Smart phones even taking over Tee Set now 😦

With the mountains of Bogor visible in the distance on a clear day anyway, a late December appointment at Matoa carries a significant rain-risk, however, the Tee Set’s legendary luck held once again and we were to have a blissfully cool, overcast and rain free day for very possibly the last ever Monthly Medal at Matoa. Given the high number of Tee Setters “out of town” for the holidays, a very reasonable 21 hopefuls showed up for the last round of the year – and a much better than usual chance  at taking the Medal itself.

Early arrivers reported that the traffic to the course from the city was fine while the many latecomers reported that it was appalling. There may very well be a moral in that somewhere .

Sad to report that the course condition is in what appears to be terminal decline with large tracts of the fairways covered in grass free patches. The signs saying “Herbisida” are themselves also showing significant signs of age, having been there since at least August – and appear to be no more than an excuse for the conditions. The greens were rather better and certainly no worse than one would expect towards the end of a weekend of heavy use. The condition of the fairways and the statement above that this is possibly the last ever Monthly Medal at Matoa are not unconnected. Watch this space.

Two Newcomers to the party, Richard Pitt who has been here in Indonesia for donkeys years but has only now discovered us, and On Shenman who is not unknown to us as she has been accompanying husband David for several months but only as far as the clubhouse previously! A warm Tee Set welcome to them both.

The Play

Matoa is just “around the corner” from Geoff Thompson’s place, and might very well be considered his home course – and he was to take advantage of that today with a very fine 39 on his front nine before cooling off some with a 45 on the back but still good enough to take the Monthly Medal with 39 Stableford points. Well done Geoff who also picks up the legendary 500,000 roops meat voucher from our Medal Sponsor Slaney Meats. Several other Tee Setters kindly volunteered to bring bread and tomato sauce to the BBQ.

Mark Blake has been with us for a month now and shared Low Gross over that time with Sam Westen and, with Sam absent on home leave, could have been expected to romp home this week, however, Santi Miller carded a 40-40-80 to take the prize while only Mark’s Stableford points and Putts got as far as the score sheet, so congratulations to Santi!

With Geoff and Santi already in receipt of prizes, Harold Hayne took Low Net with 71 while Keith Miller took Low Putts with just 26 blows of the blade – thanks to just 12 of them on the back 9. Keith’s joy was tempered only a little by the fun he had on the 9th hole as played, where he was to take 5 (yes, five) to get out of the greenside bunker with the large bush in front of it at the par 5 18th, and this on his way to winning  the Most Strokes – Any Hole “prize”.

Jan Janda must have thought he had the Most Improved prize in the back with a huge 11 stroke improvement on his back nine – only to find that Rod Ritson was feeling his way back into the game with a nearly unbelievable improvement of 13 strokes in a 58-45-103! Well done also to Renny Sperry for capturing the 1st Par for Handicap >= 30, just her second ever prize!

Only one Skirt to report on a course where the Ladies Committee has a smaller say than on some that could be mentioned – well done to Barry Poulter for owning up – and adding this to his Monster Putter award he received for a much lower than usual 38 putts. Bad luck, Barry.

Fuller, player by player results here.

Next Week

Our new Tee Set fixtures fixer gets us off to an interesting start to the New Year with a visit to Jakarta’s Western flatlands where we will take on the high class Padang Golf Modern course which has not been graced with our presence for almost exactly six months. Located where it is in the less rain prone West, and well out of the way of those pesky rain magnet mountains to the South, we have a reasonable chance of yet again dodging the rain bullet.

With a fair number of new Tee Setters minted since we last played there, you may find it useful to check out Modern’s location etc . If you are in the centre of the city then the Merak Tol is the way to go while, for Southerners, hanging a right at the end of the Serpong Tol is your route of choice.

Green fees etc, including the usual compulsory cart, is the same as this year’s 650,000 roops, a friendly price for a class course – get yourself registered here if you intend playing.

See yah Sunday ….. Tee Set

PS and finally a thought for 2014 for those of us without a single figure handicap …