A big field for the 1st of this year’s Top Dog events.

Tony Berqvist played 17 very good holes. A net score of 63 and a position as leader in the clubhouse was the result. Peter Osgood had 3 birdies to put him on route to a score of 65 net. Pete Davis played solid golf and ended on a score of 65 net but is beaten by Peter on the basis of countback. Anis Driaa and Mike Cullinane both finish on 66. What about the ladies you ask? Only one lady finished in the Top 10 today. Congrats to Habe Crocker who put together a marvellous round of 61 to become today’s Top Dog. It could’ve been a totally different story if Tony had kept it together on the 18th… Habe’s handicap drops down to 14. Tony now plays off 12. Results…

CSS: 67 (Men) & 69 (Ladies). Lots of handicap changes. Please take note of your new handicap.

17 players braved foul weather for today’s Midweek Sweep. Seems like the weather got the better of most of the field. Only 3 of today’s players remained inside their buffer zone. Shaun Dupreez will probably thank Peter Osgood for dragging him out to the course today. He was in a league of his own: 22pts out & in equal a well earned victory. The best of the rest were Tore and Jeremy. All other 14 players unfortunately finished outside of their buffer zone and earn a +0.1 on their handicap. Shaun’s handicap gets a massive 2.7 reduction and his new handicap now stands at 19. Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men), 35pts (Ladies)

Ladies

The rare opportunity for both a non-qualifier and pairs competition brought several ladies out of hibernation for the 4BBB. Having already won the singles stableford, Val Riziotis made it a matching pair with her partner, Cheryl Woodhouse, scoring 40 points. These two made it look easy and it was 2nd place that was a close run with Doreen Dolby and last week’s medal winner, Deborah Potter, taking it on the back 9 from Veronica Mitchell & Susan Smith on 36 points.

As is traditional, the ladies gathered for some chips & dips as prizes for both legs of the Spring Meeting, along with outstanding eclectics and medals were awarded. With the weather severely reducing the field in a number of weeks, those who simply turned up or were out of the prizes were rewarded with chocolate eggs from the lady captain. Results…

Men

Tricky conditions for Round 2 of the Spring Stableford. The wind that became stronger during the course of the day caused a lot of trouble. The 15th almost played like a Par 5 today (the 17th on the contrary was there for the taking). Steadying yourself over the back 9 proved to be very good recipe for success.

Lee Marshall went out as one of the first starters and absolutely nailed it today. 20pts out and a glorious 22pts in made him a runaway winner today. As a result Lee’s handicap gets cut by 1.8 strokes. On top of that his recent form gets rewarded with a additional 0.5 cut. So Lee’s new handicap stands at 12! Very well done. Julian James confirmed his excellent form by finishing second today with 38pts. Despite numerous obvious breaches of etiquette rules Richard Owen posted a very balanced round of 37pts to finish 3rd. Peter Osgood’s excellent front 9 was followed by a steady back 9 to take 4th place. Shout out to Keith Cassidy whose excellent back 9 (21pts) allowed him to finish 5th. Paul Green completes the Top6. Results…

Over the 2 rounds Richard Owen finishes with 75pts to overtake 1st Rd leader Tony Kopczak and win the Spring Stableford. Results…

CSS for the day: 36pts

Weather conditions were excellent to play golf: the field were met with mild temperatures, sun and drying fairways. Scoring proved very good (again).

Henry L-B played a very consistent round (19pts out & 20pts in) to set the early pace. Richard Owen was able to recuperate his ball on the fairway of the 15th after someone had mistakenly used his ball (that’s what happens if you mix up the fairways of the 7th and the 15th Richard). Remarkably Richard stuck to it and came home with a very impressive 22pts on the back 9 (total 38pts). Mike Jones also had a very good back 9 (20pts) to score 38pts. Darren and Jeremy had less (!) impressive back 9’s and therefore were beaten into 5th and 6th based on countback. Shout-out to Ann Gardner who had very good round but 37pts was not enough to get into the Top6 today. Henry’s plea to Kim Chaffart to take it easy had the reverse effect. Kim recovered from a poor start and a no score on the 16th to better Henry’s score by 1pts and take today’s win. Results…

CSS: 37pts (Men & Ladies)

Ladies

Eleven competitors in today’s Ladies Monthly Medal. Congrats to Deborah Potter on her victory. Her consistent round of golf gets rewarded with a nice handicap cut. Her new playing handicap is 28. Well done!

Congrats also to Habe for remembering to sign her card today and more importantly for her birdie on the 16th. Results…

CSS: 70

Men

Another week, another comp and another ace at RPGC. Congrats to Tony Berqvist for acing the 4th today. He joins Richard Owen and Chris Jones who have scored aces this year.

Weather didn’t turn out as bad as forecast. That seemed to inspire the field to some really good scoring. Some stats: in order to finish in the Top6 today you had to shoot 65 (Net) and there were 10 (!) Two’s recorded today (amongst them 2 eagles on the 14th and the 18th). Playing your handicap was not enough today to be in contention.

