This month's golf news and features

TAXI JACK SURFACES

After two years absence, Jack Leopold has been in touch and will come back to Thailand on 5th July. Also known as “councillor Jack” because of his sympathetic ear to personel problems of some of our friends and members. Those of you who have small marital differences, it would be advisable to keep your wives away from the renowned confidante.
He informs us that he never saw our appeals for his whereabouts in the Observer on three separate occassions.

PATTAYA GENTLEMEN’S TRIP
All is in place now, forty four enthusiastic golfers will leave on 4th July for three days of tournament play and relaxation in the famous resort, we hope everybody makes it back.

RECENT RESULTS
21st May at Lake View, 30 entrants, abandoned after 9 holes due to heavy rain.
25th May at Palm Hills, 33 players one group. 1st Mark Finnegan 38 pts, 12 hcp, 2nd Boom Schroeder 37 pts, 20 hcp, 3rd Robert Laminit, 36 pts 10 hcp.
28th May at Springfield, 37 players A group 1st new member Chuan (Kenny Walker’s wife) 66 net, 15 hcp, 2nd Adrian (guest from Bury St. Edmonds) 67 net 14 hcp. B group 1st Toby 34 pts 19 hcp, 2nd Boom Schroeder 33 pts 19 hcp.
1st June at Lake View 26 players one group 1st Ron St. Louis (Canadian guest), 41 pts 28 hcp, 2nd John McMorris 39 pts 15 hcp, 3rd Jim Lynch 38 pts 21 hcp.
4th June Sawang Resort was cancelled due to lack of support.
8th June at Palm Hills, 28 players one group, 1st Jon 43 pts 15 hcp, 2nd Luciano 39 pts 21 hcp, 3rd Adrian (guest) 37 pts 10 hcp.
11th June at Springfield 28 players one group, 1st Mick Evans 38 pts 11 hcp, 2nd Mike Zimmerman 38 pts, 15 hcp, 3rd Barry Moore 37 pts 8 hcp.
15th June at Milford 16 players, 8 teams played 2 ball better ball. 1st Ulf Sparvman / Han Hackvoort 45 pts, 2nd Berny / David Morgan 43 pts.

FIXTURES FOR JULY
Friday 2nd Palm Hills
Monday 5th Natural Park Hills (Pattaya)
Tuesday 6th Laem Chabang (Pattaya)
Wednesday 7th Burapha (Pattaya)
Friday 9th T.B.N.
Tuesday 13th Lake View
Friday 16th Springfield
Tuesday 20th Palm Hills
Friday 23rd Milford
Tuesday 27th Lake View
Friday 30th Springfield

FORTHCOMING EVENTS
9th and 10th August. Two day trip to Ratchaburi, with a one night stop over, open to everybody. Monday at Panurangsri Military course, and Tuesday at Royal Ratchaburi.
2004 MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
Preliminary rounds will be played in late October, finals early December 2003 Champions were: Cup Mick Wittering, and Plate: Steve Ross.
2004 STROKE PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP
36 holes, 2 rounds of 18 holes on separate days in early December. Champions 2003 Stroke play gross: Ulf Sparvman, net: Tomas Eriksson.
2004 CHARITY SCRAMBLE AND DINNER
“Probably” Tuesday 21st December at Palm Hills and Dusit Resort respectively.

OBITUARY
One of the town’s better known canine friends passed away at midnight on Monday 7th June after a long illness.
“Max” was born in the early nineties in Soi Dissappointment, and was to be seen every day jogging between Joy Guesthouse and Berny’s, stopping to service any of his female friends who would give him the time of day. Hence the number of Max lookalikes around town.
He was made famous by David Hanks who featured Max, on one of the first websites about Hua Hin.
“REST IN PEACE MAX”
We all miss you - Billy, Berny, Noi, Ian Lawrie and many others.

200,000 Baht Goes a Long Way

The Hua Hin Golf Society raised a record 200,000 Baht at last year’s Christmas Charity Dinner. The annual fundraiser begins with golf at Palm Hills and then a gala dinner is held at the Dusit Resort and Polo Club. Each year the amount of money raised has increased, this charitable fund is used to purchase items which are donated to needy schools.
Petchburi Special School received help in earlier years and Wai Lai School is in the last of it’s three year programme of help, this year it has been given technical equipment and books.
When deciding on good causes the Golf Society looks to it’s members for ideas, co-owner of Halex Wines, Hans, has been generously spending some of his time up at Banwangboad School to the west of Hua Hin, and it was he, who recommended that the Golf Society give some assistance to the school.
Representatives of the Society went up to have a look, and they decided that the school was indeed in grave need of help. Bare concrete floors, peeling paint, limited books and flies by the thousand were some of the problems they saw. The school is in pineapple country and rotting fruit attracts flies, so the first job was to attach fly screens to all windows.
Classrooms previously unusable due to dirt and dust were cleaned out and painted, vinyl floor coverings were laid and overhead fans were installed.
Most of the children at Banwangboad are very poor and so the society has given an extra food allowance plus provision for fresh drinking water. Hans told the Observer an example of one of the school’s students, this boy has both parents in jail, no other relations and relies on his neighbours for food and clothes.
By helping children like this, a well spent 200,000 certainly goes a long way.
Check Berny’s column each month in the Observer for all the Golf Society news and details for this year’s charity event.

