Ladies

The cold, crisp and sunny overhead conditions of the day did nothing to inspire the ladies unfortunately. There was a lot of good scoring on individual holes, which will help in the Eclectic, but not in the stableford event for today. Habe Crocker came alive on the back 9 to score 20 points and win the competition with a total of 34. Two points back was Elaine Elborn who looks to be back to form after her injury layoff. Results…

The positions are the same in the accompanying 1st round of the Eclectic. R1 Leader board…

Men

Eric Lit seemed to enjoy today’s muddy conditions. A solid front 9 (20pts) was followed by an excellent birdie on the 10th. Looks like Eric got a bit carried away because he didn’t finish the 11th hole. He recovered quite well to finish the back 9 with 19pts. A total score of 39pts earns him victory and a new handicap of 13. Gefeliciteerd! Kerry Sargeant had an even better front 9 (with birdies the 6th and the 8th). His 22pts on the way out are even more impressive since he didn’t score a point on the 9th! 17pts on the back 9 prevented Kerry from overtaking Eric. Midweek transfer Chris Jones enjoyed an excellent round (38pts – 20pts on the way in) to finish 3rd. Oliver Maskell played consistent golf (19pts out & in – he even had 3 birdies) to finish 4th. Our secretary Peter Harrington and Michael Choo complete the Top6. Results…

Two factoids:
– no shortage of birdies today (Dennis Pellerin chipped in from off the green on the 4th for his birdie)
– Also note that the last Putney Park game was able to pull 3 holes away from the 1st RPGC game (the source is a highly unreliable though …).

CSS: 37pts

Alan King retains the lead in the 2017/18 Winter Competition (76pts). Kerry Sargent moves into 2nd (73pts) and Eric is now 3rd (69pts). R2 Leader board…

In the associated Prince’s Eclectic – report due soon. R1 Leader board…

A still late autumn day albeit with pestering gnats allowed players to focus their game. Play for the men moved to the yellow tees and first signs of inevitable winter mud appeared.

Eelco Snijders shrugged off any distractions and for the 2nd week running won with 41 points. Well done to Eelco who also had an ESR of one shot so now plays off 9. Chris Phillips-Jones came second on 40 with Richard Owen and John Curry following with 39. Results…

In the 2nd round of the associated Winter Competition Eelco on 82 points leads John and Darren Enthoven by 10. R2 Leader board…

Eelco is also one shot clear on 71.5 from John in the Duke’s Eclectic. R1 Leader board…

Ladies

We thought last week was cold, until we stepped out today into the arctic winds. The one plus was the way the sunlight lit up the autumn leaves. Something certainly lit up Susan Smith, who having played 12 or so holes well in many recent weeks, finally managed it for 18, scoring a whopping 44 points to beat the rest of the small field by some 8 points. Reportedly, she didn’t need her putter for the first few pars and continued to chip and putt well for the remainder of the round. In 2nd place was Habe on 36 points. CSS went to 37 points. Results…

In the accompanying 1st round of the Eclectic, the half-handicap allowance moved Habe into a 1/2 shot lead over Susan. R1 Leader board…

Men

A big field (45 players) didn’t enjoy the best weather conditions. Rain the previous day made the fairways very muddy and the greens too receptive. Add to that icy temperatures and swirling winds and you’ll agree that the best word to describe today’s conditions is: Brutal.

All of the above brought the best and the worst of the field. Let’s start with the worst. Only 7 (!) players managed to remain within their buffer zone. Peter Osgood took out his driver on the 2nd hole to have a shot at the green (wind was helping – so you could excuse his hubris). A full shoulder turn and complete weight transfer later he realised that his tee-shot ended just past … the ladies tee (that’s what you get when you study videos of Damian Hackett’s swing for too long). Quite stunningly he managed to par the hole! Mike Shabani had a brain freeze and mixed up the greens of the 7th and 11th hole. To use the words of a long serving member: I have never in the x years at the club seen anybody go that far left.

On to the good. Kerry Sargeant and Alan Cinnamond used excellent ball striking control to score 34pts. Michele Prencipe was totally at ease in today’s weather. His score of 39pts earns him 2nd spot and new handicap of 19. Auguri! While a lot of players struggled to score 26pts over 18h holes (yours truly included) Alan King reached that target after just 9 holes! A no-score on the 18th forced him to settle for “just” 16pts on the back 9. Alan gets a massive handicap cut of 2.4 strokes and will now play off 18. James Anslow and Gunnar Sundberg complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 34pts (I told you it was brutal out there).

The positions in the Winter Competition are the same as the results in Rd 1. R1 Leader board…

In the associated Duke’s Eclectic – report due soon. R1 Leader board…

An autumnal nip in the air accentuated by a light wind greeted competitors for the first round of the midweek winter competition.

Scoring favoured early starters with Eelco Snijders claiming victory by 1 point on 41 from Secretary Peter Harrington who in turn was 3 ahead of Jon Cooper. Results…

CSS was unchanged from SSS at 37 points and Eelco and Peter had handicap cuts.

