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IPGC Sunday Golf at Green Valley

Sunday, November 8 - Stableford
1st Alec Hoare 42pts
2nd Phil Mitchell 41pts
3rd Rodney Hayes 39pts
4th Peter Sumner 37pts

Sunday, November 15 - Stableford
1st Charles Shepherd 40pts
2nd Harry Riley 39pts
3rd Rod Nabbe 38pts
4th Des Griffiths 37pts

Sunday Golf at Green Valley Rayong is a recent IPGC initiative designed to provide a Sunday golfing option to all IPGC members in a stableford format. This is in addition to the PGS Sunday golf run from the Rabbi’s Elephant bar which visits different venues.
The group meets every Sunday at Green Valley at 1030 and enjoys discounted green fees at this outstanding golf course. Presentations are conducted in the Golf Centre Bar, Green Valley, immediately after the golf with amiable hosts John and Geoff providing sustenance served by their delightful staff.

The Sunday events have received strong support from the Irish contingent who were represented in the winner’s enclosure on Nov. 8 by Alec Hoare. Equally impressive were the steady rounds from Rob Nabbe and Rodney Hayes, both visiting from Australia, andlocal stalwarts Harry Riley and Phil Mitchell.

The winning position for Nov. 15 went to another local boy, Charles Shepherd, who overcame recent poor form to sweep the opposition aside and record a magnificent victory. We were pleased to welcome a single lady golfer on this day, Toni Nichols from Foster, north of Sydney, Australia, is holidaying in Pattaya and playing with the Haven Hotel. Toni achieved a credible 32 points and we hope to enjoy her company at future events.

Jomtien Golf with the IPGC

Pranee takes the plaudits

Monday, Nov. 9, Green Valley – Stableford
The high season is warming up and there were eleven groups out today, and with our policy of no holiday makers, unless you have played with us before, this could still prove an awkward situation in the coming weeks.
We had seven ladies out with us today and with three of our regulars not playing and two single figure handicappers arriving next week, it looks like an independent ladies competition will start next week.
In the stableford competition, Georges Faber took out the A Flight with 38 points ahead of Peter Pedder (36) and Bill Hewitt (35) in second and third respectively.
Martin Holland was top of the pile in B Flight with 39 points while Jim Connelly took second on a count back over Neville Scurell, both on 38.
In the C Flight Yves Bosset scored a 1 under 37 points for first place, beating Ken Foster on countback. Miss Nang picke up third place just 2 shots adrift on 35.
In the ‘2’s competition there was a rollover from Pattana, Emerald and Khao Kheow and Pranom Foster was smiling all the way to the bank as she birdied the 16th to get the only ‘2’ of the day in the first division. Jimmy Johnson also got a ‘2’ on the second hole to win the second division with only one rollover.
Near pins went to Mikael Andersson, Georges Faber, Paul Smith, Bob Verporte, Pranom Foster, Jimmy Johnson, Martin Holland and Barry Rawlinson.

Wednesday, Nov. 11, The Emerald – Stableford
A slightly reduced field from Monday and on a quiet course we teed-off 25 minutes earlier than our normal 10 a.m. slot.
Living in France for the last seven years, and playing with us twice a year for the past 4, Pranee Bosset shot her best ever round off her 16-handicap to win the A Flight with 43 points. Raivo Velsberg came in second with 37 points and Bryan Rought was third just one point behind.
Tom Novak’s 36 points took B Flight honours, while Josie Monks, playing her best ever round, came in second with 34 points after beating her old man on a back six count back of 11/10. She was a happy lady that night.
In the ‘2’s competition, Miss Nom birdied the 13th in division 1 and Gordon Everingham the 7th in division 2 to take the pot.
Near pins went to Pranom Foster, Reijo Hainnen, Arvo Hiller (2), Marty Aronson, Fred Duffy, Gordon Everingham and Ken Foster.

Friday, Nov. 13, Eastern Star – Stableford
The sanded greens have disappeared and the condition of this course improves every week, but the cost of the green fee has still not been verified for us by the management for the high season, so there were minimal bookings throughout the week.
It was a very hot day out on the course but Neville Scurrell came in with a fine 40 points to win A Flight. Having the time of her life with her golf game, Pranom Foster was second on 39 points and Martin Holland took third with 37.
Miss Noi’s took her first ever pole position in B Flight with a winning 38 points; Cully Monks was second with 34 after beating Miss Nang on a 19/18 back nine count back. Commiserations go to newly arrived Jim Connelly after scoring 17 and losing out.
Butch Porter got a ‘2’ on the 6th to win the second division and there are now 4 rollovers in the ‘2’s in division 1.
Near pins went to Arthur Hancock, Martin Holland, Neville Scurrell, Miss Noi and Miss Tar.

