Very late on Saturday, September 9, Captain Ken Hannah’s smile was as broad as the stripes of the blazer he was wearing. Many months of planning by the Charity Day committee had come to fruition and Aspire, the Captain’s chosen charity, was better off by £23,000, reports organizing committee member Barry Plews.

The day started with 96 members competing for the Paul Harrington-Brown Four Nations trophy in fourball better ball format. Ireland emerged winners with 79.2pts, closely challenged by Wales (78.8) and Scotland (77.8), with England trailing on 73.1.

The fourball with the best score was the Irish team of Dave Fennessy (who alone amassed 43pts), Chris Connor, Neil O’Donnell and Kieran Madden. Their grand total of 89pts pipped by 3pts that of David and Julie Talbot, Roger Morgan and Howard Warnes who were playing for Wales.

Nearest-the-pin winners were Roger Morgan on the 6th, Diana Samuels on the 9th and Gerri Warnes on the 14th. Pam Cohen won the prize for the straightest drive.

A big thank-you to the 80 players who raised £400 by accepting the £5 wager on the 12th to “get it on the green”. Just two succeeded.

The evening kicked off with a champagne reception. Before the dinner the Captain announced details of the winning teams. Asked to respond on behalf of the victorious Irish, their captain Mike Gibson was momentarily lost for words but soon recovered sufficiently to accept the trophy.
The star prize in the raffle - £1,000 of John Lewis vouchers - went to a surprised and delighted Tom Brownsell. Ex-world boxing champion Terry Downes, who was among the guests, was perhaps equally delighted to be accorded warm applause.

A new venture for this year’s charity day was a silent auction for pieces of ladies’ and men’s jewellery. This was conducted by Jonathan Hoffman and his wife Gail and raised a very respectable £750.

After a sumptuous gala dinner, prepared by Tim McRae and his team, Ed Pattinson, from Aspire, told members in a moving speech of the help and support he had received since suffering spinal injuries in an accident. He set the tone for the auction perfectly by encouraging all to bid generously to enable Aspire to continue with its wonderful work.

Assisted by his wife Linda, Julie Talbot, Gerri Warnes and tallyman Richard Scott, Alan Lambert egged on the bidding in his usual exuberant style.

Sticking to his task admirably and giving as good as he got from a host of  light-hearted hecklers, Alan finally auctioned off the last of 33 items at 11.15pm, raising more than £17,000.

The support received from members, the local community and, thanks to the efforts of David & Julie Talbot and Gail Ralph, from local businesses all combined to make the day a huge success.

Bare midriffs and strappy tops for ladies and collarless shirts and combat trousers for men are among items of clothing to be deemed unacceptable wear at Porters Park under a new dress code.

The code, to be announced shortly, covers clothing both on and off the golf course. Visiting societies will be given details in the packs they receive before they arrive at the club, and it will be made clear that they will be expected to conform, as will all other visitors.

In the clubhouse, smart casual is the aim. However, there is to be some relaxation for men in the rule governing ties. These will be required wear only on obviously formal occasions and will no longer be a must at such get-togethers as Sunday lunch.

The code also draws attention to the ban on the use of mobile phones anywhere at the club other than in the car park. 

Watch out for illustrated notices in the locker rooms, pro’s shop and the Palm Court.

With roughly six weeks of slow growth remaining, Martin Smith believes that the course will be in good shape for the winter.

The winter programme - again very substantial - has already started and members will have noted brush clearance and tidying-up. The upgrading of the electrical system to accommodate the new pump is well under way, and the next phase of the watering system has been agreed and starts on October 1. This will involve installing permanent watering to many of the high points and heavily used landing areas, further mist-sprayers and upgrading of old greenside sprinklers.

Neil Coles returns early next month to begin the design phase of those greens that are to be replaced. His opinion will also be sought on adjustments to some of the bunker faces - this work to be done in house.

We still have not heard further on our borehole application from the Environment Agency, which has insisted on all new applicants providing yet further flow tests. The company that carried them out has reported satisfactory results and we await the outcome.

Alan Pountney
Chairman of the Green

Firstly, apologies for the lack of 1st team reports this summer.

Sadly, I have to report that we have been relegated from division one this year. To a large extent we were victims of our own success, as many players were called up for various county-level and international matches.

At the start of the year our fixtures did not clash with any major events. Unfortunately, however, the county decided to re-arrange three games to coincide with our scratch match days. This resulted in our managing to win only one game at home to Letchworth and halving a game away to South Herts - clearly not enough to stay in the top division.

Hopefully, we will bounce straight back up next season, strengthened by a couple of new arrivals and the emergence of a few juniors such as Callum Shinkwin.

We look forward to your continued support.

Geoff Kirby

Autumn renovations were due to start on September 25 with deep scarifying of all the tees followed by over-seeding and top-dressing. We are aiming to scarify the aprons in the same week.

Deep scarifying and over-seeding of the greens is pencilled in for Wednesday and Thursday, October 4 and 5, weather permitting.

A T Bone are due to over-seed all fairways on either Friday, October 6, or Wednesday, October 11. This should take one day but will interfere with some play, so please be patient.

