A great run by Nick Pateman at the county championship held at Letchworth last month saw the Porters Park player reach the final, only to lose the title by one hole.

Our club had the highest number of entrants, with Nick, Jason Mitchell, Michael Moore, Alan Glynn, Jeremy Lee and Norman Cameron qualifying on handicap, and Geoff Kirby and Ewen Wilson doing so through the Herts Salver.

Alan and Norman were away for the weekend, but our other scratch team players performed creditably, all finishing in the top half of the field. Nick and Ewen played exceptionally well, both reaching the top 16 and the matchplay stages and then making the semi-finals.

On his way, Nick beat Glenn Barrington. of Ashridge, and last year's champion Rob Leonard, of Harpenden Common, while Ewen saw off county captain James York, of West Herts, and previous county champion John Ambridge, of Moor Park. Sadly, they then had to play each other. Both were under par when Nick won by two holes.

In the final, Nick met Tom Shadbolt, of Mid Herts. Both played golf of the highest standard and were neck and neck until Nick lost the last hole.

Unfortunately, the first team had a game on the Sunday against a strong Sandy Lodge side. With Alan and Norman away and Nick and Ewen at Letchworth, a weakened side went down 9-3. Hopefully, we will bounce back in our next game, away to Berkhamsted on July 2nd. We look forward to your support.

STOP PRESS: Although they won no trophies, Nick and Michael Moore later performed well at the Herts Colts championship at Moor Park.

Monday, July 4th - course closed pm (1st & 10th) for Herts Schools Championship.

Thursday, July 7th - course closed pm for Allied Irish Golf Day (annual event).

Courtesy rounds will be available for both days. Sign up on a first-come, first-served basis on the board in Palm Court during week before.

Please note that the July midweek stableford, originally due to be played on Monday, July 4th has been postponed until Friday, July 22nd

Friday, August 5th - Porters Park v Radlett Cricket Club at RCC, rescheduled from Friday, 8th July

Friday, August 12th -Porters Park v Radlett Cricket Club at PP, rescheduled from Friday, 3rd June because of bad weather

One hundred and forty-eight golfers Texas-scrambled round the course on Pro's Day - none to more effect than the quartet of Linda Lambert, Gerri Warnes, Joan Dulieu and Duncan Moffat who took first place and David's top cut-glass prizes by more than two clear strokes.

Their magnificent net 49 - 21 under par - left the field trailing, the nearest contenders being Howard Till, Terry Wakeman, Ken Specter and Daniel Marsh, whose 51.2 pipped on countback Jayendra Patel, Amal Wicks, Manvinder Arora and Vashist Amin.

Not content with success in the main event, Gerri scooped the ladies' nearest-the-pin prize at the 14th. Other nearest-the-pin prizes went to Julie Talbot (ladies' at the 9th) and, for the men, Padraig Warnes at the 6th and Andrew McAlister at the 12th.

The weather was great, the course perfect and golfing support from members, says David, all he could have asked for.

Sixty members tucked into curry in the evening, and then took part in a quiz. The Captain's team won - not fixed, insists David.

The day closed with the raffle. Daniel Marsh, clearly on a winning streak, took top prize of a set of irons with ticket 780. The large golf bag was snapped up by Peter Hayes (495) and third prize of a Glenmuir gift set was taken by Sandip Shah (870). Other prizes went to Tim Westbrook (731), C Connor (838), Brian Morris (332), Bernard Amos (688), Andy Wright (317) and Gail Ralph (300).

When proceedings finished at 11.30pm, David had set a record of his own - 17 continuous hours at the club.

Since the AGM in December, the membership sub-committee and playing-in panel have been kept busy interviewing prospective new members, reports the Captain.

Word would seem to have got around that PPGC has playing vacancies for weekend golf with the result that there has been a steady flow of applications. The conversion of 50 five-day vacancies into seven-day and six-day (now marketed as restricted seven-day) membership meant that at the beginning of January there were 43 restricted seven-day vacancies. Taking account of applications in progress, there are now just 14 vacancies, plus 20 at five-day.

The new members include many friends and relatives of existing members, plus a large percentage of players from other local clubs who have preferred to become members of Porters. Ages range mainly from 25 to 50, and handicaps between 4 and 20.

Although a surge of members wishing to play on the morning of Good Friday led to congested starting, those who opted for an afternoon round found only a handful of members using the course. Historically, Good Friday has always been busy - perhaps a point to note for next year.

Despite the increase in the number of golfing members, there still appears to be spare capacity on the course. But rest assured the committee is monitoring the situation carefully.

The Irrigation system is now fully operational after our recent electrical problem, which was traced back to the control panel. This meant there was less watering than I would have liked, which gave rise to dry areas on some greens although we treated them with wetting agent to assist water penetration.

Hand watering is ongoing. Thanks should go to the staff, who came in after dark to water manually to the consternation of the local constabulary. Not surprisingly, greens staff were questioned on their dead-of-night activities. Someone is certainly watching! We did release the nice policeman from the car park with the code.

The new storage bays for bulk deliveries are now operational. They are adjacent to the practice green to the left of the 1st. Deliveries can be placed straight into the bays which keep ail products separate, so saving time for staff.

