Golf Tournament

Germany vs. France and Columbia vs. Brazil in futbal (soccer) was the rage overnight. Every bar and hotel were showing the games on TV. My hotel had a 148” TV screen to enjoy watching the game. The first game began at 11 PM and the next game showed at 3 AM. I was up for both games and in the 87th minute (they play 90), my taxi arrived at 4:45 to take me to the airport. My flight was not until 7AM, but I did not want any problems like I encountered going to Chiang Mai. We made it to the airport in 15 minutes because we did not have any traffic. Everyone else was in bed after the soccer games. I did not check in online so I needed a boarding pass. Nobody was working at the Thai Airways counter so I had a seat. Two hours until my flight, so I was in plenty of time. I sat for one hour and finally, a ticket person arrived 30 minutes before boarding. Thai airlines uses the motto, “smooth as silk” to advertise their company. They do everything possible to make your flight as nice as it can be. We finally boarded the plane and I said good-bye to Chiang Mai. I fell asleep on take-off and awoke upon landing in Bangkok. Ponsak and his driver Sumit were at the airport waiting for me. Ponsak entered us in a golf tournament that was a two hour drive from the airport to the golf course. We went directly from the airport to the country club and arrived 2 hours before our tee time. I had asked Ponsak to play one really nice course before I head back to the states. He did not let me down.

This course is considered the Pebble Beach of Thailand. It was designed by Arnold Palmer twenty years ago. The name of the course is Laem Chabung. Laem in Thai means peninsula and Chabung was the settler of the region. There was water on most every hole and the tee shots were always over some river, pond or marsh. We were teamed up with Somsak and Somchai. Both spoke little English, but we were able to learn many words from each other. The familiarity of the game of golf has its own spoken and unspoken language. Once the common words are known relating to golf, it is easy to add a couple new terms to spice it up a little bit. The golf course was meticulous in every way. The course required that you take a cart and also have a caddie golf with you. My caddie Deend has been at the same course for 22 years. She was an exceptional greens reader and helped greatly with my putting. It was a championship course and I set my goal to break 90 for 18 holes. My goal was met, 89!!! The day was extremely hot and the cart was a blessing. My caddie was very good with back and neck massaging and in between each hole I was giving the pleasure of a short massage. Deend lives with her two sisters and her parents and grandmother in a three room apartment. She had never been married and she commutes on her 14 year old scooter. I cannot help feel for many of these people who are living the one life they have been given and have such limited social mobility. I gave her a 15 dollar tip at the end of the round. I understand 4 dollars is the normal tip. She did an excellent job and helped me immensely with a golf course I had never played. She earned the tip. I was exceptionally pleased since I achieved my goal and shot an 89!!! The pictures below are from our day on the links.

ABOVE: The Payette tree has beautiful flowers but the fruit is not edible. It will give you a severe stomach ache and it

will keep you in the bathroom.

The clubhouse has 4 stories and has an attached hotel with 88 rooms.

Above: You can see that the back nine holes have stadium lights to allow for evening golf. This time of year it is very comfortable after the sun goes down rather than playing during the day when it is hot. Along with the golfing that was fabulous, we had a buffet meal of Thai food. I missed breakfast on Thai airways so I had a huge appetite and I think the other Thai golfers thought I had a hollow leg. The greens fee at the country club was 280 dollars but that included a meal.

Can you guess who the only American was that was good enough to make it into this tournament? His initials are BS.

This rock was at the entrance to the golf course. When we drove by the rock on hole number 18, my caddie said, "you warm my heart how kind you have been to me all day". Somchai was flirting with my caddie all day

UPDATE: The avocados that I picked five days ago at the golf course were perfectly ripe upon returning from Chiang Mai. This is my second plate of the avocados. I called my taxi driver and told him to eat the ones that I had given him. He told me his wife cut them up today and put them in their salad. It was the first time he had ever had avocado in his life.