At the conclusion of all the above, we will continue with our autumn work. This includes drainage work left of 17th green and practice ground and the re-turfing of several bunker banks. Soil wedges are required in several bunkers to enable the ball to roll clear of the edges.

M J Smith
Course Manager

The 2006 Eclectic season ended mid-month with the traditional dinner and prize-giving to recognise and reward the endeavours of more than 150 members who, over 23 weeks from April to September, managed to wrest 480 birdies and 20 eagles from our revamped course.

Competition was fierce, with the leader board changing nearly every week, writes organiser Barry Plews. However, despite some excellent scores, no one managed to beat last year’s record net eclectic score of 44, set jointly by Tony Lewis and Julian Lappert. 

Nigel Weekes, a winner in 1999, was eventually victorious, his net 46 beating Mick Mancini’s net 46 thanks to a one-shot better back nine. Ken Specter was third with net 48.

The best gross scores in the 0-12 handicap division came from Derek Fotheringham (53) and Simon Kowalski (56) on countback against Andy Poupart and Geoff W Kirby.

In the 13-28 division, Nigel Weekes’s 61 pipped Mick Mancini’s 62.

The 20 eagles included holes in one on the 6th by Andy Poupart and on the 14th by Derek Fotheringham. Both players were in sparkling form throughout the summer, with Derek recording 15 birdies in addition to his eagle hole in one.

The Barron Cup was won by Mick Mancini with 39pts from Nick Painter (31pts) and Steve Cox (30pts). Entries for this competition, which is open to all five-day and restricted seven-day members, were disappointing with fewer than a dozen members competing. Clearly, this event needs promoting next year.

There was a low turn-out, too, for the final Friday round. In the low handicap division, the money went to Tim Newman with 37pts and, in the high division, to Mick Mancini with 39pts.

Many thanks to all who took part, especially to the leading group who competed so intensely every week and made it such an exciting finish.

After winning the trophy in 2004 and 2005, Angela Davis and her Scratch League ‘A’ team have reached finals day for a third successive year. This takes place at Whipsnade Golf Club on Friday, September 29, and Angela, the players and I would warmly welcome your support, writes Ladies’ Captain Gail Ralph.

Our morning semi-final will be played against Moor Park with an 8.30 start.  The other teams involved are East Herts and Bishops Stortford. The final, which we hope to reach, will commence at 1.30. We look forward to seeing you there.

Our ‘B’ team, captained by Chris Lye, have also had an excellent season, and wait to hear if they have been promoted back to Division 1. Well done to both captains and their teams.

Harpenden Common was the venue for this year’s finals day, the culmination of the juniors’ East Herts League season. And a great day it was for our younger aspiring golfers.

Eighty-eight boys and girls from 11 clubs competed. Callum Shinkwin, playing off 5, won the best scratch prize with 43pts (2 under gross), and William Gallimore, playing off 11, won the handicap prize with 46pts (1 over gross) – individual scores that helped Porters Park come runners-up in both team events.

Brookmans Park won the league overall from Harpenden Common by ½ a point, with Porters Park third.

Callum was again out in front when he took the best scratch prize with rounds of 77 and 76 in the Darroch Cup, Porters Park’s junior strokeplay championship. Jake Harris, a 21-handicapper when he teed off, won the best net prize with rounds of 60 and 63 (playing the second round off 18).

Alastair Grassick who won the Ernest Thomas Cup with 81-15=66 from Mark Wallis with 78-10=68 (last 9) Steve McAlister with 73-5=68

Jayendra Patel who won the Markham Cup with 75-8=67 (last 9) from Michael Gallimore with 79-12=67 (last 9) and Colin Robertson with 74-7=67

Nick Hampton who won the James Bradbeer stableford with 43pts from Stephen McConnell with 40

David Talbot who won the August midweek stableford with 36pts from Tex Uwins with 35 (last 9) and Jai Raja. Revised result

Andrew Poupart who won the September midweek stableford with 37pts from Richard Newton with 36

Jan Kilsby and Brian Smith who finally triumphed over Ken and Ann Hannah at the 20th to win the Married Couples League

Gillian Edmonds who won the Swinstead Cup with +2 from Pamela Cohen (last 9)

Judy Williams and Vivienne Fletcher who won the high-low competition. Linda Lambert and Sheila Johns were runners-up

Anita Prosser who won the Westgrove Cup with 72, 77 from Christina Lye with 73, 77

Pamela Cohen who won the silver division of the August medal with a net 69 from Anita Prosser with a net 72. The bronze was won by Juliet Talbot with a net 75 from Gillian Edmonds with a net 77

Anita Prosser and Carole Sharp who won the fourball better ball stableford on the ladies’ exchange day at Dyrham Park with 44pts from Myra Wilson and Diana Samuels with 43
Sue Hawkey whose gross 80 at the ladies’ autumn meeting won the Captain’s scratch prize.

Janet Horne won the silver division with 85-14=71, with Constance Marriott runner-up on 85-14=74 (last 9) from Gerri Warnes on 87-13=74. Juliet Talbot won the bronze division with 96-28=68 from Sheila Johns on 101-32=69 and Ros Lake on 97-24=73. Rena Delaney, Juliet Talbot and Ros Lake won the afternoon’s best front nine, and Myra Wilson, Eirwen Cox and Carole Bamford the best back nine