month.30th March 2010.
 
We still need more players to sign up in a two ball scramble. Ladies and men in any combination. 600 baht entrance...

 Doug Maiko, Peter Whitehead, Richard Kubicki, Mike O'Brien 

March 2nd, 2020, Stableford Competition at Royal Lakeside Golf Club Reported by Thomas Cotton This Tuesday it was our fate to play at Royal Lakeside, which is almost an hour drive from Pattaya, with the wind at our backs.  Its name would suggest that it is beside a lake, but alas only a few small ponds were spotted.  The course's website mentions a location beside the Bangpakong River, with a "riverside setting".  Indeed, the misrepresentation of the course's name was going to be a huge distraction to some of us, but others were able to ignore this animadversion and focus on the golf, thereby achieving some good scores.
With the course's riverine setting, the fairways were were well-watered unlike some of the other courses we've been playing.  Those courses are now suffering from the dry season.  The weather was fine, and rather hot with an occasional cooling breeze from off the lake, I mean river.
After play we headed to the garish clubhouse, the design of which seems to have been inspired by the US Capitol Building.  It is possible that this resemblance inspired our New Englander, Doug Maiko, for whom no government is large enough.  Doug finished second in his flight.  Anyhow, I digress from golf too much (as usual) so following are the results. Winners, Flight A (0-17) Richard Kubicki, 36 pts
Doug Maiko, 35 pts
Ed Butcher, 34 pts
Geoff Bracegrove,...