Pattaya Sports Club: Bunker Boys Golf Nov. 22-24-26

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Winner at Khao Kheow Steve Durey, Bengt Engstrom tamed Chee Chan and Kevin LeBar winner at Emerald.

Pattaya Sports Club Bunker Boys Golf
Monday, November 22nd
Khao Kheow B & C.
1st Steve Durey (21) 39 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (18) 38 points
3rd Michael Brett(15) 36 points
Near pins Colin Greig & Steve Durey X 2.



Quite a warm day at Khao Kheow where we were allocated the B & C nines. The course was in fine condition, no complaints on that score, also decent pricing with an all-in deal of eleven hundred baht. All was fine weather-wise till the last hole when suddenly a storm swept in virtually out of nowhere forcing us to take shelter. Just as quick as it came it went after about five minutes delay, enough to get everybody wet.


A curious game in many ways with several embarrassingly low scores, however those at the top of the list returned decent numbers. Sitting comfortably at the top of the list in the race for golfer of the month, Jimmy Carr stretched his lead today with thirty-eight points taking second place. Michael Brett had a struggle all day but managed to cobble together thirty-six points to take third place. The star of the day was Steve Durey who came home with a wet sail, twenty-two points on the back nine to claim victory with a thirty-nine point total. Steve also had his name on three near pin flags and managed to hang on to two with Colin Greig taking another, with one delinquent.



Slowly some of our longstanding members are starting to trickle back from foreign parts with Greg Berry making his first appearance in about eighteen months, we are expecting more shortly. Good to see Greg looking fit and healthy given that on his last visit he suffered two accidents, one life-threatening. We were also happy to welcome to the fold a new member Danny Evans all the way from Middlesbrough.



Wednesday, November 24th
Chee Chan
1st Bengt Engstrom (13) 38 points
2nd Jimmy Carr (18) 36 points
3rd Colin Greig (14) 35 points
Near pins Bengt Engstrom, Jimmy Carr, Colin Greig, & Michael Brett.

Another visit to the beautiful Chee Chan course where, as usual, everything was in tip tops shape. This is the most expensive course we play with an all-in fee of three thousand baht, not a course we plan to play on a regular basis but an occasional treat. The fairways are better than greens on many courses, the greens themselves were very tricky in particular the front nine were much quicker than the back for some curious reason.



The day was nice and sunny and with no wind, it became quite hot, nevertheless nice for golf. Today we welcomed another new member Bengt Engstrom who not only blew everyone away with a top score of thirty-eight points but also managed to snag a near pin, what a debut. Continuing on his run of good form Jimmy Carr took second place with a very creditable thirty-six points with the ever-improving Colin Greig taking third place a stroke back despite an uncharacteristically poor day with the putter. Jimmy, Colin, and Michael Brett took the remaining three near pins. As was the case on Monday a few members returned some very low scores so the message was clear, your game needs to be in good shape to play this course.


Friday, November 26th
Emerald
1st Kevin LeBar (16) 38 points
2nd Geoff Atwell (22) 33 points
3rd Jimmy Carr (32 points
Near pins Geoff Parker, Paul Smith X 2.



It is not uncommon to see a golf course acquire some additional land to lengthen a hole or harden up a course in some way. What is very rare is to see a course sell off part of a hole to a property developer thereby making what once was a long difficult hole into a short easy par four as is the case at Emerald where now the third tee and about eighty yards of fairway are now a building site. We understand the long-term plan is to build a new clubhouse and create some new holes in a major revision of the course, however for the time being high handicap golfers have an easy ride on what should no longer be a low handicap hole.



A bright sunny day for the last game of the week, but a constant wind made conditions difficult. One thousand and fifty baht all-in fee was good value so fourteen golfers showed up to tackle a course where the rough was difficult as ever with thick deep crabgrass everywhere. Only Kevin LeBar was able to tame the course today with a fine score of thirty-eight points in first place. A full five strokes back Geoff Atwell took second place with a group of three locked together on thirty-two, Jimmy Carr got the nod on countback. Geoff Parker got one near pin and Paul Smith got two.