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Geoff Parker celebrating with Tuk!

Friday 3rd September  2010
Pattana G.C.  Stableford A welcome return to Pattana after several month’s hiatus caused by disagreements over pricing during the previous high season. Following heavy overnight rain, the course was soggy in places, but the weather on the day was fine and relatively cool. We played the A and B nines and the lack of roll made some of the holes play very long, with some of the higher handicap players struggling to reach the greens in regulation. Only Geoff Parker managed to better his handicap on the day to take first place. Second place was Eddie Martin, with the ever consistent Mashi coming third, although the rumour is that Mashi lost out on the “bits”, for the second game running to Geoff, a severe disruption to his regular golf income. Results: 1st  Geoff Parker    (hcp 16) 38 points
2nd Eddie Martin   (hcp 15) 35 points
3rd  Mashi Kaneta   (hcp   9) 34 points Near pin winners –  Geoff Cox, Mashi and Geoff Parker (2)
Wednesday 1st September 2010
Emerald G.C. Medal A smaller group of golfers than usual made the trip to Bang Chang, to find the course in good condition and the weather perfect. Colin Greig was the star of the day, recording his best ever round in Thailand, and impressive it was too. With a gross score of 76 (9 under handicap) he was unbeatable. His round included 8 consecutive pars on the back nine, and he just missed out...

 First Three Winners 

Tuesday The 7th September 2010: Khao Kheow ( Stableford) 

This is a Course we all love to hate, but what a great Course it is on its' day. We had a smaller than usual group on this day as some of our players were going off for a few days to pastures new..
  The morning at Bert's started off as normal with most of the golfers tucking into Bert's Golfers Breakfast, and then into transport for the run down to Khao Kheow. These days this trip does not take very long, and we were soon there and booking in for the days golf. One thing at present is that the Course has a promotion until the end of October. The main deal for me is Tuesday with THB 800 plus free meal, and Green Fee/Caddy Fee /Cart for THB 1250.
 So in my Cart off we went to the first hole to play A and C Nines. Usually here we play the Yellow Tees, but on this day decided to play the white tees, and this turned out to be an excellent decision as  most of the Yellow Tees were on the White positions due to the Tee Boxes being refurbished. This of course meant that the scores would be good we hoped, as playing off the Yellows usually leads to being destroyed.
   The Course itself proved to be patchy, however it was nearly empty and most of our players had a great day.  The fairways were a bit wet and the grass a bit long which meant we had little run. The greens were recovering from work on them but still fast enough.  All in all a fine...

Henry Wong, The Admiral & Mike Gosden

By San Mig Stu

MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER KHAO KHEOW – STABLEFORD
Today’s outing saw the Admiral (Dave Richardson) “load em up” for the 40 minute mini bus ride at the precise time again of 0815. Nineteen keen gofers, er golfers lined up for a 0920 tee off, starting on the A course and finishing 4 hours and twenty minutes later on the B course. The white front markers were again used which proved convenient and welcome to a number of players. Despite the short yardage, as a result of playing so much closer to the greens, many scores indicated that this advantage did not necessarily assist all players.
No excuses could really be used as the weather was perfect, the course sensational and improving by the week with the greens noticeably faster than last week. There was one major distraction though, which blew many of us away. Having teed off the par three 5th tee and walking toward the green, there on the left in the scrub (bush, jungle) were three Chang (elephants), with Mama, Papa and baby quietly grazing only a hand throw away. What a beautiful sight to witness on such a pleasurable stroll.
There were no new members or guests to welcome today so our presenter moved straight to the issues of the day. The issues were not what everyone was expecting and for the next five minutes we were treated to a torrent of pointed remarks concerning the player’s responsibilities toward the understanding...

