A glorious end to a glorious day ……….

The day

One of the best weather days we have ever seen in Jakarta with beautiful clear blue skies and a brisk breeze to keep us cool – and not so much as a hint of rain all day.

150 players on the course in the afternoon (fully 56 of them being Tee Setters) made for quite a bit of juggling by the starter to minimize holdups, including our first tee being delayed some 25 minutes  however it was still a long round for all with the best time being 5 hours – and long shadows were being cast by the time the last group returned.

A new record number of Newcomers – a stunning 11 in all, including an entire family package, Mum, Dad, son and daughter, the Gaislers from the Czech Republic. A warm Tee Set welcome to all 11 of them.

Welcome Backs were even more numerous though the numbers of weeks away were rather tame compared to some we have seen recently, with the pack led by Patrick Crowley on a measly 21 weeks, a Patrick who had been dragged out of a warm bed that morning in order to bring “Uncle Pulpy” George to the course. Never mind he enjoyed a great day!

The staple fare of your average Tee Setter has long been your Bintang or Anker or maybe even Heineken but things are changing as, following on from his discovery of the “Blue Lotus Margarita” at Lotus Lakes last week, James Young was today to pro-actively discover that they make a pretty mean frozen Margarita at Imperial.

Those committee members present were so impressed that they immediately appointed James as the Acting VP of Exotic Drinks, a position that is only “Acting” for the present as the constitution requires a full vote in formal committee meeting for the establishment of new positions. HR departments, don’t you love ’em.

Acting or not, the VP of Exotic Drinks discovery was to prove popular and the sampling by a small but enthusiastic cadre was to go on way past the sunset hour. Certainly not the day to pull the short straw as designated driver for the Former President of Nearly Everything – .

Contributing to a fabulous day was a fabulous bunch of waitresses who put up with the rowdy hangers-on well into the night. They fully deserved their handsome tip.

The play

The outstanding story of the day was without doubt the debut of pocket battleship 13-year-old Barbora Gaiselerova who shot 84 off the stick – never having see the course before – and won Low Gross on a count back from the VP of Golf Course Economics, and this year’s Interleague Captain, Simon Reynolds.

One can only imagine that Simon will be calling upon Barbora in his latter capacity in the not too distant future.

Peter Bush shot a career-best 38 on his front 9, a result  he dedicated to his absent Interleague match play partner, Mike Garwood. Followed it up with a safe handicap retention back nine of 51 but still managed to secure Grade B Low Net. The newly appointed VP of Exotic Drinks overcame his Skirt  to take Grade “A” Low Net with a net 72.

Overall Low Net winner on the day was a  Carolyn Taylor (and not Leona Jelinkova) shooting 3 under her handicap yet again; though we suspect the honour was miscalled on the day. Severe warnings have been handed out. Apologies Leona.

Highlight hole of the day was to go to Neil Mullins who, coming down the fairway on hole 18 after a reasonable drive, dumped his 2nd into the water and followed this up with two fluffed swings and a loose pitch which sent his ball right of the flag – and his club straight into the pond. Forced to scratch the hole just in case another club was lost to the demons. He’ll be back next week we suspect, if only to rescue his missing pitching wedge.

George “Pulpy” Bevege was not quite up to his usual standard on a quick return to the country; “quick” as he had promised that his round a few weeks ago was his “last for some time” – but still took Low Putts with 28, on a count back from Joe D’Cruz, a decent total on a course possessed of greens that can only be described as “challenging”.

Pulpy will be back again for another quick visit in a couple of weeks after a golfing sojourn in the Philippines.

Debutante David Daly had a most exciting day, winning himself a Skirt, running up a total of 46 putts, a total that would have won him Monster Putter almost any other week – but still came out ahead on the day as he eased the rust out from his swing to take Most Improved with a highly impressive 12 shot improvement on his back 9.

All in all a very healthy crop of 9 Skirts to keep the Treasurer happy, most notably with single handicapper Simon Reynolds donning the Skirt of Shame for only the second time in 48 attempts:-)

Another Newcomer, and beginner, Lill Dong blew away Paul Chidwick’s previous Monster Putter high of 51 blows with 56 of her own to secure Monster Putter. Keep at it Lill, as a beginner you now get a two month exemption from Monster Putter!!

More detailed, player by player results here while more photos of a fine day are on our Photo Gallery

Next up

A unlikely congress of a Space Shuttle with a Boeing 747 at Halim

Next weekend sees us return to Halim II after a five month break  – last time out we described the journey to the course in the morning as “an absolute delight” although, upon arrival, the starter took some convincing before accepting that we actually had a booking. More importantly we also called it a “pretty fair course, with the generously wide fairways more than making up for the massive tree formations lined up along most fairways”.

12 o’clock start from two tee boxes and green fees etc of 530,000 including shared buggy, or just 430,000 if you take the rare opportunity to stretch your legs to walk a very decent course – though with rather slow greens as you will discover.

See yah at Halim 2! … Tee Set