Women

A much nicer day weatherwise than we were led to expect; a touch breezy at times but very warm when the sun made it’s occasional break through the clouds that at times looked rather ominous.

Congratulations to Bella on her second outing with the Sunday group and making the most of it with her net 65 beating Jenny by 1 shot. Playing to 28.6 another good handicap cut beckons for Bella returning her to her lowest recorded handicap.
A few of us had cards marred by one or two rather large numbers – which WHS will probably cut back for many overnight.

Men

Manly cloudy and dry except for a little drizzle at end of play for the July medal.

Outstanding score of the day came from Rannesh Jansari with a net 54 playing off 17 at 3 over par – probably his best round ever. His round included an eagle 3 at the par 5 9th. WHS will apply an Exceptional Scoring Reduction overnight. Well done Rannesh! Behind him in Second Division was Richard Prosser with excellent 67 and then Secretary Peter Harrington with a glorious 65.
The First Division belonged to Jonathan Evans 64 with consistent 37s in and out. Tom Simpkins’ glorious 65 gained second place – just 35 back 9.; Greg Wright gained 3rd with his 66 which included a 1 over par back 9.
After 6 (of possible 8) rounds in the Grand Medal, Richard Owen leads First division 347 from Oz Doyle 348 and then Mel Dunn 349. The Second Division is now headed by Rannesh by 11 350 from Gerard Ouattara361 then Nigel Ward 362.

Women

Numbers which were never high were further depleted when we woke to rain and the prospect of showers continuing through much of the day. As is often the case all we experienced was the occasional light & passing shower much to the annoyance of those who cancelled..

The dowsing of the course in water yesterday definitely had an effect on how it played today but a quick look at last year’s scores for the first round show they weren’t that much lower (except for Silvia of course!)
Joan played a very consistent round with 2 pars, a birdie and a 4 (on the 13th) on the par 3s that helped.
She can probably expect a .4/5 cut overnight as one of her higher scores drops off and goes into round 2 with a 4 shot lead over Sheena with Susan just 1 further back and a commanding lead in the handicap cup.

Men

A little early rain but otherwise dry for first round of Club Championship.

In the scratch championship The First Division is headed by Will Balakrishnan 69 from Richard Back 71 and then Mel Dunn 76 and Greg Wright 77. Some excellent golf -Will was 1 under gross 34 for front 9 whilst Richard scored 5 birdies on the back 9 30. Will’s front 9 included an eagle at par 5 9th .
‘In the Second Division Nigel Ward leads from Robin Thomas 86 (Julian James 85 and Dan Ballantyne 85 ineligible for Club Championship (not booked for round 2/ not enough Sunday Comps played).

In the net results (for Handicap Trophy) Richard Back, Mel Dunn are tied for First Division with 65s. In Second Division Nigel Ward 69 leads from Robin Thomas 70.
Sweeps by division as per attached -special Championship rules not applicable.

Women

A strange day weather-wise but it did keep dry and when the sun was out it was pretty warm, but that swirly, gusty wind did its best to make things challenging. 3 of those playing today aren’t shown in the attached results but it was one of the best turn-outs this year despite it being a bank holiday.

Last week’s top 2 were in the same game and if it had only been 9 holes today Reiko would have caught and overtaken Sheena and was the only one to play better on the front 9 with 20 points. Sadly as Sheena’s game resurrected itself hers sadly went the other way and Sheena amassed 23 points on the back 9 dropping just 3 shots to par.

Men

A windy but dry day for the (2nd) May Bank Holiday Plate; the courses had benefited from some rain during the week. The field was diminished due the Bank Holiday/ a number playing their KO matches.

Some excellent scoring on the back 9 (22 points) saw Rannesh Jansari 40 points the deserved winner on countback from Giovanni Caboni (20 out and back) .Toby Hunt held 3rd spot on his own with a skilfully crafted 39 points. 3 splendid 38s from Peter Abbott, Brian McMahon and Tom O’Hare followed with Peter heading with countback of 21 points on back 9.

Women

Congrats to Caroline, Niamh, Deborah and Ali who won todays Scramble with a score of 48 which included two 4 point birdies. They were also the only team with a double bogey on the card. They had the same gross (75) as the 3-ball team finishing in 3rd (Cheryl, Joan, Angela), but the considerable advantage of 17 shots compared to the 3-ball’s 11 shots… and the extra player of course!

Cheryl/Joan/Angela had 3 birdies. No birdies for the 2nd place team of Jane, Doreen, Lia and Jenny which was the only real difference between all the teams.

Everyone enjoyed the sunshine even though the wind was a little cold at times. Farewell Texas Scramble… we will miss you. Back to medals now.

Men

A bright day for first round [from 8] of the Grand Medal – a cold nagging wind but some run on the ball off white tees.