Promoting Hua Hin/Cha-Am as Golfers Destination

The 10th Hua Hin/Cha-Am Invitational Golf Tournament, with over 200 travel executives from Europe, Asia, Australia and North America ended in style with a farewell dinner and awards presentation at Dusit Resort and Polo Club, Hua Hin.

Picture shows; Juthaporn Reungron-asa (4th left), Deputy TAT Governor with the award winners, Victor Sukseree (3rd left), General Manager from Dusit Resort and Polo Club, Hua Hin and Silachai Surai (7th left), TAT Director, Central Region 2.

HUA HIN GOLF PLAYERS CLUB

Hua Hin Golf Players Club played again, this time they played Springfield. 14 players showed up and Simon Yates got his first win on the prestigious "Hua Hin Golf Players Club" Tour. Hats off for Simon who played brilliantly shooting 64.

29th June saw the last tournament of the season, with it very tight at the top of the rankings, check next month’s Observer to see the final table.

Rule by Rule

Rule 8. Advice; Indicating Line of Play

What it's About:Who can give or receive advice; how the line of play may be indicated

"Should I cut it around the tree?"

This might sound like an innocent question. But in fact, the player asking it has just earned a two-stroke penalty in stroke play or a loss-of-hole penalty in match play under Rule 8 -- unless he was talking to his caddie, his partner, or his partner's caddie.

The Rules have always held that the player and his caddie (and, when it applies, his partner and that caddie) are a sacred unit and that they alone must do the job ahead of them. Asking for advice -- defined as any counsel or suggestion which could influence a player in determining his or her play, the choice of a club, or the method of making a stroke -- from anyone else is strictly prohibited. If a player doesn't have a caddie or a partner, he truly is on his own.

The prohibition against advice began in the 19th century when golf became a spectator sport. The ruling bodies were concerned about advice coming from all the people we see standing just a few feet from the players in those old pictures of Scottish golf competitions. An 1839 version of the Rule read, "A Player must not ask advice about the game by word, look, or gesture, from anyone except his own Cady or his Partner." This is not much different from today's Rule, which also adds that a player may not give advice, except to his or her partner.

So what to do with any morsels being thrown to a player from the masses (although it is amazing today how thousands of fans at professional tournaments generally refrain from offering words of wisdom), or a generous fellow-competitor? As long as they aren't solicited, a player can't be penalized. For further insurance, however, the player should request that no more expertise be offered.

Examples of advice that can't be asked for or given are club selection, swing tips, or recommendations on a course of action, such as laying up or going for the green. Not all questions are against the law. A player may ask about club selection after all involved have played their shots. Information on the Rules or on matters of public information, such as the position of hazards or the flagstick on the putting green, is not advice. A player may ask anyone about the distance from a permanent object to another permanent object, including the putting green. But he may ask only his partner or either of their caddies about the distance from a non-permanent object, such as his ball.

The other sub-section of Rule 8-2 covers what may be done to indicate the line of play to the player. When the ball is not on the putting green, the line of play may be indicated by anyone, but not while the stroke is being played. When the ball is on the putting green, the player, the player's partner, or either of their caddies may point out a line for putting, but the putting green cannot be touched. Again, this may not occur during the stroke.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Asking a fellow-competitor or opponent what club he hit is a violation of Rule 8-1 on advice if you haven't yet played your shot. But that doesn't mean you can't use your powers of observation. Many players have mastered the art of peeking into another player's bag to see which club is missing. There is a point, however, when observation turns into illegal spying. Some players don't like fellow-competitors looking in their bags, so they might hide their clubs by covering them with a towel. Decision 8-1/11 addresses the case when a player removes a towel covering another player's clubs to determine which club the player is using. This is a breach of Rule 8-1 because the information was obtained through a physical act and is the equivalent of seeking advice. The offending player loses the hole in match play or is penalized two strokes in stroke play.

For the complete Rules of Golf and Decisions on the Rules, visit the USGA's site.

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