IPGC golf from The Haven

Alan Griffith’s lifetime best

Monday, Nov. 9, Khao Kheow - Stableford
1st Yukio Kikuchi 37pts
2nd Geoff Picken 35pts
3rd Rodney Nabbe 34pts
4th Rod Howett 33pts
5th Toni Nichols 32pts
6th Roar Berger 31pts
Returning to Khao Kheow following the renegotiation of the compulsory cart policy, the course was found to be in top class condition with the fairways slightly widened and the rough cut down to a manageable four inches or so; errant shots were penalized but not to the extent that the course was unplayable for the higher handicappers.

This was born out with the top spot being taken by Yukio Kikuchi who would normally have been playing in the second division if there had been one more golfer in the start list to get to the necessary number to make two divisions. Yukio’s one under handicap round proved to be sufficient to take the day’s top spot by the slimmest of margins from Geoff Picken in second place as the latter shows some promise that he may be returning to the old style. Rodney Nabbe took third, another shot behind and one shot ahead of Rod Howett as Rod continues to improve his golf after a while in the doldrums. Toni Nichols found her way onto the list of mentions for the first time with a steady but unspectacular round ahead of Roar Berger by a single stroke.

Rod Howett slipped in the only 2 in the second division and Yasuo Suzuki and Rodney Nabbe shared the first division pool.
Before presenting the prizes The Doc welcomed new members Marianne and Frithjof Kayser and also welcomed back Richard Dobson.

Wednesday, Nov. 11, Bangpra - Stableford
1st B.J. Smith 33pts
2nd Rod Crosswell 33pts
3rd George Oakley 30pts
With over forty of the regulars out with the Baan Jing Jai Scramble event is was a small group that traveled to the recently improved Bangpra where the greens were found to be approaching their old ferocity and anything left above the pin was a nightmare downhill putt.

The longer layout also adds another dimension to what has always been a first class course and with the newly refurbished clubhouse to welcome the golfer after the game it is a pleasure to play the venue.

B.J. Smith took full advantage of the reduced field to take his first win of the year out of Soi 13, but had to be better on the count back, which he was, scoring 17 to 16 against Rod Crosswell who seems to save all his best rounds for his appearances at The Haven.

George Oakley at last slid on to the podium, having spent a small fortune on practice range balls, he at last got some of his shots to go in roughly the right direction although the short stick still needs a fair bit of polishing as he was heard to comment later in the bar.

There were no 2’s in the second division and Rod Crosswell had the only one in the first division.

Friday, Nov. 13, Rayong C.C. – Stableford
Div.1
1st Alan Griffiths 43pts
2nd Ted Lodge 40pts
3rd Frank McGowan 38pts
Div.2
1st Rod Howett 38pts
2nd Toni Nichols 37pts
3rd Shuichi Kodaka 36pts
Another large group of golfers required the formation of two divisions as the magic number of thirty players was passed by a fair margin. Fortunately the course was not heavily populated with other golfers, so even with the large numbers teeing off, everyone was away in good time and a good pace was maintained throughout the round which was in stark contrast to a lot of the players experience in a previous outing earlier in the week.

The course, having been renamed from Great Lakes, has also been worked on with both the fairways and greens in a lot better shape than the old management achieved, but still a fair amount of work has to be done to get it into the condition that the designer, Sir Nicholas Faldo, intended but the general layout is as good as anything else that he designed in the area.

The first division was overwhelmed with great scores with Alan Griffiths at the top of the list with his career best score of gross 79, which netted out to seven under his current handicap as he finished three ahead of Ted Lodge, who might have been forgiven for thinking it was in the bag at four under handicap. But such was the quality of the golf from the first division that even players at two under did not guarantee a place, as Frank McGowan took third place by a better count back of 14 to 13 on the back six against Bob Heath after they had tied the back nine on 19. That left Peter Skinner holding an empty bag as he could only muster 18 over the inward half.

