Friendlies
Friendlies
Rickmansworth Away Leg
Following the 4:2 win at home, Richmond Park played the away leg in warm Autumn sunshine, seeking the 2.5 points necessary to claim an overall win and return the trophy to Richmond Park. The Ricky course was in good condition, especially the greens, which were as challenging as ever.
Our first 2 pairs (Richard Owen & Manny Rasores and Maher Sharma & Dan Ballantyne) suffered defeats, but our third pairing of Richard Back & John Ahad grabbed 1/2 point on the 18th, thanks to a birdie by Richard. Our 4th pair of Captain Paul Green & Iker Lanzagorta had an impressive 6&5 win for a point. Our 5th pair of Allan Boyd & Steve De Long lost their match but our 6th pairing of Aiden Hurley & Richard Smith ‘did the business’ and won their match.
So although a 3.5:2.5 points loss on the day, overall it was a 6.5:5.5 points win for Richmond Park and the trophy was reluctantly returned to Paul by their captain. Lasagne, chips and salad were served and enjoyed by all.
David Lloyd Hampton Friendly Match
A mixed team of 12 RPGC players took part in the annual match against the David Lloyd Hampton (DLH) club and secured a 5:1 win, to retain the trophy. This fixture has been played for more than 10 years against the DLH club, which used to be known as Amida. The RPGC team held the honours for the match, winning at home last year and hoping to retain the bragging rights following this away fixture.
The match was played on the DLH course, which is a 9-hole course where we played two circuits of the course making 18 holes. The front and back 9 holes were played from slightly different tee positions, with the women playing from the red tees and the men from the whites. The format was four ball better ball matchplay.
Unfortunately, the fairways had suffered a similar fate to Richmond Park where the dry summer has burned off the grass, so most lies were on bare turf. As a result, there was a lot of run on the ball along with unpredictable bounces. The odd bladed shot was hard to avoid but that’s been summer 2026!
We started to play on what was forecast to be quite a wet day but thankfully the weather forecast was more pessimistic than reality and whereas we had to have brollies at the ready for the odd shower, the match was played in relatively good conditions.
To the credit of all players who had signed up for this fixture, and despite the BBC promising monsoon conditions, everyone turned up for the challenge and, after a very tasty morning roll and a hot drink, we headed to the first tee at 10.00am to begin the first of 6 four ball better ball games.
The first Richmond Park team of Alison Chadwick and Aiden Hurley halved the first hole with birdies, Alison and Aidan steadily built a lead to be 3 up after 9. On the 12th Alison’s tee shot hit the flag stick and she tapped in for birdie and a five-hole lead. Another birdie and par followed to secure a 5 and 4 win for team 1.
Team 2 comprised Sheena Harrington and Russell Stewart playing their game against the DLH women’s and men’s captains who came out of the blocks quickly and, after the third hole, we were two down with the short game of the DLH team proving to be the difference. But battling on, after the 9th it was all square and team 2 went on to go 2 up at one point only to lose that lead heading into the 18th hole all square. However, after both men thinned their approach shots to the 18th, it was Sheena who finally stepped up to win the hole and game 2 for RPGC.
The game 3 pairing of John Cho and Richard Owen alternately won and lost holes to their opponents through the front 9 scoring pars and birdies. The back 9 second loop started “all square”. A one-shot lead was then taken at the 10th, increased to 2up on the 13th, 3 up on the 15th and the match closed out at 4 &2 on the 16th.
Game 4 was played by Caroline Stillwell and Paul Green. This game was nip and tuck from the start and there was never more than a hole in it. Level after nine, Paul and Caroline snatched a draw with impressive birdies at the finish.
The game 5 team was Ellie Rhodes and Maher Sharma. They had a similar, tightly contested game which finished in another draw and a second consolation ½ point for DLH.
The final RPGC pairing comprised Lia Donath and Ed Hall. Both pairs started scruffily in the heaviest shower of the morning but thanks to some great play from Lia they took a 2-hole lead early on. The match stayed tight until the RPGC team pulled away on the back 9, sealing a 4 and 2 win on the 16th green.
So, overall, a big win for Richmond Park taking four of the six games to a win and drawing two, therefore, the team won the match by 5 points to 1 on the day. An excellent result made even more impressive given this was an away match on an unfamiliar course for the significant majority of the RPGC team. We were all invited for food at the end of the match in the conservatory area of the David Lloyd club which was welcome. All games were played in good spirit and the DLH team proved to be excellent hosts and seemed to enjoy the challenge but perhaps, not the result! The DLH women’s Captain (Veronika Wyper) therefore handed the match claret jug back to us to keep for another year with a short address thanking RPGC for participating. Thanks to all our hosts on the day including the DLH men’s captain Keith Mitchell.
