The weather continues to wreak havoc forcing the greenkeeper to install 3 temporary greens on Prince’s (a bit of a rarity). As a result today’s competition becomes a Non-Qualifier for handicapping purposes. So the Top5 will just receive financial compensation.

Everybody in the Top5 had (really) good front 9’s: 20pts for Sheena and Paul, 22pts for Tony and Damper and to top them all 23pts for Sunny. Sheena and Paul then matched Sunny’s back 9 (all of them had 18pts on the way in). Tony and Damper had a softer back 9 (16pts both of them). It has to be said that all of them had an off moment on the last 9 holes. Sunny, Paul and Damper all had 5’s on the 16th. Sheena lost her chance on the 13th. And Tony will regret the DB on 12 and the 3-putt on the … 16th. Richard Owen completes the Top6 but will regret his two no scores on the 2nd and the 10th. Results…

CSS: N/A

“I never played a round when I didn’t learn something new about the game of golf.” (Ben Hogan)

“The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf. It’s almost a law.” (HG Wells)

“It took me 17 years to get 3000 hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.” (Hank Aaron)

“Golf is a compromise between what what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do and what your nerves let you do.” (Bruce Crampton)

Enjoy the end of the year festivities. See you all in 2020 for more golfing highlights.

Today’s American Greensomes on the Prince’s course was a moment of pre-Christmas fun and to brighten up the day the sun appeared. Our winners were the pairing of Brian Ransom with Paul Grand who amassed a tidy 42 points. Susan Smith and Lia Donath captured second place with 41 points and in third place with 39 points we had the pairing of Sunny Lall with Kinga Nemes. In all, there were 22 players braving today’s course conditions and today’s format was a very agreeable diversion from the normal individual events.

Pictures on the course today: Prince’s 10th | Duke’s 11th

After more rain, Prince’s continued to get muddier and tee mats were in use at some holes. The day itself was dry and there was some good golf. A cracking 40 points with 21 on the back nine won Sunny Lal the event one ahead of Brian Ransome and two from Stephen Haworth, Russell Stewart and Richard Owen with 38s. Results…

Recently (Sunday) ESR’d Damber Thapa continued his rich vein of form with 37 and he clambers aboard the 2019 midweek Eagle Tree with a 2 at 17.

Heavy overnight rain and chilly winds made life pretty miserable for the field. The men failed to take advantage of the forward tees. One lady member hinted that this was an indication of the poor quality of the men’s short game (no prizes if you can guess her name. On second thought: the 1st male member who e-mails me the correct name of that member wins a sleeve of new/unused Taylor Made TP5 balls – send your answer to kchaffart@gmail.com – one entry per person).

Cheryl Woodhouse recorded 23pts on the back 9 (only blemish being a 1-pointer on the 17th hole). A total score of 39pts was matched by new member Damper. Cheryl’s better back 9 makes her today’s winner. As a reward her handicap finally gets a healthy cut down to 20. Damper’s receives an ESR taking his handicap down to 15. Richard Inglis was able to take 3rd place despite 3-putting 4 greens. Adrian Wells keeps up his good form by taking 4th place. Luke Baker (holing a monster birdie putt on 13 didn’t hurt) and JDR complete the Top6. Results…

Conditions proved to be tricky: CSS = 35pts !!!

Capitan vs Secretary
Even though the Top 2 were on the Secretary’s team he lost to the Captain (aka Kim Chaffart deputising for Nigel El Capitan) by a score of 714-695.

A very early sparkling 23 points posted by Mark Rosamund set the target in the midweek Champagne Chase in so-so conditions but at times blinding sunshine over 10 holes. But Adrian Wells really fizzed with 24 points to win the bottle of bubbly just edging an effervescent round from Seymour Laird on back 9. Brett Colley and Richard Norden also had flashes of brilliance with 23s. Results…

38 players entered the shoot-out over 10 holes at the Park. A comp over only 10 holes leaves very little room for error. Two players finished on 21pts. Russell had the more consistent round handing him victory today. Ollie’s birdie on the 7th could’ve served as launch pad. But unfortunately for him he went DB – Par – Bogey on the last 3 holes. So based on the countback rule he has to settle for 2nd. Luke should’ve joined/passed that group had it not been for a horrible finish: DB (7th), DB (8th), bogey (9th) and DB (10th). Keith and Kim also recorded 20pts but have to settle for 4th and 5th places respectively. Kerry’s 2 birdies set him up nicely for a 6th place finish. First lady today is Susan Smith. Results…

Frost cleared to leave a stunningly sunny day; a rest from rain for a week left conditions slightly less muddy.

