A record number of members and their guests enjoyed playing in this year’s Four Nations Charity Golf Day and attending the prize giving dinner and Auction in the evening.

On a glorious Indian summer’s day (thanks Jas!), 125 players competed for the coveted Paul Harrington-Brown trophy which was won by Ireland. Shaun Reddin, Neil O’Donnell, Dave Fennessy, Tom Griffin and Chris Connor were the leading team with 91 pts. Second were Scotland, with the team of Stuart and Pam Cohen, Cliff and Shirley Gudgeon and Manvinder Arora claiming runners-up spot just 2pts behind. England were third and Wales fourth.

In the evening, Alan Lambert was again an amusing and effective auctioneer, raising over £14,000 for over 20 items, generously donated by Porters Park members and friends. Top lot wasa limited edition print of the east end of Highbury Stadium generously donated by Don Howe and signed by him and all the living Arsenal managers – Terry Neil, Bruce Rioch, George Graham and Arsene Wenger. It went for £2,000 to Mark Lemon.

David Gleeson raised nearly £400 from his 12th hole challenge. Keith Lewarne was the lucky winner of the major raffle prize of £1,000.

In total, all fundraising activities, including sponsorship, sales of raffle tickets and members’ donations, raised more than £25,000 for the Captain’s chosen charity ASPIRE, who help wheelchair users achieve independence.

A moving speech was delivered by Lucy Robinson who described how much ASPIRE had helped her rehabilitation and gratefully thanked Porters Park for its generosity.

Eclectic 2007 reached its finale on Thursday, September 6, when competitors had their last chance to improve their score. For 5-day and 7-day restricted members there was also an opportunity to compete for the Barron Cup.

Over 50 members attended the annual final eclectic day dinner which was followed by presentations to the different winners by organizer David Talbot, whose hard work over the season has played a major part in making the eclectic more popular than ever before.

The Barron Cup went to newcomer Peter Grumbridge with 37pts.

Scratch team captain Geoff W Kirby won the lowest net gross score of 52, playing off 3 - only one hole failing to surrender a birdie.

The final Thursday eclectic sweep was taken by Tim Westbrook (0-12 category) and Jonathan Sanford (13-28).

The 2007 eclectic champion for the second year running was Nigel Weekes, who finished with a net 45. Julian Lappert and Gordon Parsons took second and third places respectively, both with 47. This was Nigel’s third eclectic win.

Over the summer, the eclectic has attracted no fewer than174 golfers, many more than in previous years from the ranks of established members.

In his presentation speech, David attributed much of the competition’s growing popularity to the enhanced prize money now available. This has offered the chance to win as much as £50 for a £2 stake – the sort of money, David quipped, that has people like Geoff W Kirby in danger of losing their amateur status.

Last month’s Ladies’ Open Day attracted 81 golfers from 24 clubs who, despite wet weather, thoroughly enjoyed their day at Porters Park, writes Carole Bamford.

The winner, playing off 7/8ths of her 20 handicap, was Sue Bradbury, of Mill Green, with 37pts. Six handicap prizes, plus best front 9, best back 9 and nearest the pin on the 9th, were presented by Linda Lambert, the Lady Captain.

With the help of four Commandos as starters and a number of ladies to meet and greet, give out cards, ball spot, serve drinks at 1st and 10th, and look after the locker room, the event ran very smoothly. Some £150 was raised for the Lady Captain’s charity, Aspire.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 9th

MEN’S ANNUAL DINNER

Guest Speaker - Alan Reed

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 16th

CAPTAIN’S CULTURAL EVENING

The Captain is pleased to welcome David Cowham as a full playing member.

The course will be closed on Wednesday, November 7, for Tabards golf day (shotgun start 11.30). There are no course closures scheduled for October.

Prize presentation evening on Friday, November 16, will assume a new format this year. To speed the evening, only main trophy winners will be invited to the presentation, which will be coupled with the Captain’s Indian cultural social evening. Watch the Palm Court notice board and next month’s Tee Times for further details.

On finals day of the Herts League, held at Brookmans Park, Porters Park’s junior team of eight came second out of the ten clubs competing for the Shield, writes juniors’ organiser Gerri Warnes. Callum Shinkwin won the best scratch prize. Over season, we finished in the middle of the league.

In the Ver Shield, played for over the year, we reached the semi-finals, only to lose to Moor Park.

This year, we tried to give most of the new juniors a match and they performed creditably against low handicappers.

Although we failed to take top honours in team events, our youngsters fared well in a host of junior opens. Nicola Bennett won the Sandy Lodge Open and came third in the Hanbury Manor Open. Benjamin Lawrence won the Brocket Hall Open and the Junior Hertfordshire Open, and Callum Shinkwin won the Bushey Hall Open. Well done to them all.

At home, 22 juniors competed over 36 holes for the Darroch Cup. Benjamin Lawrence won the under-18 best gross on countback from Callum Shinkwin, who took the under-16 best gross. Best net went toBen Cherkas.

The junior eclectic, which has been run by Ben Donaghy over the summer, was won by Jack Frances.

This month should see Abbotts, the contractors, halfway through reconstruction of the 6th and 16th greens, the 6th tee and the 10th yellow tee. I am sure we will be very happy with the finished job.

Drainage work on the 17th practice ground will begin early in October. The practice area will be closed until it is completed. The work should take from seven to ten days. The start date will be posted on the notice board.

Deep-scarifying will start w/c September 17. Tees are first on the agenda, followed by the aprons/greens surrounds.

Deep-scarifying of the greens will begin on October 3 and should be completed within three days (weather permitting).

Martin Smith - Course Manager

Our PGA teaching professional Matthew Masters will be starting a three-day junior coaching course at the end of this month.

