To say that the weather today was variable was an understatement. The field faced 4 seasons in one day. Light rains. some sunny spells and wind that became stronger throughout the day. The field handled the conditions pretty well.

Alexander Krasnenkov put down the marker with an excellent score of 41pts. He’ll probably regret his DB on the 16th. A new handicap of 12 will serve as small consolation. Peter Osgood was the only other early starter to come within respectable distance of the winner. 19pts on the way out & in earn him 6th spot today. The later starters took the spoils. First of all Anis Driaa followed up an excellent front 9 of 22pts with a steady 20pts to seal the victory. Julian James came 3rd with a very nice score of 40pts. Martin Heinrich and Ned Shanklyn take spots 4 & 5. Results… 

Birthday lady Ronnie Mitchell was 1st lady. Guess more alcohol and little sleep is the way to go Ronnie. Quite remarkably Nick managed to not miss his 8.00AM tee-time (although the delay of 10min caused by Putney Park didn’t hurt). If you examine his scorecard you will notice that he completed the front 9 on pure adrenaline. The tank ran completely empty on the back 9 though … Tony Kopczak recorded two birdies (we could’ve used some of them yesterday …). Sea coast tourist Jon Cooper recorded a nice eagle on the 9th.

CSS: 38pts

After two rounds of the Top Dog Trophy Chris Lordan and Anis Driaa both lead by virtue of their respective wins. R2 Leader board….

Persistent rain earlier in the week had greened and softened up conditions. By and large rain held off to eventually affect the later mid-morning games.

Early player and clubhouse leader was Bruno Clerckx with 67, just one over par on the front 9 and 2 birdies. Well done indeed Bruno – lowest gross with an ESR in addition to now playing off 6. Two players returned excellent sub SSS 70s – Seong Lim and Lucy Mi Ha. In form Cheryl, Rick Kimber, Henry Lindesay-Bethune and Jeremy Ryan retuned very solid 71s. Results…

CSS remained at SSS (71 men 73 ladies).

This being first round of 4 of the Midweek Anniversary Accumulator first round naturally mirrors these results. R1 Leader board….

Golfing conditions were near perfect. Mild temperatures, less wind (than yesterday), receptive greens and fairways that still offer plenty of roll. The 17th however proved to very tricky for a lot of the male competitors. All in all scoring proved to be excellent.

Henry L-B played a good round of golf to post a score of 67 and become leader in the clubhouse. Although an outward 9 of 36 gross and a 7 on the 17th will make him feel like he missed out on a (really) good score. Young Son went out 34 gross. But unfortunately he squandered 4 shots on the two par 5’s. Otherwise he would definitely have improved on score of 68 (net) and 3rd place. 1st lady today was Alison. After an untidy front 9 (51 gross) she started with a birdie on the back 9. Momentum never left her on the way in. A score of 70 (Nett) gets rewarded with a 4th place. (very) Early starter Barry Page had a steady round of 70 (net). But he also recorded a 7 on the … 17th. In the end victory goes to one of the later starters: Peter Needham. Fresh off his victory in the Ladies Invite yesterday he managed to record gross scores of 40 on front and back 9. His net score of 65 is good enough for the win and new handicap of 14. And BTW he too recorded a 7 on the … 17th. Kim Chaffert and Alison were the only ones in the Top6 to not record a 7 on that hole (and before you ask Kim did tee it up from the white tees). Results…

CSS: 70 (25/45 in the buffer)

In the Anniversary Trophy Henry takes the lead on 141 followed by Barry (143), Sheena (143) and Kim (146). R2 Leader board….

The Ladies Invitation was a very enjoyable day on Saturday 8 June. We had 14 pairs in 7 games on a mainly dry if a little windy day. American Greensomes was an enjoyable fun format, we started the day with bacon rolls, golf in the middle and finished with chocolate cake, all well-balanced.

The first 3 places were very close fought and great scores given the conditions with Gina Jillett and Pete Harrison in 3rd place with 37 points, Veronica Mitchell and James Barker in 2nd place with 38 points and the winners with 38 points on countback were Val Riziotis (Ladies Vice-Captain) and Peter Needham. Results…

Largely grey conditions predominated allowing players to focus on their golf. Greens showed continuing improvement and some bunkers had fresh sand but not always enough rakes.

Cathy Stavely returned a consistently excellent 64 to win the monthly medal with Jeremy Ryan chasing commendable 66. Four 67s followed separated on countback – Lim, Mick Abrams, Henry Lindesay-Bethune and Brian Ransom. Best gross score 74 from new member Umran Ali off 6. Results…

Thierry and Senno were DQ for not entering handicap on card in handicap comp – see rule 3-3.

In the associated best 5 from 8 Midweek Grand Medal, Paul Grand (appropriately) held on to lead after round 4 on 287, five clear from Mike Jones. R4 Leader board….

Ladies

Sometimes playing on consecutive days enhances one’s game, and other times it doesn’t. This was very evident in today’s results, with many of the ladies involved in matches yesterday there was a 50/50 split as to whether it helped or hindered. It definitely helped Lia Donath, who was the medal winner with a net 67 and Anne H-P, her partner from yesterday, was just one back in 2nd place. Results…

CSS went to 68, giving Lia just a 0.3 cut to her handicap.

Men

Scoring proved to be tough for the field (except for today’s winner). Most of the players seemed to do pretty well on the front 9. But keeping up that form on the back proved too big a hurdle for the majority of the field.

