A ‘proper’ winter day – cold but sunny with a chill wind. Conditions underfoot could have been a lot worse and there were still 2 temporary greens in use rendering the comps as non-qualifiers. Rain clouds missing the Park brought out a rainbow mid-afternoon:

Women’s

The least said about the women’s scoring today the better! It looked like it would be won with 27 points, only for Silvia to be DQ’d as she forgot to sign her card. She had already expressed her chagrin at winning with such a score and has subsequently suggested it was an unconscious reaction!! So in the end the win was with a magnificent 25 points.

Expecting the course to be a complete mudbath, we took the shot below of our shoes before starting – they were all in fact black shoes already covered in mud (not offwhite), but although some holes were decidedly wet we finished with shoes in no worse state.

To add to this, Gina also managed to improve her eclectic score by 7.6 to leapfrog Silvia whose first round had seemed hard to beat. The rest of the pack are some way off.

Men

Peter Goodall’s excellent form continued with fresh clubs – winner of Senior division with 40 points; Peter started with a birdie, scrubbed 2 holes and finished back 9 level par. 23 points with par at SI 1 14th – super golf. Peter was chased by 38s from Oz, Paul K and James P.

Highest points went to Pierpaulo – 43, winner of Junior division from Giovanni with Gunnar and Gregory 34s

The associated Eclectic after 2 rounds on Dukes is headed by Raymond 66.9 off 5.1 from James P 68.1.

After 4 rounds of the Winter Comp, Will B leads Raymond 108 from 106 in Senior division whilst in Junior Giovanni 111 leads Pierpaulo 108.

Sadly this much anticipated competition had to be cancelled when the klaxon sounded at 9.30 to close the course as the fog rolled in.

Prince’s didn’t seem to have coped with the rain as well as Duke’s which always seems odd as it’s the higher of the 2 courses and signs of the water table getting higher were evident with some water back in the pond on the 10th.

Women

Pat’s best ever round since she joined us has deservedly put her top of the pile today with 39 points. A score that some of us can only dream of! Cheryl & Joan’s dreams are pretty on track with 37 and 36 points respectively.

Pat will see her HI drop to 30.5 tomorrow and Cheryl and Joan also get a drop.

The eclectic sees Susan at the top at this very early stage.

Men

This first round of the Winter competition saw Brendan overall winner and leader of the Senior division 40pts; he was chased in the division by 38s from Nigel W, Will B and Russell S

In the Junior division Giovanni leads on back 9 39pts from Paul Green and then Nigel G and TomS 37s.

Initial Prince’s Eclectic off 1/2 hcap shows Armi (off 0.5) a half-shot ahead from Jay who in turn a tenth of a shot from Brendan 69.0 . But early days with most having ‘NR’ due to at least 1 hole Nr’d.

The last of the Saturday events on the calendar and the sole surviving pure foursomes event with awards at the annual dinner for both gross and net winners.

Don’t think we could have been luckier with the weather as it was drizzling by the time I left, but pity the bunkers were so compacted after the recent rain.
The sausage roll before we went out was very tasty and trust everyone else who had one of these or a bacon roll also enjoyed theirs. It was also good to be able to sit outside as we gathered afterwards for a drink. There was certainly a lot of laughs around the table which could have been down to discussing the worst or even best holes played – Justin and Susan’s 7th for example where Susan had to get out of the same bunker twice (sorry guys!!) or perhaps Avi deciding to jettison Patrick for Peter in the next foursomes comp!

But to the results…. a close run thing in both the net and gross competitions.
The net winners are Peter and Cheryl with a 71 beating Brendan and Sheena on the back 9 & this with both an 8 and 9 on their card but probably made up for these with a couple of birdies.

In the gross comp Brendan and Sheena had an 84 to beat Nick and Ronnie by 1

Prizes will be awarded at the annual dinner for the winners & runners-up in the nett comp and for the winners in the gross

A balmy day greeted the pairs in this Saturday event which started with bacon rolls and a tea/coffee before the games followed by drinks enjoyed in the afternoon sun.

Good scoring from most pairs again today with a quick analysis of the scores showing that there were 6 birdies on the 8th and 5 on the 17th (less of a surprise here especially with the white tee being forward – though it didn’t help everyone (Roger!!)
Quite surprising though was the 8th playing as the hardest hole followed by the 7th – though not for our winners who got a birdie on the 7th.

I hope you all enjoyed your game today and had fun, although as Henry said, it did seem that those who didn’t play their best were the ones talking about the fun they had. Certainly true for your author’s game!

There was a hint of autumn in the air today with that wind being a touch chilly.

Women

Some new names at the top of the tree today.
Sarita playing in her first competition with us is today’s winner with a nett 66 & another cut to her HI. 4 shots behind were Elisabeth and Bridget.

Take care playing the 18th – Elisabeth was hit a glancing blow to her ear and seems fortunate to have got away quite lightly.

Both will also get small HI reductions overnight.

The sun only seemed to make a proper appearance after we’d finished. But the ball is still running though there is a touch more give in the ground and amazingly the 14th & 15th fairways seemed to show a lot of improvement.

Looking at the scoring today there were some 22 quadruple or worse scores on various holes between us & not one birdie.

Men

Conditions remained dry but breezy and green grass areas continued to expand for the 7th round of Grand Medal Trophy.

In the senior division Adrian Wells net 61 was leader on countback from Kerry Sargeant; well done to both – Adrian kept a six off his card with one birdie whilst Kerry returned 3 birdies. Early starter Russell, Roger Rojas and Richard Smith shared 64s.
Zach score an eagle at 9th!

In the junior division Goran had lowest net of the day 60 finishing a superb round with a back 9 38. Pete Malia had a commendable net 65.

In the cumulative Grand Medal Trophy with just 1 round to go, James A leads senior division 34 from Paul Kamerling and Kerry Sargeant 343s.

There’s an exciting finish coming up for the junior division — Julin J, Goran are tied 327 with the author chasing on 337.

First of the 2 rounds of the Club Championship for the men and women and another hot day on the barren fairways of the Park cooled by a wind that could be somewhat blustery at times.

Women

Silvia had a great front 9 usually the harder of the 2 9s on Prince’s, dropping only 2 shots her double bogey being compensated for by the 2 birdies. She is 2 shots clear of Ronnie in 2nd spot who has timed her return to form with perfection.

With a nett 65 Ronnie also leads in the Handicap Cup on a pretty healthy cushion of 4 shots going into the second round.
In the junior division for the Pembroke Cup, things are a little closer with Katharina leading the way on a 72, 2 shots ahead of Jenny.

Men

In the CC1 scratch, Richard Back (37 out 37 in) emerged the leader 74 in the Senior division- well done! Brian McMahon and Chis Saloway followed with 75s; these followed Roger Rojas and Henry L-B 76s Roger had 5 birdies and this also propelled him to the top of[detailed] men’s Sunday birdies below.

The Junior division is headed by Tony Koczak 85 from Phil Flanagan and Dave Chilvers 86s and no fewer than 4 88 so tight for round 2.

Best front 9:Paul Kammerling 36 , best back 9 Brian.

In the handicap trophy , Pat leads with his amazing 62 pursued by Tony K and Kevin Prendergast 63s.

This was played on 23rd July at Sherfield Oaks. Richmond Park ended up with just one representative, but we didn’t need any more! Caroline won the Bronze Division with a net 66.