by Barry Hooper

SAME Old Problems
I am seriously wondering if I can ever write a report these days on the weekly activities of the TRGG without having to have a moan or groan about one course or the other.
This week is no different yet another course “Crystal Bay” who just cannot seem to get it right.You advance book your players. You confirm it a few days before you go and are advised that everything is in order and that they look forward to seeing you. Then the day before you are going to set off they ring to tell you that they are upping the price because it is a Thai Bank Holiday.
They must have known that when they took the booking.
They must have known that when you confirmed the booking.
The result was cancellation of the whole booking (some forty plus players) and arrange to go to another course “Eastern Star” one that has some honour.
I do hope that “Crystal Bay” was found empty it would serve them right.
I have also heard this week of a whisper that all the Eastern Seaboard courses are proposing a general price hike. I do hope that the main organising groups get there heads together over this and have serious talks with the managements.
What with bad exchange rates etc. these days budget golf is getting hard to find.
Well down to reporting this weeks play.

This weeks Saturday Winners Michael Moreton, Brendan Moore, Neil Allison (Tuesday Div 2 winner) Bill Shepley, Michael Prideaux, John Baxter and Alan Thomas.

First outing was to “Eastern Star” on the 1st March holiday Monday at a reasonable cost after cancelling our original booking at Crystal Bay (price hiking).
Another good turnout and I was personally able to play because my school was on holiday. Great weather and a great course but the greens were a little unpredictable.
Two divisions. The second went to Brendan Bird with thirty-seven. Second was John McCall at thirty-four and your truly third at thirty-three and my best score ever at this course. The first division was also won with a thirty-seven this time from Mike McPhee. Second was Bill Shepley with thirty-four and the boss himself Fergus third with thirty-three after beating Martin Cooper on count-back.
Five two’s at the third Tristan Gilbert, Paul Sheffield and Bill Shepley, Brendan Moore at the sixth and Tristan Gilbert again at the thirteenth.
Tuesday the second was a trip to Greenwood A and C
As is normal at the moment great numbers and two very full divisions.
Second Division was a win from Neil Allison with thirty-five (I squeezed him in to my picture on Saturday after he told me that he never seem to play weekends so misses out on my pics) Second was Andy Redmond winning the count-back over John Merritt both with thirty-three. The First Division was a win for Barry Welling with thirty-four. Tristan Gilbert was second with thirty-three also after a count-back over David Jeffrey.
Just two two’s David Jeffrey and Neil Allison.
Thursday and our usual Thursday outing to Phoenix this time Lakes and Ocean.
A very big entry and three divisions.
Division Three went to Paula Byrne with forty-one that will lower her handicap for sure.
Second was Robert Wood at forty. Third went to Greg Mason at thirty-four
Division Two was a win for Ben Nelson at thirty-five and only one back was Tristan Gilbert with thirty-five for second. Third was Adam Farrell at thirty-four.
Division One was a thirty-six point win for Steve Carleton and just one back was Tewin Lamthong for second at thirty-five. Thirty-three was enough to take third after winning a count-back for Adi Mayer.
Four Twos. Neil Bramley and Roger Wilkinson at the seventh. Ted Senior at the fourteenth and John Merritt at the sixteenth.
Saturday the sixth and off we went to our alternative weekend venue of Eastern Star.
Entry numbers great and three divisions
Division Three was a win for John Baxter with thirty-six. One back was Michael Moreton at thirty-five and five back on that was Robert Wood with his thirty. You should have seen the surprise on his face when he was advised of his third place win. Priceless.
Division Two had Brendan Moore at the top of the list with his thirty-five. Second Michael Prideaux at thirty-two.
Rod Cresswell who has just come back to join us was third with his thirty-one.
Division One and Bill Shepley was top dog with thirty-nine and a full three back at thirty-six for second was Alan Thomas. Mod Chaviraksa took third spot with her thirty-five.
Four Two’s at the third Barry Welling. At the sixth Paul Howes and at the seventeenth Ian Dalls and Andy Redmond
If you want any further information about the golf outings played by the TRGG please contact Fergus Brennan on 0860567019 or call in to the Travellers Rest in Soi LK Metro.Detailed Results for the week –
Monday 1st March at Eastern Star
Division 1
Mike McPhee 37 hc 07
Bill Shepley 34 hc 03
Fergus Brennan 33 hc 10
Martin Cooper 33 hc 02
Division 2
Brendan Bird 37 hc 17
John McCall 34 hc 14
Barry Hooper 33 hc 30
Derek Lucas 31 hc 18
Tuesday 2nd March at Greenwood A&C
Division 1
Barry Welling 34 hc 05
Tristan Gilbert 33 hc 12 c/b
David Jeffrey 33 hc 09 c/b
Tewin Lamthong 32 hc 09
Division 2
Neil Allison 35 hc 18
Andy Redmond 33 hc 14 c/b
John Merritt 33 hc 13 c/b
Don Bradley 32 hc 32
Thursday 4th March at Phoenix – Lakes and Ocean
Division 1
Steve Carleton 36 hc 08
Tewin Lamthong 35 hc 09
Adi Mayer 33 hc 06 c/b
Mike McPhee 33 hc 07 c/bDivision 2
Ben Nelson 35 hc 14 c/b
Tristan Gilbert 35 hc 12 c/b
Adam Farrell 34 hc 13
Division 3
Paula Byrne 41 hc 22
Robert Wood 40 hc 16
Greg Mason 34 hc 18
Saturday 6th March at Eastern Star
Division 1
Bill Shepley 39 hc 04
Alan Thomas 36 hc 08
Mod Chaviraksa 35 hc 11
Division 2
Brendan Moore 35 hc 12
Michael Prideaux 32 hc 12
Rod Crosswell 31 hc 14Division 3
John Baxter 36 hc 15
Michael Moreton 35 hc 25
Robert Wood 30 hc 15

