This month's golf news and features

RATCHABURI TRIP 8th and 9th August. For the second year, we played a two day competition at Panurangsri (Royal Thai Army course) and Royal Ratchaburi. Our ladies defi nitely got the upper hand, Neung won the overall competition, also Thida and Boom Schroeder were amongst the prize winners. The Royal Ratchaburi course was in magnifi - cent condition, their green keeping staff must be congratulated on their consistently high standard of the whole layout.

HUA HIN GOLF SOCIETY 22 1/2 points, Golf Tours International Team 17 1/2 pts. On 17th August.

We retained the trophy we won last year, we played 18 holes Ryder Cup style, 6 holes better ball, 6 holes 2 ball scramble, and 6 holes of singles. Sponsored and organized by Hua Hin Golf Tours, a barbecue and presentation gala dinner was held at the Hua Hin Golf Villa Hotel in the evening.

RECENT RESULTS: 26th July at Springfi eld 47 players. A group 1st Mike Staples 71 net 11 hcp, 2nd Ulf Sparvman 72 net, 2 hcp. B group 1st Chris Davidson 33 pts 19 hcp, 2 nd David Buchan 31 pts 23 hcp. 29th July at Lake View 36 players. A group 0-18 hcp, 1st Trevor Firth 40pts, 16 hcp, 2 nd Roger Donaldson 39 pts 11 hcp. B group 19-36 hcp, 1st Peter Newman 37 pts 23 hcp, 2nd Peter Tydeman 35 pts 19 hcp.

2nd August at Majestic Creek 34 players. A group 1st Anja Plasmans (new member) 38 pts 11 hcp, 2nd Roger Donaldson 38 pts 10 hcp. B group 1st Thida 39 pts 19 hcp, 2 nd John Anstee 38 pts 20 hcp.

5th August at Palm Hills 40 players. A group 1st Roger Donaldson 44 pts 10 hcp, 2 nd Berny 37 pts 18 hcp. B group 1st Jim Lynch 40 pts 23 hcp, 2nd Peter Tydeman 37 pts 19 hcp.

8th August at Panurangsri 27 players. One group 0-36 hcp. 1st Neung 37 pts 15 hcp, 2 nd Brian Reeve 36 pts 11 hcp.

9th August at Royal Ratchaburi 26 players. One group 0-36 hcp, 1st Roger Donaldson 38 pts 9 hcp, 2nd Trevor Paynter 37 pts 20 hcp.

Overall result for 8th and 9th August. Stableford: 1st Neung 70 pts 15 hcp, 2nd Thida 68 pts 18 hcp, 3rd Trevor Paynter 66 pts 20 hcp, 4th Boom Schroeder 65 pts 18 hcp. 11th August at Majestic Creek 22 players. One group 0-36 hcp, 1st Walter Sroka 40 pts 20 hcp, 2nd Bob Kennedy 39 pts 27 hcp.

16th August at Lake View 30 players. A group 1st Trevor Firth 69 net 15 hcp, 2nd John Pritlove 72 net 12 hcp. B group 1st Peter Glynn 37 pts 19 hcp, 2nd Chris Davidson 31 pts 19 hcp.

19th August at Majestic Creek 14 players. One group 0-36 hcp. 1st Trevor Firth 36 pts 13 hcp, 2nd Berny 36 pts 18 hcp.

SEPTEMBER FIXTURES

FIXTURES FOR SEPTEMBER

Friday 2nd Palm Hills

Tuesday 6th Lake View

Friday 9th Majestic Creek

Tuesday 13th Royal Hua Hin

Friday 16th Kaeng Krachan

Tuesday 20th Springfi eld

Friday 23rd Lake View

Tuesday 27th Majestic Creek

Friday 30th Palm Hills

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Late October – Annual Match Play Championship.

Early December – Annual Stroke Play Championship 36 holes.

Members only can enter these two competitions, qualifi cation is that each player must have played a minimum of 10 society competitions excluding away trips, such as Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Ratchaburi since 1st January 2005.

21st December – Charity Scramble at Lake View . Annual awards and Charity Dinner at the Dusit Hotel.