Horton Park Friendly – Away Leg
On Saturday 4 July we played the away leg of the 2026 match against Horton Park where we endured a narrow loss: three and a half to two and a half.
There were wins for the pairings of Iker Lanzagorta/Sunny Lall and for Nick Rogers/John Wardlaw. Aidan Hurley/ Kevin Prendergast halved their match. Alas Paul Green/Manny Rasores, Angus Robertson/Richard Owen and Richard Back/Billy Jackson lost narrowly. Performance of the day was from Iker, who had six birdies in a level par round.
We look forward to a convincing victory to overturn the 1 point deficit and provide an overall win in the home leg on 12 September.
Rickmansworth – Home Leg
We played the home leg of our annual match against Rickmansworth on Saturday 20 June on the Duke’s course. This encounter has been a feature of the club’s fixture list for some sixty years or so.
The stand out performance of the day was from Gerard Ouattara and Mel Dunn with their convincing 6&5 win (and an impressive 51 stableford points in our internal better ball competition). Nick Rogers and Russell Stewart (8&6), Alan Treacy and Craig Johnstone (3&1), and Peter Harrison and Richard Back (7&6) were our other victorious pairings. Julian James/Richard Owen and Joe Goncalves/Paul Green couldn’t quite help us repeat the whitewashes we sometimes manage at home. It is always hard for the away team in these matches, so a 4-2 victory for RPGC leaves us a bit of work to do in the away leg in September.
Mitcham Friendly – 1st leg
Played on what turned out to be the last of the mini heatwave days the match was the away leg at Mitcham. The Mitcham bounce was in evidence after this period of dry weather so there was also a lot of run on the ball.
Richmond came away with a 2-1 lead with victories for Alison & Kelly (2&1) and Donna & Nida (5&3). The pairing of Sheena & Doreen lost on the 18th. It was good to see Mitcham able to field a team of 6 again after last year when they could only find 3 to play.
As ever it was played in a very friendly spirit and we were supplied with sandwiches & chips afterwards but the hot weather suppressed many appetites!
David Lloyd (Amida) Friendly
A mixed team of 12 RPGC players took part in the annual match against a team from the David Lloyd Hampton (DLH) club on Saturday the 4th of October 2025. This fixture has been played for more than 10 years against a team from DLH, which used to be known as Amida. The DLH team held the honours for the competition winning at home last year and hoping to retain the bragging rights on their visit to Richmond Park this year.
The match was played on the Duke’s course, with the women playing from the red tees and the men from the whites on what was a very windy day, as the tail end of storm Amy closed some of the public parks across London but not the Duke’s course. To the credit of all players who had signed up for this fixture, and despite the yellow weather warning, they turned up for the challenge and after a morning roll and a hot drink we headed to the first tee at 9.15am to begin the first of 6 four ball better ball games. It was thankfully a dry day but at times the wind was gusting very strongly which made standing still to hit the ball a bit of a challenge at times.
The first Richmond Park team of Bella Mahale and Russell Stewart came out of the blocks really quickly and were 6 holes up at the turn finally winning 7 & 6. The second game, played by Joan Mulcahy and Simon Russett, was much tighter for the front nine but they then dominated on the back nine and won 3 & 2. The third team of Monique Hubaille and Sajid Khan had an even tighter game but won on the last hole. Team four, Seema Sandhu and Ed Hall, had an easier time of it and were four holes up by the fifth, eventually winning 6 & 4. Team five, Ellie Rhodes and Maher Sharma had a similar dominant round and finally won out 4 & 3. Team six comprising Jayne Maxwell and Richard Owen were up against much stiffer opposition (including the DLH long hitting lady captain) and lost their game after 15 holes, so a drop of consolation was taken by the DLH team. So, overall, a big win for Richmond Park taking 5 of the 6 games to win the day.
Pizza was thankfully consumed at the end as we warmed up after the first real taste of chilly Autumn weather. All games were played in good spirit and the DLH team were generally impressed with the course and enjoyed the challenge but perhaps, not the result!
Home advantage was a big advantage in this match. Again, well done to everyone for braving the elements to play. Unfortunately, we were unable to get everybody in the picture (below) – this is the best we have.
