Autumn has definitely arrived at the park. “Thick air” and winds that became stronger during the course of the day significantly reduced carry. If you add the total absence of roll on the fairways you can clearly state that the course played long today. Although the rain wasn’t as apocalyptic as feared the players would certainly have preferred a bit more sun.

So much for the Met Office part. How did the players fare in these conditions? Excellent for the Top4, Ok for most (cf. CSS) and miserable for a few. Kerry carved the front 9 up like a Victoria Sponge. He went out in -2 gross. That awarded him a whopping 24pts. 3 straight bogeys at the start of the back 9 must have created a few doubts. But two pars on 17 and 18 earn him 17pts on the way in. For the statisticians amongst you: Kerry was +3 on the par 3’s. Kerry’s handicap gets a massive cut down to 7. Richard Inglis, strong off his victory with Lia in the Mixed Pairs KO, started slowly on the front 9. But a couple of nice 3-pointers on the back set him on route to 21pts and a total score of 40pts. Richard also gets an ESR. His handicap now stands at 15. Patrick Murphy remained really Zen despite the weather conditions and was the best of 2 players on 39pts. Mark Laverty, Evgeny (who birdied the 14th!) and Kamil edge out George Taylor and Kim Chaffart to complete the Top6. Kamil would’ve finished sole 5th had he not missed a tap-in eagle putt on the 17th. 1st lady today was Tenesi in 24th position. Sheena won the battle of the Harringtons (thanks to the countback rule). Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men & Ladies – 16/50 in the buffer)

The autumnal nip in the air was accentuated by a strong wind but it remained dry for the Midweek President’s prize.

Two exceptional scores of 41 pts were returned by Tore Burman and Kim Chaffart with countback on last 9 giving Tore the advantage from ‘the Birthday Boy’. Kim shot level par on the front 9 whilst Tore earned an ESR with 2nd net differential of -4 or better since Captain’s day in August. Both have handicap reductions. Richard Owen’s recent good form continued with 38 points with 6 on CSS=SSS 37 points including leading lady Roslyn Williams. Results…

The President’s challenges:

• Ladies:
  Nearest the pin in 3 on the 5th: Roslyn Williams
  Nearest the pin on the 16th: Sheena Harrington
• Men:
  Nearest to the pin 6th: Tore Burman
  Longest drive on the 12th: Tamas Ladacs

Ladies
Honours Board

It was both monthly medal and Barton Bowl finals today, Sunday 6 October.   It was a lean field of 6 which started out but with lots of potential.

Alison Chadwick was first with 74, a close win over second place Veronica Mitchell with 75 and Tenesi Karakaneva also on 75 was third on count back.     Just 1 point between 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Results…

There were also 3 ladies competing for the Barton Bowl which Alison also wins, congratulations on a well-deserved double-win today with quite a few pars.   

It is the top 8 ladies who have scored higher than the Lady Captain on selected dates over the last few months who play in the Barton Bowl Final.

It turned out to be dry, sunny, warm day and fast round with enough time between shots to enjoy the lovely views and colours across the park if a little damp underfoot in places and puddles in some bunkers which contributed to the downfall of the Lady Captain!

No increases to any players handicaps due to the conditions.

Men
Honours Board

Heavy overnight showers flooded the 2nd green thus forcing the competition committee to abandon the competition (again). As last week the competition became reduction only.

Jay Barker seems to thrive in these conditions. 37 out and 34 in translate into a net score of 66. Well done Jay. Think the Met Office calls for drier weather towards the end of next week. Blame the weather if your scoring experiences a little dip. The best of the rest was a group of four players with scores of 69. Countback places Sean at the top of that pack. Sean O’Sullivan closes out the Top 6 with a net 70. Results…

CSS = SSS = 67

The Grand Medal Trophy goes to Toby Hunt with a score of 334. Final leader board…

Rain finally gave way today. But the course proved to be fairly tricky for most players. Until 2.30pm a score of 70 net was leading. It seems like yesterday that we enjoyed an extra 30-40yds roll. That’s definitely gone. The greens although very receptive turned out to be very tricky to judge.

