Heavy overnight rain and chilly winds made life pretty miserable for the field. The men failed to take advantage of the forward tees. One lady member hinted that this was an indication of the poor quality of the men’s short game (no prizes if you can guess her name. On second thought: the 1st male member who e-mails me the correct name of that member wins a sleeve of new/unused Taylor Made TP5 balls – send your answer to kchaffart@gmail.com – one entry per person).

Cheryl Woodhouse recorded 23pts on the back 9 (only blemish being a 1-pointer on the 17th hole). A total score of 39pts was matched by new member Damper. Cheryl’s better back 9 makes her today’s winner. As a reward her handicap finally gets a healthy cut down to 20. Damper’s receives an ESR taking his handicap down to 15. Richard Inglis was able to take 3rd place despite 3-putting 4 greens. Adrian Wells keeps up his good form by taking 4th place. Luke Baker (holing a monster birdie putt on 13 didn’t hurt) and JDR complete the Top6. Results…

Conditions proved to be tricky: CSS = 35pts !!!

Capitan vs Secretary
Even though the Top 2 were on the Secretary’s team he lost to the Captain (aka Kim Chaffart deputising for Nigel El Capitan) by a score of 714-695.

A very early sparkling 23 points posted by Mark Rosamund set the target in the midweek Champagne Chase in so-so conditions but at times blinding sunshine over 10 holes. But Adrian Wells really fizzed with 24 points to win the bottle of bubbly just edging an effervescent round from Seymour Laird on back 9. Brett Colley and Richard Norden also had flashes of brilliance with 23s. Results…

38 players entered the shoot-out over 10 holes at the Park. A comp over only 10 holes leaves very little room for error. Two players finished on 21pts. Russell had the more consistent round handing him victory today. Ollie’s birdie on the 7th could’ve served as launch pad. But unfortunately for him he went DB – Par – Bogey on the last 3 holes. So based on the countback rule he has to settle for 2nd. Luke should’ve joined/passed that group had it not been for a horrible finish: DB (7th), DB (8th), bogey (9th) and DB (10th). Keith and Kim also recorded 20pts but have to settle for 4th and 5th places respectively. Kerry’s 2 birdies set him up nicely for a 6th place finish. First lady today is Susan Smith. Results…

Frost cleared to leave a stunningly sunny day; a rest from rain for a week left conditions slightly less muddy.

Secretary Peter Harrington played a blinder in the last game for an amazing medal win on 64, knocking clubhouse leaders Paul Brown and Pralab Barua 67s into 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Well done Peter and a two shot handicap reduction. Results…

Hassan again claimed best gross – 75 and Sheena the best ladies’ (almost a hole in one at 11).

CSS was elevated two from SSS @ 69 men and 71 ladies.

Ladies

It was a dry sunny and chilly day for the Richmond Park Ladies December Team Event. 16 ladies played in 4 teams and the format was fun pink ball. Doubles point for the person playing with the pink ball which we rotated each hole and a penalty if a pink ball was lost.

Team 4 with Angela, Lia, Caroline and Joan came second with 103 points and Team 1 with Kinga, Tenesi, Jayne and Deborah came first with 109 points. Results…

We had lovely mulled wine and mince pies after the game.

Men

38 players faced nasty conditions: an abundance of mud, cold temperatures and swirling winds. The leaves made ball hunting very complicated. Only 6% of the field remained in their buffer. Read that again …. 6%! Therefore it should come as no surprise that today’s competition becomes “Reduction Only”.

Clear winner today is John Ahad with a solid round of 68 net. A solid front 9 and a decent back (until the 18th) are rewarded with 1st place. Best of the rest were Ollie Griffin and Keith Cassidy on 71 net. Ollie’s stronger back 9 puts him in 2nd. Early starter and leader in the clubhouse Mitch Cohen takes 4th. Looks like the secretary is preparing himself for the Captain v Secretary event in two weeks. May be his 5th place today is a sign for things to come. Adrian Wells closes out the Top6. Pete Harrison introduced a novel version of side spin by bouncing his tee-shot on the 2nd of the hoops on the right fringe. A bit of club head speed and a lot of Newton physics made sure his ball landed 2 feet away from the hole. Unfortunately for him he didn’t make the putt. No less than 8 birdies were recorded over the 4 par 3’s. Results…

CSS: 70 (Reduction Only Comp).

Muddy conditions prevailed and rain later caused some players to walk in. With 6 temporary greens the event became non-qualifying for handicapping.

40 points was a very creditable score from early starter Brett Colley who wins followed by Mitch Cohen 38 and Hassan 37. Newly accustomed to better conditions abroad, Sheena flew the ladies’ flag. Results…

After two rounds now played of the Midweek Winter Competition (best 3 from 8 with at least 1 rnd on each course), with 44s last week, Pralab and Richard Norden head the field on 74 and 73 respectively. Early to make a show is Mitch also 73. R2 Leader board…

In the first round of the associated Midweek Duke’s Eclectic (favouring lower handicaps), Hassan leads on 72.5 a full shot from Brett (1/2 handicap allowance). R1 Leader board…

Six (!) temporary greens didn’t scare off 42 players. Conditions were pretty surreal: no roll on the fairways (which probably helped on errant drives for the men), temporary greens on 3, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and mud galore were just some challenges. At least the temperatures were milder than the last couple of weeks.

