After the successful inaugral trip to Kohn Kaen in February, the Buriram Golf Society set out early on May 26th to play at the Dam Course and Singha Park. Eight golfers and one dedicated “supporter” travelled in two cars and reached the Dam after a three hour journey.
The players were split into two fourballs with Peter, self-designated official photographer, hitching a ride on any available buggy. Initially Peter was a little too dedicated to his task, taking some photos at inopportune times on a player’s backswing.
After a quick briefing on golf etiquette, he settled down and became an integral part of the day. The competition was individual stableford over the two days.
Off They Go
The Dam course was beautiful with some delightful, challenging holes and slick, true greens.It also became evident why it was called the Dam, as there was water on nearly every hole.
Just after the middle of the round, rumblings of thunder could be heard in the distance. As the rumbles grew louder and the sky became darker, it became apparent that we were not going to escape the storm.
Just after the completion of the fourteenth hole, the heavens opened and our fourball took shelter in a closed refreshment stand. The others were not so lucky and were halfway down the fifteenth with no shelter in the proximity.
Obviously, trees had to be avoided and they eventually took refuge in the course fire station but to say they had been soaked would be a gross understatement. It was obvious that the round would have to be abandoned and the greens were beginning to flood.
Thoroughly Rained Off!
With no sign of the storm abating, we decided to make a run for the club house in the buggies, using an umbrella as protection against the driving rain. Sadly only one brolly returned safely, the other being cast into a bin, having failed miserably to protect the buggy’s occupants.
When the other extremely soggy fourball eventually made it back to the clubhouse they were greeted by sympathetic giggles which grew into raucous laughter.
Then someone remembered that we had left our photographer in a refreshment stop and a course employee went in search of our happy snapper. He returned quite happy that he had avoided the deluge.
After a drying out and clean up period, soggy scorecards were added up and Tony Murphy emerged as the winner with a creditable 28 points from 14 holes.
We then headed for the hotel and after a short rest headed out into town to eat and have a few beers.
A highly entertaining evening was enjoyed by all including a meal, some drinks and even a bit of dancing.
Dinner Time
Some Of The Evening’s Entertainment
Eventually, we made our way back to the hotel for some much needed sleep, ready for the challenge of Singha Park.
We arrived at Singha Park and had breakfast before making our way to the first tee. Sadly our intrepid supporter was not allowed on the course as his shirt was deemed inappropiate.He would also be required to pay to go round so he settled down in the clubhouse.
Singha Park is a top quality golf course, where the best players in the world have played.Sadly, we came at a time where extensive work was being done on the fairways and many holes were in a dreadful state.
The greens were as quick and tricky as ever and putting was challenging to say the least.However, had we known about the work being done on the course, we would certainly have played somewhere else.
It was still an enjoyable day and some excellent golf was played. The winner was Colin Bradwell with 29 points which was enough to give him the overall prize with a total of 52 points.
Colin Bradwell (left) being presented with his winner’s trophy
Two nearest the pin prizes went to Tony Murphy and Colin Bradwell. We then had a meal, that is everyone except Pete who informed us that in order to remain in the clubhouse he had to keep eating and drinking.
Much to our amusement, he was considered to be a bit of a vagrant, especially when he nodded off. So a weary band of golfers and photographer set off back to Buriram ready for much needed rest.
Thanks to Lindsey and Colin for kindly driving us there and back and also to Colin for for organizing the hotel and golf.