Conditions were somewhat affected by the wind – longer payers e.g. Hussan reaching par 5 9th with driver and wedge. Common to all were the greens (pacy -rare at RP) with evidence still of tining and sanding. Relief could be taken from tine holes. Whilst courses need decent rain, some rough is already thick with fresh growth.

Overall, scoring was average with CSS 37 points remaining at SSS.

Jeannie Chung had an excellent round 40 points to win the sweep comp from Richard Owen on back 9 countback. 37s followed from Jim Fogarty, Brian Ransom and Sheena Harrington. Results…

Ladies (Sheena and Jeannie) monopolised the ‘Twos’. Jeannie and Richard receive playing playing handicap cuts.

Near perfect golfing conditions for the field today. Were it not for some weirdly/hastily placed cups on most of the holes. The extra bounce/roll on the fairways was offset by greens that were in dire need of some water and some punishing pin positions (the pin position on 7 was pretty diabolical).

Today’s report is fairly simple: the gang of 40’s and the rest of the field. James Anslow went out early and kept up his excellent recent form. 20pts on the front and back nines earns him “only” 3rd place today. Shaun Dupreez was quoted recently that he “felt good about his game”. I guess that recording 47pts is some way of backing up on that statement. 26pts (!) on the way out can be described as a good start. His only blemish on the back 9 was a six on the 13th (for nil points). He had to settle for “only” 21pts on the way in. 1st place and a new handicap of 18 are just rewards for an excellent morning of golf. Jim Deissler tried to put up a late charge. But his fantastic 44pts are “only” good enough for a runner-up spot today. Jim’s handicap gets a healthy cut down 22. Scott Sparks. Sean O’Sullivan and 1st lady Caroline Stilwell complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 37pts (11/36 players in the buffer)

A big field enjoyed near perfect golfing conditions. Mild temperatures, a little wind and some nice roll on the fairways clearly helped. Guess we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for the greens to become more receptive.

In typical Mighty Mike style Mike Shabani came out all guns blazing. A blistering front 9 was rewarded with a score of 3UP. The jitters then got to him. But an impressive recovery over the last four holes made him leader in the clubhouse on 3UP. Kim Chaffart on the other hand couldn’t centre one iron shot or drive. But some clutch chipping and putting put him in an excellent position of 5UP walking off the 16th, whereupon he then managed to record two 7’s, recording a final score 3UP. But thanks to the countback he managed to push Mike into 3rd. Victory today goes to the steadiest player of the field. Tom Cook had a steady front 9 (2UP). He kept his composure on the back 9 (3UP) to claim victory by some distance. Tom’s handicap gets cut to 27. Mikey and Kim earn handicap cuts too. Tamas, Arthur and Oliver complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 1UP

A large field gathered at the Park for another round of Winter golf. How cold was it today for the 8.00am starters? Nick Rogers gave up on his shorts and decided to properly cover up. Temperatures close to 0, chilly winds and bumpy fairways and greens proved to a few too many obstacles for most of the field. Only 16 out of 59 competitors managed to stay in their buffer.

Competent ball striking was required. Evgeny Vd Geest provided that for 15 holes. The last three holes uncharacteristically turned into a nightmare. His net score of 70 was still good enough to hold off Robin Thomas. Mark Laverty and Habib Amir earn 3rd and 4th spot respectively. First lady today is Jayne Maxwell with a net 72. Ollie Griffin strong off yesterday’s victory in the Clapham Common captured 6th. Results…

Putting remained tricky. Nick and Tamas showed a more efficient way to get birdies by chipping in for birdies on holes 3 & 16.  On to the Diamond Jubilee on 9th June.

CSS: 71

A chilly vernal nip but glorious sunshine greeted 49 competitors for the Masters Bowl. The sanded and tined greens had settled down after recent rain but sand still flew up on pitches to the greens.

