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 9^th it was all square and team 2 went on to go 2 up at one point only to lose that lead heading into the 18^th 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 10^th, increased to 2up on the 13^th, 3 up on the 15^th and the match closed out at 4 &2 on the 16^th.

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.

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 4^th 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.