Competitions

Competitions

19 Oct '22

Harrington Trophy (3 clubs & putter)

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The strong winds today must have caused a few headaches. How else explain the wide range of WITB (for the youtube neophytes WITB is an acronym for What’s in the bag)? The other most common remark after today’s round was: why do I carry 14 clubs in my bag? Think people overlook the fact we played Prince’s today. Playing this comp on Duke’s would be (even) more complicated.

Peppe put his brace on the correct knee today. He managed to record 26pts on the 12 par 4’s today (nobody matched that tally). His score on the 16th was not pretty (Triple Bogey). But it didn’t totally wreck his card. To his own surprise his score of 36pts (17+19) was the winning score today. Richard Owen recovered very well from 2 blobs on the front 9 (16pts out). His back nine was even better. A tap-in birdie more on the 18th more than made up for a blob on 12th (to be fair that was his only blemish on the back 9). Ian also recorded 35pts. But he had a softer back 9 to finish 3rd. Richard N and Brett finish 4/5th respectively. Brian was the best of the group on 32pts. His birdie on the 17th was a bit out of the ordinary: His tee-shot faded through the trees on the left and landed short of the road. That surgical precision was totally absent on his approach. His second shot went long (as Ross said to Rachel: really long). As karma would would have it he sank the mammoth birdie putt from off the green. This stroke (of luck) is not without importance: since one person ahead of Brian didn’t enter the sweep Brian slides into the last position that earns sweep money.

Shout-out to Gina and Ryan who finished their rounds this morning in 2h and 45 min.

16 Oct '22

Autumn Stableford (R2 of 2) / Committee Cup Rd 2

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A mild start with late autumn sunshine still having power to warm. Late games saw beginnings of a front.

Women

Unusually scores were generally better for the first round on Dukes, Julie was the only one with a higher score in her 2nd round. If Hilary had been keeping tabs on her score she might have harboured hopes of winning but late entrant Gina extended her first round lead to win the Committee Cup with Hilary in second spot.

Men

On the day, Ross Hood shot an exemplary 1 over par 69 (with 5 birdies) and his HI dropped to 4.5 -leading the Senior division on countback from Bernie McD ; Wil B completed firs 3 line-up in the division with 38.

Harrison Chesterton [4th WHS round ] and Suhail led Junior division 39 with trio of Tom Simpkins, Barry P and Robin T chasing with 36 points.

This was a 2 round competition and congratulations to Justin Bradford holding on to his first round lead to win Senior Division 76. Bernie McD and Richard B close behind with 75. In the Junior Division Suhail shot up the leader board with his 39 for a 2nd round72 from Sean O’Sullivan 71 with Michael Hackett 69.

15 Oct '22

Rickmansworth 2nd Leg (away)

Posted in Rickmansworth

After several delays (Queen’s funeral, and admin mistake by the Rickmansworth team) 12 brave RPGC souls suited up for a (very) early tee-time near Watford. 3 rookies were present for the “Tricky Ricky” experience. The course itself was even more challenging than before: the dew slowed the greens down quite a bit and any hope of roll on the fairways at this early hour was a pipe dream. Things “improved” a little on the back 9 (thanks to the mild temperatures).  

Mike Shabani and Tony Kopczak were originally scheduled to tee off first but a stroke of luck/genius by the team captain Kim broke up this pairing. In the end Roger Rojas and Tony became the “leading pair”. They halved the first hole: Ricky’s “bogey” was matched by their Double Bogey”. Unfortunately, things didn’t improve for our frontrunners as they lost 4 of the next 6 holes. An uncharacteristic win on hole 8 sent them into the turn already 3 Down. Losses on holes 10/11 really didn’t help. A brief resurgence (wins on holes 13/14) were nipped in the butt by a loss on the long par 3 hole over the ravine. Loss 4&3. RPGC – Ricky 0-1.

