The KLOGS May Away 2015 was another great success. The 14 participants, 13 playing and Frank McKenzie crook with a damaged shoulder came from far and wide and descended on the quiet resort town of Hua Hin Thailand. Nine travelled on the official Air Asia tour flight and after some delay at Don Muang airport due to the late arrival of the bus the contingent all joined up on Wednesday evening. The Parslow brothers Geoff and Ted were welcomed as guests and brought some much needed improvement to the standard of play.
1st Day – Monthly Medal Black Mountain – Hua Hin
Black Mountain Golf Club opened in 2007 and the recent host of the True Thailand Classic was in good condition. The excellent greens were fast and true and the scoring for the day was reasonable. David Hewitt took the honours with a good 41 points (cut 5) winning the monthly medal, followed by El Scribe with 38 (cut 2) and 3rd place El Pres with 35 points (cut 1).
Mike Smith was awarded COTD for his exploits on the ninth hole – taking 4 shots to pass the red tee box. Good food followed before returning back to the City Beach Hotel. It should be noted that our COTD winner tried to leave his trophy behind at the golf club a truly heinous crime.
Results
To demonstrate the calibre of player Klogs now attracts it is of interest to include the scorecard from one of Geoff Parslow’s earlier warm up games played in 1979 at Royal Lytham & St Annes, the winner of that event was the one and only Seve Ballesteros aged 22, Geoff made the cut and finished back in a respectable tied 54th place!!!
Day 2 – 1st Day of 2 Day Competition Banyan Golf Club
The customary 2-day competition to determine the tour champion also had horse & jockey prizes for 1stand 6th, the draw being conducted on the bus in the usual confused manner, horses and jockeys being mixed up.
Banyan which opened in 2008 is another fine course in the Hua Hin area. The course was in good condition again with fast and true greens. The highlight of the day was Rikki Ingham who aced the short par 3 fifteenth. The disappointment however must be the miserly rewards handed out by the club for this remarkable achievement. A free round for 2 without buggy and caddy and a Banyan luggage tag is a poor show. Many clubs hand out substantial financial reward which needs to be converted into F & B which must be consumed on the day.
The day’s winner was El Scribe with a score of 92 for 42 points and he was duly presented with his choice of shirt from the pro shop. The full results of the competition can be seen in the 2-day summary.
A late lunch was taken, washed down with copious quantities of beer.
Rick’s Ace – 15th Hole at Banyan
Novelties were awarded as follows:
- NTP 1: Rikki Ingham hole in 1
- NTP 2: Allan Wright
- Last Birdie: Richard Green
- Longest Drive: Geoff Parslow
- Lowest Gross Martin Walsh -82
- Wooden Spoon : Ted Parslow (ocb)
COTD Nominations:
- Martin Walsh: For repeatedly trying to throw away Geoff’s scorecard, and for also screwing up the
- holes to be played as novelties.
- Allan Wright: For causing mayhem in the vicinity of the ladies tee box as consultations took place to
- determine whether he had passed the ladies box.
- Mike Smith: For being disorientated on leaving last night’s final watering hole.
- Richard Moss: For playing his second shot from 30 yards behind the black tee box
El Pres was given the award and drank from his new trophy. Similar to the previous day’s winner he contrived to leave behind his trophy on the golf terrace. Retribution was made on the bus back where he was re-united with his trophy and again had to drink from the mug this time filled with his favourite Baileys.
COTY Proxy
At the January AGM Wayne Beck was given the COTY award for 2014, as this was the first opportunity Brian stood as proxy for Wayne and will hand it on to him when he sees him on his return to blighty.
Third Day – 2nd Day competition Banyan Hua Hin
We returned again to Banyan for day 3 and enjoyed a hearty breakfast at the course before the round, pins had been relocated and the course was again in superb condition. In accordance with tradition the players went off in reverse order. The main contenders being packed together in the final flight. El scribe maintained his good form from the first round and recorded a 91 for 43 points to take the days reward and the Champions Trophy (cut 2 for the Money game). In second place overall was Mike Smith and third El Pres. El Pres was doubly happy as he was the jockey on the winner with the pair sharing 8,000 baht. The sixth placed horse and jockey were Ted Parslow ridden by Rick Brown with each netting 2,500 baht.
Novelties were as follows:
- NTP 1- Mike Smith (Birdie)
- NTP 2- Nobody all fined by the Fines Master
- Last Birdie Ted Parslow
- Long Drive Geoff Parslow
- Low Gross Geoff Parslow
- Wooden Spoon Brian Jeffers
Results of 2-Day Competition
COTD Nominations:
- Rick Brown: For getting his fishing tackle out on the course and playing from behind the
- black tee box on the fourteenth hole
- Allan Wright: For leaving his shoes behind and buying new ones.
- Richard Moss: For nominating the caddy that was the closest resemblance to himself.
Richard was given the award.
After drinks at the club we proceeded straight to the Electric Mango (a good recommendation from Richard Green), venue for the tour dinner a restaurant on the way back to Hua Hin from Banyan. Due to the bus being unable to negotiate beneath the resort low signage (see left) we walked the last yards to the restaurant where we were all seated on one long table. An excellent meal was enjoyed by all, most people selecting steaks.
Day 4 – Money Game – Springfield
Springfield Royal Country Club was the venue for the final day’s game. The course was the poorest of the three we played. Questions should be asked about the sanity of playing off the blue tees which in many places were co-incident with the gold tees.
The money game was played with two players partnering for the better stableford point on each hole based on the individual handicap. The teams were put together by the results of the 2 day competition with the highest and lowest stableford points paired together as the first team and so on.
The full results are as follows. Due to the odd number Rikki Ingram had a blind draw and drew Rick Brown resulting in him taking the wooden spoon or in this case golf club cocktail stirrers
COTD nominations
- Richard Moss Three shots to get passed the red tee box.
- Rick Brown for soiling his pristeen coloured shorts after playing from the water
- Geoff Parslow for his skippy impersonations the night before.
Geoff won the final COTD.
In closing the tour El Pres thanked all participants, especially those from overseas, and wished all a safe trip to their next destinations.
A big thank you also to Frank McKenzie for acting as Tour Money Bags and acting as Fines Masters
Photos