Strong off yesterday’s win of his favourite football team “Las Putas” (aka Atletico Madrid) Alvaro went out in +1 gross over 8 holes. A 6 on the 9th hole was the first indication of some obvious sandbagging (more on that later). +3 over first 6 holes on the way in was good. Apparently he then sliced his tee-shot OB on the 17th. Weird I always thought his miss was a severe hook. He recovered from that 7 with a par on the 18th. His score of 68 net is still more than good enough for first. Leaders in the clubhouse Mitch Cohen (pipped by a late starter again … just like in the Priory Cup) and Rick Kimber take 2nd and 3rd spot. Top6 is completed by Mike Jones, Seymour and Jeremy. Results…

CSS: 71/73

In the Midweek Grand Medal Mark Rosamond had his hands on this trophy. But the combination of an untimely lapse of concentration and a vicious slice on the 17th tee took him out of the running. Bandit Brian Ransom wins the series. Well done. Final Leader board….

Final note: the course may have some extra mud. Therefore make sure you are playing the correct ball.

Heavy showers early in the morning created standing water on quite a few greens therefore forcing the Competition Committee to abandon today’s comp.

Unless you went out really early there was no way to hide from the rain. Rhys Jarvis’ timing was spot on. He probably enjoyed the best conditions and made the most of it. Consistent golf (42 out and 43 in) was quite an achievement in these testing conditions. A score of 65 (net) takes him into 1st. His handicap also gets an impressive cut down to 18. One of the 3 Stooges, Jay Barker, was forced out of his PJ’s and dragged onto the golf course. He can thank Stooge 2, Lee Marshall, for convincing him. Five birdies set him on the way to a score of 66 (net), 2nd place and nice handicap cut. Lee Marshall broke a trend today: the upward trend in his handicap. 40 (out) and 39 (in) translate into a score of 68 (net) and a 3rd place which may make him come back (to the park?) for more. Five players ended with a score of 69 (net). Countback rule hands 4th place to Denis Pellerin. Early starter James Anslow takes 5th. 1st lady (out of 2 …) was JDR. That 6th place earns JDR another sizeable handicap cut down to 34. Well done to all. Results…

In the Anniversary Trophy it’s a good thing Henry had already logged 3 scores. His score of 210 proved a bridge too far for Barry Page (212). Final Leader board…

CSS: 71(Men)/73 (Ladies). With the competition being abandoned the CSS is by default set to SSS.

Much rain had fallen during the week but conditions held up but with slow greens. Power line works on 15th shortened the hole.

Format of the day was 4 ball better ball pairs and high stableford scores were predicted. Brian Ransom and Seymour Laird emerged the winners on countback 45 from Toby Hunt and Chris Jones. Richard Norden and Pralab Barua came 3rd with a very creditable 43 points. Results…

A highlight of Hassan & Mouilah’s round was Hussan’s eagle on that 15th hole.

The day ended with glorious warm sunshine.

Ladies

Hopes were high after the early morning showers gave way to blue skies, but sadly were dashed as a heavy cloudburst got everyone just after midday after which the temperature dropped considerably. It seemed to have no ill effect on the scores, as the course was running on the really hard ground after no recent rain.

With Jayne & Susan scoring 45 points off their 14 and 18 shots respectively, we assumed the winning score would be higher with other competitors getting more shots. In the event it was only Cheryl & Caroline and Jess & Tenesi who could beat them, Cheryl & Caroline with the same score, but the better back 9. However, all were put in the shade by the magnificent score of 51 points for Jess & Tenesi. They dovetailed perfectly predominantly scoring 3 or 4 points per hole to win the Autumn Meeting Better Ball. Results…

Men
Honours Board

Overnight rain made the greens fairly receptive. Most of the field enjoyed dry conditions. But around 1.10pm the floodgates opened. But it has to be said that the field “weathered” the conditions well (see below).

