The Swindlers on Tour
2018
Fifteen Swindlers and ex-Swindler (Richard Riddell) ventured to Wiltshire for the third Swindle tour, this year starting at the hilly Ogbourne St. George. The course had not handled the Summer drought well with bumpy greens like a shag-pile carpet and tatty tee areas. However, the weather was very pleasant, albeit a little breezy.
The cards were drawn and off we went in four fourballs. The choice of Nearest-the-Pin and Longest Drive were mistakenly selected for the 5th and 15th (instead of the previously used 7th and 17th (another cock-up by Admin!) but the outcome was fine with Michael Schurch sending a spectacular drive over the valley, down the bank to 8ft from the pin - to ultimately get his birdie - for 5 Stableford points! John FitzGerald's drive on the 5th flew past Dan Haw's to win the longest drive comfortably.
.png)
With most Stableford scores in the 30's it was impressive start to the tour but Martin (Metronome) Thomas romped home with a stonking 42 points to win the day from Tony Malyon on 40 and Colin Price on 37.
| Course: | Ogbourne Downs | Date: | 15-Aug-18 | |||
| NAME | Gross Score | Nett Score | Stableford Points | 2's Scored | Par 3's | Scratch Score |
| Martin Thomas | 95 | 68 | 42 | 0 | 9 | 17 |
| Tony Malyon | 86 | 69 | 40 | 0 | 10 | 24 |
| Colin Price | 83 | 70 | 37 | 0 | 8 | 24 |
| Paul Sims | 94 | 74 | 35 | 0 | 5 | 16 |
| Colin Reardon | 98 | 79 | 34 | 0 | 6 | 18 |
| Scott Browning | 94 | 74 | 33 | 0 | 5 | 13 |
| John FitzGerald | 86 | 78 | 33 | 1 | 5 | 27 |
| Dan Haw | 94 | 77 | 33 | 0 | 5 | 18 |
| Graham Ottaway | 103 | 81 | 32 | 0 | 6 | 16 |
| Paul Knowles | 102 | 79 | 31 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Michael Schurch | 116 | 84 | 31 | 1 | 10 | 12 |
| John Machin | 105 | 79 | 30 | 0 | 6 | 8 |
| Richard Riddell | 97 | 86 | 29 | 0 | 8 | 18 |
| Nigel Guillaume | 107 | 91 | 25 | 0 | 8 | 13 |
| Bryn Owen | 98 | 86 | 25 | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| Trevor Vincent | 115 | 93 | 17 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
And off to Stanton House for dinner, copious amounts of alcohol and a session of Michael Schurch jokes!
Day 2 saw us heading westward through driving rain towards Bath to play Lansdown Golf Club - also founded in the same year as Puttenham - 1894. The weather forecast said the band of heavy rain would be heading eastwards leaving it clear and dry thereafter - and so it proved. By the time we arrived at Lansdown the rain had stopped, but the strong wind continued. The fourballs were selected to ensure that no one played with someone they'd played with the previous day. We were greeted by a very friendly pro and members - including the current men's captain - and a group celebrating a member's 80th birthday who invited us to share the sandwiches they hadn't finished!
On a very quirky course next to Bath Racecourse the scores were not as good as at Ogbourne. The soaked fairways were still bare of grass from the previous weeks' drought which made for some very poor lies - in retrospect we should have agreed on preferred lies. As the course has been built on the edge of the Cotswold Escarpment some of the views - particularly on the par 3 10th (below) - were magnificent. According to Scott you could see the Forth Road Bridge (rapidly corrected to the Severn Bridge) in Bristol!
Amazingly, Colin Reardon won both the Longest Drive AND nearest the Pin! With the condition of the course the scores were much lower than at Ogbourne with most in the 20's. However, Paul Sims comfortably weathered the course and conditions to win with an impressive 38 points with the nearest contenders being Scott Browning, Dan Haw and John FitzGerald all on 31 points - with Scott taking second place from Dan on a count-back.
