emerging from the dark side

The Day

A (comparatively) early morning of blissfully light traffic meant that many were congregating the Pangkalan Jati clubhouse fully two hours before the alleged tee off time of 11:30 – when they were to find the service and food all very good – and the beer prices a most pleasant surprise after the likes of Jagorawi, Sentul Highlands and Senayan  though it was a bit of a shock on the downside later on to find the historic beer stop after the par 3 16^th being no longer in action.

Starter performance in getting us away half an hour was to attract a gratuity once again and the course was in pretty reasonable nick, though most of the greens were on the slow side.

Only one Newcomer to report in Mark Sawyer who was to shoot a creditable 89. Welcome, Mark.

Other than On Shenman there were not too many notable Welcome Backs this week, in terms of weeks since played though the return of long-time member, Clyde Wickiser, after only 6 weeks was good news.

Clyde used his caddy of some 20 years as ever, for info Clyde is the senior of the team!

Clyde was up to his old habits and talked politics from the time he arrived until his leaving for home. The only difference this time was it was Indonesian politics rather than Barack Obama!

Ivan Byriel was bemoaning to all who would listen that his handicap is down to a level where he can no longer win the 1st par over 30 (something he has had a stranglehold on for last 5 or more years). 3 months back in the jungle will help Ivan.

Coming to the 7th Tee, the Immediate Past President of Everything’s flight was rather surprised to find the group in front still milling around the tee box after, it was learned, several minutes of fruitless searching for a tee, yes, a bloody tee!

The tee’s owner, Chris Smith, looked particularly depressed at his loss and left to play his second shot looking so unhappy that Ric’s flight continued the search and eventually found it five metres behind the tee box.

You will see from the photo just how delighted Chris was to be reunited with his wandering tee – “it’s a wonderful tee” Chris told Ric as the latter formally handed it back to a happy Chris at the 8th tee box.

Also on the chuckle front, the President of Some Things found himself having to explain to secretary Brenda today that Tee Sets 1st Par over 30 prize category referred to handicap and not age 🙂

Santi’s Premium Pies samples were well received and polished off quickly; and will become a minor Monthly Medal sponsor in the future as you will read below.

With so many nationalities represented in our ranks we will be mentioning them as they come along from now on; today if was Norwegian Constitution Day – and Oddvar Knardal celebrated it with what we can only imagine was a Norwegian folk dance – before declaring that PJ is not his favourite course 🙂

Finally, we were able to give out plenty of the score card wallets today; may thanks once again to Geoff and Kojo for their sponsorship of this item which will be an especially valuable accessory when it rains.

The Play

After some rather indifferent recent form it all came good for James Ross today, highlighted by some great driving which went their usual huge distances – but very often finishing on the fairway, something which is rather less usual – helping him to take Low Net with a 68, just pipping Alistair Livingston’s 69.

With the Young Guns both absent for the first time in a long time, Neil Mullins took advantage, and did his chances of a rapid return to the Interleague team no harm at all by shooting his second best ever Tee Set round with an 80 off the stick – and take Low Gross in the process.

“It’s a funny old game” as they say in football – and it appears to apply equally in golf; to prove it Mel Meeds took just 25 blows with the flat one today to take Low Putts – a startling 16 fewer blows than he took at Matoa in January when winning Monster Putter on that occasion!

Johnny Tommerbakk may have taken some consolation from Mel’s experience as he stood to be pictured with the Monster Monkey having taken a “winning” 40 putts today.

From Zero to Hero can happen – and Johnny was to take further balm from sharing the 1st Birdie award.

A useful crop of skirts to keep the Treasurer happy, with Keith Miller back in the winners circle after an unusually long 10 weeks absence. Well done all, we need the money.

Fuller, player by player results can be found here – and here many more photos of the day.

2014 Tee Set Matchplay

Further progress in the match play with two matches played at PJ today:

Mike Garwood beat Craig Binks 2 up in a match that went to the 18th

Peter Reichlmeier beat Paul Evison 1 up

The President of Some Things described his own match as a race to the bottom which opponent Paul was only to win on the last hole. Work that one out.

The full situation after today’s games is pretty encouraging in terms of progress so, please keep it up; at this rate there is every chance of not having to wait for Tee Set Championship day for the denouement.

Lido Lakes weekend – 5th/6th July

While in the works since January, somewhat extended negotiations have stopped us from sharing many details for this Tee Set family weekend at Lido Lakes until now.

With negotiations now complete you can find probably more than you need to know here – and can also sign up for what should be another great Tee Set event.

Next up

The last Sunday in the month falls rather early in May so it is off to Senayan for all the fun of the Monthly Medal with the major prizes as usual from the V Door in Kemang and Slaneys Meats for the Stableford and Low Net respectively while there is a voucher from Cecelias’s Cafe for 1st Birdie – and for the first time six of Santi’s Premium Pies for Low Putts, a category disgracefully neglected in previous Medal events in Santi’s view – and indeed Chris Murchison’s.

Tee off will be from 1 and 10 at 11:00 with green fees of 500,000 walking or 750,000 with a shared cart as usual.

Following 70 players turning up for last month’s medal, we are told by Senayan that our numbers are restricted to just 60 in the future,  so it would be as well to register early if you are keen to play next Sunday, as participation will be on a first-come first-served basis.

See yah at Senayan!! …. Tee Set