Hua Hin Sponsors Local Golfer

Professional golfers on the Asian Tour tend to have sponsors. Most of the Hua Hin based tour players, such as Simon Yates, Greg Hanrahan, Prom Meesawat and Prayad Marksaeng are sponsored by Singha. One who isn't, however, is John Wither, who qualified for the tour this year. When Dutch businessman Han Hakvoort discovered this, he generously offered financial help. Other local businessmen heard about it, thought that they would like to join in, and so the idea of the town sponsoring John was born. He will wear golf shorts and hats promoting Hua Hin as a “holiday heaven” and a “great place to live.” A website has been set up – huahinhh.com, giving updates plus sponsor links.

John said “I think it's really great that these people are going to help me. Being on Tour is expensive, and I haven't started as well as I would have liked, so this will ease the fi nancial pressure a bit. Mind you, it will also give me extra pressure – I am not playing just for my family and me anymore, but for all the people in Hua Hin who are behind me, it's a great incentive. Hua Hin is a great place to live, lots of wonderful people and I am very happy to help promote it.”

Who is John Wither? Well, he is a professional golfer, born in St Andrews (where else?) in 1970. From 1997 until last November, he split his time between Hua Hin and Usedorn , Germany , where he ran a golf school. Then he decided to give up this well paid job to live full time in Hua Hin with his wife Ya and 5 children. Anyone who knows John is aware that he can sometimes be found in The Road Hole bar in Poolsuk Road where Ya is joint owner.

He gained his Tour card in January, one of only 40 players to do so. But then he is no stranger to golf in Asia . He won the China Open in 1996, and gained a notable scalp the following year, beating K.J.Choi 4 and 3 in the Volvo Asia Matchplay Championship. His pedigree goes back a little further than that – in 1993 he was the Scottish Assistants champion, playing against the likes of Paul Lawrie, Andrew Coltart and Dean Robertson – all current European Tour players. He also played in the 1995 Open at St Andrews . John is now hoping to follow in the footsteps of the other Hua Hin based players and establish himself as a major force on tour.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN FURTHER DETAILS ON SPONSORSHIP PLEASE CONTACT

BARRY MOORE AT: BARRYPM@HOTMAIL.COM.

Fit for Golf

There is a lot of talk about Pilates and it's benefits at the moment. The basic ground rules of this exercise modality are good posture and a strong core. The core, or powerhouse if you are American, is a name given to the internal abdominal muscles and pelvic floor muscles. Why is this good for you? Well, in most activities we do, the body needs to be strong enough to take the rigours we put it through. Having a sound base to work with gives us a chance of performing the action to the best of our ability and making sure we don't cause any injury to the back in the process. With this knowledge it is not hard to see why many top performers use Pilates as part of there exercise routine. As with all exercise, the only way to safely use this technique is to be trained by a qualified Pilates instructor. But saying that, if we look at the basic theory prescribed in Pilates, then there are a few exercises that can be accomplished without the chance of causing an injury. Previously I spoke about the need to keep the internal abdominal muscles lightly tightened.

For recap the way to do this is to pull the navel/belly button towards the spine but in the process keep the back still. Harder than it sounds! A test to see if you have the right muscles is to lay on the floor on your back with the knees at 45 degrees and feet on the ground. From there find the bony landmarks at the front of your hips and place your index fingers on them. Move your fingers about 2cm into the centre of the body and 5cm down towards your feet. When the abdominals are contracted, then the tissue under the fingers will harden a bit, confirming that the right muscles are working. Once you have got here you have your basics right and then can go on to work them through differing movements. As most of us don't play golf laying down it is a good idea to work in a standing position. Try these exercises that can help to give you a head start when it comes to strength and postural control.

Firstly to make things easy you will need a broom handle or similar to hold onto. Make sure that your posture is good. Stand side on to a mirror and you should have your toes pointing forward, knees slightly bent, small arch in the lower back and slight curve in the upper back. Check the posture to see it is right by using the mirror. It may feel awkward

to some of you but is the best way for the body to function. Hold the pole with your hands about a meter apart. Lift the pole over your head as far as is comfortable. If you have shoulder problems then be careful not to go past a comfortable range of movement. As the pole goes up there will be more tension on the abdominal muscles to keep the back straight. Make sure the back is still and the head doesn't lean forward as you do the movement. Breathe out as you lift the pole over your head, and in as it descends. For this next one you will need a piece of rubber band, a bike inner tube is ideal. Tie one end to something solid that will not move. Hold onto the other end but turn side on to the band attachment. Hold the rubber band with the arms pointing towards the attachment and the elbows slightly bent. Adopt the same posture as the last exercise. Starting with the hands near the attachment bring them to the middle of the body with the angle of the elbows the same. Don't move your hips - this means you have to work the core muscles. Make sure you don't make the band too tight as this may lead to injury. You should be able to do 15 repetitions easily and then turn around and work the other side. Breathe out as you bring the hands to the middle, and in as they return.

