Conditions continued to be hot, sunny and dry with grass progressively browner with much run and sometimes random bounce.

Women

Some interesting numbers on various cards today. Lia started a sequence of scores going in the wrong direction from the 4th with a 3 and finishing on the 9th where she switched the 8 & 7 scores around, so was at least going back in the right direction for the start of the back 9. Gina meanwhile was in trickshot mode. She fired her 11th tee shot into the trees on the left, only for the ball to fly back out onto the fairway having smacked a tree trunk hard – & got her 3. Next par 3 her tee shot hit the concrete base for the mat and ricocheted back behind where she was standing (very fortunate it went at an angle and not straight back at her) – she made a 4 and only dropped 4 shots in total on the back 9.

But it was Jenny who came out top today with a net 68 which could have been a whole lot better without the nasty 9 on the 7th. Julie and Gina were 2 back on 70s in 2nd & 3rd place respectively.

Men

Colm Ivors opened his top drawer to pull out another class round to win with 61 points; just beaten on countback was Charlie Whiteman also 61 but could have been in the mid-fifties if not for finishing 7-7. An excellent consistent 62 placed Peter Goodall 3rd with 62 points grossing 37 out and in, doubling as best front and back 9 gross.

Congrats to Kim for clambering up the Eagle tree with eagle at 9th.

This was 5th (of 8) rounds in the Grand Medal Trophy and we find 3 tied on 345 -Julian James, Peter Harrington and Goran Kovacevic.

Fair conditions greeted competitors for a reduced field (due NAPGC?) Diamond Jubilee.

Alex Braun excelled with a63 – well done Alex! Ben Dickey put in a strong 66 to edge out John Morris on countback. 2 women had 67s – Lia and Sheena along with Paul Kammerling. Paul , Sheena and Richard Inglis had 2 birdies apiece whilst last year’s captain Kim alone had best front 9 37.

This was 2nd (of 4) Jubilees in the Anniversary Cup and John Morris 135 edges the Richards Smith and Inglis.

With a number electing not to be in the sweep, payouts went down to 13th position.

A good turnout of 77 was greeted by very breezy with sunny intervals conditions for the Shaw Cup.

Duncan Taylor emerged winner with a super 44 points that could have been better but for a 7 and 8; likewise for a very competent 42 from Pat Dalton who ‘blobbed’ a couple of holes. Countback distinguished Richard Owen from Charlie Whiteman and Susan Smith. Special mention to Susan Smith who had 27 points going out with 3 points at each hole! What happened on the back?

There were 2 eagle per attached report – Colm Ivors on 9th and (a truly remarkable achievement ) Richard Smith on par 4 SI 1 7th.

Needless to say with the 14th on a temporary tee at 186 yards to the pin (& therefore shorter than the previous par 3 hole) a shot to the green would be on most people’s mind, but it wasn’t quite so easy with a mere 11 birdies recorded!

Duncan heads men’s Top Dog with 24 points with Goran 12 and Charlie 10 nearest chasers.

Looking at the results it looks like the RPGC players seem to benefit (a lot) from the extra distance. The roll on the fairways was ever present. Controlling fringes/greens seemed less of an issue for most players. If only Glendale had a large water reservoir to soften fairways, fringes and greens …  (may be they should’ve copied PDH’s idea about the reservoir on the 12th fairway …).

Back to the order of business. 1st person to hand in the cool badge (too much listening to Absolute radio on the way to the golf) is yours truly. I had to play my 3rd shot on the 1st hole from the green side bunker … from the 1st hole on Princes. Now that you all had your 5s of fun we can mention some real golfing highlights. 4 players managed to score 42pts. Even though he was invited/urged not to take Duke’s apart Tamas did the opposite. 2 birdies, 20pts on the way out and 22pts on the way in. Just enough to take victory today. Peppe covered quite a bit of ground of the Duke’s course. But somehow he also scored 42pts. His round was the mirror image of Tamas’ round (22+20). Chris Rough had 2 birdies on the front 9 en route to 23pts. An ugly 7-8 finish on the last 2 holes means he only finished 3rd. Stephen had an outstanding front 9 (26pts). Alas he scored no points on holes 10&14. This halted his march to (certain) victory. Julian and Chris Rudkin are the ultimate players to finish “In The Money”. Shout-out to Silvia who had 4 birdies (3 of the 5 Par 5’s) today.

