Clark in Thailand: Chapter 2

Let me begin by saying I’ve played golf on some pretty darn nice courses around the world and once again Thai Country Club does not disappoint. On the outset, this club is basically in an industrial area outside the city of Bangkok, but from the moment you enter the gates and marvel at the perfectly manicured grass and greenery, you know you have arrived at someplace special. Everything about this club is top-notch and the level of service is extraordinary. The bag drop is a well oiled machine and you are given a key fob with a number on it. You use this fob to purchase things in the abundantly stocked pro shop or on the golf course at the amazing refreshment stations which beckon a stop every three holes. A halt at one of these stations does not mean you have to grab and go. Golf here is different and if the foursome wants to stop for a couple beers and some dim sum, or a chicken leg, they just let people pass and join back up whenever they can.

The caddies fall right into place as well and are happy to do whatever their assigned golfer chooses to do. Today I went off with another Japanese gentleman, but we were joined by a lanky player from Australia who had decided to stop and have a beer and snack, leaving his original group, but slotting in with us seamlessly. My caddie today is “Nit” who has worked at this club for 26 years. I can say with absolute certainty that Nit knows every bump, swale, break, bunker and inch of Thai Country Club. She was an absolute pleasure to work with today and we became instant friends. Always smiling, she kept referring to herself as “old lady” and let it slip that she was 48 years old. I just can’t accurately judge age by looking at some of these gals because they are moving constantly and they just seem to age so very well. 

The only downside to my experience today was that I had taken an extra hour and arrived early so I could use the manicured driving range and spectacular short game area. Much to my dismay, I got ushered to the tee without so much as a practice swing or hitting a single putt. I could have held my ground, but the club staff was just trying to get me out in front of a larger group and they wanted me paired up instead of waiting behind foursome after foursome. I get it, but I was still not the least bit happy about it and my play certainly suffered the first few holes because of my poor attitude and zero warmup. 

Being around Nit soon eased the mood and I quickly realized just how fortunate I am to be where I’m at, doing what I love. Case closed…..and on a positive note I’m coming back to play here twice more before departing so team Nit-Clark will be reunited again with a plan to beat old man par.

Nit the "old lady" of Thai CC

View towards 18 green

My crew today

Getting ready to birdie 18

Lovely par 3

Nit

Nit and her fellow caddie... They are so pleasant to be around. You just can't help but smile

How they can funtion in this head to toe polyester is beyond me. 93 degrees today!!

Clark in Thailand: Chapter 1

Well lads, the Thailand adventure is underway and I’m writing this as I am nestled into a comfy overstuffed booth in the Hilton lounge sipping on a frothy handmade cappuccino. After 25 hours sitting on planes,  I arrived last night in Bangkok after midnight actually so completely out of sorts time wise I had trouble going to sleep. By the time I got my things unpacked and a degree of order to the room that will by my home for the next 12 days, it was well into the early morning hours. I had instructions from “Nueng” my assigned driver, to be downstairs at 830 am sharp and ready to roll, thus any rest and much needed recharge time was short lived. 

Today’s course was Royal Gems City…. A course I had played before featuring a front nine composed of 9 of the most famous holes in golf, including the church pews of Oakmont, the Road Hole, 17 at TPC and others. The second nine is a pretty darn close replica of the back 9 of Augusta National, complete with slick firm greens and elevation changes. There are no pine trees here, but they have replaced those with eucalyptus trees, and as the course matures, it will really be something. I was paired with a very nice gentleman from Japan today who was nothing but smiles. He struggled a bit off the tee but compensated his game by being a great chipper off some very tight lies and he managed several nice up and downs. As luck would have it I drew a wonderful caddie named “Mew”. Aside from being very attractive and having the appearance of a 20 year old, despite her 36 years, she had her yardages down to the number. A couple holes into the round and she had my club selection down pat. Before I left I took a chance and purchased an AI language translator. It consists of 2 ear pieces and you can set the accompanying app to conversation mode. This allows me to speak in English and the wearer of the second ear piece hears the translation in Thai and vice versa. It’s not perfect, but it certainly allowed Mew and I to converse with each other as well as share a bunch of laughs for those phases that were “lost in translation.”