There’s 2 ways to shoot a 63 (Net): Julian James choose the Seve/Arnold Palmer way with birdies, eagle, bogeys and double bogeys. Paul Brown on the other hand emulated Nick Faldo at Muirfield: not a single birdie today. The Paul Brown/Nick Faldo way prevailed. Paul Brown beat Julian based on countback. As a reward Paul receives the prize money, a cocktail glass and a new playing handicap of 11. Early starters Mike, Ray, Roger and Richard Owen complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 66 (Net)

Congratulations to Chris Jones for acing the 7th hole today! Ignoring the ominous weather forecast proved to be an excellent choice for a brief moment. Peter Osgood nearly aced the 16th hole to cap off an eventful day (as a consolation he did birdie the hole).

On to the normal order of the day. The early morning starters probably faced the worse weather conditions. Brett Colley & Peter Osgood both scored net 72. Jeremy Ryan played a very consistent round to take the lead in the clubhouse with 82 strokes (net 68). Although the greens were not his best friend today Tamas finished with a 86 (net 69) just one stroke behind Jeremy. Late starters Jay & Keith knew what they were up against and delivered. Keith finished on 79 (net 67) to become today’s runner-up. Jay wins the comp & the RPGC cocktail glass thanks to a blistering 72 (net 66). Toby Hunt & Stephen Mason complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 69 (Men) & 73 (Ladies)

Ladies

A mere 6 brave and hardy ladies took to the course in the rain, however it wasn’t long before the sun came out no doubt making those who cried off regret their decision. Not that conditions underfoot were great and the wind shortened many a shot such that CSS went to 34 points.

Winner with 32 points was Val Riziotis who had a storming 19 points o the front 9, but couldn’t capitalise on it. Sheena Harrington was 3 points behind in 2nd place. Results…

Men

Notwithstanding the ominous weather forecast a reduced field went out for the 1st leg of the Men’s Spring Stableford Round. Mud, rain and strong winds met the field. Conditions gradually improved over the course of the morning. The later starters therefore arguably had the better playing conditions.

Tony Kopczak had a stellar score of 40pts (20 out & in) to win today’s comp. Richard Owen finished 2nd with an excellent score of 38pts (21pts out & 17 in) in the trickier conditions. Paul Brown seems liberated since giving up the Men’s Captaincy. Another solid round (37pts) gives him a Top3 finish. Roger Rojas, Jon Cooper and Paul Green complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 36pts

The field were met with muddy fairways and receptive greens for today’s Midweek Inaugural Trophy.  One player in particular seemed to appreciate today’s conditions. Ted Holt blew everybody away with a fantastic score of 44pts. I guess if you start your round with birdies on the first 2 holes you know you’ll have a good day at the office. As a result Ted’s handicap gets cut by 2.1 strokes and now stands at 17. Well done! Early leaders in the clubhouse John Ahad (38pts) and Paul Green (37pts) finish on the podium. Chris Jones (36pts), Habe Crocker (36pts) and Gunnar Sundberg (35pts) complete the Top 6. Results…

CSS: 37pts (Men & Ladies)

Ladies

As the winter season drew to an end with the last of the eclectics, the ladies’ scores indicated a new spring in their step for the coming season. For the first time in many weeks, most of the scores were in the 30s rather than 20s. Hopefully this is down to good play rather than just that conditions underfoot were reasonably dry and the strong winds during the week had abated until the last few holes. Taking first place was Sheena Harrington on 36 from Cheryl Woodhouse and Valerie Parker who both scored 34 points. CSS remained at 37 points. Results…

Unlike the Duke’s eclectic, the Prince’s Eclectic had a different leader after each round and despite Jayne Maxwell dropping some 7 shots in this round. The winner was Val Riziotis, who had played in only one previous round, but had picked up on one of the holes so did not figure on the leaderboard until today where she beat Jayne on countback. Final leader board…

Men

Before we go to the report we have congratulate Richard Owen for acing the 11th today. So in the future whenever Richard claims his ball will end up short take that with a grain of salt.

On to the normal order of the day. Effects of yesterday’s rain were clearly visible today (thank god we didn’t play Duke’s). Muddy fairways, receptive greens and a wind that became very strong towards end of play were some of today’s challenges.

The day belonged to the early starters. Darren Enthoven put in glorious back 9 (25pts – total score 41pts) to win today’s comp. Kyong Lee played consistent golf (21pts out + 19pts in) to finish second. Same can be said for Mike Shabani (20pts + 19pts) who completes the Top 3 (BTW: all three of them were early starters …). John Cooper (38pts) notches up another high finish. Caleb Mills also netted 38pts. The last 2 and the above mentioned Richard “Ace” Owen round out the Top 6. Results…

CSS: 38pts

Report due soon for the Winter Competition. Final leader board…

In the Prince’s Eclectic – report due soon. Final Leader board…

The field were met with thick clouds, strong winds and one temporary green for today’s monthly medal. All in all scoring proved very decent (again).

Paul Rockett went out all guns blazing and closed the front 9 on 37 (gross). He then cruised through the back 9 on 40 strokes to finish on 77 strokes (65 net) to win today’s comp. Stephen Mason put a valiant effort but a few erratic putts halted his challenge and he had to settle for 2nd on 68 net. Richard Owen had a very consistent round of 69 net to finish 3rd. The best of the rest finshed on 70 net. Peter Osgood came alive on the back 9 (39 gross) to hold off Jeremy Ryan and Adam Turner and finish 4th all on 70 net. Results…

CSS: 69 (Men) – 73 (Ladies). Paul Rockett receives a cocktail glass and an ESR. His new handicap now stands at 10.