Concurrently with the Winter Comp are the two course eclectics (which tend to favour low handicaps since only 1/2 handicap counts). At this early stage for Prince’s Eelco leads on 69.5 from Jon 72. R1 Leader board…

Ladies

With a number of the regulars away for the weekend, the first team event of the winter season was hotly contested by 3 teams of 3. To coincide with this event the temperatures had plummeted overnight and there was a good number of Uniqlo gilets on the course. The format was best score on a par 5, 2 on a par 4 and all 3 on a par 3. Scoring was not at its best, also reflected in the men’s comp with the CSS going up, so it wasn’t just the Ladies. The winners by six were Jayne Maxwell (who played to her handicap) and Alison Chadwick & Sheena Harrington who didn’t but at times came good when needed. Results…

Men

Golfing conditions were OK except that the competitors could’ve done with a few more degrees Celsius/Fahrenheit. Darren Enthoven went out as one of the early starters. He played the front 9 the “despacito way” (43 gross). But he really came alive on the back 9 with a score of 34 (gross). His total score of 66 (77 gross) made him leader in the clubhouse. New member Chris Lordan put up an excellent challenge. He matched Darren’s score: 42 out & 34 in. But bogeys on 16 and 18 prevented him from claiming his first win. Keith Cassidy was excellent tee to green. But his putter was ice cold today. A handful of missed birdie putts forced him into 3rd. Late starters Toby Hunt, Jim Fogarty and Alexander Krasnenkov complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 68

If ever the competitors thought they had a bad day at the office:

• Remember that in 1976 Apple employee Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake in the company for $800. His stake would now be worth $89.1 billion.
• Back in 2009 Lilly Allen refused to perform at a concert because the organisers wanted to pay her the equivalent of $200K in #Bitcoins. That would now be worth $1.4 billion.

Habe Crocker asserted her authority from the start being one under through 5 and just one over at the turn in her net 67 to clinch the medal. An excellent challenge from Alexender Krasnenkov net 69 followed which included two birdies and an unfortunate 7 at par 3 7th due to a lost ball. Kim Chaffert followed with a captain’s innings of 73. Results…

The weather was amazing for November with a mere hint of a zephr but very difficult ball-finding conditions despite little or no mud. Habe and Alexender receive handicap reductions, the former to playing 7. CSS: 71 (Men) – 73 (Ladies) 

A sunny morning with a warm (ish) wind greeted competitors on the first Sunday after the clock changes for the last of the major club competitions of the year. As is usual, the restriction to 3 clubs and a putter makes decisions easy for some and provides challenges for others. Early starter, Danny Deprez set a net 69 to stay in the lead for much of the day, just keeping ahead on countback from Nick Rogers, but had to settle for 2nd place as Sheena Harrington recorded one better on 68. Results…

CSS: N/A

What a difference a week makes. Last Wednesday the weather was absolutely horrible. Today the field enjoyed fantastic golfing conditions.

The combination of a strokeplay competition and having just 3 clubs and a putter took a lot out of the competitors. Only two players managed to finish below 70. Brett Colley came out of the starting blocks all guns blazing (a fantastic score of 38 strokes gross). Unfortunately he ran a bit out of gas on the back 9 with a score of 43 strokes. His score 71 net (81 gross) puts him into 4th today. Kim Chaffart started with two pars but then couldn’t par a single hole until the 10th. His back 9 lacked serious variation until a he recorded a 5 on the 17th and 18th holes. It still proved good enough to edge out Brett (based on the countback rule). Peter Osgood and Jon Cooper both went out in 40. Looks like the momentum really swung Peter’s way thanks to birdies on the 12th and 17th hole (Jon bogeyed both holes …). In the end Peter wins today’s comp by the smallest margin possible. Tore Burman recovered remarkably from a horrible 9th hole to finish 5th. Caroline Dewar completes the Top6 and finishes as first lady. Final shout-outs go to Jeremy for recording the only 2 of the day (on the 4th) and Eric Lit for a very nice birdie on the 10th. Results…

CSS: N/A

Golfing conditions were pretty nasty. Strong winds and very cool temperatures didn’t inspire the field to any heroics. Damage limitation seemed to be the name of the name of the game. I don’t know which shocked the field most: the part-time golfer/part-time Men’s captain doing well in this exercise or him showing up in shorts.

The men’s captain was a late addition to the starting field. But he handled the front 9 very well racking up 20pts. A no-score on the 17th hole prevented him from improving on an inward score of 17pts. 37pts was good enough to become leader in the club house. Only two players managed to do better. Jim Deissler’s 18pts on the back 9 (total score 37pts) pushed Nick R back into 3rd based on the countback rule, Late starter Michele Prencipe breezed though the front 9 with 22pts. A steady back 9 (17pts) was enough to clinch victory today. Michele’s handicap scende da 0.8 colpi e adesso solamente 20 supplementari colpi basteranno per giocare 18 buche (no use of Google Translate – so what I meant to say was: hcp cut by 0.8 strokes to 20 – in the same breath Cosmo L-M extends his Italian vocabulary beyond the word “seduto”). James Barker’s 20pts on the back 9 vault him into 4th overall. Paul House and Danny Deprez mirrored each other’s rounds to finish on 36pts and earn a spot in the Top6. 1st lady was Habe Crocker (sorry no prize/award for that today). Paul Brown was whining about the 16th hole … again. At least he pared the hole today. God knows what mood he might have been in had he bogeyed the hole (as he usually does). Results…

CSS: 37pts (Men & Ladies)