Newcomer Giovanni finding that la Dolce Vita can also be found in the land of the Durian ..

The Day

Sixty Jakarta residents decided that Sunday golf at Palm Hill was just about what the doctor ordered and a great day out is what they got.

Perfect timing to get away from South Jakarta where the local authorities believe they have every right to close public roads to all traffic so that the local community groups can set up a local bazaar selling items of questionable value.

How do the real businesses operating in Kemang Raya put up with that every year?? Nevertheless traffic jams was not something our group had to contend with today, though we still had Tee Setters arriving up to just 10 minutes before tee off.

Luckily no last-minute reshuffling of groups was required and we ended with 15 full flights much to the relief of the Immediate Past President of Most Things.

The starter did a grand job of finding enough buggies and caddies to fulfil our requirements even if it was all a bit piece meal in terms of process. Those waiting for a buggy were condemned to while away the time in the restaurant watching the cutest array of waitresses ever assembled in a golf club.

Top marks to the management’s idea of fitting out the girls in World Cup soccer shirts and shorts. The jury is out as to what country won but certainly the standouts were Miss Argentina and Miss Russia in the writer’s “expert” opinion.

Nearly 20% of the group, a record-breaking 11, were Newcomers and of multiple nationalities including our first Finns ever to play Tee Set, three of  them! Other nationalities included Japanese, Italian, Indonesian and the UK, A very warm welcome to Tee Set to you all, we are becoming a right old United Nations.

Welcome back players were also there in some abundance with Kathy Hill taking the prize at 35 weeks without a visit. Mark Rae at 28 weeks was not far behind but based on his exceptional day out, it’s almost guaranteed he’ll be back next week. Good to see Joe Rizzoli out for a hit although he didn’t get past the finish line, begging off with a bad back or another “commitment” depending on whom you consult.

The course was in pretty good shape, with the rainy season finally out-of-the-way, Buggies were allowed on the course for the first time in memory although if a marshal was watching the rough needed to be the track to follow, if not then straight down the fairway was just fine and dandy.

Greens were true but as hard as concrete so impossible for a spinning ball to hold. Ball marks from a pitch in from 70m were notable only by their absence .

The latish tee time could have caused a problem but all groups were in the club house well and truly before the sun dropped behind the Bogor Hills.

Well done to Wina for organising the course at such short notice – and to Brenda for coping with the hordes.

All in all, arguably the finest Tee Set Sunday this year.

The Play

Sam Westen’s non-appearance for the second week in a row means he loses his lead in the race for the title of most games played in 2014 – and gave the opportunity to take low gross to the next tier level of weekend warriors.

Three tied on 82 but Jeff Landau got the nod for the money over Ken Runyon and Simon Reynolds as they had prizes waiting in other categories.

Low net with a 67 went to Mark Rea who allegedly shot his first sub 90 round in a decade. A bit of confusion over low putts but we now believe the winner is Mel Meeds with a 27. We owe you, Mel.

Ken Runyon took first and only eagle, Simon Reynolds took money for first birdie, while Mark Howells grabbed first sandy on hole 1 but gave the money back. Thanks Mark.

Geoff Thwaites didn’t complete his warm up session before heading out to tee box 1 so suffered badly on the front nine but when he turned for home there was a definite spring in his step for whatever reason resulting in an 8 shot improvement and so took the money.

Lina Bunter playing in a ladies only group managed first par handicap over thirty, an achievement we can put down to her playing her own game without male supervision. 🙂

At the other end of the scale we had some under achievers.

Kathy Hill took most strokes at 12 (you’re not getting out on the green stuff often enough, Kathy!) while Newcomer Lina Sibson used her putter a remarkable 50 times in establishing her relationship with the Monster Putter Monkey – and that was just on the greens.

Getting past the Ladies tee box has always been a bit of an issue at Palm Hill and continues to be so.

Some old, some new, something borrowed, something  …… pink?!

Daniel Tandjung has real issues when he puts a ball on a tee and failed 5 times to get past the reds. Nevertheless one failure or 5 makes no difference since the fine is the same as for Christian Molau, Ewan Kindness, Hannu Hirvela, Marku Suokko and Thurmond Borden who all failedto get past the red tees, but just once.

Skirt ratio is an important statistic at the end of the year and hopefully Daniel will improve on his current rating of 1oo% “success”.

Fuller, player by player, results can be found here while lots more photos of the day are up there on our Photo Gallery.

2014 Tee Set Matchplay Championship

Mel Meeds beat David Shenman 5 & 4

Tom Alcedo beat Frank Musgrove 3 & 2

Mel lost his long yellow tee after 2 years of faithful service and was quite inconsolable, not even his win could cheer him up.

Next Up

We are definitely being spoiled; a 1 pm start at Tee Set’s favourite course next Sunday at Rancamaya for the wallet-lite price of 580,000 roops.

Tee off a little late due to their Members Monthly, however, we will be starting from more than  the usual 2 holes is the word on the street. Sign up here for what will be another great Rancamaya day on that fabulous course.

See yah at Rancamaya! …. Tee Set

PS If you think you can carry your kit round in a violent pink “Hello Kitty” bag without it coming to the notice of the Tee Set Photo Mafia, then think again 🙂