Despite running on fumes, I played well today to the delight of Mew and myself and shot +2 on a tough track. Tonight I’ll get a good nights rest and head for Thai Country Club tomorrow. It’s going to be a great day.

Mew & I

Mr. Up & Down from Japan

My crew today

Mew and I on the 12th of the National

The Girls & I

Royal Gems clubhouse

A look at the 12th

Thursday, January 22nd: Dunlavy (+5) & Johnson (+4)!!

 

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for January are #7 & #11.

Individual Winners:  Dunlavy won the front (+5) and total (+5).  Eggert & Hall tied the back (+1).

Even/Plus Points Club: Dunlavy (+5), Johnson (+4) and Hall (+1).

75 & Below Score Club:  None.

Closest to the Hole:  Hall won both #7 and Eggert took #11.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  None

Quota Decreases:  All (-1):  Eggert & Meyer

Quotas: Aholt 32 * Baer 29 * Blackwell 31 * Clark 36 * Christiansen 34 * Coleman 30 * Cozzo, Jeff 27 * Crow 33 * Curran 29 * Curtis 31 (White Tees) * Dister 29 * Dunlavy 26 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 27 * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 29 * Herrick 24 * Johnson 25 * Kavanaugh 28 * Kossmann 27 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Moosman 30 * Meyer 27 * Nealis 22 * Purschke 20 * Scheidegger 29 * Sharma, Ray 26 * Sharma, Raymond 21 * Stapp 33 * Voss, Chas 26 * Voss, Dean 34 * Weinhold 28 * Zastrow, Josh 34 * Zastrow, Owen 27

Tuesday, January 20th: Eggert & Hall (+4) on Cold but Sunny Day!!

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for January are #7 & #11.

Individual Winners:  Eggert won the front (+3).  Hall won the back (+3).  Eggert & Hall tied the total (+4).

Even/Plus Points Club: Eggert & Hall (+4) and Dunlavy (+3).

75 & Below Score Club:  Hall (75).

Closest to the Hole:  Hall won both #7 and #11.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  Dunlavy, Eggert and Hall

Quota Decreases:  All (-1):  Johnson

Quotas: Aholt 32 * Alferman 34 * Baer 29 * Blackwell 31 * Breid 23 * Clark 36 * Christiansen 34 * Coleman 30 * Cozzo, Jeff 27 * Crow 33 * Curran 29 * Curtis 31 (White Tees) * Denbow 30 * Dister 29 * Dunlavy 26 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 28 * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 29 * Herrick 24 * Hoemann 33 * Horstkamp 25 *Johnson 25 * Kavanaugh 28 * Kossmann 27 * Lindhoff 31 * Loyd 23 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Mitchell 27 * Moosman 30 * Morris 25  * Meyer 28 * Nealis 22 * Palumbo 31 *  Parmentier 32 * Purschke 20 * Scheer 20 * Scheidegger 29 * Schrader 33 * Sharma, Ray 26 * Sharma, Raymond 21 * Stapp 33 * Stoehner 25 * Tiefenbrunn 24 (Black Tees) * Triplett 30 * Viox 27 * Voss, Chas 26 * Voss, Colby 32 * Voss, Dean 34 * Weinhold 28 * Zastrow, Josh 34 * Zastrow, Owen 27

Thursday, January 15th: Eggert Beats the Cold (€)!!

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for January are #7 & #11.

Individual Winners:  Eggert & Hall tied the front (€).  Clark & Eggert tied the back (€).  Eggert won the total (€).

Even/Plus Points Club: Eggert (€).

75 & Below Score Club:  Clark (73).

Closest to the Hole:  Eichelberger won both #7 and #11.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  None