Tamas (157pts) also takes the provisional lead in the MW Founders Cup ahead of Juho (151), Mayumi (148) and Richard O (143).

Quite surprisingly Hole 18 played as SI2 today (cf. Competition Scoring Analysis).

Please find attached a PDF report of the results, Best Score Analysis and Competition Scoring Analysis.

Fresher conditions prevailed in contrast to the heatwave on Friday, Some truly excellent scoring but still 13 NRs.

Following the precedent of Sheena’s 57 last year in the event, Fiona Coombe returned an amazing 60 to win and had an ESR of -1 (almost -2.0) with h’cap reducing from27.8 to 25.5 – well done Fiona! Improver Goran took second place whilst countback separated Patrick Murphy from Charlie Whiteman with 64s. Patrick and Charlie both had 9s – on 4th and18th respectively.

Prizes for the 1st and 2nd placed men and women are awarded by their respective captain at the annual prizegiving dinner.

The Captains set some challenges as below. A drink and chips were on offer for everyone after their round.

MEN:
Putting challenge – Roger Rojas, 23 putts
Nearest the Pin in 2 (hole 6) – George Taylor
Nearest the pin Hole 16 – George Taylor
Longest Drive on hole 12 – Andrew Watson

WOMEN:
Putting Challenge – Avi Murphy , 29 putts
Nearest the pin (hole10) – Monique Hubaille
Nearest the pin in 3 (hole 8) – Sylvia Bortoli
Nearest the pin Hole 16 – Nobody.

Analysis of some scores reveals 3 38s (3 over par) for some also-rans : Kim, Kerry and Richard Smith.

This was the 2nd event in the men’s’ Top Dog’ [attached] showing Goran and Duncan Taylor tied 12 points with Patrick and Toby 8 points.

A reduced field enjoyed near perfect golfing conditions. The high temperatures created some extra carry. And even the fairways and greens they offered a (surprisingly) nice combination of extra roll and sufficient grip on the putting surfaces. As a result scoring overall proved to be very competitive.

Kim Chaffart neither had the best front 9 nor the best back 9. But 20pts out (despite an ugly DB on the 7th) and 21pts (with a lucky birdie on the 12th) put him 1pts clear of runner-up Pat Dalton. 3 players finished on 39pts. The countback ranks Chris, Richard and Jeremy in places 3 to 5. Julie Ryan just finishes out of the Money Spots but she recorded the best back 9 (22pts). Susan Smith on the other hand netted the best front 9 (22pts also). Alan C will have some serious regrets about his No Score on the 18th hole. In a preview of Sunday’s Captain’s Day the Men’s Captain, John Ahad, used an excellent back 9 (21pts) to edge out the Women’s Captain, Sheena. Let’s get ready for the Sunday rumble!  2 eagles were recorded today. Colm opened his round with a bang by scoring a 2 on the 1st hole. Nearly half (5pts) of his points total on the way out (11pts) were recorded on this hole. Richard Young managed to score 5pts on 2 holes. A birdie on the 5th initiated an excellent finish on the back 9. An eagle on the 14th unfortunately ended his run on the back 9.

A mixed day weatherwise with gusty wind offset by warm sunny intervals. The sun definitely shone on our team in home leg friendly versus Rickmansworth GC( ‘Tricky Ricky’) winning 6-0.

Women

No debate over today’s winner who finished a mere 6 shots ahead of everyone else. With a net 64 Lia is the clear winner of today’s medal and will receive a .6 reduction to her handicap index tomorrow.

