Swindle Update November 4th

Peter Miller was rolling putts in from all over, scoring a magnificent 24 points on the back nine to add to a steady front nine for a total haul of 42 points. £22 and a 3-shot cut came his way.

Paul Berendt made his first appearance for a couple of months but there were no signs of rust as he posted 41 points for second place. £12 and a 4-week cut of one shot was his reward.

Ali also scored very well. Believe it or not he was slightly wayward by his own high standards but scrambled pars for fun and finished with a gross 76 for 39 points. A £6 prize, and no cut for Ali.

Front nine/back nine fivers went to Jimbo with 19 points and Dom with 20 points respectively.

Leaderboards

Please remember that to qualify for the leaderboard you must complete at least 4 rounds in Q4 before the awards dinner. There are now only another 5 opportunities to add to your tally before the axe falls!

Long time red leader Jeff had an average day at the office on Wednesday to see his lead trimmed, although it is still quite a healthy one. Ali's stellar form has seen him surge up the leaderboard but it would still take a big turnaround for him to catch Jeff.

In blue, Peter Miller is the man on the charge. He's up to 2nd after scores of 39 and 42 in his last 2 appearances. Can he maintain that form and challenge Steve for top spot? We'll soon see! Dom improved his average by a smidge last time out but still dropped a place to 3rd.

Hall Trophy

The wily fox that is PBI is through to another final, getting the better of Graham Waller in their semi. Pete will play either Don or Kelvin, once they get their match played. Come on boys, you're running out of time!

 Away Day at Whipsnade GC 2nd Nov

18 players made their way to Whipsnade in the drizzle - many for the 1st time. The fairways were flat, greens were in excellent condition and trees were plentiful but the challenge proved too much for most. Ali just back from Aussie - despite Jet lag and only 3hrs sleep still scored 35pts and took home £8 for the best stableford score - 35pts.

Eugene 1st out bagged nearest the pin on the 17th for £7 - an inch on the edge of the green proved too good for the followers.

Well done to the 6 players getting 30 - 35pts. Par 4's were almost impossible to reach in 2 shots so team scores suffered as a result. Well done to a consistent set of scores from the winning team of John Martin, Colin and Bryn who scored 30,31 and 29pts respectively (72pts).

In second place with 69pts was Eugene, The Sommelier and Don D.

In third  place with 68pts was Tony C, Dave Robson and Stuart.

Back to home turf on Wed - phew!   

PS Thanks to Andy for his pic capturing the mood of the day. That's Ali and Kelvin in the background, doing their best Where's Wally impressions!

Swindle Team Competition October 28th

The winning team comprised Gus, Iain, Dave Smith and Gavin D'Ancey. £14 each and no cuts. Gus's score was helped by an extra shot back for losing so much money this year but nevertheless was his career-best Swindle score of 44 points. Happy days! Gus and Dave dovetailed beautifully, both scoring par on the same 5 holes, while their team hoovered up 11 points on the 18th. All of which meant it wasn't even close in the end. Scores on the doors:-

    Team E - 76 points
    Team D - 65 points
    Team H - 62 points
    Team A - 60 points
    Team G and Team I - 59 points
    Team C and Team F - 55 points
    Team B - 49 points

All the teams coped with the scoring system bar one. Mssrs Miller, Ibbetson, Evans and Brayley came up short on the recount; a classic case of robbing Peter, Peter and Peter to pay Paul if ever I saw one!

The stableford prize of £6 went to Mark Thompson with 41 points. Mark also had the distinction of an eagle on the first hole, sinking a 185 yard approach with his second shot. Magnificent!

Nearest-the-pin in 2 on the 18th was won by Kelvin for £6.

Leaderboards

A rare bad day at the office for Jeff saw his lead trimmed slightly in red, but he'll still take some catching. In blue the big mover was Dom, who is now up into 2nd place. Steve still has a healthy lead though.

Date for the Diary

Sameer is organising the annual golf dinner on Wednesday December 9th. More details to follow, but get the date in your diary now!

PS

Who says the 14th is a tricky hole? This lovely little clutch of tee-shots yielded 2 pars and a birdie!

Swindle Report October 21st

For the record Iain, Andy, Tony, Kim, Kelvin, Stuart, Steve and Eugene all set out to play and made it to the 5th before the course was closed and they were dragged off, complaining bitterly at being forced to stop. Madmen!

Swindle Results - October 14th

In case anyone didn't realise it, this week's Swindle counts as an official qualifier, as long as you registered the round and submitted your scores.

Despite leaving his wedge leaning against the orange fence on the first hole and not being reunited with it until half way up the 8th when I waved it at him, Trevor Hones blitzed the course and came in with 43 points. I can only imagine his wedge doesn't get used that often! A great round, and Trevor was the beneficiary to the tune of £23 and a 3-shot cut.

Dave Robson came in with an admirable 42 points to take second place, which was worth £13 and only a 4-week 1-shot cut. Well done Dave. For some reason completely missed by those of us at the far end of the table Dave also went home with a bottle of Mateus Rose. Didn't know they still made it! Don't forget to stick a candle in it when it's empty Dave.

The front 9 fiver was won by newbie Eoin McGinley with 22 points. I believe a 9-for-1 featured somewhere on his card! Well done Eoin and welcome to the Wednesday Swindle. The back 9 fiver went to David Coutts, also with 22 points. 

Leaderboards

The only real move this week was made by Jimbo, who climbed to 2nd in the blue table. Watch out Steve, he's coming for you!

