A warm sunny day without significant wind – ideal for golf.

Naveed continued his fine form in the Midweek Club Championship with a gross 71 (3 over par) to win comfortably with 39 points. Taking 2nd place (after a score entry correction) was Charlie Haines on 36 points. Gerrard Quinn takes 3rd place on countback, being the best of 3 players on 35 points – the 18th hole being critical. (Gerrard got his 2 points, Mike Assender followed up his consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th with a double bogey 6 for 1 point, and Mike Jones had a blob).

We were fortunate to have a lovely day to play the second round of the M/W Club Championship. The dew for the early starters lifted fairly quickly.
A field of 46 contested the outcome with several players finding the going rather tough.

The net results for the day show no surprise that Richard Young (playing off 27) recorded the best score with his seven under net 65.  Richard last matched his best score over twelve months ago and in turn he matched an identical score another twelve months earlier.  The runner up to Richard was Alison Chadwick (playing off 29) with a four under net 68 and losing out on the countback Sheena Harrington (playing off 19) finished in third place with her net 68. 

For the gross results of the day the senior division Naveed Manazir returned with the day’s leading score, an eight over par gross 79.  Chasing hard was Angus Robertson with his gross 80 and in third place George Taylor finished with his gross 83. 

In the junior division gross Richard Young played to seven under his handicap for the best score on the day with his gross 92.  Stephen Haworth and Dave Cato both finished as close runner ups with a pair of 94s. 

Of course, the final result for the 36 hole event takes account of the two rounds and for 2024 we see that :

• Our senior Midweek Club Champion is Naveed who secured two winning scores of 75 and 79 for an aggregate total of 154.  Angus finished in joint second place with his two scores of 78 plus 80 to record a total of 158, and joining Angus on 158 it was indeed George with rounds of 75 and 83.      

• Our junior Midweek Club Champion is Dave Cato heading the leaderboard with rounds of 89 and 94 for a total of 183.  Colin Price finished as the runner up with scores of 92 and 96 for a total of 188, and Tom Rose was third with rounds of 89 and 104 for his total of 193. 

The women’s scratch was won by Gine Jillett 166 with Sheena Harrington runner-up 177.

The Midweek Handicap Trophy is awarded to the player with the best aggregate net result, subject to one proviso.  Our player with the best aggregate net result was Michael Hayden with his two sub-handicap scores of 64 and 71 for an impressive total of135.

  Unfortunately for Michael he did not meet the qualifying proviso of three midweek rounds played in the period from 1st Jan 2024 and it follows that the trophy will be collected by Angus who was consistent with two net 69s for his aggregate total of 138.  Following Angus were the duo of Naveed and George who shared the runner up position with aggregates of 139.             

A fresh sunny day after rains from yesterday for the Bank Holiday Plate. Greens slowish but mowed.

A sterling performance from the winner Richard Owen 39 points with 2 birdies – the one at 12th being a ‘chip-in’. Onursal Soyer was a point behind on 38 and won back 9 honours 20 in spite of a ‘blob’ at14th. Caroline Stilwell came 3rd with a fine 37 points in another fine round . 3 had 36 points – Mel Dunn. Deborah Potter and Richard Young. Henry Lindesay-Bthune took back 9 honours 22 points.

Well done to Mel for his eagle 3 off whites at 17th his 2nd Sunday eagle this year 9th overall per attached.

After overnight rain, it was a dry, mainly sunny, very windy but not unpleasant day for golf on the Duke’s course.

Scores were probably depressed a little by the wind and the top three all scored 36 points, 3 clear of Cheryl and Teddy, both on 33 points. Colin Price came out top on countback (17 out and 19 back), Richard Owen 2nd with 19 out and 17 back, and Leigh Drake 3rd with 20 out and 16 back. There were just 2 birdies, Colin’s 2 on the 10th and Naveed’s 3 on the index 1 14th.

Sweep pay out to the top 3.

Weather was kind but the holes were in the wrong places and even the greens on some holes!!
However, some players found everything to their liking. It’s easy to run up a cricket score if you got into a tight spot as many players found out. The greens were rather slow due to not having been cut for today but I’m sure Dukes greens will be better next week.
Next Wednesday is round 2 on Dukes so we must all pray for good conditions with no rain on the day. Scores will be joined with todays scores. Both Net and gross.
Well done to those having good score.

