PGA Here I Come

March 2008 - Posts

• The Ghost Course

  At times you almost feel like you’ve survived Armageddon when you’re at the Green-Way Driving range in Pattaya; there’s an abandoned restaurant in the parking lot, the aluminum yardage markers are dented and curling, stray dogs/chickens often run by and create giant tears the nets, allowing balls to be sliced clear out of the range. Still, I love the place. Mostly because, around back remains an abandoned dusty Par 3 course.  And while out-of-commission, every couple weeks it’s still mowed (probably by city ordinance) making it quite workable for chipping practice…if you don’t mind a little danger. A while back the staff spotted me off in the jungle and have since hired me go to collect the stray balls. In return for risking myself out there a few times a week, they let me to hit the balls collected back into the range free of charge. It’s not a bad deal really, and not that risky.  If I see big hitters who might send one over the nets, I just throw on the motorcycle helmet and you barley feel the balls hit you in the head. Typically the task takes about 2 hours. I round up anywhere from 50-60 balls, and using the dead greens as targets, pitch and chip all the way back to what was once the first tee-box. If you're ever in the area be sure to check the place out. Also, the mangos in the tree are fair game! Posted Mar 20 2008, 06:58 AM by Erik Tammar with no comments Filed under: The Ghost Course, Collecting Stray Balls to Practice

• Another Week of Golf Ups/Downs in Asia

  This week had some major ups and downs. At the 9 hole Army course I shot 38 and 37 (along with a 43 and 41), I got down to the course where this week's tournament was at for a practice round, was shooting four over at the turn, then a monsoon hit and made the back 9 almost unplayable. Never the less, I went into Thursday's tournament feeling confident and ready to play some competitive golf. That went as described below from the following blog post... Missed Tee-Time Van #2 brought three of us to the course 10 minutes before our tee-times this morning. This was disappointing as we had no time to warm-up. Additionally, walking up to the tee box, I discovered my group had already teed off and ended up going out with the last pairing as a 5-some. Being hurried along by two guys in the group, I duffed my tee-shot which then rolled down a hill into a water hazard. Being hurried along further, I duffed my drop, next shot was 30 yards short of the green. The max you could score in the event today was 4 over, so I picked up my ball and marched on to the next hole quite flustered. The drive on hole 2 went 300 yards to the edge of the water hazard, chip went over the green into a bunker, Bogeyed the hole. By the 9th hole, still not feeling comfortable or confident, only having 4 pars, I purposely didn’t bother putting my ball into the hole, DQ’ing myself from the event. Lessoned learned today with the IPGC (International Pattaya Golf Club): If you want to take the events seriously, you need to drive yourself to the course in the morning because the vans may, or may not get you to the course in time to make your tee-time, let alone warm-up. What a day. But, you know what they say, “Long lived trees, make roots first” There was some additional excitement this; Most notably, I found a pizza place that's better than anything in California, a dead dog on the side of the road hasn't moved in 4 days (I'm about to go give it a burial myself), A girl got bit by a snake behind the range, a local prostitute told me she is pulling for Obama, and, while were on the subject, Elliot Spitzer was of course caught soliciting sex from a Jersey hooker and has led the way for NY's first blind governor. "What a Country!" -Yakoff Smirnoff On a more serious note: below is a clip of my 5-iron swing. The ball flies, but, something doesn't feel right. The clip has bee sent off to some golfers in the know, we'll have to wait to see what they say. Posted Mar 13 2008, 12:17 PM by Erik Tammar with no comments

• Monsoon Hit At The Turn

  The journey to the course today was actually quite enjoyable. Once you get off the main road it’s about a 10 km ride through winding country roads that present pleasant views of small volcanic mountains covered in lush forest. Somewhat unexpectedly Plutaluang GC appears and there is suddenly 36 holes of golf at your disposal. The course was designed and is operated by the Royal Thai Navy which is good because the prices are low, but, in turn, the course is not heavily funded. However, what the greens and fairways lack, the scenery makes up for. It’s one of those courses where at times you feel like you are in the middle of no-where. And, geographically speaking, you essentially are. After the front 9 today a monsoon rolled in, soaked the course with and hour’s worth of heavy rain and everyone, even caddies left. I however stuck around and when rain stopped went back out with a new caddy. Shooting 4 over at the turn I was feeling pretty good, but the course conditions got the best of me (at one point a ball was swept away in temporary river of run-off water). Still, it was worth playing because a lot of strategizing went on for Thursday’s tournament. The course is not terribly difficult, but there were a couple of tricky holes (on the South and East courses). A thin 240 yrd par 3, a par 4 built into a mountain side so the entire fairway slopes left. My favorite though was a 600 yrd par 5 that takes 3 shots to get on no matter how you cut-it; even with a 320 yard drive off the tee, you’d have to sail the ball over 275 yards of open water to have a chance at getting on in 2…I’m not sure Tiger could even pull it off. The big lessoned learned today was that around the greens, like most courses here, you often have to pitch the ball because the weed-like grass grabs the club causing an inevitable “duff” if you try to chip the ball. That’s all for now. More pictures of the course will be added on Friday, had camera issues today. Pics below: Driving Range Shack and View from Range of Reservoir Posted Mar 13 2008, 10:03 AM by Erik Tammar with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Erik Tammar, Monsoon, Lessons Learned

• Hello Tees2Greener's

  My name is Erik, I'm 25, and about 6 months ago I dropped everything in my life (career, apartment, sanity, etc..) and decided to spend a year playing golf and make a run at the tour. The catch is, I started with a 22 handicap, but, by hitting thousands of balls, working with pros, and working-out, I'm now breaking 80 and will hopefully break 70 in the next month to have at least a fighting chance at Q-school. Three months into this adventure I realized that southern California wasn't the best place to try and pull a stunt like this, so to make my money go further, I relocated to SE Thailand a few weeks ago and now live in a small apartment for $200/month and play golf 5x week (via a 125cc Honda motorbike) at a local course run by the Thai-Royal Army for $15/round. (Almost) Everyday, I update my own blog on www.pgahereicome.com with the experiences from both on and off the course. I realize we can all only spend so much time reading blogs each day, so for those of you who aren't interested in my daily adventures I'm going to put a Reader's-Digest-Version here on tees2greens with any mile-stones and note-worthy items from throughout the week. For example, this past week I was going through somewhat of a Tin-Cup type slump where I was playing great golf on 15 holes or so, then blowing my rounds two or three. Frustrated, I gave myself an ultimatum to break 80 by week's end, or go home and give-up golf forever. Somehow, after shooting a 43 on the front on Saturday, I pulled off a 36 (par) on the back for a 79 which kept the dream alive another month. The next goal is to shoot a 72 by April. Also this week I saw a fight break out on the golf course between a German and an Italian guy. I stumbled upon some locals fixing really old boats and I also shaved my head because it’s so damn hot out. Actually, I started to shave my head, then the electric razor broke 1/3 of the way in, so I had to go visit a local barber to get the job done.   Anyhow, today I was informed some cash I was expecting from my past job will not be arriving for another few weeks, so, I'm off to go do some hustling to keep my head above water.  "Don't forget to eat your Wheaties"  -Erik   Posted Mar 05 2008, 10:10 AM by Erik Tammar with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Chasing the Ultimate Golf Dream, Erik Tammar, Q-School