The foggy conditions persisted until most had finished their rounds, but the lack of wind and with the ball still running the lack of choice of clubs didn’t bother the 6 who played below their handicaps.

The runaway winner was Tenesi Karakaneva with a stunning net 62. Steve Cross took 2nd place from early clubhouse leader, Ray Esin, both on net 67. Results…

The competition was a non-qualifier for handicapping purposes.

Always a challenge to tackle 18 holes with just 4 clubs. Looked like Anis and Cheryl picked the right clubs. Both posted excellent scores. A net 62 earned Anis 1st place. Ann Gardner and Darren Enthoven completed the Top 4. Results…

The level of golf turned out to be outstanding today. Six players scored 40pts or more and no less than 13 (!) 2’s. As a result CSS jumped to 38 pts.

Honour to the Ladies with Jane Fraser winning today’s comp with 46 (!) pts, closely followed by Allison Chadwick with 44pts. Roger Rojas prevented a Ladies sweep by edging out Lia (42 to 40pts). Honourable mention goes to Mike Assender and Martin Heinrich for completing the top 6. Results…

Jane, Alison, Roger, Mike and Martin all saw their handicaps reduced.

Report due soon. Results…

A nice turnout for the Midweek Charity Trophy. Clement weather inspired the early morning games to some pretty good golf.

New member Tim Vaughn-Spencer and Habe Crocker were the early leaders in the clubhouse. But nobody proved a match for Caroline Dewar’s score of 43 pts! The (other) ladies say that this was a long time coming. Results…

CSS for both men and ladies remained at 36pts. In the process Caroline earns an ESR of 0.5 and her handicap now stands at 26.6 (down from 30.3). The top five all saw their handicaps reduced.

The early morning forecast of rain kept a good number away from the park, but by 11am they were probably regretting their decision. Rain cleared and the sun came out leading to some good scoring. For once the early starters got the worse of the weather, although it didn’t affect Keith Cassidy who recorded 43 points to win by 3 points from Kyojung Lee who continues his good run of form.

With the CSS going to 37 points, Keith was rewarded with a 1.8 cut to his handicap and Kyojung a 0.9. First lady was Tenesi Karakaneva in 6th place with 38 points. Results…

Thirty turned out on an autumnal day and scoring overall was very good. Paul Concannon had an exceptional round with 24 points on first 9 to finish winner on 43 points. A countback last 6 separated Tore Borman from Derek Gibbs both 40. Henry Lindesay-Bethune and Joseph Shin took 4th and 5th places with 38s. Caroline Dewar finished best lady on countback from Habe Crocker with 37. CSS was elevated one over SSS at 38 points with handicap cuts for Tore and Paul. Results…

In his first competitive round with RPGC, Tim Vaughan-Spencer shot eagle on 9th to join the Eagle Tree.

Ladies

Congratulations to Donna Wilson who has achieved her aim of reducing her handicap to 18 this year – 17.5 to be exact. After today’s storming performance of a net 64 to win the last monthly medal of 2016, the handicapping system has also noted her run of good form and applied an ESR of 0.5 on top of the 1.5 competition reduction. Results…

In second place was Habe Crocker with a net 67 which was good enough for her to be the Barton Bowl winner. For the first time for many years, the winner of the main competition of the day is not the same as the Barton Bowl winner, but congratulations to both of today’s winners

Men

Blue skies and brilliant sunshine were the order of the day until cloud inevitably built up. Early clubhouse leader Kyojung Lee seemed to have the medal in the bag but again a player in the last game came through to win – Rob Morley with a masterful 58! Well done to Rob who earns a 3 shot handicap cut. Lee Marshall shot an excellent 64 for second position whilst Kyojung finished third 65. Kyojung’s score followed an excellent 44 points the previous day on Duke’s. Results…

This was the last round in the Grand Medal Trophy and Dave Fauré held on to win on 336 – 5 clear of Tony Bergqvist with Charlie Whiteman a further 5 back. Final leader board…

This year’s Men’s Invitation was competed for by 14 eager and competitive mixed pairings. All competitors were greeted in the clubhouse with bacon rolls and coffee which, as later became apparent, had clearly got the competitive hungers fired up in the members.

The Captains, Paul and Lia, opened play at 11:04 with two straight drives, which remained the only straightforward part of the day. The weather immediately changed from sun to showers (possibly in shock at the two straight drives), and scoring became variable. Four and a quarter hours of highly competitive golf followed.

At close of play there was a noticeable hush in the galleries as each pairing in turn could be heard whispering “we left a lot out there”. There was no need to worry however as we were treated to a nice slice of Barbara’s home made chocolate cake and ice cream (a real treat), which certainly calmed the nervous worries of all concerned. A suitable end to a very sociable day.

Final scores were extremely close with five pairings separated by only one point and the dreaded countback. Winners were Captains Lia and Paul with 38 points (inward 9, 19 points). Second place went to Jon and Susan also with 38 points (inward 9, 17 points). And third place went to Paul Grand and Ann with 37 points (inward 9, 20).

All-in-all a thoroughly enjoyable days golf played in good spirit and amongst great company. Golf at its best.

As of today we have introduced Winter Rules for all play at Richmond Park. Local Rules Notice…

For the benefit of our newer members, I will mention that in layman’s language winter rules allows the ball to be marked, lifted, cleaned and replaced within 6 inches of the marked spot but not nearer the hole, and where the ball comes to rest on a closely mown area. In the Rules of Golf, closely mown is defined as grass cut to fairway height or less. It follows that the winter rules relief is not permitted when the ball is in the rough, or semi-rough !!