Clouds melted to give a sunny and fresher day than of late for the President’s Putter. Good turnout of 62 considering NAPGC commitments of some and peak holiday season.

As with last week, women featured strongly on the leaderboard with 3 in the top 4 positions; the winner on countback with 41 points was Igor Lanzargorte from Caroline Stilwell. Igor steady on both 9s but an excellent front 9 – 23 points including birdie and NTP at 2^nd (see further below re prizes)  from Caroline. Next on 40 points was Avi Murphy – truly excellent and Avi shares the front 9 honours with Caroline. Reiko Hashimoto was the next woman on 39 points. 5 shared 38 points with Peter Harrison the leader on countback from Tony Kopczak, Alex Catlow, Ben Dickey and Tom Simpkins. A mention for Chris Mellish who had 5 birdies outweighed by 7 ‘blobs’.

Our President not present but 7 novelty prizes as below – and note Ray’s eagle a 9^th– well done indeed! 2^nd men’s eagle at the hole this year and 9 so far recorded [see attached] . Well done Goran for 2 prizes!

Hole     

2             NTP                       Caroline Stillwell

4             NTP                       Alex Catlow

9             NTP in 3               Ray Esin (in hole – Eagle!)

11           NTP                       Goran Kovacevic

13           NTP                       Kenny Du

16           NTP                       George Taylor

18           NTP in 2               Goran Kovacevic

For the men this was 5^th To Dog competition and by division:

Senior: Will Balakrishnan leads 28 pts from Alan K 20 with Kerry and Ben 16

Junior:Gunnar Sundberg still leads 18 from Richard Inglis 16 and then a chasing pack of 4 on 12.

Each of us was given a set of 7 clubs including a driver and a putter and it was definitely a struggle for most. Perhaps sending us home with a greater regard for the players of yesteryear. Especially when combined with less forgiving clothing and courses that probably in comparison make RP look to be fantastic.

More images can be found on https://www.richmondparkgolfclub.org.uk/2024-people-and-events/ eventually videos will also be uploaded.

Of course there was one amongst us for whom the day didn’t seem to present that much of a challenge & that despite one of his 4-ball trying to take him out with a whack on the back of his head. Huge congratulations to Richard Smith for his amazing 38 points and comfortable 7 point margin for the win.
To encourage midweek & green fee payers to participate, the club offered a concessionary rate and the 2 5-day players made the most of this offer. In 2nd spot on 31 points was Bill Norman with Giles Rawlinson being the better of the 4 on 28 points to take 3rd place.

It is a fact that the back 9 generally plays a lot easier than the front 9 (the 7th & 8th were again the 2 hardest holes for everyone) and today there were some spectacular differences. Partly no doubt as we were getting more used to the clubs.
Despite the generally low scoring there were 12 birdies amongst the group. Richard Owen’s on the 2nd was no doubt the most impressive after his tee shot left him in a very grassy spot on the back of the bunker on the left. A spectacular chip sent it through the air and into the hole, but alas not winning one of the NTP prizes

And finally it was lovely to see Jon Cooper today who was the organiser of our hickory event 10 years ago and hopefully the NHS can get him back playing.

The day started with light rain but as predicted became dry and pleasant.
Scoring was generally good with over half the field scoring 30+.
Colin Price was out to beat his own age but apparently missed out by one, howver he topped the scoring with a sparkling 42 points. Wishing he had entered the sweep!!
Tom Simpkins , Chris Rudkin and Richard Marriott all scored 40 points but Tom came second on countback with Richard 3rd. Ed Robinson just pipped Bridget Stone both on 36 points. Well done Bridget being the leading lady.
A mention about Ian Burgess who scored a 4 on the 4th hole for 4 points. Must be his lucky number!
Jeremy Prescot got a 2 on the 10th for 4 points.

A very warm day for the Diamond Jubilee.

A fine 66 off 19 earned David Grace the trophy; some excellent rounds from 2 women followed – Pat Barbour 69 and Doreen Dolby 70 – well done ladies! Peter Harrison and George Taylor followed with 70s beaten on countback with George dropping just 1 shot on front 9. New club champion Will Balakrishnan took back 9 honours of 37 (1 over)
This was 3rd of 5 Jubilees in the Anniversary Cup and with his 73 today Gunnar Sundberg has stablished a 2 shot lead on 220 from Mike Assender and Paul Kamerling.

A good turnout of 67.