Mickey Mouse Friday Night Dart League Results Table

WELL, what can one say? Lucky Time Bar move down from 3rd to 4th after getting a lesson in how to play darts from the sunshine boys, 3 stars lance kept his cool after the barracking from the man at C & A, Eddie not so collateral damage and little brummy bazza who all were having a pop! Som na Nah! With 10 a side it was looking in the favour of the rising sun, even though Captain Baz, brought in a few ringers to try and put pressure on us, but it failed. The boy’s from Soi Yomato were at their best and focused! Melly we are coming 4 u!!!! Talking about Mel, yates v Mee Chew and rock steady Eddie was on form as he showed Neil that he was not to be messed with! Eddie was 160 behind and got a high score then checked on double 17, Darts Eddie! That didn’t worry Melly’s crew and sadly Yates walked all the way home with no free beer! The Bunker boy’s showed the OK Corral why they are still the top dogs and took the game and beer, Captain 3 stars Mick managed to check the beer as all the 14’s Stan wasn’t into it, and a little bird tells me that supersTAr beat Jim the Sheriff, but she didn’t beat his deputy! (sorry had to do it) The London boys moved up one place after the Bunker boys beat the OK possy, Ernie and crew made Bob buy them around of drinks for the previlege. O’Leary’s and Cheers are battling for 5th place at the moment as Cheer’s won the game nice darts honey, but O’Learys won the beer, Graham’s little harem like their free drinks don’t they. By the way there is a party at O’leary’s Sunday night and we are all welcomed…Let’s play Darts www.pattayadarts.com

Golf with the phoenix Tuesday Group

by Mike Gerrard

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.

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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 plus the usual green fees and caddy fees on the day. 20 tee times have been booked with about half filled at the moment. WE NEED MORE BENEVOLENT people to join the day.
PLEASE, PLEASE HELP US TO RAISE ENOUGH MONEY TO PROVIDE NEW DRINKING WATER FACILITIES AT THE BAN JING JAI ORPHANAGE. CALL 087 091 7565
GAWD BLESS YOU SURS.

Golf from Tropical Bert’s

by Derek Brook

TREASURE – 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 your name on the sign-up list.
RESULTS
1st: Dick Warberg (17) 38pts, on count-back over,
2nd: Ed Butcher (16) 38pts,
3rd: Derek Brook (14) 34pts
Near Pins: Dick Warberg, Bob Benda, Stu Hibberd, Geoff Bracegirdle

Golf from the Café Kronborg

by Peter Blackburn

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.

