The last warm settled day for September; some were delayed by traffic queuing for petrol with the latest crisis. The women enjoyed a get together after their traditional 4BBB while the men played their greensomes.

Women’s 4BBB & Autumn Meeting

Twenty of us gathered to welcome in the autumn golfing season with our 4BBB pairs competition. We were blessed with beautiful late summer sunshine which helped to offset the fact that the greens were recently spiked. The warm sun certainly helped to warm up Captain Val’s long rested muscles and with her European partner Katharina Katte won the day with a fabulous 50 points. (23/27), a clear 8 points ahead of the runners up Julie Ryan and Monique Hubaille (another European) who scored a very healthy 42 points, a clear 3 point lead from the rest of the field. They were all rewarded with the very generous Fushi Beauty & Well-being Vouchers, a donation made to the Women’s section by Rannesh Jansari.

We took the opportunity to award our Monthly Medal & Autumn Medal prizes also.
Our Autumn Medal round was won significantly by our new member Sylvia Bartoli with a gross 73 & net 62 but good old Jane Fraser retained her bridesmaid position with a very normal decent gross of 88, net 74.
Our May & June Monthly medals were awarded to Sheena , April to Donna Wilson, July to Avi and August to Ali.

Captain Val

and finally…. one playing highlight was Silvia’s eagle on the 13th with her second shot from way back just staying off the green where the game in front were putting. She then rammed the putt home literally – had it not hit the flagstick and dropped it would have been off the green. Sadly with no shot it was just a 4 pointer.

Men – Burgess Cup

Some very good golf indeed was played – notably by the winners Nick R and Peter J (past and current Treasurer) with 52 yes 52 points; they took most honours – front 25, back 27 and 13 points on the 3 par 3s; 8 points adrift Roger R and Nigel W returned excellent 44 points; third and alone on 42 were Marnix and Richard Y.

First 6 pairs share sweep.

The sweep was played in unseasonably warm post-Eqinox conditions and only the bumpy greens, following hollow-coring, were an excuse for modest scoring, especially as the rough has died down further. Cheryl took the honours with 36 points, two ahead of Ted on 34 points, with Rannesh and yours truly a further point back on 33 points. Sweep pay out to the top 2.

Pair comps can always do with a bit planning/strategy.

Whatever plan Rick/Henry came up with it worked. 1 Eagle (9th) and 4 birdies over 17 holes would make any pro happy (quite incredible that it takes a low single HI and a player who shouldn’t be playing off 10 playing a Better Ball format to get anywhere near a professional’s score …). The pair racked up 24pts on the front 9. Looks like the today’s winners didn’t have a plan for the 18th hole. An untidy 5 capped their score to 23pts on the back 9. Angus/Colm finish just 1pt behind today’s winners. They carded an eagle too (14th). But their round was a mirror image of Rick/Henry: 22 out and 24 in.  Jeremy/Stephen also scored 46pts. But their score of 22pts on the back 9 force them into 3rd place. Finally 4th place goes to Seymour/Pete with 45pts.

Oliver K and partner Richard Y battled fiercely with their buggy in the rough at par 3 11th; stuck, the solution proved to be to reverse. A snap below from 12th fairway captures the moment of frustration.

To say that the greens have seen better days is an understatement. Putting proved tricky on the sandy greens (did you know that the football pitch at the Camp Nou uses a lot of sand underneath the grass? The opponents of FC Barcelona therefore call it “the green beach”). On top of that the floodgates opened around 1.30pm. So what started out as a pleasant day took a bit of a nasty turn.

Women

A double-handed report with Deb kindly checking the cards and providing the weather analysis. Gather there was rather a deluge from about the 14th onwards for all whereas in north Norfolk the sun has stayed out all day.

Doesn’t look like the change in weather conditions did anything to dampen Silvia’s round of a stunning gross 73 and a net of 62 just 10 shots clear of Jane. So needless to say Silvia has win this month’s medal from Jane in 2nd spot.

This being only Silvia’s 5th round with us, means that WHS uses her lowest score for her handicap index, so next week will be playing off 2.5. Further information indicates that having previously played off 5 this won’t be as daunting for her as it would be the rest of us

Men

Clear winner is Steve Cross with an excellent score of 63 Net. 3 players finished on 65 Net. Countback rule decides that Colm takes second ahead of James and Roger (no Roger the price for the driver shaft doesn’t change). Paul K takes 6th. Ross had 4 birdies on his way to 7th place. The prize of the unluckiest player has to go to Mike Shabani. He could’ve won yesterday’s comp by a wide margin had he not dropped 8 shots in the last 4 holes.