Rick Kimber recorded 21pts on front and back 9 on route to a decisive win (he even managed to not score any points on 2 holes. Habib had 4 (!) birdies on the front 9. A score of level par gross translates into 25pts !!!. The start of the back 9 was steady but four -pointers between holes 13 to 16 got the better of him. The fact that JDR birdied the 16th really added insult to injury. He recovered really well on the 17th but then lost the will to live on the 18th. A timely birdie on the 18th gave Ollie 19pts on the back 9 and 3rd place. Sunny was the second player on 36pts. But the countback rule means he has to settle for 4th. Tony, fully recovered from his kidney stones takes 5th. Mark Bean completes the Top6. Results…

Thanks to 22pts on the back 9 Tenesi becomes 1st lady.
No less than 4 birdies were recorded on the 16th hole (which a had a hole in the fairway serving as temp green …).

Finally:
4 players didn’t pay entry fees: Evgeny Vd Geest, John Rigo, Marco Tabanella and Gregory Jean-Baptiste. So they are not in the comp. Rather silly since Evgeny and Marco would’ve easily finished in the Top6.

Conditions proved tricky except for 2 players (Cf. CSS below). It was a case of Richard and Pralab vs the rest of the field.

Pralab returned an incredible 22pts on front and back 9. He recorded two 4-pointers and six 3-pointers. Quite remarkable. Pralab’s handicap drops 3 strokes to 16. What’s even more staggering is that Pralab didn’t even win today’s comp. Richard Norden recorded 26pts !!!! on the back 9. That unbelievable back 9 allows him to beat Pralab on countback. To put things in perspective: Richard recorded one 4-pointer and eight 3-pointers … Richard also gets an ESR and his new handicap now stands at 25. Best of the rest was Luke Baker (38pts). A couple of loose putts prevented Richard Hodgkinson from scoring more than 38pts. Mitch and Tamas complete the Top6. First lady was Alison Chadwick. Results…

CSS: 36pts (7/37 in buffer)

Midweek Winter Competition:
cf. today comp result. R1 Leader board…

Midweek Prince’s Eclectic
Pralab (71). Luke (74), Richard N (75). R1 Leader board…

Ladies

Prince’s may have been a little drier underfoot with no temporaries but it wasn’t a whole lot easier for the ladies. The top score was again 32 points and in a repeat of last week, was won by Cheryl Woodhouse. The competition ended as a reduction only with CSS moving to 34 points. The compensation for the low scores was the sun coming out to make the autumn colours of the trees look at their best. Results…

Sheena Harrington was one point behind Cheryl, but with a lower handicap swaps places with her in the associated Eclectic. R1 Leader board…

Men

Cool temperatures and mud didn’t scare off the players today. No less than 49 players enjoyed some dry/drier conditions. But scoring proved to be challenging.

Tony Bergqvist used 21pts on the back 9 to win today’s comp. Seong Lim followed his example and came home in +3 gross (19pts) to claim second. Kim Chaffart beat Joseph Murphy (who could’ve done a better job recording his score on the computer at the club) and Toby on countback to take 3rd place. Another trio followed on 35pts. Mike Shabani closed out the Top6. Results…

A note of sympathy to MW Captain, John Ahad. He walked off the 16th green with 35pts. I believe he’d rather forget about the last 2 holes. Also, it was a nice/welcome surprise to greet our Capitan back at the club after successful surgery.

CSS: 37pts (11/49 in the buffer)

Winter Competition
Ollie Griffin (72pts), Toby Hunt (70pts), Peter Needham (69pts), Richard Owen (68pts), HLB (68pts). R2 Leader board…

Prince’s Eclectic
HLB (72), Pete Harrison (73), Ollie Griffin (73), Tamas Ladacs (75). R1 Leader board…

Ladies

Although conditions overhead made for a sunny day, those underfoot were decidedly different and the competition was a non-qualifier due to the number of temporary greens.

The scoring reflects the sogginess and lack of run on the ball with top spot being a close battle between Cheryl Woodhouse and Alison Chadwick on 33 points, with Cheryl taking the honours on the back 6 – a birdie at the last definitely helping. Despite a 3 shot cut last week to her handicap Jess Dunton-Rose still managed 3rd spot on 31. Results…

It being the first round of the Eclectic there are many currently shown as NR as they picked up but there were a number of birdies and pars scored on the holes that did get completed. Angela Flynn is one shot in the lead at present. R1 Leader board…

Men

This week’s rain wreaked havoc on the course forcing the greenkeeper to install no less than 3 temporary greens. Therefore today’s competition became Non-Qualifying for handicap purposes.

But the competition does count towards the winter comp so recording a good score today didn’t hurt.

Tamas and Henry marked each other’s cards and by some weird coincidence (?) both of them recorded excellent scores. Tamas recorded 9 3-pointers and just one blob. So no surprise to see him rack up 39pts to finish first. Ollie managed to birdie one of the temporary greens (11th) on his way to 38pts and 2nd place. Robin Thomas confirms his excellent form to claim 3rd (also with 38pts). Final man on 38pts was HLB. Pete Needham’s length off the tee helped him to secure 5th place (37pts). Pete Harrison used up his full stroke allowance on the front 9. But completing the back 9 in level par allows him to finish in 6th place. Results…

CSS: N/A

Winter Competition ranking: cf. today’s results. R1 Leader board…

Duke’s Eclectic: HLB (72), Pete Harrison (73), Ollie Griffin (73), Tamas Ladacs (75). R1 Leader board…

Let’s hope for some drier weather …