A bright sunny start for the May Bank holiday plate – and despite clouding over it remained dry after recent course closures. .
Scoring conditions were tough with little roll and odd fairway not reachable off back tees with good drives.

Silvia Bortoli rose to the top winning with a very creditable 35 points off 7; Silvia had a steady 18 pts out and 17 back with 11 scored on the 4 women’s’ 3 par 5s. Joe Gonclaves chased a point behind and had best of hard back 9 – 18 points.
Julian James came 3rd 33 points just 1 ahead of Mel Dunn whilst Gunnar Sundberg had best back 9 to win countback fro Duncan Taylor both 31. Alan King had very promsing front 9 – 20 points.

For a change the weather was warm and sunny with virtually no wind at all. There were a few drops at the end of play as it threatened to rain but fortunately it held off.
Staying out of the rough was the order of the day and only three players managed to have net scores below par.

In division 1 Russell Stewart won on countback on the last 6 holes by virtue of a birdie on 18 to push Toby Hunt into second place. Sheena Harrington took 3rd place ahead of Alan King and Kevin Prendergast in 5th all on net 70.

In division 2 It was much clearer with yours truly with a net 64 ahead of Paul Giles on net 66…and also The MW Grand Medal series on 202 from Chris Jones 207.

Competition played on yellow tees in lovely weather. With a strong back nine Richard Hodgkinson won with 37 points, Richard Owen was second with 36 points, closing out with a birdie on 18th, and Julian James was 3rd with 34 points, beating Brian Ransom on countback. Two more birdies for Brian at top of birdie tree and William Balakrishnan storms in with 3 today.

A more pleasant day weather wise but with a cold northerly wind.
The competition was again switched over to the Princes course to allow it to be a counting comp. It also meant that we didn’t have such long carries off the tee to reach the cut fairways.
Scoring was steady with Mike Jones winning with 37 points. Close behind in second was Ed Robinson. Third place was a contest between three players on 35 and Paul Giles pipped the others on countback over the final six holes.

Sunny periods at first but it clouded over and there was persistent north wind. It was the composite course on Duke’s and hopefully the last after the wet winter.

2 sets of results from the scores:
Coronation Cup & men’s Top Dog Rnd 1
Final men’s Winter Competition Rnd 8.

The Coronation Cup saw Mel Dun shoot 40 points to win with best front 9 (19) and back 9 (21); he was followed by Richard Inglis with a consistent 37 ; Charlie Whiteman and Gunnar Sundberg in the last game vied for 3rd place with Charlie having the better back. Best woman Jenny Lawrence 26.
For men this was first Top Dog 2024 round and in senior division Mel leads 12pts from Kerry Sargeant 8pts; in junior it’s Richard 12 from Charlie 8 and Gunnar 6. See manual pdf attached with comps lined up for the rest of 2024.

This was last round of Winter Competition which sees Tamas Ladacs the senior division winner 125 from Kerry Sargeant 116. In junior division Mel is winner 126 from Paul Green 117; well done to all who played in sometimes horrible conditions.

Not a very springlike day with rain and a cold wind – those Friday regulars who were playing in Turkey had much better conditions!

White tees in their summer positions on many holes. So altogether a difficult golfing day and only one player was above 36 points, Russell Stewart, playing early, who won today’s competition. Brian Ransom came in second and now tops the Friday Birdie tree. Third was Chris Rudkin.

A fine but blustery day which threatened to shower several times but only once for a minute or two managed to.
The wind was cold which reduced the temperature by a few degrees.
Except for Peppe Monterosso who had the only positive score the rest of the field struggled to score consistantly and finished with minus scores.
Some of the field were playing this format for the first time and found it an interesting test.

Women

The 14^th April was the Centenary of the inauguration of Richmond Park Golf Club and the women’s section celebrated with a mystery partner four ball better ball game.  There was a good turn out of sixteen women.   Sheena set up the game for a single’s stableford for signing in and we all played this accordingly.  We returned to enjoy our refreshments and draw a random partner.   Once the partner was drawn out, she could not take part in the draw and could only be selected once.  Sheena, in the meantime, had changed Masterscoreboard for our entries as a 4BBB.  A bit of chaos ensued while we queued to enter our scores, which held the men up who had completed their rounds.  Everyone agreed it was fun.  It was good to see Ali and Ann playing again after injuries and Gina made an appearance to say hello.

In first place was Susan and Jenny  42 pts, 2^nd Jayne and Katharina 40 pts, Angela and Pat 38 pts.  Prizes were awarded.  There was also a prize for the best individual score which went to Jayne Maxwell with 37 pts. 

Men

A great dry day for golf although not as warm as yesterday; the course had dried significantly from the winter months and just 2 temps.

A good turnout for the April Medal and some good scores especially taking into account the new course handicap calculation.

In the senior division Peter Needham led the way with net 67 with Alan King and Toby Hunt returning respectable 68 and 69. On 71 came Peter Abbott 71off 4 – lowest gross of the day and a level par front 9 gross. Richard Back secured 3 birdies and heads this year’s birdie tree with 11 (see attached). Paul Kamerling would surely have been in the running but lost ball on 9th; he had 3 birdies on back 9 just 1 over par 34.

The junior division medal was won with a super 62 from Charlie Whiteman aided by superb putting. Nigel Ward , Robin Thomas and Paul Green chased with 66s. par.

This was 2nd of 8 rounds in The Grand Medal which is now headed in senior division by Tamas Ladacs 143 and then Toby Hunt 143 and Kerry Sargeant 145. Nigel Ward leads junior 130 from Tony Kopczak 135 and Charlie Whiteman 138.