The large oak at the 4th tee has been dismembered for safety reasons. A suitable replacement will be planted in the autumn.

Both men's social golf and the Foxes [10-19 handicap] programmes are in full swing, with matches arranged throughout the summer, writes Roger Morgan. Verulam, West Herts, Moor Park, Sandy Lodge and Hanbury Manor feature for the first time, as does Brickendon Grange [replacing Berkhamsled, who scratched] who will visit Porters Park in July.

Response has been encouraging, if not overwhelming, with 36 players representing the club in the first six matches. Members are encouraged to experience the competitive but social nature of these fixtures. So sign up and be part of the team.

The first three mixed social matches have been very much enjoyed, writes Jan Kilsby. We lost to Brickendon Grange and East Herts but had a 7-1 win against Brocket Hall at home. The next two fixtures are both at home - on Sunday 26th June against Verulam and on Sunday 17th July against Berkhamsted. On Sunday 24th July we have the inaugural match against West Herts. The lists to sign up for these matches are in Palm Court.

Friday, July 15th - Fun Golf/BBQ. See notice board for details

Saturday, August 13th - Summer Cabaret/Picnic

It's a little known fact that Noel Coward once appeared professionally in our clubhouse, writes Malcolm Field. It was during the war and apparently his act was not particularly well received.
 
This was put to rights last month when Mr Coward paid us another visit, this time in the person of Michael Paine, to entertain an enthusiastic audience with what many later described as the most enjoyable social they could remember at Porters Park.

The evening began with refreshments in the bar and a Tim McRae menu of canapes, followed by poached salmon and summer pudding. Michael Paine then launched into his Noel Coward repertoire of songs and renditions. Such well-known favourites as "Mad Dogs And Englishmen" and "The Stately Homes Of England" were interspersed with less familiar gems.

Martin Jeens, resplendent in red velvet smoking jacket, contributed handsomely to the evening's entertainment with "I Wonder What Happened To Him" and "Don't Put Your Daughter On The Stage, Mrs Worthington". The evening closed with a stunning version of "Mad About The Boy" from Melissa O'Donnell, who was then joined by her father Kevin for "I'll See You Again".

More than 120 members have played in the first nine weeks of Eclectic 2005 - and achieved to date seven eagles and nearly 200 birdies. Who says golf is a difficult game!

Leaders at this early stage, reports joint organiser Barry Plews, are Julian Lappert with net SO, Ian Taylor on net 51, followed on net 54 by the likely trio of Andy Wright, Andrew Rose and Tim Newman.

As always, the eclectic will be played over 24 weeks, so a challenge is expected from golfers further down the field as the weeks pass. This really is a competition where the tortoise can beat the hare. It is not too late to be part of the action. So become one of the new names added to the list each week and join a wide cross-section of members who enjoy a round of golf and time later to reflect in the bar on what might have been.

Twenty-six pre-juniors - the youngest 4 and a half, the oldest 10 - enjoyed a fun introduction to the game of golf at a session arranged specially for them at Porters Park last month, writes Gerri Warnes. And - big surprise - 14 of the 26 were girls.

Son Padraig, daughter Stephanie and assistant pro Peter Crawford were with me to help. Parents and grandparents, many of them members, stayed if they wished.

The children were split into groups to have a go at putting, chipping and driving. We had colourful, modified clubs (obtained by Rowena), rubbery balls and Velcro targets which all helped to make the game fun and safe for the kids. The weather was kind for long enough, but then the rain came.

The children were keen and appeared to enjoy themselves. All were given information about pre-junior coaching, which Peter will run through the summer at £3 a time. We may well hold another similar day in late August.

The aim is to keep these youngsters involved with golf and Porters and to encourage parents (members) to take them to the practice ground, which is set out as a mini par-3 course, and filter them into the junior section.

Future coaching sessions for juniors have been arranged with Peter Crawford for Wednesday, August 17th at 11am, and Sunday, August 28th at 12 noon.

Jason Mitchell who won the Richmond Cup, a 36-hole scratch medal, with 78, 69 from Phil Devlin on 78, 71.

Jamie Longman who won the Centenary Medal with 68-7-61 from Andy Wright on 76-12-64.

David Kinnear who won the May midweek stableford with 35pts on nine-hole countback with Jai Raja.

Hilary Skinner who won the May medal (silver) with 77-4-73 from Helen Emms on 77-2-75, Vivienne Fletcher won the bronze division with 107-29-78 from Jenny Gelson on 101-21-80.

Fionnuala Smith who won the Centenary medal (silver) and trophy with 80-8-72 from Jean Swithenbank on 93-20-73. Diana Barry took the bronze with 103-30-73 on countback with Judy Jenkin on 105-32-73.

Ladies invitation day, teams of four, best two stableford scores to count: Winners – Jan Kilsby, Shirley Gudgeon and their guests with 93pts: runners-up - Linda Lambert, Judy Williams and their guests with 92pts.

Ros Gray who won the grannies stableford over 15 holes with 32pts from Myra Wilson with 31.