Graham the Bridesmaid Again Tuesday 31 August saw the group return to Rayong C.C. for the 2nd week in a row, due in no small part to the great value on offer, combined with the course being in it's best condition of the past several years.  After last week's dismal return, Jeff Wylie (6) returned to some decent form to lead the way home with 38 points, 1 ahead of last week's runner up, the consistent Graham Hiskett (13).  I commented last week of Graham's recent return from a trip away, it hasn't taken him long to settle back in & will be hard to beat over the next few weeks, (but we will try).  Near Pins were collected by said Graham with 2 & Ken Graham, the other 2. Thursday saw a new month and a trip to that testing venue, Treasure Hill, well the status quo remains, the course is still tough.  The management at Treasure Hill are steadily improving the course with several new tee boxes & a green currently under construction, along with cart paths & defining some hazards.  We had a small field again today so went to the Front 9, Back 9 & Overall prize split, with some small recompense for Near Pins.  Jeff Wylie (6) got the Front 9 with 16 points while Ken Hole (15) & Keith Hodges (25) shared the Back 9 with 17 each.  Unfortunately for both Ken & Keith, they had both had Barry Crockers (shockers) on the F9, allowing Jeff to get the overall with an unspectacular return of 28 points.  The near pins were picked up by Jeff & Derek with 1...

By San Mig Stu
THURSDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER – RAYONG C C – STABLEFORD

Apparently 17 golfers, of 19 signed up for today, departed under instructions from the Admiral at 0815 on the dot and were deposited at the course without event at 0900. At 0930 the first group teed off and completed their round under cloudy skies in 4 hrs and 20 minutes. The course was very well presented although the greens were reportedly slow.
No new visitors were with us today, although one regular was notably absent as was his signed up guest Scott Lobenwein (Chun) from Gove, Australia.
It appears that the Aussies who did make an appearance slaughtered the A grade field with Chris Stewart shooting 37 to win, from Martin Todd 36 second, on a count back from Dean Stewart also on 36. Mike Winfield found form from his Monday outing to rebound with a win in B grade on 33 points followed closely by Les Hall with 32 points and Hugh O’Donnell also on a count back for third with 32 points.
It was reported by the MC at presentations that the Coveted Compass Cap (which is awarded to the lowest score of the day) was not played for. This was as a result of the Compass award coordinator (San Mig Stu) being a non starter. The MC further stated that under good authority he was advised that his non appearance was due to assisting a cast of 100’s in celebrating (without restraint) the opening of a refurbished drinking establishment (Grumbling Swan) on Soi Chiayaphum the previous evening/night...

Tuesday The 31st August 2010: The Emerald ( Stableford)

Another Month gone and as usual it was time to determine 'The Alan Bolton Golfer 0f The Month', so with the points in from four completion days we were left with only three possible winners. Leading was Tom Cotton from Mashi with Steve Hamstad on their heels.  Tom was only landing at the Airport in the afternoon so points for Mashi or a second from Steve would see them leap frog Tom. Memory serves me in that Mashi had won the last two months and was 'Alan Bolton Golfer of The Year' last year, while Tom was Golfer of the year the year before.  Steve always just seems to come up short. Would this be his month?.
 The day was fine and the drive down was very good as Mashi was driving, nice and relaxing. Soon there and soon at the first tee and onto the Course. The weather was quite good, no rain, but with so much rain of late the fairways were out of bounds for carts, still let the caddy drive and it is amazing how things can be circumvented!!.
  The Course was nice and empty and we were able to zoom around, at least some of us were as soon as the Ladies let us through.  The fairways were reasonable and the greens quite good if a little slow, mind the rough was a little severe. Still with Tees back we thought the scores would be a little low.
 We were soon around and with Mashi playing in my fourball and not playing well for him, I knew it was all on whether Steve could come in with a good...

Henry Wong, The Admiral & Dean Stewart

By: San Mig Stu
MONDAY 30TH AUGUST – KHAO KHEOW – STABLEFORD. Firstly, many thanks to the stand in writer “THE DRUT” for his truly witty columns over the past three weeks, whilst this stand in writer for (Peter Blackburn) was away visiting other parts of Asia. Peter will be back in early October and will continue with his column then.
There were 2 very full buses required for the Admiral (Dave Richards) to haul asses aboard, with the usual “LETS GO” at precisely 8.15am. A comfortable forty minutes later we were at the spectacular Khao Kheow golf club house checking in. A record 28 Café Kronborg golfers lined up to play today, which was a fabulous turn out for this time of the year.
There was mention that the increase in numbers was due to the new Monday MC (Mike Gosden) doing a mixture of larrikin/poignant/euphoric/learned and satirical presentations after the game, but when he was asked if this was true he replied that credit for the increase in players was solely due to the efforts of the Kronborg stalwart “The Admiral” who has kept the flag flying for about 200 years!
The first group teed off at 9.30 from the forward white tees to tackle the A and B courses and finished their round in a smart 4 hours and 20 minutes including two drink stops. The weather was just about perfect with cloud cover and a light breeze complimenting a great course. The A graders found the going a...