Strong off his victory in last week’s Burgess Cup Martin Heinrich tore up the front 9 in 39 strokes. A clear case of sandbagging on the 14th (an 8 on that hole really Martin?) couldn’t prevent him from winning the September monthly medal. His net score of 64 translates into an 1.2 handicap cut down to 15. And just like last week the Slovak onslaught didn’t stop there since his better half (golfing wise) won today’s ladies comp. Mark Bean had an excellent front 9 (37 strokes). But an untidy 18th hole forces him into 2nd place. An unbelievable back 9 (34 gross) sends Carmelo into 3rd. Three birdies and an eagle (14th) earn Evgeny 4th place. Goed gedaan (my Russian doesn’t reach that far). Igor and Petrov Harrington complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 66 (23/44 in the buffer)

In the Grand Medal Trophy Toby Hunt leads (334) over Pete Needham (343) Richard Owen (343), Brian McMahon (346) and Mike Shabani (347) with one round to play. R7 Leader board…

Competitors were greeted by a perfect autumn day with just a light wind and wall to wall sunshine. The ground remained hard flattering many drives but sometimes cruel bounce.

In this the last of 4 anniversary accumulators, early starter and leader in the clubhouse Kamil Naidoo held on to win with an excellent net 66 (just 1 over par on back 9) from Kim Chaffart’s well-crafted 67. Tamas Ladacs seemed to have it in the bag with a one over par on front 9 but fell back to 3rd place on 68. Results…

CSS was 1 under SSS reflecting the good conditions.

Kim Chaffart held on to win the Midweek Anniversary Accumulator with 210, one clear from Dylan Merchant and two ahead of Jeremy Ryan and Adrian Wells. Final Leader board….

Ladies

The prospect of a medal round on Duke’s kept a lot of competitors home. Seven brave (or foolish) players enjoyed nice weather and massive rolls on the fairways. Four of the 7 competitors managed to remain in their buffer.

Tenesi’s consistent golf (44 out & 43 in) earns her 1st place today. Best of the rest today was Susan Smith with a net 76. The “black mamba” aka Cheryl Woodhouse closes out the Top3. LC Debs had a bit of trouble adjusting to her new handicap but put up a respectable score (truth be told her score on the 18th wrecked her card). Finally Jayne Maxwell had to take 3 shots to clear the ditch on the 12th hole. Results…

CSS: 72

Men
Honours Board

Indian summer at the park today resulted in some big b & r (Bounce & Roll) on the fairways. Clubbing down and letting the course take the ball onto the greens seemed a pretty good choice.

There are 2 ways to play this Greensomes competition: go for the birdies or play steady. The teams that came 1st and 3rd chose the latter. The team that came 2nd and 4th chose the former.

Bandits/robbers Habib/Martin didn’t record a single birdie on the day. The only blemishes on their card were 1-pointers on the 14th and the 15th. But apart from that the numbers speak for themselves: 24pts out and 21pts in. By doing so Martin retains the Burgess Cup. It proved to be a Slovak onslaught: Tenesi managed to win today’s ladies monthly medal. Pete/Tony on the other hand didn’t hold back. 3 birdies translate into 22pts on the front 9 and 21pts on the back. Countback rule puts them into 2nd place. Igor and Kim let themselves down on the greens: they had birdie chances on not less than 11 (!) holes but managed to only take advantage on the 17th … Mike and Liam had a more volatile round with 4 birdies but their score on the 18th hole prevented them from finishing higher. Results…

The remnants of hurricane ‘Dorian’ were limited to blustery wind and a mere hint of dampness in the air but steady warmth.

Sporting a new technique, Ann Gardner swept to victory being an incredible 8up in the bogey format competition. Ann’s round was strongest over the last 7 holes where she did not lose one hole. Close on Ann’s heels however was Mitch Cohen 7up in a sub 80 (77 gross) round with further excellent rounds from Richard Owen and Seymour Laird (5up). Results…

CSS was 2 up – one over SSS 1up. With net differentials of -6 and -5, a marker has been set in Ann and Mitch’s handicap records such that within the next 10 comps a further net differential of -4 or better will see an Exceptional Scoring Reduction.

There was just one ‘Two’ recorded – Jan Wilken at the par 4 14th. Illustrating the sometimes cruel nature of bogey, a par would have won the hole for Jan. but well done indeed. A glance at the attached Wednesday Eagle tree reveals this to be 2nd eagle at the hole this year.