An excellent 66 with 2 birdies secured Mel Dunn the senior division from Iker Lanzagorta who had another good round 67 with front 9 honours 37; next came Chris Mellish and Raymond Esin with creditable 69s. Will Balakrishnan had back 9 honours with 2 over par 35.

The junior division saw Gerard Outtara win on 71 – this could have been a lot lower save for a 10 on 3rd. James Deissler came second with a consistent 72followed by 74s from Richard Hanna and Lee Frost.

Both courses were closed due to a combination of frozen greens and the rain forecast which could cause long term damage if played on inevitably cancelling both events.

After heavy overnight rain Glendale closed both courses and they will remain closed on Thursday.

First of the autumn cancellations due to heavy rain from the previous day and more forecast on an already saturated course.

Each of us was given a set of 7 clubs including a driver and a putter and it was definitely a struggle for most. Perhaps sending us home with a greater regard for the players of yesteryear. Especially when combined with less forgiving clothing and courses that probably in comparison make RP look to be fantastic.

More images can be found on https://www.richmondparkgolfclub.org.uk/2024-people-and-events/ eventually videos will also be uploaded.

Of course there was one amongst us for whom the day didn’t seem to present that much of a challenge & that despite one of his 4-ball trying to take him out with a whack on the back of his head. Huge congratulations to Richard Smith for his amazing 38 points and comfortable 7 point margin for the win.
To encourage midweek & green fee payers to participate, the club offered a concessionary rate and the 2 5-day players made the most of this offer. In 2nd spot on 31 points was Bill Norman with Giles Rawlinson being the better of the 4 on 28 points to take 3rd place.

It is a fact that the back 9 generally plays a lot easier than the front 9 (the 7th & 8th were again the 2 hardest holes for everyone) and today there were some spectacular differences. Partly no doubt as we were getting more used to the clubs.
Despite the generally low scoring there were 12 birdies amongst the group. Richard Owen’s on the 2nd was no doubt the most impressive after his tee shot left him in a very grassy spot on the back of the bunker on the left. A spectacular chip sent it through the air and into the hole, but alas not winning one of the NTP prizes

And finally it was lovely to see Jon Cooper today who was the organiser of our hickory event 10 years ago and hopefully the NHS can get him back playing.

Women

A sunnier day than forecast and so much quicker than last Sunday’s round. All we needed was some good rounds of golf. to complete it. As is normal, the cards tend to show one or two holes being the undoing of several potentially good scores
Bridget won by 4 shots on a net 67 from Doreen on 71 (on countback). All of us, bar Reiko, were there when she decried her abilities, ignoring her 3 pars and 3 bogeys which based on her handicap gave her 8 shots to use up elsewhere. WHS agrees she played very well and is awarding a 1.1 cut tomorrow to her handicap.

Holes 7 & 8 as may be expected came out as the hardest holes today.

Men

A glorious 65 earned Kerry Sargeant the winning score for the senior division; Kerry started as he finished with birdies and kept a six off his card. A remarkable and consistent 66 earned Richard Smith second place – including an eagle at 14th (the 4th by men on Sundays this year per attached). George Taylor and Michael Hayden followed wit excellent 66s. The in-form Richard Inglis NRd but alaso eagled the 14th – well done!

A fine 64 in late game by Charlie Whiteman won the junior division. A skilful back 9 37 placed Peter Harrison 2nd on 66; a super back 9 from Ian Burgess earned a countback 67 win from Alan King who also had super back 9.

This was 6th round od the Grand Medal (5th in July abandoned) and we see in the senior division Kerry leading 277 just 1 ahead of Richard both 4 rounds played; in the junior division Nigel Ward has a 21 shot lead on 354 from Ian Burgess 375; Nigel built solid foundation with early 3 rounds in the 60s.

The forecast wasn’t great and no doubt everyone had rain at some point. Unfortunately as the women played the 18th there was an ominous clap of thunder. Shortly after they finished there was a cloudburst followed by some fierce thunder & lightning. Glendale then closed the course (the klaxon sounded) and as the men would have been unable to mark their balls to restart from the same place, their medal had to be abandoned.

Women

That was an interesting day on the course and perfect timing for our 2 games – we saw quite a few drowned rats eventually making their way into the clubhouse after the klaxon went. Undoubtedly the wind played a part in some of the scores recorded today and it certainly wasn’t what we’ve come to expect from conditions underfoot in July at the Park.

Congratulations to Sali who recorded a net 69 to win from Silvia with the comfortable margin of 4 shots and will get a small cut in her handicap tomorrow – as we know, not a given with WHS.

There were 2 birdies on the 16th par 3, 1 for Sali and 1 for Elisabeth whose shot your author saw and what a good one it was. Barely a 6″ putt required to slot away her 2, which had it been a stableford comp would have given her 5 points!! Sali’s may have been just as close but unfortunately I didn’t see yours.