Quota Decreases:  All (-1):  Dunlavy

Quotas: Aholt 32 * Alferman 34 * Baer 29 * Blackwell 31 * Breid 23 * Clark 36 * Christiansen 34 * Coleman 30 * Cozzo, Jeff 27 * Crow 33 * Curran 29 * Curtis 31 (White Tees) * Denbow 30 * Dister 29 * Dunlavy 25 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 27 * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 28 * Herrick 24 * Hoemann 33 * Horstkamp 25 *Johnson 26 * Kavanaugh 28 * Kossmann 27 * Lindhoff 31 * Loyd 23 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Mitchell 27 * Moosman 30 * Morris 25  * Meyer 28 * Nealis 22 * Palumbo 31 *  Parmentier 32 * Purschke 20 * Scheer 20 * Scheidegger 29 * Schrader 33 * Sharma, Ray 26 * Sharma, Raymond 21 * Stapp 33 * Stoehner 25 * Tiefenbrunn 24 (Black Tees) * Triplett 30 * Viox 27 * Voss, Chas 26 * Voss, Colby 32 * Voss, Dean 34 * Weinhold 28 * Zastrow, Josh 34 * Zastrow, Owen 27

Tuesday, January 13th: Hall Hangs a Plus 3!!

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for January are #7 & #11.

Individual Winners:  Eichelberger took the front (+5).  Clark won the back (+3).  Hall won the total (+3).

Even/Plus Points Club: Hall (+3).  Clark, Dunlavy & Eichelberger (+2).  Crow (+1).

75 & Below Score Club:  Clark (69), Crow (73) & Eichelberger (74)

Closest to the Hole:  Scheidegger won #7 and Hall took #11.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  Dunlavy & Hall

Quota Decreases:  Scheidegger (-2)… All (-1):  Curran, Eggert, Johnson & Kavanaugh

Quotas: Aholt 32 * Alferman 34 * Baer 29 * Blackwell 31 * Breid 23 * Clark 36 * Christiansen 34 * Coleman 30 * Cozzo, Jeff 27 * Crow 33 * Curran 29 * Curtis 31 (White Tees) * Denbow 30 * Dister 29 * Dunlavy 26 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 27 * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 28 * Herrick 24 * Hoemann 33 * Horstkamp 25 *Johnson 26 * Kavanaugh 28 * Kossmann 27 * Lindhoff 31 * Loyd 23 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Mitchell 27 * Moosman 30 * Morris 25  * Meyer 28 * Nealis 22 * Palumbo 31 *  Parmentier 32 * Purschke 20 * Scheer 20 * Scheidegger 29 * Schrader 33 * Sharma, Ray 26 * Sharma, Raymond 21 * Stapp 33 * Stoehner 25 * Tiefenbrunn 24 (Black Tees) * Triplett 30 * Viox 27 * Voss, Chas 26 * Voss, Colby 32 * Voss, Dean 34 * Weinhold 28 * Zastrow, Josh 34 * Zastrow, Owen 27

Saturday, January 10th: Eckelkamp Has Strong Day (+3, 68)!!

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for January are #7 & #11.

Individual Winners:  Eckelkamp & J. Zastrow tied the front (+2).  Hall won the back (+2).  Eckelkamp won the total (+3).

Even/Plus Points Club: Eckelkamp (+3), Hall (+2) and Clark (€).

75 & Below Score Club:  Eckelkamp (68), Clark (71) and Zastrow (75).

Closest to the Hole:  Clark won #7 and J. Zastrow took #11.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  None

Quota Decreases:  All (-1):  Crow, Eggert, Scheidegger, Wienhold & J. Zastrow.

Quotas: Aholt 32 * Alferman 34 * Baer 29 * Blackwell 31 * Breid 23 * Clark 36 * Christiansen 34 * Coleman 30 * Cozzo, Jeff 27 * Crow 33 * Curran 30 * Curtis 31 (White Tees) * Denbow 30 * Dister 29 * Dunlavy 25 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 28 * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 27 * Herrick 24 * Hoemann 33 * Horstkamp 25 *Johnson 27 * Kavanaugh 29 * Kossmann 27 * Lindhoff 31 * Loyd 23 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Mitchell 27 * Moosman 30 * Morris 25  * Meyer 28 * Nealis 22 * Palumbo 31 *  Parmentier 32 * Purschke 20 * Scheer 20 * Scheidegger 31 * Schrader 33 * Sharma, Ray 26 * Sharma, Raymond 21 * Stapp 33 * Stoehner 25 * Tiefenbrunn 24 (Black Tees) * Triplett 30 * Viox 27 * Voss, Chas 26 * Voss, Colby 32 * Voss, Dean 34 * Weinhold 28 * Zastrow, Josh 34 * Zastrow, Owen 27