Wednesday Swindle July 2nd

A drop in temperature of about 10 degC from the recent hot spell was very welcome, not least by the course itself, which is looking very parched and brown. I hope everyone took note of the announcement by the club that preferred lies (fairways/close-mown) have been reinstated until further notice. If you missed this... oh dear, how sad, never mind.

I had the pleasure of playing with the Hickmeister today and he gets a special mention for shooting 3 birdies in his round for the 2nd time in 3 swindle outings. Even more impressively, I swear he never missed a single putt from within 15 feet. And he holed a few long ones as well. Seriously, I've never seen anything like it before first hand. Outstanding! It still wasn't enough to win though - that honour went to Rory with a handsome 41 points. Rory has in fact averaged 41 points over his last 4 swindles but 2 of those were in team competitions so this is his first permanent cut, of 4 shots, to go with his £21 winnings. Well deserved.

Joint 2nd with 38 points for £9 each were Dave "The Sommelier" Reynolds and Peter "Mick" the Miller. Well done them. Jeff took the fiver for the front nine in 19 and Chris the back nine in 20.

Finally, Ali prevailed over Kelvin in the Hall Trophy on the final hole. A valiant effort from Kelvin to take it to the last, having been dormie 4. Ali is having a strong season, still leading the red leaderboard, and looks the man to beat in the Trophy too. Next up for him is Mike Crofts. Should be a cracker!

Robert Andlaw Trophy 2025

Just a quick reminder that this year's event will take place on Wednesday August 13th. If you haven't done so already, please enter your name on the weekly spreadsheet in the normal way and also pick which team you would like to play for by filling in the online form. 

 Results 25th June - Team Event

Another warm day was good for scoring. Steve Mummery relished the conditions to produce his best round of the year. His reward for a blob free round of 43pts was only £5 but no cuts involved on a team event day. Similarly Chris Manners also had his best round this year (39pts) and picked up £5 for being nearest  the pin on the 12th in 3 also birdying the hole for good measure.

The first team out set a challenging target of 95pts that proved too good for the other 6 teams so £12 was pocketed by Ali, Peter Miller, David Cheek and Rory who averaged 36 stapleford points as a team. Bonus points for hitting and holding the ball on the par 3 greens proved hard to come by.  

A closely fought Hall Trophy match on Tuesday was eventually won my Mike Crofts on the 19th hole, the 1st time Pablo was behind in the match! Mike moves into the Qtrs.

The half year 2025 review was made after the Swindle that resulted in the following players getting shots back starting in July.

2 shots back:

Paul Berendt, Sameer Chelache, Trevor Hones and David Smith

1 shot back:

Alan Wright

No doubt you will all put the extra shots to good use in the coming weeks. 

Don't forget to reserve Wed 13th Aug for the Robert Andlaw Trophy (9 hole Greensomes in the morning and 18 hole pairs better ball in the afternoon).  

 Results 18th June

A stonking hot day suited the 40+ handicappers who grabbed the top two places. Jim Morrison won the day with 41 pts and put £22 into his bulging pockets this year, alas a 5 shot cut was less welcome, now down to 37. Rory followed up his win at Abbey Hill with a 2nd place this time and got better value from the day with £17 for only a 1 shot cut.

A dispute for 3rd place was finally settled with £9 for Tony Coomber (39 pts) who is averaging 37 pts per game since the start of May. This left Chris Butler, Iain and Peter Miller at least breaking even on the day with their £2 winnings (each scoring 37 pts).

The more profitable option was taken by Sameer and Tom with £4.50 for 21pts on each F&B 9 holes.

1 Hall Trophy match took place with Dave Clarke beating Jeff Titman 2 up. Dave is now into the Qtr finals.

We bid farewell to Geoff Tithecott (joined in May 22) who is heading back home to Devon with £23 profit I notice!! - have a few drinks on the Wed Swindle!  Good on you for retaining the Devonian accent.

