Ladies

A few more layers were required in the clothing department today when compared to the shorts & tee shirts of last week! Despite that conditions were more reminiscent of high summer than spring with hard fairways and greens suffering from the broken irrigation system. But conditions seemed to suit most of the ladies, with the average score being almost 35 points from the 13 contestants. As such CSS went to 37.

After the first round of the Committee Cup Sheena Harrington has a narrow one point lead ahead of 3 ladies on 37 and a further 3 on 36. Needless to say, anyone could come through in the second round of the competition to win. Results…

Men

This must have felt like autumn golf to the field today: cooler temperatures (although not as bad as yesterday in the Spring Mixed) and lots of wind made the course pretty hard to play. On top of that the greens showed no signs of improvement and the bounces on the fairways were really unpredictable. Judging distances became very complicated as well. One competitor had the perfect game plan for the 12th hole: drive down the middle of the fairway, 2nd shot leaving him 110yds into the green (as planned according to him). Since the wind was helping he took one less club to pitch the ball short of the green and let it roll up to the pin. What happened: crazy bounce and the ball flew the green! If you wanted to do well today your first name had to be a variation of Christopher (not taking into account winner and runner-up. See below).

Today’s winning score belongs to Brian McMahon. His score of 1UP was matched by Keith Cassidy. Unfortunately Keith made a mess of holes 17 & 18 to hand victory to Brian. Chris Lordan, Kris Lynch and Christer Larsson were the only other players not to lose to the course. Peter Needham clsoed out the Top6. Results…

Peter Harrington could’ve made it very good weekend for the Harrington household if he’d remembered to write his handicap on his scorecard (his wife Sheena won the 1st round of the Ladies Committee Cup).

CSS: All Square (14/32 in the buffer)

Saturday 27 April was the Spring Mixed Random Draw playing American Greensomes and a lovely fun relaxed day and format. 12 pairs played in challenging conditions with the edge of Storm Hannah impacting although it was mainly dry.

The random draw created many new and excellent pairings. Keith Cassidy and Jayne Maxwell won with 38 points, Richard Inglis and Ann Gardner were second on 36 points and Paul Brown and Deborah Potter a close third. Results…

Conditions were somewhat affected by the wind – longer payers e.g. Hussan reaching par 5 9th with driver and wedge. Common to all were the greens (pacy -rare at RP) with evidence still of tining and sanding. Relief could be taken from tine holes. Whilst courses need decent rain, some rough is already thick with fresh growth.

Overall, scoring was average with CSS 37 points remaining at SSS.

Jeannie Chung had an excellent round 40 points to win the sweep comp from Richard Owen on back 9 countback. 37s followed from Jim Fogarty, Brian Ransom and Sheena Harrington. Results…

Ladies (Sheena and Jeannie) monopolised the ‘Twos’. Jeannie and Richard receive playing playing handicap cuts.

Near perfect golfing conditions for the field today. Were it not for some weirdly/hastily placed cups on most of the holes. The extra bounce/roll on the fairways was offset by greens that were in dire need of some water and some punishing pin positions (the pin position on 7 was pretty diabolical).

Today’s report is fairly simple: the gang of 40’s and the rest of the field. James Anslow went out early and kept up his excellent recent form. 20pts on the front and back nines earns him “only” 3rd place today. Shaun Dupreez was quoted recently that he “felt good about his game”. I guess that recording 47pts is some way of backing up on that statement. 26pts (!) on the way out can be described as a good start. His only blemish on the back 9 was a six on the 13th (for nil points). He had to settle for “only” 21pts on the way in. 1st place and a new handicap of 18 are just rewards for an excellent morning of golf. Jim Deissler tried to put up a late charge. But his fantastic 44pts are “only” good enough for a runner-up spot today. Jim’s handicap gets a healthy cut down 22. Scott Sparks. Sean O’Sullivan and 1st lady Caroline Stilwell complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 37pts (11/36 players in the buffer)

A big field enjoyed near perfect golfing conditions. Mild temperatures, a little wind and some nice roll on the fairways clearly helped. Guess we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for the greens to become more receptive.