Colm wins the GMT with a score of 263 ahead of Ross (268) and Brian McM (270).

The remnants of yesterday’s rain could only be noticed on the 11th green. The green keeping staff were quite eager to add extra sand in order to not upset the airing process. That also meant that putting was tricky on certain occasions. That being said today’s scoring was excellent.

Cheryl and Richard were in the same game and seemed to inspire each other. A remarkable 64 by Cheryl makes her today’s winner (keep that form going until the regional final of the Hawtree please). Richard Smith’s only blemish came on the 15th hole. Apparently he decided to approach the green from the 17th fairway. But his second shot didn’t make it back on the correct fairway. An untidy 7 and 2nd place today were the result.  Uli showed that his good form from last Saturday at Tricky Ricky was no fluke. The countback rule places him at the head of a group of players with scores of nett 66. Leader in the clubhouse Bruno had the best front 9 (+2 gross). Ross managed to record 5 birdies on his way to the lowest gross score today. Finally Julie holed her approach on the 15th for a birdie. Only one 2 was recorded (on the 16th by Thierry).

Midweek Grand Medal Standings (Best 5 out of 8):

Cheryl W (350), Angus R (352). Chris J (354), Jeremy R (355)

A very pleasant September day for the Club’s Silver Jubilee competition – not too hot and sunny and v little wind as graph at bottom of results shows.

Possibly inspired by Emma Radukanu’s amazing achievement in tennis the previous day. Robert C shot an extraordinary 58 to win by 4 from an impressive 62 from Thierry. Robert’s handicap index drops from 35.9 to 17.3- by 8.6 shots! I believe this is first ESR adjustment of -2.0 . With greens hollow tined, putting was at times tricky and variable in pace.

John M played his best golf for a long time and headed on countback 2 other 65s from Peter G and Gina.

This was final 4th Jubilee in the Anniversary Cup (best 3 counting) and we see there is a tie with Gina and Richard I both 202; well done to both esp. not NRing and keeping in the Cup.

Andrew W added an eagle at 17 per attached men’s eagles report. OK, off forward tee but still an amazing achievement.

From memory it was a cloudy morning but brightened up in the afternoon. I don’t know whether there were any rain showers at the park but there was certainly 30minutes of rain in Cheam at exactly the time I was walking my 4year old grandson home from school – without coats or an umbrella we got soaked.

Anyway, the scores were good for most of the field and it was particularly pleasing to see Teddy’s return to form with 41 points and solid rounds from Seymour and Andrew. Recent new member Rob Carlile pipped Teddy on countback and is certainly the man in form, as he also won yesterday’s RPGC medal competition on Dukes with an astounding net 58; the good news for us all is that his handicap index has now been reduced by 11.3 strokes (to 17.3).

Another hot sunny day for the Fred Hawtree Cup. Indeed as graph bottom results shows this was the hottest of last 3 days @ > 30C; but the fall in barometric pressure guaranteed the fine spell would end. And so it did with rain by evening.

Back in the 1920s Fred Hawtree worked with J H Taylor on the design of both courses.  In recognition of the Hawtree involvement the Wednesday format was bogey, a stern test of golf.

 But some still excelled – notably winner Toby 5 up on countback from Rob D with Richard O 4 up and Chris J 3 up.; best woman Alison 2 up [but Gina way down the scoreboard for a change].

Indeed, the 10:19 3-ball of Toby, Chris J and Richard N monopolised the 6 awarded sweep prizes.

Cheryl and Elisabeth mentioned in despatches in Best Scores Analysis report.

Warm and sunny summer conditions returned for the Autumn Plate – as bottom of results confirms with temp > 26C and barometer reading rising.

Gina won the plate with 39 points on countback from Richard B (last 3 holes) and Naveed (back 9). Gina’s back 9 21 points was only eclipsed by Pierpaolo’s 22.


Secretary Peter H had the misfortune of his electric trolley wandering into the drink at 18th. An MP4 video of the aftermath is attached (other videos are available). Apparently trolley still worked after ( with Glendale assistance) fished out but 6 iron left in water and mobile phone thoroughly soaked. Glendale sponsored a cup of tea.

Subsequently White Knight Kerry S came to the rescue retrieving Peter’s 6 iron (and pitching wedge ) back. He fished them out of pond .