Secretary Peter Harrington was so looking forward to today’s Committee meeting that he decided waste very little time on the course. A very impressive 63 (net) earned him a well deserved win. As a result PDH’s handicap drops back to 19. Gary Moris (65 net) and early leader in the clubhouse Jan Wilken (66 net) complete the Top3. Our president Tim Meyer had an excellent front 9 (37 gross) but faded away on the back to settle for 4th. Charlie Whiteman’s excellent back 9 (38 gross) earns him 5th and a steady round by Seong allows him to beat Alvaro to sixth. Aidan Hurley recorded the best gross score today (75). Results…

CSS: 67 (13/36 in the buffer).

The Grand Medal Trophy interim results tba. R4 Leader board…

Cool conditions were maintained through the day but initial light rain became persistent for later competitors.

Shaun DuPreez was the early clubhouse leader with 42 points (24 out, 18 back) but he was eventually pipped by Jeremy Thompson with consistent 21s who won the Sweep on countback. Jessy Diasilua returned a respectable 38 pts for 3rd followed by Kamil Naidoo and Brett Colley 37s. Sheena returned best ladies’ card 34pts. Results…

CSS remained at 36 points.

Following a net differential -10 on 21 April to today’s -6, the Handicap Secretary’s office applied clinical surgery with an ESR of -2 to Shaun who now plays off 14. Shaun started the year on 21 and is now leader for the 2019 MIG award but 7 months left. Well done to he and Jeremy on Duke’s for such good scoring.

A good turnout for a bank holiday weekend competition. Conditions proved to be more complicated than expected. It still feels like playing links golf on inland course. Fairways continue to provide extra roll. But you had to judge the bounces well or get lucky. Greens are slowly improving.

Henry continued on his good form from yesterday’s Clapham Common to post a score of 39pts and overtake Scott Sparks as leader in the clubhouse. A score of +2 gross on the front 9 and birdie on the 18th are a true reflection of a good day at the office. Henry’s handicap goes back to 9. Evgeny came out all guns blazing and recorded 20pts on the way out. A few unwelcome bogeys mean he had to settle for 18pts in. A score of 38pts is good enough for 3rd today. The sting was in the tail (again) today. Kamil Naidoo had an ok front 9 but soared into 1st place with an impressive 23pts on the last 9 holes. By virtue of the countback rule he snatches victory from Henry’s grasp. Late starter Carmelo Di Salvo and 1st lady Caroline Stilwell complete the Top6. Cheryl’s 22pts on back 9 went to waste since she – in all the excitement – forgot to sign her card. On a last note: Mike Shabani did better than yesterdays’ result. Results…

CSS: 36 pts (13 players in the buffer)

Today’s facts: four players recording 40 or more points and a useful number of players recording scores in the high 30’s. We can only conclude that the course was there for the taking. How do you beat the crowded field? four birdies and a “sandy” eagle on the 15th (more on that hole later) will do nicely. Alvaro “EL Nino” Garcia-Hoz tallied an impressive score of 43pts to overtake the whole field. AGH’s handicap drops by a full stroke to 11. Well done. 2nd and 3rd place go to players recording scores of 41pts. Paul’s impressive 25pts on the back 9 take him up to 2nd. He narrowly avoided an ESR but his new handicap now stands at 19 (he started 2019 on hcp of 23 …). Richard gets a consolation prize for missing out on 2nd place (see below). Cathy Stavely didn’t miss her return to competition golf with a nice score of 40pts and 4th place. Sheena and Angus (both on 39pts) close out the Top6. Results…

CSS: 38pts (almost half of the field remained in the buffer).

Looks like Richard Owen did just enough (78pts total) to snatch the Founders Cup from under Paul’s nose.

NB: usual suspects will have noticed the forward white tees on the 15th hole. Apparently the men have a strong tendency to hook their tee-shot on that hole. Glendale have seen an important rise in the number of balls landing over the fence. Hence the new tees. Going forward this will more than likely have an impact on the SI of this hole.

Ladies

Unlike conditions at the PGA where the wind has picked up, it was a very benign day at the Park with some good scoring particularly from the first game, who must have egged each other on, the result of which was that they occupied the first 4 places on the leaderboard. On the 2nd hole, Deborah & Val both recorded birdies making pars for the other 2 look very ordinary.

Sheena dropped just 2 shots on the way out, but didn’t keep it going on the back 9 and was pipped for 2nd place by Lia who almost matched Sheena’s front 9, dropping just four shots. However, more consistency was the winner, with Val beating both by one for a net 65, which included a 7 on the 14th. Results…

CSS dropped by one to 68, with both Val & Lia getting playing handicap cuts.

Men

A smaller field faced more enjoyable golfing conditions: a fair bit of roll on the fairways and improving greens made that the course was there for the taking. 20 of the 32 players managed to remain in their buffer.

Lou Suarez followed up a steady front 9 (43 gross) with an excellent back 9 to take today’s honours. His score of 82 (61 net) earns him a handicap cut of 1.7 strokes down to 19. Well done! Early leader in the clubhouse Tom Cook (91, 64 net) takes a well deserved runner-up position. Richard Inlgis’ tidy round of 83 (65 net) takes him onto the podium. A group of 66’ers Amir, Aidan and James complete the Top6. Shout-out to Jim Deissler who just missed on a Top6 finish. He would’ve finished higher had it not been for a couple of “ugly” finishes. His sole reward is a chunky cut of 1.2 strokes off his handicap. If you have the time you should check out the scores on the 16th hole! That hole can bite really hard! Results…

CSS: 66

The club will contact those who have signed up/qualified for the NAPGC regional.

The Grand Medal Trophy interim results tba. R3 Leader board…