A team event next Wed - you will need your passports as proof of your age! Also it will help if you can bring £2 along rather than £10 and £20 notes - you know who you are.

The Red Division is still headed by Ali with Eugene now 2nd just ahead of Pablo.

The Blue Division is remains headed by Robin with Jim Morrison now 2nd ahead of Kim.

The qualification for each Division will be reviewed at the end June and Gus will update the tables on his return from hols.

 Results 11th June

With APGC closed for the Pro Tournament 27 swindlers headed up the A5 to Abbey Hill. Conditions suited the majority so stapleford score averages were in the main boosted by the outing. Paul Matthews nabbed his fiver for 22pts on the front 9 while Don did the same (21pts) on the back 9.

A comfortable win with 46pts (£23) was secured by Rory for his first success of the year - scoring on every hole. Iain Pritchard maintained his fine run of form with 40pts (£12) for 2nd spot. 3rd place was a much tighter affair with Martin Davies outwitting a raft of 37 pointers to pick up £7.

A nod of approval to Eugene who birdied 3 holes and scored well despite the burden of his Away day management duties.

Next Wednesday it is back to home territory.

 Results - 4th June

Only 1 Hall Trophy match this week with Tony Coomber winning 4&3 over David Cheek who made the mistake of getting a 3 shot cut a few weeks ago. Tony's 22pts on the back 9 helped his cause no doubt and secure £5 as well. Jim Morrison kept his fund chest healthily full with £5 on the front 9 with 19pts. 

Commiserations to Chris Butler and Robin Bull (37pts) who got no reward for good rounds, Tony at least got a fiver. The day was won by a hat trick of 38 pointers so well done to Colin Stickland, Bob Bright and Dave Robson taking home £13 but at somewhat of a cost with permanent cuts of 3, 3 and 5 shots respectively. Bob would have got a 2 shot cut but crashed through the £50 nett winnings barrier for an additional 1 shot cut. 

Dave ' I'm off to Royal Ascot' Robson requires further scrutiny. He has played in the Swindle 5 times this year and won money every time. In summary even taking into account his £2 entry for 18 holes and £1 for 9 holes his take home pay is an average £8 per outing! If you see a horse called Easy Money back it! Can he keep it up at Abbey Hill next week on his new handicap of 40?

Just a final reminder that Eugene will oversee the Swindle outing at Abbey Hill next Wed - if you cannot  play on the 11th June please let Eugene know. Your tee times are on the Wed Swindle spreadsheet. Enjoy.

Swindle Team Competition Results - May 28th

A very blustery day brought the scores down from recent highs, with a top score of 38 points from Dave Robson and an overall average of just under 31 points.

The team prize was closely contested and indeed the top two teams could not be split. Team B comprised Dave Robson, Paul Matthews, Don Dobbs and Stuart Insall and Team I was Tony Coomber, Dom Johnson, Jim Morrison and ghost Paul Berendt. Both teams scored 123 points and they all took home £5.50.

That left Steve Mummery to trouser a fiver for his 35 stapleford points and Geoff Tithecot a fiver for nearest the pin in 2 on the 18th.

The Boss chose a good week to miss - a few no-shows resulted in multiple ghosts, much head-scratching and several recounts. We got there in the end though!

Parish Notices

We now have a full house for Abbey Hill on June 11th. If you aren't on the list and would like to play, just enter your name via the webform anyway and you'll go down as a reserve in case anyone drops out.

Another reminder that the club is running a 30th anniversary bash on July 11th. Several swindlers and their better halves are going and there is space for more - if you're interested, just give Don Dobbs a tap on the shoulder.

Swindle June 11th - Change of Venue

APGC is unavailable on June 11th owing to the Clutch Tour event being held at the club. We have reserved tee-times instead at Abbey Hill which is one of the other Burhill courses, up near Milton Keynes. We don't pay to play there.

Please could anyone who DOESN'T want to play either let Gus know directly, or resubmit the web form with a NO, so we can give back any tee-times we don't need.