Women's Captain's Blog, 25th September 2025

The time has come for my last blog, (do I hear sighs of relief all round!), so it’s inevitably a long one (I definitely hear much groaning!)… but worth a read…

On Wednesday September 24th, we played the last main competition of my Captain’s Year, the Autumn Cup for Divisions 1 and 2, and the September medal for Divisions 1 to 3. We had some impressive results with the Autumn sunshine and the dry playing conditions clearly suiting many of our 34 players. 

These are the winners:

Autumn Cup: 1st Gaye Illsley (61) Runner-Up: Gwyneth Bennett (68)

Medal Division 1: 1st Alison Towndrow (68) 2nd Avril Green (69)

Medal Division 2: 1st Gaye Illsley (61) 2nd Gwyneth Bennett

There were 2 x two’s: Anneka Vestey on the 5th and Sue Collins on the 15th

The winner of the 9-hole competition with 20 points was Pauline Platt.

Huge congratulations to all winners today with a special mention for Gaye Illsley and Sally Minks (Division 3 with nett 55) who both performed particularly well against their handicaps.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, 22 September, we had the Women’s Committee Cup, Mrs Shaw’s trophy. It was a very chilly start to the day for the 16 competitors, bright and sunny but with a nip to the wind; and the course was in lovely condition. 

Our winner was Umar Annaradnam with a net score of 67.

2nd was Louise Fickling with 68, and

3rd was Lisa Martin with 69.

There were no two’s.

After the lunch, we acknowledged Lisa’s Summer Eclectic win, and runner-up, Janet Connor.

On Friday, 19 September, Tracey Ripsher won the Mixed Committee Cup with an impressive 39 points. Excellent result!

Some of the finals for the Club Knockouts have been played so here are some results:

Rose Bowl: Helen Savage and Oz Hassan beat Ozlem and Ahmet Orgen

Family Foursomes: Lesley Avent and Tracey Ripsher beat Iain and Simon Lanario

Women’s Foursomes (Divisions 1 & 2): Sue Nugent and Chris Robertson beat Ozlem Orgen and Alison Towndrow

Copper Scratch: Shanta Balram beat Sue Palmer

Bronze Scratch: Wendy Goodman beat Mandy Lawson

Chinchilla: Helen Savage beat Margaret Herlihy

Very well done to all Finalists, winners and runners-up, so far!  Don’t forget the Prize Giving evening on Friday, 7 November.

This is a last reminder for the Final Medal competition for those who have won a monthly medal between March and September in all 3 Divisions. Please play your match on Sunday, 28 September or Monday, 29 September. Helen has put a list up of the winners and you play again just once, choosing someone from that list to partner you. There is one overall Medal winner.

There is also the final Stableford competition to be played on either the following Sunday, 5th October or Monday, 6th October.

Coming up, we have the Club Captain’s Drive In on Sunday, 28 September. It is preceded by a pairs competition, 4BBB Stableford format, and followed by a carvery meal. Sean Nugent is our new Club Captain, and Men's Vice Captain is Ian McNally.

Soon after we have the new Women’s Captain’s Drive-In on Wednesday, 1 October. This is a Stableford and is open to all Divisions. Please sign up and support Umar in her first official playing engagement of her Captain’s year. Sharon is collecting money and taking guesses for the length of Umar’s drive down the 18th which takes place after the morning’s competition. Please be generous as most of the money raised goes to the new Captain’s Charity, Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice.

The Wednesday after on October 8th is our Harvest Festival Stableford. This year, North London Foodbank welcome the following contributions: long life milk and juice, rice and noodles, tinned vegetarian meals, tinned meat and fish, long life ready meals, Washing powder and cleaning products, toiletries (soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, toilet roll etc). Please start bringing in your contributions next week. Thank you.

A final reminder for both the Club AGM on Thursday, 25 September; and our Women’s Section AGM on Tuesday, 30 September. Please come to our AGM and support our Club, bringing your comments and questions. What we cannot answer on the night we will follow up after. Our Secretary, Hazel Goodyear has emailed you the AGM papers; and the notices of nominations for new Committee members are on the Locker notice board.

We had a lively Women’s Committee session yesterday for my last meeting as Captain.  For various reasons, including the laundry logistics, we have agreed that towels will no longer be provided in the Women’s changing room. If you wish to shower, please bring your own towel. The men are required to bring their own and we have decided that the women should do the same. The ones we still have will be stored away for the time being and possibly be brought out for the Women’s Invitation to Women from other Clubs.

If you haven’t already, please sign up for the free Women’s ParTee evening on Tuesday, 14 October at 6:45pm. This will be a fun evening, meeting some of our newer members, with a quiz, plus a complimentary drink and nibbles.

Please remember that if you would like to be considered for the Pearson Team this season, and your HI is between 13 and 30, you can sign up on the list in the Locker room.

I am going to miss reporting on the wildlife for these blogs, but I will still be keeping an eye on all the flora and fauna on the course. On Wednesday, we watched a green woodpecker, the largest of our breeding woodpeckers, digging away for ants with his long beak on the 9th fairway. It’s been wonderful to hear the keening of the kites as they sweep low over the fairways; to report on our three varieties of  geese (Canadian, Egyptian and more recently, Greylag) and their ever-growing, ever-pooping families; to note the behaviour of the foxes; to see the occasional muntjac deer; but I have yet to spot a badger. We are fortunate that our beautifully kept course is such a wildlife haven, and for me, it’s been an added pleasure to comment on our animal antics.

Thank you for reading my blogs and being part of my Captain’s year. I have appreciated your support and company. I have many happy memories some of which I will mention in my report to our AGM on September 30th.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my choice of quotations over the weeks, maybe finding some inspirational or reassuring. I am finishing with some simple words, which follow the ‘Keep It Short and Simple principle’, from Chuck Hogan, an American PGA professional who has written a number of books about golf. The key word is ’fun,’ which is what I hope to remember about my Captain’s year and my golf when the hard work and tricky situations become more distant memories.

‘Go play golf. Go to the golf course. Hit the ball. Find the ball. Repeat until the ball is in the hole. Have fun. The end!’

Alison Towndrow
Women’s Captain

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