The Golf Club review
Monday, Dec. 25, Green Valley (white tees) – Stableford
1st Fred Graham (18) 39pts
T2nd Andy Makara (28) 37pts
T2nd J.P. Thomas (22) 37pts
T2nd Phil Smedley (13) 37pts
What better way to celebrate Christmas than a day at Green Valley as a present to yourself? They are closing the course soon for the Asian Tour Q-School so the greens were fast and furious and everything else perfect.
We had three on 37 points that ended up tied for second, with her ladyship J.P. Thomas joining last week’s winner Andy Makara and Capt. Phil today. All on his own, Freddy Graham triumphed today with a strong 39 points. Are you thinking about joining that Q-School Fred?
Tuesday, Dec. 26, Pattavia (white/yellow tees) – Stableford
1st Nick Handscombe (14) W-35pts
2nd Robbie Taylor (14) Y-34pts
3rd Ken Grimes (25) Y-33pts
4th Jim Dundon (13) W-28pts
Another perfect day in paradise saw 16 of Pattaya’s finest hit the links of Pattavia Century. We played off two tees today, hence the notations W and Y on the scoring.
There is not much that is easy on this track and as long as you prepare yourself for several three putt greens you may just maintain your sanity. This course is a great challenge but we still love it out here.
Nick Handscombe did the best at 35 and Robbie Taylor hit the magic stroke to win the near pin.
Thursday, Dec. 28, Greenwood A & C (yellow tees) – Stableford
1st Kenny Aihara (7) 38pts
2nd Ian Palmer (3) 34pts
3rd Terry Dyer (16) 32pts
Glorious Greenwood was on the agenda for the outing today and with the new 331 bypass off the highway 7, it is down to 50 minutes going out. As mentioned above, the return takes a wee bit longer. The course was not giving much roll on the fairways due to a bit of overnight rain, but otherwise excellent.
Kenny Aihara is back on top again and a convincing 4-stroke win was a great result today. Ian Palmer gets only three strokes out here but managed a second place slot, and Terry Dyer picked up the rear as well as our Caddy Smile near pin.
Friday, Dec. 29, Khao Kheow (white tees) – Monthly Medal
1st Nick Handscombe (14) net 65
2nd J.P. Thomas (22) net 70
3rd Mark Wood (8) net 72
The yellow tees measured an ideal 6,360 yards for the December Monthly Medal. We had 7 groups out for this contest and Khao Kheow was the perfect host for the event, our last medal of 2017. Greens were rolling beautifully and the A & B links were nothing short of spectacular, just like the weather.
Our buddy Mark Wood grabbed third with a solid 72 net on the day. Peter is still smiling as his little investment continues to bring home the bacon, this time a 72 got J.P. second place off a new low 22 handicap, so well done indeed!
It was all Nicky today as a whopping five stroke advantage netted the Medal for December. Nick also won on Tuesday earlier this week so is certainly in his purple patch. Handscombe gets to Pattaya two or three times a year and has played with us for yonks, but this is his first Monthly Medal, a very nice way to close out 2017.