Friday 27th August  2010
Khaow Kheow G.C.  Stableford A good day today for those who normally find the Khaow Kheow course to be too demanding. We played the C and A nines and discovered that all the yellow tees on the C nine had been moved forward to the white tees, thereby removing the teeth from what is normally a very difficult track. The big hitters reveled in the shortened course and near perfect conditions, and scores reflected that. Peter Habgood hit the shot of the day on the par 5 eighth hole, sending his drive over the trees, and leaving a wedge shot into the green – easy game! Eddie Martin produced a superb performance to romp home with 45 points (normally unheard of at Khaow Kheow), closely followed by Tony Robbins with 41 points, and Peter Habgood finishing 3rd with 38 points to virtually wrap up the Golfer of the Month title. Results: 1st   Eddie Martin   (hcp 17) 45 points
2nd Tony Robbins   (hcp 14) 41 points
3rd  Peter Habgood   (hcp 17) 38 points Near pin winners –  John Hughes, Mashi and Geoff Parker (2)
Wednesday 25th August 2010
Phoenix G.C. Stableford We arrived at Phoenix in good time, and were able to tee off early, which is a very rare event at this course. The weather was fine and the course was unusually quiet and in good condition, so the round progressed without any holdups. Given the good conditions, the scores were not as good as usual, with no golfer bettering their handicap. Mashi continued his...

All Smiles, Landlord Ray (l), with Tuesday Winner Derek Waterworth (c) & Ken Hole"

Derek Does It Again, Graham On the Comeback.
Tuesday dawned with clear skies and a light breeze, as we headed off on Hwy 36 to Rayong CC.  Here we found a management that have realised we're all in tougher times, & have offered a number of promotional price formats, something to suit just about everybody.  On to the golf, the course was in good nick, fairways well grassed, greens rolling smooth, great condition with great value.  Derek Waterworth (31) found the course very much to his liking, romping away with a well compiled 39 points, next best was our recently returned International jet-setter, Graham Hiskett (13) with 33 points.  Graham & Derek were also leading the way with the Near Pins, Graham getting 2, while Derek & Ken each had 1.

Thursday saw a small field travel North to Greenwood, where the course is also in good condition, but hardly anybody there to play it.  The C & A layout was to be our test today, so the format was altered to accommodate the field, prize money to be split Front 9, Back 9 & Overall, with the Near Pin returns reduced.  Early on it looked like there could only be 1 winner, but I think maybe he started looking at his card more than the golf course & a potential good score slipped away.  Graham Hiskett (13) slipped in to win the Front 9, with a steady, if unspectacular 16 points.  Jeff Wylie (5) did...

Tuesday The 24th August 2010: Bangpakong ( Stableford)
We like to go up to play Bangpakong at least every couple of months, so it was with a sense of anticipation that we loaded into our cars and started the journey up there. What was once a dreaded journey is now but a nice drive and if it is over the hour it is not by much, and only by the careful few. The trip back seems even quicker so there is no reason not to go there now, except the negotiations needed for a fair!! greenfee. Dick beavered away at this and when we arrived the result was quite good.  
The drive up there this time put doubt in our minds as for about a third of the way it really hammered it down with rain, then it cleared up and we arrived at Bangpakong under reasonable skies, indeed when we booked in we were told we could take the carts on the fairway. But to be honest the fairways were very wet and you had to be careful, but only in places was it really soggy.
With the fairways so wet we decided to play the yellow Tees at 6300 yards still a fair walk, not spoilt, on an overcast but cool day. Indeed it did rain on the way around but it never got heavy enough to stop and only rained on and off and kept the humidity down.
Onto the Course and with a damp course we did not get much run, but what a pleasure to play this Course and that is probably why we started with three groups more than we had planned. With the Course fairly empty we went around at our own speed and that was pretty...