Rickmansworth match, Away Leg
The team from Richmond Golf Club headed up to North London to play Rickmansworth in the second leg of a competition between the clubs which has been running for 60 years. The first leg finished 3 points to each team so all that was needed was 3 points to retain the trophy which Richmond won last year. We tee’ d off with rain threatening on the forecast but it remained dry for all six of the games. However, it turned out that that was the only bit of good fortune we had as we battled the course as much as the opposition team. Although a short course at a par 65, 4,635 yards, the course is quite difficult and very little there seemed to be predictable! Richmond Park had a pretty strong team overall and as a result the other team had 102 shots against our 39.
Joe Goncalves pitch into the hole in their game kept his team with Maher Sharma in the hunt with a draw for half a point. The teams of Alan Treacy/Russell Stewart and Michael Hayden/Simon Russett lost by 1 hole and 2 holes, respectively, which gave Rickmansworth 2.5 points and 1 point away from winning the match. The teams of Simon McKnight/Peter Harrison and Chris Mellish/Cliff Morgan both battled to the finish with draws which meant that at half a point per game, Rickmansworth had the match with 3 ½ points. Adrian Wells and Julian James gave Richmond Park a consolation win and an impressive one, given the shots they had to give away to the opposition – 27 in total. So, the 2025 match ended with Rickmansworth winning 6½ points to our 5½. The Rickmansworth course is a varied and difficult challenge and home advantage is a big advantage in this case – better luck next year!!
Men’s Horton Park match (2nd leg – away)
Following heavy overnight rain and a brief course inspection by the Horton captain, the course was deemed ‘fit for play’ and our 6 pairs headed off in sunny, breezy weather for the 2nd leg of our inaugural match against the home club. With a 3.5:2.5 lead from the home leg at Richmond Park, we were looking for at least an additional 3 points from the away fixture to secure the win. In fact, we won the away leg 5:1 making the overall result 8.5:3.5 in favour of Richmond Park, much to the joy of our team (and the despondency of the Horton captain – who won his match).
Our winning pairs were Joe Gonclaves & Maher Sharma (2up), Iker Lanzagorta & Chris Mellish (3&2), Gerard Ouattara & Marco Vergani (6&4), Will Balakrishnan & Kevin Prendergast (3&2) and Sunny Lall & Alex Catlow (2up). All these pairings scored between 39 and 43 stableford points (better ball) off their course handicaps, with Iker & Chris on 43 points.
The match was played in a very friendly atmosphere and we enjoyed pizza, chips and drinks in their clubroom after the match. Unfortunately the greens had been spiked, hollow tined and sanded only days before the match and some of the tees were in poor condition, however the fairways and bunkers were in better condition than those at Richmond Park. Whilst our early pairs finished before the heavy showers resumed, our final pairs caught the rain on the closing holes.
It is hoped to arrange to play a return double-header again next year.
Horton Park match, Home leg
Six pairs from Horton Park Golf Club visited Richmond Park for the inaugural 4BBB match between the two clubs. The match was played on the Duke’s course in warm but overcast conditions, with a little occasional light rain. The Richmond Park team, all kitted out in yellow shirts (some brand new !), were Alan Treacy & Richard Back, Richard Owen & Manny Rasores, Joe Goncalves & Maher Sharma, Sunny Lall & Sajid Khan, David Grace & Will Balakrishnan and Gerard Ouattara & Cliff Morgan.
After the first 3 games had finished the result was not looking good for our home team (Horton 2.5 points : 0.5 points RPGC), however our final 3 pairs all came in with wins, making the overall result a win for Richmond Park, RPGC 3.5 points : 2.5 points Horton Park.
The match was played in a competitive but friendly atmosphere and the teams enjoyed pizza and chips in the clubhouse afterwards. The return fixture at Horton Park will be on Saturday September 13th (a week before the return leg at Rickmansworth).
Rickmansworth match, Home Leg
The first leg of our annual match against Rickmansworth was played on a warm but overcast day and the Ricky team came with a strong team to avenge the 5-0 drubbing they suffered last year at the park. The rain held off long enough for the first 4 matches to finish in the dry but the heavens opened as the final 2 matches were finishing.
The match result swung one way and then the other as the scores came in but finished as a 3:3 draw. The winning pairs for RPGC were Alan Treacy & Craig Johnstone, Joe Gonclaves & Gerard Ouattara and Richard Back & Peter Harrison. So, much work to do to retain the cup, when we go over to Rickmansworth for the away leg of match, in its 60th anniversary year.