If you would like your body more flexible to improve your golf then contact Terry at

www.fit-foregolf.com or call 01-0096588

The SAGA TAILOR Tour

Results from the latest “SAGA TAILOR TOUR” tournaments

Lake View : Monday the 20 of June. “ The Sofitel Heritage”

Place Name Score OoM Prize money

1 Suwit Pahulo 72 30 3800 Baht

2 Somchai Saiwong 73 19.3 1500 Baht

2 Jorgen Persson 73 19.3 1500 Baht

2 Jaruk Thananuphan 73 19.3 1500 Baht

5 Thongchai Tima 74 12 700 Baht

Lake View : Open Amateur flight: “ The Sofitel Heritage”

Place Name Score

1 Odom Poolsawat 76

2 Jonathan Davis 79

3 Aniruth Ruengthub 80

4 Steve Polaski 86

Lake View : Handicap Amateur flight: “ The Sofitel Heritage”

Place Name Net Score Handicap

1 Narongtham Ruangtham 64 17

2 Larry Kitt 72 11

3 Thip Pettit 75 7

After completing the 2004/2005 season of “The SAGA TAILOR Tour” a total of 24 tournaments.

ORDER OF MERIT STANDINGS

Place Name OoM points

1 Jorgen Persson 328.4

2 Suwit Pahulo 316.2

3 Jaruk Thananuphan 214.8

4 Somchai Saiwong 212.4

5 Kenny Walker 204.3

6 Tanin Nim-Oth 164.1

7 Odom Poolsawat 162.8

8 Simon Yates 150

9 Supavit Tiansomboon 134

10 Corey Harris 100.3

I'll specially like to thank all 132 players that have been supporting the TOUR during this season,

THANKS!!!!

We also like to thank everyone who made this season possible. First of all the golf courses: Lake View , Palm Hills, Royal Hua Hin, Springfield , Sawang Resort and Royal Ratchaburi. Thanks for giving us tee times and very generous greenfees. Second our co-sponsors that enabled us to have amateur flights with great prizes as part of our tournaments. Thank you Hyatt, Dusit, Sofitel, Tipco and Chang Beer . And last but biggest thanks to our title sponsor, Hua Hin golfing tailor Ashu from the SAGA TAILOR .

The coming season we hope to be able to move the tour up one step by adding 4 major tournaments. The Majors will have a bigger prize purse supported by a corporate sponsor. The Majors tournament round will still be played on Mondays, a one day event over 18 holes stroke play. Maximum field will be 90 players. Prize money will go down to 25 th place and Order of Merit points down to 30 th place. Entry fee has to be paid in full to the tour minimum 10 day before the event.

The next season 2005/2006 of “the SAGA TAILOR Tour” started on the 1 of August at Royal Hua Hin golf course.

Royal Hua Hin: Monday the 1 of Aug. “ The Tipco Open”

Place Name Score OoM Prize money

1 Simon Yates 70 40 3600 Baht

2 Kenny Walker 75 29.3 1300 Baht

2 Blair Wilson 73 29.3 1300 Baht

2 Krisada Langwat 73 29.3 1300 Baht

5 Jaruk Thananuphan 77 22 700 Baht

Coming tournaments on the SAGA TAILOR Tour:

Monday the 5 of Sep Registration 08.00 Venue: Palm Hills

Monday the 19 of Sep Enter before 9 of Sep Venue: Muang Kaew

Monday the 3 of Oct Registration 08.00 Venue: Springfield

19 of Sep is our first MAJOR “Regal Thailand Property OPEN” with a total prize purse of 150.000 Baht. Maximum field 90 players, top 25 gets paid. For more details check our web-site or contact Jorgen Persson, mobile 01 434 6540.

The tour has also been recognized be the Tourist Association of Thailand , TAT . The TAT will be supporting and promote our tour during coming seasons.

Hope to see you all at our tournaments. And enjoy your golf!!!

Jorgen Persson Suwit Pahulo

PGA of Sweden Thai PGA

Phone 01 434 6540 Phone 01 856 4509

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