In typical Mighty Mike style Mike Shabani came out all guns blazing. A blistering front 9 was rewarded with a score of 3UP. The jitters then got to him. But an impressive recovery over the last four holes made him leader in the clubhouse on 3UP. Kim Chaffart on the other hand couldn’t centre one iron shot or drive. But some clutch chipping and putting put him in an excellent position of 5UP walking off the 16th, whereupon he then managed to record two 7’s, recording a final score 3UP. But thanks to the countback he managed to push Mike into 3rd. Victory today goes to the steadiest player of the field. Tom Cook had a steady front 9 (2UP). He kept his composure on the back 9 (3UP) to claim victory by some distance. Tom’s handicap gets cut to 27. Mikey and Kim earn handicap cuts too. Tamas, Arthur and Oliver complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 1UP

A large field gathered at the Park for another round of Winter golf. How cold was it today for the 8.00am starters? Nick Rogers gave up on his shorts and decided to properly cover up. Temperatures close to 0, chilly winds and bumpy fairways and greens proved to a few too many obstacles for most of the field. Only 16 out of 59 competitors managed to stay in their buffer.

Competent ball striking was required. Evgeny Vd Geest provided that for 15 holes. The last three holes uncharacteristically turned into a nightmare. His net score of 70 was still good enough to hold off Robin Thomas. Mark Laverty and Habib Amir earn 3rd and 4th spot respectively. First lady today is Jayne Maxwell with a net 72. Ollie Griffin strong off yesterday’s victory in the Clapham Common captured 6th. Results…

Putting remained tricky. Nick and Tamas showed a more efficient way to get birdies by chipping in for birdies on holes 3 & 16.  On to the Diamond Jubilee on 9th June.

CSS: 71

A chilly vernal nip but glorious sunshine greeted 49 competitors for the Masters Bowl. The sanded and tined greens had settled down after recent rain but sand still flew up on pitches to the greens.

Early scores in the clubhouse were best 38 points and leader-board indicating CSS 35 points but eventually better scores came in and CSS ended 37 points. Louis Suárez was the fine winner on 40 points followed by new member Arthur Clark 39. Countbacks differentiated Messrs. O’Sullivan, Cohen and Shabani 38s. New lady member Jeannie Chung flew the ladies’ flag on 37 off a well-handicapped 21. Results…

Ladies

A large contingent of ladies were away at Donnington Valley for the weekend, more than usually play on a Sunday, so needless to say numbers at the Park were somewhat low. The two ladies who did play had a friendly knock about with some good scoring between them, possibly aided by the lack of pressure of trying to win a competition, this despite reports of the greens being somewhat variable after the earlier work on them in the week.

Men

Until today the greenest beach in the world was the pitch at Camp Nou in Barcelona (not a joke. Non-Catalans do call the pitch of FC Barcelona the greenest beach on the face of the earth). A reduced field (blame the Ladies Away Day) could be forgiven for imagining themselves at Camp Nou. Works by the green staff left huge amounts of sand on the greens. Although not slow the greens proved to be quite unpredictable.

Just ask James A. He did everything right on the first hole: good tee-shot followed up an approach that just made the front of the green. The rest of the hole turned into a horror show. Quite remarkably that 7 seemed to relax JA and he went on to complete the 18 holes with a 65 net. An excellent back 9 allowed him to distance himself from the two other players finishing on 65 (Thomas & Thomas). Simon Malin, Nathan Street and Jan Wilken complete the Top6. Captain Nigel Gaymond made the luckiest birdie ever on the 11th (not bitter …): a topped tee-shot ended to within tap-in distance of the hole. He didn’t miss the putt. Results…

CSS: 67 (14/31 in the buffer)

Sean Thomas takes the lead in the 2019 Grand Medal Trophy (scores of 62 & 65 don’t hurt). R2 Leader board…

The forecast was for a chill and thunderstorms developing but the latter did not materialise giving reasonable golfing conditions. Mid-morning players were somewhat surprised to find 3 temporary greens with work still being carried out tining, aeration on their real greens. Word was that works would have been complete.

So different players played to different greens. The decision was taken to ‘abandon’ the competition for handicapping purpose only – still counting however for Midweek Grand Medal. In this technical arrangement CSS is set to SSS with reductions only to handicaps.

As it happened, only Kim and Paul Grand beat SSS with 68s and are only players cut. Paul just nipped Kim on back 9 to win the medal and win a new handicap. Cheryl was ‘leading lady’. Results…