Rod Howett took another win in the second division to add to his Monthly Medal in October and his placing earlier in the week and underlined his recent improvement as he headed Toni Nichols, also taking a second placing in the week, by a single shot. Shuichi Kodaka rounded out the second division with a solid even handicap round.

Considering the scoring in the first division it was surprising that there were no 2’s from that group but Sid Ottaway and Rod Howett proved that they were possible by getting one each in the second division.

Back at The Haven, The Doc welcomed new member Tony Vaughan and also welcomed back Stephen Lewis, Charlie Lapsey, Ted Lodge and Frank McGowan before presenting the prizes.

IPGC Pattaya Golf Society at Rabbi’s Elephant Bar

Belgian bucks again

The Pattaya Golf Society visited Rayong C.C. - aka Great Lake C.C. - on Sunday, November 8 to play a stableford event on this improving track. The greens are getting better by the week and although more work needs to be done on the fairways the course is on track to be a fine challenge within a month or two. The bunkers, all 120 of them, are fine however.

The largest weekend field for a few months enabled two flights to be played, divided at sixteen and under and play got underway on time on the unusually crowded course.
In the top flight Alan Bridges and Tony Thorne shared third place with 35 points each whilst Murray Hart went one better to score level par for second. The flight winner was Richard “Banjo” Bannister who got his “mojo” working for the first time this trip to produce a 37 point card.

The second flight produced no real surprises with Fredy Braun and Jean Morel sharing second place with 38 points each and the Belgian golfer Emiel Van de Wiele turning in his fourth consecutive sub par round for the win with 39 points. He has now come down three shots in the CONGU lists in the last two weeks, truly a man in form.
Five players shared the six birdie ‘2’s; namely Chris Voller, Alan Bridges, Banjo, Tony Thorne and Marc Jensen (two) whilst the Booby Bevy went to Masanori Takano at last after his recent excellent form nosedived leaving him on twenty-seven points.
Weekend golf certainly has a more relaxed feel to it and everyone enjoyed the experience at Rayong CC with the PGS.

PGS AnnualChampionship

The Pattaya Golf Society held its eagerly awaited Annual Individual Championship at Green Valley on Tuesday and Thursday, November 10 & 12 with the format strictly 36 holes strokeplay, proper golf with no frills or “technicals”. The course was well setup but eyes blinked on the first day as ground staff were seen lightly sanding the greens and this made them very slick for a few hours.

A quality field had assembled with an average handicap of fourteen and last year’s Champion Dave Stockman found he had Paul McNally in his sights this year as well as Chris Voller and veteran “Bunker Boys” Paul Butler and Harry Riley, both winners in their own rights.

The first day held no surprises as Dave Stockman and Paul McNally both played to their handicaps with gross scores of 76 and 75 respectively with Richard Bannister - Banjo - carding the day’s best net score of 69. Easing himself into the frame was Chris Voller, also with a trouble free gross 78.

The second day was set with a final grouping of the main contenders and it would be interesting to see if the tough got going when the going got tough. At the turn on the final day Dave Stockman had taken a one shot lead on the day to level the gross scores and Chris’s front nine of 40 was destined for the history books.

But golf is a complex game and the gods are constantly looking for weakness to punish. Chris drew on all his experience and a pulsating birdie on the twelfth followed by Dave’s uncharacteristic quadruple-bogey horror on thirteenth opened the trio up. Two more birdies for Voller in an excellent back nine of 33 “off the sticks” and the title was wide open.

Finishing the day with 73, both Macca and Voller had set out their stalls and Dave Stockman was relegated to third place with 76. The day’s best net performance had been Chris’s 67 and he had forced himself into second place in the main event. However, Paul McNally’s consistent gross of only four over at 148 was destined to be unassailable.

It had been a very exciting championship and one in which the three main contestants could be rightly proud of their performances. For Chris Voller to produce his best round of the year in such testing circumstances is nothing short of amazing.

The presentation was held back at Rabbi’s in Soi Buakhao and the cool beers were a perfect way to end the PGS Annual Championship for another year. Organiser Mr Len was full of praise for the golfers and the generosity of Harry Riley and Dale Shier for the donation of the perpetual trophy, this year contested for the eighth time, as well as the generosity of Hi-Tech for the award of additional prizes for the winners.

Gross Champion: Paul McNally (148)
Runner-up: Chris Voller (151)
Net Champion: Chris Voller (139)
Runner-up Paul McNally (140)

 

 

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