Mike Shabani and Kim opened with 2 pars, the rest of the front 9 kept going back & forth and RPGC was only 1 Down after 9. An ugly loss on 11 increased the pressure. Our pair remained 2 Down after walking off the 15th. Luckily Mike decided to step up with a win on 16 and a halve by Kim on the 17th meant we teed off Dormie 1 down on 18. Mike then really proved that trees are made of 90% air; his “fade” somehow went through the leaves/branches of trees on the left and onto the fairway and Mike’s approach into the green put massive pressure on the Ricky pair (some clubs even went airborne … ). All Mike needed to do was walk off the green with a solid 2-putt. He lines up his putt, starts the backswing, ball leaves the club face … and ends up 2 feet short! But showing true grit Mike walked up his ball and calmly sank the putt. Match halved. RPGC – Ricky 0.5-1.5. The result we needed! Tamas and Alvaro went 3 Down after the front 9 (even though they scored 22pts Stableford in 4BBB format). Even though they attempted a comeback they ended up losing 5&4. Rookies Ben and Louis Dickey had a tough time and lost by a wide margin Unfortunately Pete G and Sean T experienced the same fate. Richard O. & Uli lost in the final game by the slimmest margin (3&2). 

RPGC wins the tie 6.5 – 5.5. The cup (as per below) is back home.

Overall standings in this friendly match over the years: Ricky 28 wins – RPGC 24 wins.

We ‘only’ need 6 points to retain the cup next year – thanks goodness.

14 Oct '22

Friday Team Stableford (1,2,3 waltz)

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It was a dull but mild day with just a few sprinkles of rain towards the end of our rounds.

As shown on the Best Scores Analysis report the team of Peter Goodall, Jeremy Prescott and Cheryl Woodhouse had the best front 9 (39 points); the best back 9 (41 points) was scored by the Graham Cull, Seymour Laird and Richard Owen team, and by the Pralab Barua, Peter Fisher and Richard Norden team. Unsurprisingly, the most points scored on the Par 5 holes was by the team with 2 women (Ann Gardner, Elizabeth Piner and Peppe). Commiserations to Rannesh and Uli Katte, who ‘lost’ their 3rd team member (Ed Robinson) after his first 9 holes and who had to play separately, rather than together.

When all the points were counted up, the clear winners (78 points) were the team of Graham, Seymour and Richard O. The 14 points they scored on the final 3 holes was probably the main difference and thanks to Graham for scoring 9 of them. Runners up, just 3 points behind were Pralab, Richard N. and Peter (75 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team.

12 Oct '22

Midweek October Monthly Medal (MW GM R8 of 8)

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Senior Division

Ryan Jones recorded the best front 9: +1 gross (translates to 31 Net). His back 9 was more volatile: 43 (gross) 2 pars on the par 3’s steadied the ship a bit after a couple of double bogeys. His biggest scare today non-golf related. A mistake in the set-up of the comp prevented him temporarily from recording his score (apologies for that). But in the end it all worked out. Peter Goodall’s birdie on 18th is the tie-braker between him and Ross.

Junior Division

Giles Rawlinson posted a stunning 65 Net to win the Junior Division. 43 out (32 Net) and 45 on the back represent an excellent day at the (golf) office. Mitch was another early starter who posted an excellent score. 42 (gross – out) and 42 (gross – in) are his magical number combination of the day. Richard Norden laid the base for 3rd place with an excellent front 9 (45 gross – 31 net). Chris had a steady round to take the last “Money Spot” in this division.

Midweek Grand Medal Trophy

A few players had chance of catching the leading duo. But Gina, Peppe and Seymour came up a bit short today. Tamas and yours truly finish in a tie. So the winner will have to be decided on countback.

9 Oct '22

Autumn Stableford (R1 of 2)/ Committee Cup Rd1

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A chill start but the sun came out to warm – nudging 19C per graph at bottom of results. This stimulated a stiff breeze affecting shots.

Women

What a glorious day it was to play golf. Hilary taking her cues from Spanish weather was dressed the most appropriately though I’m sure that most of us didn’t think so at the start when the autumn chill was definitely present. With the ball still running and only a slight wind scoring was good today and there is all to play for between you in the 2nd round next week.

Leading the way with a slender margin of 1 is Gina with 36 points closely followed by Avi and Hilary with a further 3 just 3 shots back – it could all change after next week’s round.

Impressive looking 2 from Gina on the 16th, a hole I rarely make the green on and definitely one from Seema, whose tee shot on the 10th was little more than a foot from the pin. Never quite sure why only birdie 2s are reported but Katharina had a nice birdie 3 to finish her round in style.

Men

Overall on the day Pierpaolo led the way 42 points but divisional results show:
Senior Division : Winner Justin B chased by Richard Back40 then Sal Goodchild-Way 38′
Junior Division: Winner Pierpaolo 42 from Michael H and Sean O’S 40.

