The field were greeted by overcast skies and milder/cooler temperatures. The rough at the park grows longer and thicker just by looking at it. So keeping the ball on the fairway seemed like a good course of action. The other theme of the day was shredding the back 9 to pieces (see below for details). The greens were fairly receptive (take some time to repair your and other players’ pitch marks). For the second comp in a row the women showed how it is done.

 Late afternoon starter Ronnie Mitchell overcame a snowman on the 8th to record 19pts on the front 9. 24pts on the back 9 allow her to leapfrog leader in the clubhouse Thierry by 1pt. Thierry had a very solid round of golf (20pts out and 22pts in). Wonil, another early starter, used an excellent back 9 (24pts) to take 3rd place. Brett (also an early starter) – don’t mean to repeat myself – had an excellent last 9 holes (22pts). Special mention has to go to new(er) member Hilary who recorded …. 25pts on the way in (5pts x1, 4pts x 2 and 3pts x3). Jeremy Ryan was the only one in the Top6  to have a better front than back 9. Alan King overcame a small disaster on the first hole (he repeated the feat on the 10th) to score a respectable 38pts. Mrs 57 managed to add 2 more birdies to her tally.

Weather conditions were perfect for golf but thick rough continued to annoy competitors and wreck some cards.

Sheena sailed past early clubhouse leader Cuneyt 61 with an astounding 57 – a back 9 just 2 over par and birdie at 2nd. But for 7s at 6& 7, Cuneyt’s score could have been even better.; there followed a quartet of 63s from new member John C., James A with French representatives Thierry and Denis.

Sheena had a Score Differential less than Handicap Index of 9.6 and earned what I think is RPGCs first WHS Exceptional Score Reduction. Congratulations! If it had been 10.0 or more than an additional handicap cut would have resulted. PCC for the field remained at zero.

Forecast rain held off and players celebrated Captains’Day with drinks and pizza.
Novelty prizes:
Women:
NTP 2nd: Maureen Slade
NTP in 3 10th: no one
NTP 16th: Lia Donath

Men:
NTP 2nd: Rannesh Jansari
NTP in 3 9th: R Esin
NTP 16th: Joe Goncalves

For the men this was3rd comp in the Order of Merit Top Dog comp attached with Rhys just a nose ahead on 12 ots from Sean and Cuneyt.

In fine golfing weather, warm with very little wind and none of the forecast occasional showers, John A. was the runaway winner with 43 points, an extremely steady round with a birdie on the 16th. Coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively were Giles and Suhail, both with 37 points. Just behind were James and late entry Mike H., both with 36 points; Mike posting birdies on both the 2nd and 11th holes. Well played to all the leading players; sweep payout will be to the top 3.

It was good to see that considerable swathes of rough on the front and sides of the fairways had been cut by Glendale since we last played the Princes, making the course significantly easier, although the rough that remains is still punishing.

Finally, it was good to see Brian back playing again and to welcome Ehsan to his first competitive round.

Scorching temperatures were a distant memory yesterday. Thick rough and receptive greens are now a firm part of the Duke’s course layout.

Looks like the men did well on the front 9 (Pete had 23pts and Keith scored 22pts). But some of the women were excellent on the back 9 (Susan and Cheryl to name a few). The poorer form of most of the men on the back 9 can in large be explained to the 17th and 18th hole (the MC teed off on the 17th on 32pts. He walked off the 18th green on … 32pts).

The winner, Susan Smith, lit up the back 9 for 24pts. Add that to a solid front 9 and she becomes the run-away winner. Best of the rest was Rick on 37pts (but he will rue the 18th hole). Alan King surprised everybody (even himself ?) by taking 3rd (he too NR’d the … 18th hole). Jeremy Ryan had 34pts teeing off on the 17th. Unfortunately he recorded just 1pt on the last 2 holes to finish on 35pts and 4th place. As mentioned above Keith used an excellent front 9 to take 5th place. Luke takes 6th place. But only 2pts on the last 2 holes (recognize the pattern) is something he will like to put behind him sooner rather than later. Cheryl Woodhouse managed just 9pts on the way out. But a blinding back 9 (24pts) earn her 7th place.

Coolish conditions prevailed allowing full concentration but rough still took its toll in the Shaw Cup.

A glance at https://www.richmondparkgolfclub.org.uk/the-golf-club/captains/
confirms A. Shaw was last Captain in 1953 when I think the club changed its name from The Priory Golf Club.

The winner on the day was Sean on 41 points by 1 from James S and George M. There was strong representation from the women with Joan 5th 39, Captain Val 38 and Julie R;

Shaun had best front 9 and James S best back 9 – both 22 points; Julie R had 10 points alone on the par 3s.

For the men this counted as round 2 of the Order of Merit ‘Top Dog’ Trophy – Rhys and Sean leading on 12 points each from Mike H and James S 8:

The dominating themes of yesterday’s golf were (in random order):

1) hot weather 2) players motivating each other (more on that later) 3) countback and 4) the fact that John Lewis make golf trolleys 😉 Nick & Ronnie.

Ross Hood kept up his excellent golf (contrary to the MC). A chip-in eagle on 12 set him up for 36pts and the lead in the clubhouse. He was able to hold onto 1st place until the game of Alan, Alvaro and Roger. That game managed to inspire each other to some excellent scores. Alvaro used a very good front 9 to overtake Ross with 39pts. Alan and Roger both had 37pts.

And for a couple of hours the 3 players from the same game held the first 3 spots on the leaderboard (not insinuating anything but what a coincidence …). A later game of Jeremy and Charlie Edwards upped the ante. Both of them played in the same game and managed to split the 2 bandidos and Irishman. Jeremy had a better back 9 than Alvaro (19pts vs 18) to take 2nd place. Charlie Edwards excellent back 9 (21pts) earned him 4th place. Today’s winner actually matched Jeremy’s back 9. But Chas’ score over the last 6 holes (15pts) beat out Jeremy (13pts over the last 6 holes). Tatiana, Joe and afternoon starter Pete Goodall round out the Top 8.

Women

Just a small select group of 5 playing today.

Although there were 4 of us in one game, it was only on the shorter holes from 14 on that the 3 in front got a way from us a bit. Guess they finally started to hit straight tee shots and kept to the short stuff, though one had 11 on the 18th. But although they’ve cut a second cut the rough is still penal, but we certainly ended up finishing with more balls than we started even if some of the originals made their escape.

Despite Ronnie telling us that she had no incentive after her playing partners NR’d on the 8th, her scorecard would dispute this with a back 9 that was 13 shots better than her front 9, dropping just 5 shots on the back 9.
Unfortunately for her, although Sheena’s back 9 was 4 shots higher than hers, Sheena’s front 9 was 10 better than hers giving her 1st place with a net 70 and Ronnie a 72.

Men

A hot and sunny day was promised and ensued;

Kim played a captain’s innings for a 64 – always good to end on a birdie; Kim was one ahead of midweek winner Ross. Ross had best front 9,best back 9, and best gross with 4 birdies. His handicap index drops to 3.7.

3rd round GMT leader Brian M had 66 and consolidates his position leading GMT 206 from Richard O and Jannesd 210.

 2nd cut for rough helped but still 14 NRs.

Oh, England won a football match.