Early scores in the clubhouse were best 38 points and leader-board indicating CSS 35 points but eventually better scores came in and CSS ended 37 points. Louis Suárez was the fine winner on 40 points followed by new member Arthur Clark 39. Countbacks differentiated Messrs. O’Sullivan, Cohen and Shabani 38s. New lady member Jeannie Chung flew the ladies’ flag on 37 off a well-handicapped 21. Results…

Ladies

A large contingent of ladies were away at Donnington Valley for the weekend, more than usually play on a Sunday, so needless to say numbers at the Park were somewhat low. The two ladies who did play had a friendly knock about with some good scoring between them, possibly aided by the lack of pressure of trying to win a competition, this despite reports of the greens being somewhat variable after the earlier work on them in the week.

Men

Until today the greenest beach in the world was the pitch at Camp Nou in Barcelona (not a joke. Non-Catalans do call the pitch of FC Barcelona the greenest beach on the face of the earth). A reduced field (blame the Ladies Away Day) could be forgiven for imagining themselves at Camp Nou. Works by the green staff left huge amounts of sand on the greens. Although not slow the greens proved to be quite unpredictable.

Just ask James A. He did everything right on the first hole: good tee-shot followed up an approach that just made the front of the green. The rest of the hole turned into a horror show. Quite remarkably that 7 seemed to relax JA and he went on to complete the 18 holes with a 65 net. An excellent back 9 allowed him to distance himself from the two other players finishing on 65 (Thomas & Thomas). Simon Malin, Nathan Street and Jan Wilken complete the Top6. Captain Nigel Gaymond made the luckiest birdie ever on the 11th (not bitter …): a topped tee-shot ended to within tap-in distance of the hole. He didn’t miss the putt. Results…

CSS: 67 (14/31 in the buffer)

Sean Thomas takes the lead in the 2019 Grand Medal Trophy (scores of 62 & 65 don’t hurt). R2 Leader board…

The forecast was for a chill and thunderstorms developing but the latter did not materialise giving reasonable golfing conditions. Mid-morning players were somewhat surprised to find 3 temporary greens with work still being carried out tining, aeration on their real greens. Word was that works would have been complete.

So different players played to different greens. The decision was taken to ‘abandon’ the competition for handicapping purpose only – still counting however for Midweek Grand Medal. In this technical arrangement CSS is set to SSS with reductions only to handicaps.

As it happened, only Kim and Paul Grand beat SSS with 68s and are only players cut. Paul just nipped Kim on back 9 to win the medal and win a new handicap. Cheryl was ‘leading lady’. Results…

What a difference a week makes in the UK. Still No Brexit and today the field faced really chilly conditions (did we really move the clocks forward to face this weather?). It was so cool that Nick Rogers decided to wear long trousers today (BTW doesn’t cold weather have a negative impact on tennis elbows?). Looks like the conditions got the better of our Captain too …

Cold weather, swirling winds and men’s tees that had been moved slightly backward required some decent ball striking today. Evegeny VDG did just that. He struggled a bit on the way out (6 bogeys & 1 birdie). But an excellent back 9 (36 Gross) led him to a respectable 76 (69 net). Evgeny’s handicap drops to 6. He was joined by Kamil Naidoo (you couldn’t miss Tangerine Kamil today), Richard Inglis and Carmelo Di Salvo on that number. 1st lady today was Gina with a steady 70 net. Today also confirms the tradition that the ladies (almost) never win the Coronation Cup. The report started with the premise that good ball striking was required today. How about 71 gross? Chris Lordan put on a “Stripe Show”. His front 9 read as follows: Bogey-Bogey-Birdie-Par-Eagle (!) – Birdie – Birdie – Par – Bogey = 33 gross. 38 gross) on the back 9 with two more birdies bring his tally for today to 71 (64 net). Chris’ handicap moves back to 6. A good day at the office. Results…

CSS: 71 (Men) – 73 (Ladies)

Needless to say that Chris takes the lead in the Top Dog rankings. R1 Leader board…

Calm and dry but grey conditions allowed 52 competitors to focus on their golf for the Sweep competition. Scoring overall was good with CSS raised to 38 points.

Early player Prlab Barua held the lead until late in the day when Doug Donaghey retuned a stonking gross 80 and 42 points to win. No fewer than four on 41 had to be separated by countback: Pralab, Stephen Haworth, leading lady Susan Hempsell and Hassan Mouilah. Results…

Hassan shot level par 68 in his round and indeed was two under through 10. Well done indeed and Hassan earns Category 1 handicap @ 5.4.