Congrats to Richard Back and Goran for their eagles on 17th [per attached report that makes 19 so far this year]

7 Oct '22

Friday Sweep

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It was a sunny but blustery day and the course was in very good condition, particularly the greens. Signs that the ‘fairway seeding’ had been effective were everywhere.

Our clear winner, with 40 points, was Brian Ransom, who could have had more if he hadn’t blobbed the last hole. It seems that having a few weeks off from golf was just what Brian needed, however it didn’t last long – he took an extra 14 shots playing the same course on Saturday!

Three players scored 36 points, taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places on countback. Chris Jones blobbed the first hole of the day but gradually improved throughout the round and took 2nd place with the best back 9 of anyone (21points). Elizabeth pipped Martin Hay to 3rd place by one point on the back 9 – Martin will be ruing his blobs on the 10th and 12th holes.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£8, £5, £4, £3)

5 Oct '22

President’s Prize

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Mild temperatures were met with strong/swirling winds. Fairways still provided ample bounce & roll. The greens were fairly receptive. But all in all conditions proved to be challenging. Unfortunately a  lot of the 9.45am starters were on the back 9 when the floodgates opened. Not too much of a stretch to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the best of the weather.

These conditions bring the best out of good ball strikers. So it is no real surprise to see Naveed take the win today. He took the saying “every good round starts with a double bogey” a little too serious. He DB’ed holes 1 & 2! He recovered to finish the front 9 with 17 points. But his excellent 21pts on the back 9 were just good enough to hold off the competition. Darren was another early starter. He matched Naveed’s mark. But his 20pts on the back mean he settles for 2nd. Looks like he made up for missing out on victory today with a pretty good tee-shot on the 9th. Cheryl battled her way through the rain to 3rd place. Terry Wilson – another 7am starter – must have fed of Darren’s positive vibe to finish as the best of the group on 37pts. Alex used an outrageous back 9 to finish 5th. Yours truly takes 6th. But victory slipped through my fingers with a 5-6 finish.  Since Alvaro didn’t sign up for the sweep he allows James to improve his purse balance. Tamas is the newest member on the “Eagle Tree” thanks to an outrageous chip-in on the 9th.

2 Oct '22

Men’s October Monthly Medal (GMT R8 of 8)/Women’s October Medal & Barton Bowl playoff

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Early drizzle petered out as per overnight forecast of front a further 20 miles south than previously anticipated. Sun increased as did warmth nudging 19C.

Women

A close result at the top of the table with Silvia winning the October medal by 1 from Katharina with her nett 71.
With the Barton Bowl however, results were reversed in a quirk of it being stableford rather than medal. Both Silvia and Katharina had 35 points but Katharina scored 20 of them on the back 9 compared to Silvia’s 17.

Congratulations to both.

Men

Best gross and net of the day went to Roger Rojas – 71 and 63; well done Roger! Roger wins senior division of day followed by Bernie Mc 64 with Kerry and Brendan returning glorious 65s.

The junior division was headed by Gregory 65 with Ed and Cuneyt following with 68s.

Special mention : Richard Back – level par back 9 33, Raymond for eagle at 9th.

This was last round in best 5 of 8 Grand Medal Trophy. Timing his form to perfection Kerry moved into first place in senior division with Brian M 2nd 338; Julian and Goran share junior division each 327.

30 Sep '22

Friday Sweep

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After early morning mist, a bright morning greeted the players, however the clouds rolled in during the round and the wind became blustery; thankfully everyone finished before the rain started.

Today’s sweep was a 4-ball ‘team game’ where all 4 players point scores were summed to give the team score – this would have been a ‘surprise’ to the early and late starters (on personal Glendale bookings), as they didn’t receive the Start Sheet. Fortunately we had 24 players, neatly combining into 6 teams.

The winning team of Adrian Wells, Julian James, Ryan Jones and Richard Owen amassed 140 points (avge 35 points each), primarily thanks to Adrain and Julian who scored 38 points each (2nd and 3rd in the individual standings). In 2nd place was the team of Ed Robinson, Gary Simpson, Colin Price and Bob Kent (131 points) and in 3rd place (128 points) the team of Pralab, Mitch, Naveed and Peter Finch.

Best overall score of the day was posted by Ed Robinson (39 points), who also had the best front 9 (23 points). Best individual ‘hole score’ was Briget Stone with a 5-points (!!!) birdie on the 2nd hole. Naveed and Adrian both had 2 birdies in their rounds and Adrain & Julian had the best back 9 (21 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each) and £4 for Ed for having the best individual score.