The delights of the very special Rancamaya course attracted a  new Tee Set record turnout for a regular Sunday event with an astonishing 60 Tee Setters joining in the fun – and with the first groups getting away an hour ahead of time from two tee boxes thanks to an otherwise quiet course and some  marginally FCPA compliant committee actions to speed things along.

With the immediate past President in charge of groupings, Ric was to tear out his slowly diminishing hair resource trying to cope with revision after revision based on early arrivals, the not so early arrivals and then the numerous late comers, not to mention the previously unregistered. Adding to his woes were the 8 match plays that needed to be  juggled into flights. He coped, just, possibly because that bit of the business is not yet computerised!

Pleasing to see the huge number of 26 Welcome Backs and also one Newcomer who was to win his Tee Set spurs ; welcome Guangzhao, enjoy your golf with us, you won’t always get the Monkey! An especially warm welcome back to a Siska Selbie who no longer counts Jakarta as home!

The course was in excellent condition with the greens being quite superb and perhaps benefiting a little by comparison with some of the ropey old greens we have played on recently; there was not a complaint to be heard about them and instead many expressed delight at just how true they played – and admitted that any missed putt was self-inflicted.

Lift, clean and cheat was in force due to the heavy rain the previous day, however, our Pawang Hujan couldn’t be blamed for that and he delivered the goods on the day despite being  preoccupied off-site learning how to take nude photos with just the right amount of exposure  – and this despite a number of threatening rumblings from above and the occasional bolts of lightning that were keep us on our toes.

Thanks Rancamaya for a delightful day and Jeurgen Degert for his always valuable assistance. We hope to be back before too long if you will let us!

As a  final bonus, traffic was bearable in both directions by the standards that apply hereabouts, though the evening run home may have been helped for many by staying on in the bar “waiting for the traffic to clear”. Just to prove that every silver lining has a cloud, however, complaints were heard from the Big Bird bus passengers that the journey back to town was too quick to finish off all the beers in the essky after Ronald Lim donated a slab of Bintang  – complementing nicely the Anchors provided by others.

FROM THE FAIRWAY

Prize winners this week were …

Well done to Joseph Peries for taking low gross on a count back from an unlucky Simon Reynolds but this was not enough to resist an inspired Ric Wymer who beat Joseph in the matchplay – with Ric also taking low net, again on a countback.

In view of the huge turnout our Treasurer rather uncharacteristically decided to double up the payouts on all prizes – but  to leave monkeys and skirts etc at the same level. Can’t see that happening again in a hurry, so it would be unwise to rely on it in your pension planning.

Low putts at an excellent 26 went to Craig Binks who probably wishes he could carry Rancamaya’s greens around with him.

Special mention to Nicky Moir who managed to pump out a quite remarkable numbers of OBs – 8 of them and, despite this, still shot under 100!!

Longest Drive and Nearest to the Pin didn’t go terribly well with results failing to be returned to the committee for processing and the decision made not to issue prizes. Thankfully, rumours of our President’s self-immolation appear to be just that, rumours.

Apocryphal evidence suggests that Santi Miller might have been the winner for her extra long drive on hole #11 while Joseph Peries might very well have won the neary for his attack on the pin on hole #3. Bad luck, both, though the Treasurer seemed happy enough with the ruling.

Ladies get quite an advantage off the red tees at Rancamaya much to the dismay of Mel Canterella who earned yet another skirt. However he was in very good company this time as proven by James Young who was in his element during the photo shoot having taken to the pink “tutu” with some relish as did Billy Mac. Our Pawang Hujan clearly has severe competition on the cross-dressing front these days.

Newcomer Guangzhao inflicted much pain on himself with 45 puts but he looked at one with the Monkey on his shoulder as you will see below.

Some unprecedentedly happy recipients of today’s booby prizes – well done guys, you made the day finish with some great laughs!!

Full details by player can be found by clicking here.

MATCH PLAY: Jesse Baker is doing a solid job of organising the Tee Set Match Play competition for 2013 and today finally saw the pace  upped considerably with a remarkable eight first round contests being resolved. Congrats to winners, commiserations to the losers – and you are all still in.  Please remember to always report your results promptly and directly to Jesse.

Match results were:, in no particular order;

Graham Barber beat Billy McCaroll 1 up

Harold Hayne beat Santi Miller5 and 4

Jesse Baker beat Koen Verhayen 2 and 1

Craig Binks beat Bob Fleischmann 6 and 4

Tom Alcedo beat James Ross 1 up

James Young beat Bill Lloyd 2 up

Mel Meeds beat Mustafa Baadad 1 up

Ric Wymer beat Joseph Peries 3 and 2

NEXT SUNDAY

Following a change in the schedule it is already Interleague time again at Jagorawi, where 8 of Tee Set’s finest will match up against Sandbaggers to see if the improved showing they had against Tin Cups last time out can continue!

In a recent development, leading the team will be Ric Wymer who replaces Peter Reichlmeier for the rest of the season due to Peter’s overwhelming work schedule. Thanks for your efforts Peter – and good luck, Ric!

Players who are not in the Tee Set Interleague team are, as ever, very welcome to join the team in playing the challenging Jagorawi New Course. Green fees including shared cart will be 1 million rupiah, somewhat offset by the usual Interleague Bloody Marys and Smoothies.

With there being Interleague at Jagorawi, we are once again to offer players an alternative venue – and this time it is the quite delightful Bogor  Raya course for which 4 flights have been provisionally booked. Considered by many to be amongst the very best Jakarta golf courses, Bogor Raya offers top class facilities,  immaculate playing conditions and a tough but fair challenge. The start will be at 12:00 midday (with the distinct possibility that we will be able to get away earlier a la Rancamaya today) – and with green fees, including shared cart, of just Rp 650,000, which is great weekend value for a course of its stature.

As ever, please register if you have the intent to join Tee Set next weekend by completing the simple form here, remembering to make the appropriate course selection, ie either Jagorawi or Bogor Raya!

AND FINALLY …

Take  the chance to support an organisation that does amazing work in improving the lot of Indonesian kids born with some terrible facial deformities. Contact Ed Bender Jnr. to get tickets for yourself and the family for next Saturday night’s annual HOGFEST 2013 starting around 6:30 pm . See you there!

Finally, thanks to one and all for making Tee Set the most recognised golf society in Jakarta. It’s all about the fun mixed in with a bit of golf  (and of course a little amber neck oil…..)

Cheers,

Geoff (Thwaites)