Well played Lia!

Men

A ‘prile’ of 64s headed the field with Raymond Esin winning on countback* from in-form Julian James from a sparkling Richard Young. Dave Chilvers followed with a glorious 65. Best Scores Analysis report shows an extraordinary back 9 for Raymond 1 over par 34 with 2 birdies.
Best gross on the day – Ross Hood.

Divisional results confirm Raymond winning Senior medal from last week’s winner Joe Gonclaves 66 whilst Julian James and Richard Young both 64s separated by software on countback.

This was 4th round of Grand Medal Trophy which reveals Peter Harrington now 272 ahead of Paul Kamerling 274 and Julian James 279.

*An academic departure – for medal (regular strokeplay) countback gives hall handicap for last 9, 1/3rd for back 6, 1/6th for last 3 and 1/18th for last hole. For stableford or bogey (still strokeplay) the points/ holes won already takes account of handicap. Medal far less likely to give tie after 18 due maths involved. One-off report attached for those interested.

The field faced some variable conditions. Especially the winds became stronger during the course of the day. On top of that the winds changed directions more frequently for the 9am starters.

None of this takes away any credit of Jay’ performance. A stable front 9 (18pts) was followed up by a splendid back 9 (22pts – 35 gross). He needed this strong stretch to hold off 2 competitors. Tamas’s round as a mirror image of Jay: 22pts (out) + 18pts (in). But he will have some serious regrets about the 17th hole (no points scored).  Kevin (Prendergast) does know to chose the right moment to peak. Playing a good round of golf during a competition remembering someone called … Prendergast. You cannot make this up. He torched the front 9 (24pts). Unfortunately he didn’t record any points on holes 11-12. He then settled down. A final tally of 16pts on the back means he “only” finishes 3rd. The Men’s Secretary recorded 3 4-pointers en route to 39pts and 4th place. Early starter Paul Green and Jeremy Ryan also finish on 39pts. The countback rule awards them 5th and 6th place respectively.

Provisional Standings MW Founders Cup: Juho Lim (145pts), Richard Owen (143), Gina Jillett (140), Jeremy Ryan (139), KSC (136).

Threatened rain did not materialise for the Club’s Platinum Jubilee competition (coinciding with Queen’s Jubilee).

Richard Inglis was top of the leader-board for quite some time but a classy round [ and lowest gross] of 62 from Joe Gonclaves took the honours with Duncan Taylor putting in a splendid 63 albeit possibly rueing 8 at 12th. Richard’s 65 took 3rd slot.Reiko first woman 70

It was a good day for eagles attached with congrats to Paul Green at 12th and Richard at 17.

This was first Jubilee of year of 4 so associated Anniversary Cup (3 from the 4) reflects the result.

I guess it is fair to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the better weather.

It should come as no surprise then that Gina became leader in the clubhouse with a very tidy score of Nett 63 (but she will have some regrets over her score on the 18th hole). Despite the floodgates opening on the 10am starters 3 of them managed to beat Gina’s mark. Tamas and Peter H finished with Nett scores of 62. An excellent back 9 (36 gross) awards 2nd place to Tamas. Their scores were only bettered by yours truly. A solid start (a rather unlikely but welcome birdie on the 3rd and a solid par on the 7th stand out) ended with an ugly bogey on the 9th. I then came back with score of level par (gross) on the back 9. 2 birdies (a spike mark helped to slow down my putt on the 17th) and some excellent scrambling (I believe I recorded just 11 putts on the last 9 holes) were some highlights. Mayumi (that HI will keep coming down if she keeps playing this way) and Juho round out the Top6. Brett Colley had the best front 9 (38 gross) but ran into trouble on the 17th.

MW Grand Medal Standings: Juho (273), Jeremy Ryan (286), Peter Goodall (287). Other players have only recorded 3 scores at best.