Sessions will begin at 10.30am, will last an hour or so and will run as follows:

Sunday, September 30: Short game – putting, chipping pitching.

Saturday, October 6: Long game – full swing, irons, woods.

Saturday, October 13: Par-3 competition using the par-3 course on the main practice ground.

The full three-day course will cost £25 per person (payable in advance by cheque to Matthew Masters) and is open to members and non-members under 15 years of age. Depending on demand, further sessions may be arranged.

Entries, please, by Thursday, September 27, on a form available from the pro’s shop.

Feel free to contact Matthew if you have any queries – 07876 598041 or 01727 855375.

Our belated taste of summer has been perfect for the major works currently taking place on the course. The lack of rain has meant that the large vehicles necessarily involved in shifting heavy loads of gravel, soil and turfs have been able to move freely without churning up the fairways and there have been no delays.

As a result, the programme for the 6th and 16th greens is well on schedule and the restructuring and relaying of turf are expected to be completed, as planned, by the end of September.

Each stage of the work has been subject to regular inspections – by the architect, the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) and by Neil Coles who has been in attendance twice a week.

Key elements have been the levels, the drainage and the grading, which involves the laying of gravel band/stone carpet, graded for porosity, 1ft of root-zone soil and a topping on which the old turfs will be re-laid.

It is expected that little new turf, if any, will be required for the 6th green, but that some might be needed to complete the outer edges of the 16th.

Remarkably fine golf in heavy rain and strong wind saw Tom Speyer, of West Herts, win the David Gleeson Trophy by nine strokes from his nearest rival Jack Woods.

Speyer, who is 18 years old and plays off +1, shot gross rounds of 68 and 70 – “golf of a quality,” said David, “which, had he been playing in this year’s KGV Challenge Cup, would have won him the trophy.” His 138 total was a new record for the competition, beating Nick Pateman’s 74, 65 of last year.

In the handicap stakes, the honours went to Porters Park’s Zain Arora, son of Manvinder, who, despite having to play off 18 instead of his usual 21, managed an aggregate of 139 to pip Sam Cutting on countback.

In the second round, Callum Shinkwin, also of Porters Park, shot 76 to miss the afternoon’s best gross prize by one shot. Jordan Lawrence was another PPGC winner, taking the afternoon’s best net with 67. The competition attracted 52 juniors – two of whom were girls – from 22 different clubs.

Since our last report, we have played our toughest game yet – Welwyn Garden City at home.

This was Welwyn’s last game of the season and when we met them they were runaway leaders. If they beat us, they were guaranteed promotion and would almost certainly win the league.

In a very tight encounter, our team just about held their nerve and came away with a 6½ - 5 ½ victory. This left us two points behind WGC and West Herts, who have both completed their fixtures. Two more points will guarantee us promotion because we beat WGC in our league game; 2½ pts will win us the league title.

At the time of writing, our all-important last game – away to Letchworth on September 22 – had still to be played.

However, we start at some disadvantage. At the beginning of September, three of our young hot shots returned to America and four other regular squad players announced that they would not be available for the Letchworth fixture.

Even so, we were hoping to be able to field a strong enough side to bring you a positive report in next month’s Tee Times.

Geoff W Kirby - Scratch Team Captain

Ewen Wilson who took six holes on the run to beat Gordon Forster 3&2 and win the Club Championship

Steve McAlister who won the Ernest Thomas medal with 70 - 5 = 65 from Michael Collin with 71 - 5 = 66 and Bruce Cope with 80 – 13 = 67

Duncan Moffat who won the September midweek stableford with 38pts from Sandy McCallum with 35pts and Andrew Poupart with 34pts (last 6)

Christopher Sweeney who won the James Bradbeer running stableford with 39pts (last 9) from David Ring and Christopher Elliott with 38pts (last 9) and Nick Pateman. 130 competitive rounds were played

Geoff P Kirby and guest Simon Mitchell who won the men’s Invitation

Dagny Moffat who won the silver division of the Westgrove Cup 2nd leg LGU medal with 83 - 16 = 67 from Joan Dulieu with 89 -17 = 72. Judy Jenkin won the bronze division with 102-28 = 74 from Myra Wilson with 97 - 21 = 76. The Westgrove Cup (from the 1st and 2nd leg) was won by Shirley Gudgeon with 72.76. Joan Dulieu was runner-up with 78, 72

Gerri Warnes who beat Mary Gibson to win the Nathan Cup

Margaret Nelson who won the silver division of the Red Cross Eclectic with 53pts. Janet Hardy won the bronze division with 54pts. Pam Calder won the 9-hole competition with 17pts.

Gill Cooper who won the silver division of the September stableford with 37pts from Rosemary Watters with 36pts. Jenny Chan won the bronze division with 40 pts from Madeleine Olausson with 36pts

Hilary Skinner who won the silver division of the AD ladies’ stableford with 34pts (last 6) from Susan Lawrence. Ann Hannah won the bronze division with 35pts from Madeleine Olausson with 22pts

Sally McAlister who, in the ladies’ Autumn Meeting, went round in 80 to take the best gross prize on the back nine from Anita Prosser. Gerri Warnes won the silver division with 81 - 14 = 67 from Anita Prosser with 80 - 11 = 69 and Rowena Hemmings with 82 - 11 = 71. Jenny Gelson won the bronze division with 93 - 21 = 72 from Sandra McKenzie with 104 - 30 = 74 and Margaret Kaye with 98 - 22 = 76. The afternoon’s best front nine went to Juliet Talbot, Rena Delaney and Meera Patel with 41pts, and best back nine to Sue Leen, Anita Prosser and Carole Sharp also with 41pts