Clark in Thailand: Chapter 25

After a hot shower this morning, four Advil down the hatch and a bunch of in room practice swings that narrowly miss the hotel furniture, I feel I can give golf a try today. 

The course today is Muang Kaew, one I’ve already played on this trip and written about but worthy of a second stop. There is no range on site, but 2 spacious practice greens dedicated to chipping and putting.

 

My plan is to take full advantage and see how I feel. 

“POW” is my caddie of the day and I let her know that I’ve got a rib injury and regardless of whether I play or not she will be well compensated and we will have fun. She’s hoping we play as we have a nice mixed group. There is a young fellow from Denmark, a guy from Japan and  another from Thailand. All the girls are friends and there is alot of chatter, smiling and laughing among themselves. 

It’s every caddies hope to get a good player and it’s apparent that the short fellow from Thailand will be doing the majority of the struggling today despite his new Titleist clubs and custom Scotty Cameron golf bag. 

Swinging easy, I manage to make it thru all 18 holes today and towards the end of the round, was feeling pretty decent and a lot more limber than this morning.

Language was a problem among the guys so most of my dialogue was “nice shot” or “good putt”.

But for the girls, I agreed to give them each 100 bhat “$3” for each birdie I make which made the day interactive for all of us. In a team effort that consisted of 4 caddies and me, we managed 3 birdies today and a bunch of laughs the entire way around. Total cost… and extra $36 bucks but well worth the entertainment value. 

Tomorrow is my big day at the ultra private Robinswood CC. I’ve driven past the gate of the place and it looks like the Taj Mahal under heavy guard. I’ll be interested to see how it compares to Thai CC as certainly the conditions can’t be any nicer. It will be an early bedtime for me and early rise to be well rested and hopefully loose enough to enjoy the day.

On the tee with "POW"

Couple of the girls having fun

Mr. Thailand working things out as we wait on 10 tee box... Noet that Scotty bag on the cart... the guy had nice equipment.

Easy swinging on the par 3

Girls on the tee box

Girls cutting up and having fun

Nice par 3

Girls always smiling and having fun...

Clubhouse grill and after round lunch of pork fried rice.

Thursday, February 26th: Johnson & Moosman tie with a Plus 2!!

Note:  NEW MEMBER:  Les Adams joined last week.  Les is a new neighbor of Charlie Johnson and has moved back to Washington from Scottsdale Arizona.  He will become a full member beginning in March.

NOTE:   Closest to the holes for February are #3 & #14.

Individual Winners:  Eggert won the front (+3).  Johnson won the back (+2).  Johnson & Moosman tied the total (+2).

Even/Plus Points Club: Johnson & Moosman (+2), Curran & Eggert (+1). Dunlavy (€).

75 & Below Score Club:  None

Closest to the Hole:  Hall won #3 and Curran took #14.

Quota Increases:  All (+1):  Curran

Quota Decreases:  All (-1):  Hall

Quotas: Adams 24 * 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 27 * Eckelkamp 36 * Eggert 30 (Gold Tees) * Eichelberger 31 (White Tees) * Elcan 32 (White Tees) * Fortner 29 (White Tees) * Gildehaus 31 * Hall 29 * Herrick 24 * Johnson 27 * Kavanaugh 28 * Kossmann 27 * Marquart 27 * Miller 22 (Gold Tees) * Moosman 28 * 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

Mike Clark in Thailand: Chapter 24

Thai Country Club again today and I’m happy for it. As we pull up, “Nit” my now regular gal is greeting me with all smiles and I’m so happy she remembered I was returning to this lovely course. It’s my favorite place to play in all of Thailand and would be in the top 5 of any I have played in all of my travels. Not because of the course architecture or amazing challenges, but rather the condition of this course and overall experience is just first class all the way. 

Nothing is out of place, not a blade of grass, flower petal, leaf, nothing. From the friendly professional staff, to the lovely pastel clubhouse and smartly dressed caddies in their striking blue uniforms…it all just works flawlessly. 

“Nit” gets us lined out on the range and 10 swings into the fun I know that if I play I’m only going to injure myself further as today each swing is accompanied by a sharp pain in my ribs where I took that fall.

 

It’s a very disappointing “No Go”. I tell Nit I just can’t play but she already knows something is amiss after watching my wincing lackluster swing on the range. 

We agree that we will just go chip for awhile and I give her double the tip from what I would have already given her. It’s at least a good day for her and I set the financial bar high for American guests. A little bit extra means a lot to these gals. We made it more interesting on the chipping green by playing a little game of “hole out”. For each chip made Nit gets an extra 100 baht… about $3…and she’s all in, reading the break on every shot and being a great coach.

 

It’s a disappointing, yet fun day and I hate to not have played the course one last time, but I’ll be back next year to take another shot at it.

"Nit" and I at it again

Just a lovely chipping green with sand bunker as well

Nit trying to get me to please "hole out" a chip shot

Nit & her friend

Clubhouse view towards 18

Video of this special place from the clubhouse veranda

Clubhouse lunch was even better than the pic

Just got down to the bar for a glass of wine and thi little gal made this card for me & drew the pic all by hand... pretty touching

Mike Clark in Thailand: Chapter 23

After a short 40 minutes drive by Bangkok traffic standards it brings us to an absolute GEM of a course today in Ban Rakat, a Gil Hanse design. 

We pull up to the unpretentious sleek modern clubhouse and as I gaze beyond the waiting carts and caddies I see a sprawling links style golf course similar to ones I played in Scotland, highlighted by rolling sandy dunes and clumps of decorative ornamental grass. This place is a tight ship right from the start.

In a flash, “FERN” my caddie of the day has the clubs securely fastened onto the cart and lets me know she will be waiting for me as soon as I get out of the pro shop. Once checked in Fern ushers me to the tightly clipped and well appointed range for a warm up.  Thru google translate on the phone I relay to Fern that I’ve got to swing easy peasy today, as those ribs are still tender from the bathroom slip and slide.

 

Thinking of my friend Dave Dister back home, I vow to keep that smooth swing tempo in mind, dedicated to avoid further injury and just hit the center of the clubface. No rushing, no extra effort…just easy. As it turns out there is merit in swinging under control and only aiming for the center of the greens. 

Go figure. Miss Fern is delighted when I make Eagle on the downwind par 5 second hole as my 7 wood second shot bounces up onto the green. With the help of Fern’s diligent read the putt goes in and it’s a great start. She’s jumping around like she’s stepped onto a fire ant mound and you just have to admire the unbridled enthusiasm. I can only assume she does not see many eagles made. 

We make another birdie and a darn 3 putt bogey to turn at 2 under. I’m not sure who’s happier Fern or I, but it makes for great fun. The back nine goes about as well with 3 more birdies but a darn double bogey in the mix when I hit a wayward drive thru the fairway and it requires a couple hacks to extricate myself from the ornamental grass.

 

But a -3 today on the card swinging extra easy combined with some decent putting makes Fern and I a happy team.

"Fern" great gal & caddie of the day

Front of the clubhouse

Note to players & the speed is accurate

On the range

Team Fern

Course view

Course view

Fern always smiling & probably elatedshe doesn't have to look for golf balls all day

Course view

On the tee

Like all caddies, they LOVE to line up the ball, Fern is better than most

More jumping around

Fern showing me where to land a delicate downhill chip

Fern gave me her ball marker as an unsolicited gift & I gave haer a 1921 Morgan silver dollar.  As far as I am concerned, I got the better end of the deal.

Best pad Thai meal that I have had in Thailand to end the day.