Perfect golf is back

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The Golf Club weekly roundup

Monday, Oct. 24, Green Valley (white tees) – Stableford

1st Aki Yamamoto (21) 40pts

2nd Kevin Hamilton (18) 39pts

T3rd Dave Ferris (18) 38pts

T3rd Phil Smedley (15) 38pts

(L to R) Kenny Aihara, Zed Beloglavec, Ben Denham and Fred Graham.
(L to R) Kenny Aihara, Zed Beloglavec, Ben Denham and Fred Graham.

The season is changing, and cooler weather is back to bless us.  Green Valley today was back to perfect form (aside from the first tee box ground works) and 16 golfers took to the challenge.  This is our regular venue for a Monday and it is good to see the course in such good shape.

High scores were on the menu and if you had less than 38 the message came back, don’t even bother.  Tied at that number were Dave Ferris and the Phil Smedley while one rung higher up the ladder was stalwart Kev Hamilton who knows this course well.  Visiting Aki Yamamoto is back from Japan and an outstanding 40 points on the day took him to the top.

The aforementioned Captain Phil also won the illustrious Caddy Smile near pin… but alas no bird was in the cage.

Tuesday, Oct. 24, Greenwood A & C (yellow tees) – Monthly Medal

1st Zed Beloglavec (20) net 68

T2nd Fred Graham (18) net 70

T2nd Ben Denham (1) net 70

What’s that you say?  No Kenny on the podium for our Monthly Medal?  The 7-star winner is still getting his form back but an early arrival does show Kenny has checked in for the winter.  At least he got the prize for the Caddy Smile near pin!

Medal play is a whole different ball game and one hole can take you out of the frame in a heartbeat.  Freddy Graham had a very consistent day and a net 70 was a heck of a round from the 18 handicapper.  That took Fred to joint second place with Ben Denham, who plays off just 1!  You haven’t seen Ben’s name in this column for the last 3 months as he has been nursing his shoulder back to form.  Or at least he has found someone to help him along.  Good to see Ben is back and surely his name will be found on many leaderboards in the coming months.  I’m thinking a score of 1-under is pretty darn encouraging!

The Monthly Medal winner for October is a bloke who had been playing with us for about the last 5 weeks with not much luck.  Today he remembered how to play the game and Zed Beloglavec swept the field with his net 68.  Zed is a low key, soft spoken guy and it is good to see him rewarded for a great day of golf with his win here at Greenwood.  Wear that Antigua shirt for the next Medal mate, it does their heads in!

Thursday, Oct. 26, Laem Chabang C & A (white tees) – Stableford

1st Chris Kerr (3) 37pts

2nd Terry Pettitt (12) 35pts

3rd Walter Baechli (15) 31pts

We booked this course 2 months ago in the knowledge that this would be the last Sports Day at Laem Chabang for 6 months.  Our 9:30 start was the beginning of a perfect day on a perfect course with perfect weather.  This really is a lovely golf course, even when you are assigned the C track to start with.  Let’s take it on while we are fresh!

It is nice to see our mate Terry Pettitt back in town for the autumn visit and being the steady golfer that he is, turn in a Tom Jones score.  That 35-pointer is not unusual for the consistent Englishman and it garnered second place on the podium.  Walter Baechli, I think, has played with us every time we schedule Laem Chabang.  If he is not, then he must be back home climbing an alpine peak of some sort.

You don’t get many breaks when you play off a 3-handicap.  It looks like Laem Chabang is well suited for Chris Ker’s game as his 37 today was the best of the lot.  Not only that, but Chris took the Caddy Smile near pin… and dropped the putt for the birdie as well!  Hey Chris, I owe you one of our yellow “Birdie Poker Chips” as a reward for a fantastic day.  Great shooting mate!