The KLOGS Away Tour from 18th-22nd November 2019 went off very smoothly for all, thanks to the thorough planning by El Pres, Iain Wise. The KL contingent was joined by participants from the UK, Australia and Thailand, supported by fitness coach, Richard Moss. Peter Hayes & Lars Faerch were welcomed as new members & Edwin Ferner & Robert Frager as tour virgins (Robert after 20 years with KLOGS).
Tour accommodation was at the Duangtawan Hotel on Loi Kroh Rd; the hotel has seen better days and was very busy for the first couple of days, but it was fine for our needs. It was also handy for the cultural attractions favoured by the group.
1st Day – Monthly KLOGS Medal – Chiangmai Highlands Golf & Spa Resort
The course, scenery and weather were beautiful; we played Courses B & C, off the white tees.
Results
The May medal winner with a score of 84 for 43 points was Ricardo Castro (cut 7). Second and lowest gross was Geoff McLaws with 77 for 40 (cut 2) & third with 94 for 38, Pietro Martucci (cut 1). Most gross was your scribe, a position he easily maintained for the 3 days ! Despite the generally good scores, there were numerous jugs incurred (see below)
Full results below
- NTP winner #5 : Peter Kenyon (5.23m)
- NTP winner #8 : Hans Bohi (~3m)
- NTP winner #11 : Enzo (90 cm)
- NTP winner #17 : Lars (4.68m)
- Last birdie : None
COTD
There were 6/7 nominations for this initial award :
- Enzo & Pietro – for their efforts with the measuring tape on the Par 3s
- Tom – for a great 2nd shot on a Par 5, then hitting the kerb & 3 putting
- Frank – for commenting in the changing room that Allan was a sight for sore eyes
- Robert – for playing on his phone during the COTD nominations & measuring on the NTPs
- Geoff – for abuse of KLOGS property (breaking the tape measure)
- Iain – for not being nominated earlier !
The clear winners were Enzo & Pietro.
2nd Day – 1st Day of Competition – Alpine Golf Resort
Day 2 dawned sunny again. Following the group photo, we played the Alpine A & B courses; the courses proved challenging with only one player playing to his KLOGS handicap and again, numerous jugs being incurred.
Results
The leader on count back on this first day with a score of 90 for 36 points was Robert Frager. Second was Hans Bohi with 100 for 36 points, closely followed by Enzo Filoni (101 for 35). Full results of the 2 day competition are summarized below
- NTP winner 1st Nine : Geoff
- NTP winner 2nd Nine : none
Robert’s prize as leader on Day 1 was a golf shirt.
COTD
There were 8+ nominations for this:
- Flight 2 – for slow play
- Tom – for wearing a pink shower cap in the shower
- Frank – for having to use his baileys glass on the coach back the previous evening & for making a booking a day in advance & not sharing
- Allan & Frank – for cross dressing
- Peter K – for photographing this activity
- Robert – for holding the coach up the day before while shopping for a shirt, then winning a shirt the next day
- Geoff – for holding up flight & phone abuse on course & for being grumpy
- Hans – for weighing himself
The clear winner was Tom Holmes (I’m still not sure how Frank & Allan lost this !)
3rd Day – 2nd Day of Competition – Alpine Golf Resort
On Thursday morning at 6.55am, many of the group were awakened by an unusual experience – their rooms were swaying. It wasn’t the Baileys or Brian falling out of bed but a 6.1 magnitude earthquake centered close by in neighbouring Laos. Brings a whole new meaning to “did the earth move for you ? ”
On the second day of the competition, the resort was very busy with another big group of Japanese golfers and other smaller groups teeing off around the same time. We expected to play courses A & B again but instead played A & C. C proved even more challenging than B (average gross scores were 2 higher on this second day); the only factor reducing the number of jugs incurred was that the drop zone on a number of C holes was beyond the ladies tee !
Results
Enzo launched a serious challenge on Day 2, emerging the Champion with 202 for 70 points. Robert slipped back slightly, finishing 2nd with 185 for 67 with Hans finishing 3rd with 206 for 66. The Day 2 winner was Geoff with 79 for 36. (It should be mentioned that had Ricardo not been cut 7 each day for winning the monthly trophy, he would have been a clear winner).
Full results below
- NTP winner 1st Nine :
- NTP winner 2nd Nine : Ricardo (4m)
The winners of the Horse & Jockey competition were Enzo with Dave for 1st and Allan with Iain for 16th.
COTD
There were 4/5 nominations for this:
- Dave & Allan for swapping scorecards at the start but being in different flights
- Robert – for being hyper during the round, for wearing his prize shirt with the price label outside & for not being available for nobbling the previous night
- Enzo & Edwin – for going home together
- Enzo – for being in the rough, but caddie finding his ball
Robert fully justified his win !
Later that evening 13 players plus Richard Moss had a very pleasant dinner with wine & beer at the Riverside Restaurant.
4th Day – Team Scramble – Summit Green Valley
Another beautiful and challenging golf course. The weather was again hot and sunny.
Five 4 player teams cunningly selected by El Pres teed-off ~ 30 minutes late as we initially had to wait for some buggies, then had to wait for 3 flights of Koreans to cross over before we could start. Later we were joined by John Laidley for lunch.
Results
The Dream Team of Geoff, Hans, Colm & Dave emerged winners in a closely fought contest for the 1st 3 positions, with 5 birdies and 3 bogies for 70. Particular highlights included 2 long putts to give 2 birdies in the first 3 holes, Colm getting a near hole-in-one on #6 and Geoff playing a magnificent 2nd shot from a poor lie on #9.
Second on count back over the final 3 holes was the team of Iain, Tom, Ron & Peter K with 71, with 3rd, the team of Berni, Wayne, Frank & Enzo. 4th were Robert, Peter H, Edwin & Allan with 75 & 5th, Ricardo, Lars, Pietro & Brian with 76.
COTD
There were 5 nominations for this:
- Iain – for foolishly confiding in Tom in confidence
- Peter H – for coining the DIB expression, for noting that he expected to be COTD, for being a member & for walking the course rather than riding with his caddie
- Brian – for not bringing Wayne Beck
- Frank – for going home with Colm & not fining himself throughout the tour
- Tom – for having an orange bag to match his shower cap
And the winner was Peter H !
COTT
However finally, it was time for that most prestigious of awards, COTT. There was little disagreement amongst the players when it came to this award.
Tom Holmes – you are the 2019 May COTT !
The various prize winners received sleeves of balls courtesy of Renaissance Hotels (thanks to Robert Frager).
Fines & Honesty Jugs
There were numerous jugs on the 1st & 2nd days in particular, and the Fines Master (Frank) was in fine form, penalising numerous people for various misdemeanors. As a result, we topped up the WHIP by ~18,000 baht over 3 days.
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, Hans, Brian, Simon & others.