Secretary Peter Harrington played a blinder in the last game for an amazing medal win on 64, knocking clubhouse leaders Paul Brown and Pralab Barua 67s into 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Well done Peter and a two shot handicap reduction. Results…

Hassan again claimed best gross – 75 and Sheena the best ladies’ (almost a hole in one at 11).

CSS was elevated two from SSS @ 69 men and 71 ladies.

Ladies

It was a dry sunny and chilly day for the Richmond Park Ladies December Team Event. 16 ladies played in 4 teams and the format was fun pink ball. Doubles point for the person playing with the pink ball which we rotated each hole and a penalty if a pink ball was lost.

Team 4 with Angela, Lia, Caroline and Joan came second with 103 points and Team 1 with Kinga, Tenesi, Jayne and Deborah came first with 109 points. Results…

We had lovely mulled wine and mince pies after the game.

Men

38 players faced nasty conditions: an abundance of mud, cold temperatures and swirling winds. The leaves made ball hunting very complicated. Only 6% of the field remained in their buffer. Read that again …. 6%! Therefore it should come as no surprise that today’s competition becomes “Reduction Only”.

Clear winner today is John Ahad with a solid round of 68 net. A solid front 9 and a decent back (until the 18th) are rewarded with 1st place. Best of the rest were Ollie Griffin and Keith Cassidy on 71 net. Ollie’s stronger back 9 puts him in 2nd. Early starter and leader in the clubhouse Mitch Cohen takes 4th. Looks like the secretary is preparing himself for the Captain v Secretary event in two weeks. May be his 5th place today is a sign for things to come. Adrian Wells closes out the Top6. Pete Harrison introduced a novel version of side spin by bouncing his tee-shot on the 2nd of the hoops on the right fringe. A bit of club head speed and a lot of Newton physics made sure his ball landed 2 feet away from the hole. Unfortunately for him he didn’t make the putt. No less than 8 birdies were recorded over the 4 par 3’s. Results…

CSS: 70 (Reduction Only Comp).

Muddy conditions prevailed and rain later caused some players to walk in. With 6 temporary greens the event became non-qualifying for handicapping.

40 points was a very creditable score from early starter Brett Colley who wins followed by Mitch Cohen 38 and Hassan 37. Newly accustomed to better conditions abroad, Sheena flew the ladies’ flag. Results…

After two rounds now played of the Midweek Winter Competition (best 3 from 8 with at least 1 rnd on each course), with 44s last week, Pralab and Richard Norden head the field on 74 and 73 respectively. Early to make a show is Mitch also 73. R2 Leader board…

In the first round of the associated Midweek Duke’s Eclectic (favouring lower handicaps), Hassan leads on 72.5 a full shot from Brett (1/2 handicap allowance). R1 Leader board…

Six (!) temporary greens didn’t scare off 42 players. Conditions were pretty surreal: no roll on the fairways (which probably helped on errant drives for the men), temporary greens on 3, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and mud galore were just some challenges. At least the temperatures were milder than the last couple of weeks.

Rick Kimber recorded 21pts on front and back 9 on route to a decisive win (he even managed to not score any points on 2 holes. Habib had 4 (!) birdies on the front 9. A score of level par gross translates into 25pts !!!. The start of the back 9 was steady but four -pointers between holes 13 to 16 got the better of him. The fact that JDR birdied the 16th really added insult to injury. He recovered really well on the 17th but then lost the will to live on the 18th. A timely birdie on the 18th gave Ollie 19pts on the back 9 and 3rd place. Sunny was the second player on 36pts. But the countback rule means he has to settle for 4th. Tony, fully recovered from his kidney stones takes 5th. Mark Bean completes the Top6. Results…

Thanks to 22pts on the back 9 Tenesi becomes 1st lady.
No less than 4 birdies were recorded on the 16th hole (which a had a hole in the fairway serving as temp green …).

Finally:
4 players didn’t pay entry fees: Evgeny Vd Geest, John Rigo, Marco Tabanella and Gregory Jean-Baptiste. So they are not in the comp. Rather silly since Evgeny and Marco would’ve easily finished in the Top6.