Awayday

There are now 18 entries for the Awayday at Whipsnade on Nov 2nd, so it will go ahead as planned. It's not too late to enter if you wish; just get your name onto the spreadsheet.

Next Week

The Boss is away next week so yours truly will be in the chair - go easy on me! We are currently oversubscribed so if anyone can no longer play, please put a "no" on the spreadsheet and your spot can be reallocated to a reserve.

Final request - I don't have email addresses for some of the newer players so if you would like to receive the email prompts I send out to alert people that the blog has been published, just corner me on a Wednesday and give me your email address.

Swindle Results October 7th

Wednesday swindlers are a hardy bunch. Or should that be fool-hardy? Maybe they're just waterproof! Anyway, despite the somewhat biblical weather forecast, 16 golfers set out in the rain. That 14 of them got to the end is testament to their determination. Good on them. 

Once again the winning score began with a "4" but this time only just - The Boss and Mark Thompson both scoring exactly 40 points for a £10 prize and cuts of 2 and 3 shots respectively. No other placings were awarded, given the limited field. The front nine was halved by Stu and Jimbo with 19 points, for £2 each. The back nine £4 prize went to Mike Vallance, returning to the swindle for a full 18 holes for the first time since June, with 20 points. Well done sir - obviously been practising!

No great change in the leaderboards - Jeff (red) and Steve (blue) are beginning to look like they'll take a bit of catching, though a good run from one of the current occupiers of the other podium places could make life interesting.

Don't forget next week's swindle is a card-in event - instructions on the spreadsheet.

Swindle Team Competition 30th Sept

Ali was kind enough to oversee the group due to holiday absentees and made a rather good job of it. The results presented on a down loadable spreadsheet was impressive! 

Also interesting to see Ali was in the winning team but after scrutiny it all seemed above board. So well done to the clear winners on 120pts with Ali, Sameer, David 'the Sommelier' and Charles taking home £10 each. Their team average stableford score was 40.5!!

Mike Crofts picked up £5 for nearest the pin in 2 on the 9th and Mark Thompson won £5 too for the best stableford score of 44pts.

Away Day at Whipsnade on Monday 2nd Nov

14 signed up so far - looking for a minimum 16 players so please sign in on the web page if you can make it.

Swindle News September 23rd - record equalling round!

Like the proverbial London bus, no sooner did one stellar round come along than it was closely followed by another. First up was the Hickmeister with a wonderful gross 73. He only dropped shots to gross par on 2 holes - a bogey somewhere on the front nine, and then an overcooked shot into the wind costing him a double-bogey at the 18th. All the other holes were pars or birdies. A par on the last would have seen Eugene post the first sub-par round in swindle history. In any case, chapeau Monsieur le Hick!

Then... wonder of wonders, in came Ali with a gross 72, the joint lowest gross round ever for a Wednesday swindler. Ali's highlights included 3 straight birdies on 8, 9 and 10. A truly magnificent achievement - well done Ali! An entry on the hall of fame, and a tag on the home page. Immortality!

Ali's 44 points took home £22 and a 1-shot cut to +7. Eugene's 42 points earned him £12 and a 4-week 1-shot cut to +6. In joint 3rd for £3 each with highly creditable 41 pointers were The Boss and David Coutts. Rounding off the prizes were Colin for £4 with 21 on the front nine and Steve Mummery for £4 with 22 on the back nine.

The average score this week was 36.8 which means my best-of-the-season 37 points was no more than a smidge abover average. And I thought the greens were a nightmare - what do I know!

Hall Trophy - Match Report

A heavyweight clash between Steve Mummery and The Don was witnessed by your correspondent, and what a match it was! Steve birdied the first (albeit a traffic cone) to go one up, then promptly handed it back on the 2nd by playing the wrong ball! Steve then won the next 2 holes before being pegged back at the 5th. It was back and forth after that, Don finally nosing into the lead early in the back nine. Steve's customarily doughty play had Don scrambling hard to stay ahead, but he held on, just. Then at the 16th Don had a putt to go dormie 2, but missed! Panic stations on the 17th, as Don drove sideways into the undergrowth - all square going down the last! Don sliced his drive before slicing his approach to somewhere near the water, while Steve serenely played to the edge of the green in 2. I swear Don's ball was hanging on a blade of grass over the pond, but he somehow played a fluff shot and landed about 12 feet from the pin. After Steve made the par, Don needed to make the putt to take the match to sudden death. And he holed it! So off they went, where Don prevailed on the 2nd. Well done to both of them for a great match - Don now goes on to face Tom in the quarter-final, with the winner of that one to play Kelvin.

Parish Notices

Awayday

The next Awayday will be at Whipsnade Golf Club on Monday 2nd November from 10am. The cost is £36 for tea/coffee on arrival and 18 holes. The chef doesn't work on a Monday so there is no food on offer. Get yourselves signed up on the website as normal, if you'd like to play.

Captain's Charity Raffle

For those of you not playing in the Seniors Charity Day on 6 October who would like to be in the draw to win a new TaylorMade Spider TourX Putter, tickets are £10 each with all proceeds going to Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care.

£10 paid into the APGC SENIOR SECTION account: Sort Code 309390  Account Number 00246804 with 'PUTTER' as the reference, and you are in!

And lastly, should you wish to donate towards raffle prizes or items for auction, please contact Jim McGown or Glen or alternatively leave in the Pro Shop and they will collect.

Annual Awards Dinner

More details nearer the time, but Sameer is on the case and has booked the Plough and Harrow in Harpenden for Wednesday December 9th. Get the date in your diaries!