Dave Richardson, Carole Kubicki & Ted Morris

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 was easily enough to win A Flight with another fine score of 40 points from Richard Kubicki only enough to gain him second place. Paul Avery finished third with Niels Hanson in fourth place. A count back saw another veteran Don Richardson edge out Mike “Hunter” Gosden for fifth. Replicating her husband Richard’s score of 40 points Carole Kubicki won the B Flight with Alan Ewing second and Leif Kirkgaard third. Ulla Ravn finished fourth just ahead of Jan Lovgreen in fifth place. The “Compass Award” was won by Graham Buckingham. Results for Royal Lakeside:
A Flight
1st – Ted Morris (9) – 43 points
2nd – Richard Kubicki (12) – 40 points
3rd – Paul Avery (11) – 39 points
4th – Niels Hanson (15) – 36 points
5th – Don Richardson (10) – 35 points
B Flight
1st – Carole Kubicki (28) – 40 points
2nd – Alan Ewing (23) – 37points
3rd – Leif Kirkgaard (20) – 36 points
4th – Ulla Ravn (38) – 33 points
5th – Jan Lovgreen (21) – 32 points
NTP’s
3rd – Richard Kubicki
6th – Don Richardson
12th – Gerard Pierson
15th – Paul Avery
Long Putts
9th – Walter Schober
18th – Don Richardson

Pleasant Valley
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 courses do and have a proper training programme for new caddies. Our threesome “scorched” around the course in three hours & forty-five minutes which included just one stop for drinks as the weather was perfect as previously mentioned. The group following us was a whopping one hour and ten minutes behind us at the finish. It was a fairly eventful day all round what with Kevin’s mix up, Mick O’Connor putting his scorecard in the caddy evaluation box and our French friends in the last group leaving the nearest the pin marker on the 13th green. Many thanks to the course Starter who kindly drove out and retrieved it for us.
We decided to have just two flights with each going down to fifth place, A Flight for 0 to 17 and B Flight for handicaps 18 and over. Of course nearest the pin rewards on the four par threes and longest first putts on the ninth & eighteenth greens.

Gerard Pierson, Blacky & Andre Van Dyk

A Flight was well won by Frenchman Gerard Pierson with Peter Bye one point behind in second place. A count back saw myself finishing third from veteran Don Richardson in fourth place. The consistent Richard Kubicki ended up fifth. Aussie Andre Van Dyk did it again by winning the B Flight from the in form other half of the Kubicki golfing machine, Carole. A count back saw Kris Helgasson finish third with John Vegeberg in fourth spot. A count back saw another Frenchman, Joseph Bensoussan finish fifth with Graham Buckingham just missing out. The “Compass Hat” was presented by Stu Rifkin to Paul Avery who lost on a count back to Stu. Good luck to Paul as he is returning to Oz this weekend.Results for Pleasant Valley:
A Flight
1st – Gerard Pierson (6) – 37 points
2nd – Peter Bye (12) – 36 points
3rd – Peter Blackburn (14) – 35 points
4th – Don Richardson (10) – 35 points
5th – Richard Kubicki (11) – 34 points
B Flight
1st – Andre Van Dyk (19) – 39 points
2nd – Carole Kubicki (27) – 37 points
3rd – Kris Helgasson (19) – 34 points
4th – John Vegeberg (21) – 34 points
5th – Joseph Bensoussan (19) – 33 points
NTP’s
5th – Stu Rifkin
8th – Peter Blackburn
13th – Niels Hansen
17th – Patrice Bardy
Long Putts
9th – John Swanson
18th – Kris Helgasson

Wednesday Quiz League

 

R2Q4 Q: Which country derived its name from “Mount Charles”, in compliment to the then reigning Prince Charles II? A: Monte Carlo. Several teams pointed out that Monte Carlo is not a country; Monaco is. This is quite true – from Wikipedia: Monte Carlo [...] is one of Monaco’s administrative areas. As this confused many teams, I will have to void the question. Two points deducted from The Londoner, Cheers, Palmers and The Bunker.
R2Q5 Q: The following attractions and memorials are located in which English port city: Mayflower Memorial; Mayflower Park; and Mayflower Theatre? A: Southampton. Bowling Green appealed for Plymouth. Wikipedia confirms that all three are in Southampton. Appeal denied.
The Queen Victoria asked how the positions of the teams are calculated if the points are tied. If the points are tied, the number of wins is taken into account. If the number of wins are equal, then the points difference is looked at. If still tied, then the teams are ranked in alphabetical order. This may change next season, and total points scored (instead of points difference) may be used. Hope this helps.
“Next week’s matches March 24th
:Bowling Green vs. W. Tankie, Palmers vs. Nervous Wreck, Queen Victoria vs. Stag’s Head ‘A’, Rising Sun vs. Cheers, Shagwell vs. Bunker, Stag’s Head ‘B’ vs. Londoner.”