The first game of 2019 was held at Kelab Rahman Putra, a very picturesque but challenging venue.   With one late drop-out due to illness, 27 players including guest Nicky Lambsdorf teed-off on the Lakes Course at ~1pm.

The course was in good shape and the weather was good for the whole of the round though play was somewhat slow because of another big group who went out just before so the first flights finished ~ 6pm.

All players then adjourned for a good four course dinner at the clubhouse accompanied by numerous jugs, plus some good wines provided by Richard Rodwell & Ricardo Castro  (our sponsors for the wine prizes ).  Ian “Crackers” Craighead, Richard Moss, Barry Cousins & your scribe (who was the subject of many a butt joke !) joined for dinner.  

Results

Only two players bettered or equaled their handicaps, with 14 players recording less than 30 points.  

The January medal winner, returning in fine form after a few months absence, was Rafael Matos, with an excellent score of 92 for 44 (cut 8).  Second was Stuart Taylor with 92 for 39 (cut 2) with Paul Geddes, 3^rd on countback  (86 for 34)(cut 1) from Niall Murray (84 for 34).   

Full results below :

The novelty winners were:

• • NTP Hole #5 : Lim (7.4m)
• • NTP Hole #12 : Ricardo (4.5m)
• • Longest Drive (#8) : Niall Murray (219.6m)
• • Lowest Gross :  Geoff McLaws (86)
• • Last birdie : Enzo Filoni   

COTD

We had 3 nominations this month for COTD : 

1. 1. Iain W – for fining flights where one person failed to get over the water on the first hole, just because his flight succeeded;  
2. 2. Tom Holmes – for not licking balls with fertilizer on them (?!!) 
3. 3. Roger McGowan – for putting a long putt to 3” from the hole, then missing that putt 

Roger was narrowly voted as COTD, with Iain managing to deflect attention from himself (a trend which was repeated later) 

AGM

The AGM was also held after the game, introduced by El Pres, Iain Wise, who thanked Ricardo Castro (Moneybags), Dave Evans (Scribe) & Martin Walsh (Fines Master) for their support.   Iain & Dave are continuing in their roles for 2019 with Roger McGowan taking over from Ricardo. (Special thanks are due to Ricardo for his enthusiastic fund raising over the past 2 years).   Paul Geddes joined the committee as President of Vice.    El Pres thanked Renaaissance Hotels though Robert Frager for further sponsorship of new golf balls which should see us through 2020. 

El Pres reported : 

We played 11 different courses throughout the year – visiting Glenmarie twice.   After the AGM game, we visited Kota Permai in February; other venues of note included Sungai Long and Templer Park.  It was good to visit the Chalet Suisse Restaurant after the October game; thanks again to Hans and Bernie for making this available.  I am sure we would like to visit again in 2019 – maybe for the Christmas Game?

Throughout the year we had 57 members who played 248 rounds.  In addition 29 guests played 49 rounds, so in total 86 players played 297 rounds.  We welcomed 13 new members.

Copies of the summary of the years results are in the notes provide.

A quick review would reveal that we have had 26 different players coming in the first 3 places.

The May Away was to Vung Tau, a new location recommended by Niall Murray, for which we had 18 tourists. The course at Paradise was average but Bluffs Ho Tram, played on days 2 and 3, was tremendous. The new venue proved successful and in spite of Andrew Robinson’s comment on the approach to the town “It doesn’t look sleazy enough”. It is likely we will return at some time in the future. It was good to catch up with the Overseas groupies, in particular Brian Jeffers and Wayne Beck who are regular May Away tourists along with “Hasty” Hewitt who was in good form.

It should also be mentioned that just before the May Away, one of our members Joe Lacy completed the London Marathon, a tremendous achievement. Joe along with his son raised over 10,000 pounds for Parkinson disease research.

In November, we returned to Bangkok with 21 players attending; the highlight of the trip being Gary Cooney nicking Lars’s wallet & the subsequent repercussions.

The number of local players for the 2 tours increased which is good to see as we were starting to become very dependent on the overseas members. 

The Christmas game was held at Glenmarie and a good time was held by nearly everyone. It should be remembered when nominating members for the COTD award : “don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story!!!!”.  It was also great that 4 members donated free bottles for the après-game piss-up.

Finances

Iain/Ricardo briefly presented the finances; we have a healthy balance. There were no questions / comments. 

Annual Awards

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the annual awards

A) Played 8 Games or More (Bottle Of Wine):

1. 1. Geoff McLaws & Stan C (8 games);
2. 2. Edwin Ferner, Enzo Filoni, Jimmy Leggett, Kaswira & Paul Geddes (9 games);
3. 3. Iain  W & Ricardo : 10 games

B)  Player Of The Year Trophy (Best 9 Game Stableford)

Paul Geddes : Gross 325 : Average 36 Stableford Points

Runners up : Ricardo – 320, Kaswira – 293 

C) Player in Most Need of Improvement (Worst 9 Game Stableford)

Jimmy Leggett  –  a Rm 200 voucher from MST 

Other winners won a sleeve of balls : 

1. 1. Lowest gross of year – Niall Murray – 72 @ Kota Permai
2. 2. Most stableford points – Stan – 49 @ Tasik Puteri
3. 3. Honorary Members – Mike Smith & Crackers 

D) COTY Award (Trophy)

Gary “Fingers” Cooney was voted COTY by a considerable margin for nicking Lars’ wallet during the Bangkok Away, after successful electioneering by runner-up, Iain Wise; the trophy was accepted in his absence by Martin Walsh for bringing Gary into the society ! 

E) Election of Officers

The following have been returned unopposed. 

a) EL PRES :  Iain Wise

b) MONEYBAGS: Roger McGowan

c) SCRIBE: Dave Evans

For the position of Vice President, El Pres tried to press-gang several members to take the post; after this proved unsuccessful, Paul Geddes volunteered to take the position.  Thanks Paul ! .

2018 El Pres Award (Trophy)

Iain Wise was presented with a tankard by Ian “Crackers” Craighead   

Constitution

A number of proposals for amendments to the constitution were proposed and voted upon, as noted below : 

1) That KLOGS adopt USGA handicapping – REJECTED 

2) That KLOGS will adopt the new 2019 local rule regarding Lost Balls & Out of Bounds  – CARRIED

May Away 

This will be from Monday 13^th May to Saturday 18^th May 2019.  Venue TBC.

Next Game

This will be on 20 February, probably at Kota Permai (tbc)

Further Thanks

Stan C, Pietro M & Tom Holmes, as members of Rahman Putra for their assistance with the arrangements for the game & AGM.

Stuart Taylor for his tutoring & assistance with the blog over the last year.

Fines 

There were numerous fines imposed during the course of the game & evening

Sponsors

Our sponsors are a main reason that we can play at good golf courses and award members with trophies, attractive prizes as well as “KLOGS” signature golf balls. In order to show our appreciation we encourage members to support our sponsors.

Photos : courtesy of your Scribe, Ricardo, Stuart (Thanks)