Richard Riddell bade us farewell as he headed back to Carlisle to dog-sit.
| Course: | Lansdown | Date: | 16-Aug-18 | |||
| NAME | Gross Score | Nett Score | Stableford Points | 2's Scored | Par 3's | Scratch Score |
| Paul Sims | 92 | 72 | 38 | 0 | 12 | 17 |
| Scott Browning | 98 | 78 | 31 | 0 | 8 | 16 |
| Dan Haw | 94 | 77 | 31 | 0 | 11 | 15 |
| John FitzGerald | 93 | 85 | 31 | 0 | 9 | 19 |
| Tony Malyon | 98 | 82 | 30 | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Bryn Owen | 93 | 80 | 29 | 0 | 7 | 15 |
| Paul Knowles | 107 | 84 | 29 | 0 | 5 | 24 |
| Colin Price | 92 | 79 | 28 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| Martin Thomas | 104 | 79 | 28 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| Trevor Vincent | 107 | 83 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| Colin Reardon | 101 | 82 | 26 | 0 | 10 | 5 |
| Nigel Guillaume | 110 | 94 | 24 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| Graham Ottaway | 114 | 92 | 23 | 0 | 8 | 12 |
| Michael Schurch | 124 | 92 | 21 | 0 | 6 | 12 |
| John Machin | 120 | 94 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 17 |
| Richard Riddell | 111 | 100 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 9 |
The "All-you-can-eat" Japanese buffet (and more booze) awaited at Stanton House so off we went.
The final day and off we travel to our favourite tour course, Tidworth Garrison. After the poor conditions of Ogbourne and Lansdown, Tidworth was a sight for sore eyes! Green fairways and excellent, fast running - but true - greens.The groups we sent out in reverse order with the lowest Stableford points going in the first three-ball and the potential winners - Martin Thomas, Paul Sims, Tony Malyon and Scott Browning - going in the final group. After the opening 9 holes Scott's 19 points put him in contention to win the tour, but Mr. Consistent, Tony Malyon, kept his nerve to win the day with 37 points. Dan Haw - on his first Swindle Tour - came in second with 35 points from Paul Sims in third with 34 points.
Bryn Owen took the prize for Nearest the Pin on the 5th and Paul Knowles drive on the 15th was surpassed by Colin Reardon and then a massive strike from John FitzGerald took the glory going further by another 20 yards or more.
| Course: | Tidworth Garrison | Date: | 17-Aug-18 | |||
| NAME | Gross Score | Nett Score | Stableford Points | 2's Scored | Par 3's | Scratch Score |
| Tony Malyon | 86 | 70 | 37 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Dan Haw | 88 | 71 | 35 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Paul Sims | 92 | 72 | 34 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Colin Price | 86 | 73 | 33 | 0 | 6 | 5 |
| Nigel Guillaume | 97 | 81 | 30 | 0 | 5 | 15 |
| Paul Knowles | 100 | 77 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Martin Thomas | 105 | 80 | 29 | 0 | 7 | 8 |
| Scott Browning | 102 | 82 | 29 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| John Machin | 115 | 88 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Colin Reardon | 108 | 89 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 11 |
| Bryn Owen | 97 | 84 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| John FitzGerald | 92 | 84 | 26 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Trevor Vincent | 105 | 81 | 25 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| Graham Ottaway | 109 | 87 | 24 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Michael Schurch | 142 | 110 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
FINAL STANDINGS
| Total | Ave | Swindle | ||
| Rounds | S'ford | S'ford | Pts | |
| Tony Malyon | 3 | 107 | 35.7 | 46 |
| Paul Sims | 3 | 107 | 35.7 | 45 |
| Dan Haw | 3 | 99 | 33.0 | 38 |
| Martin Thomas | 3 | 99 | 33.0 | 36 |
| Colin Price | 3 | 98 | 32.7 | 35 |
| Scott Browning | 3 | 93 | 31.0 | 35 |
| John FitzGerald | 3 | 90 | 30.0 | 27 |
| Paul Knowles | 3 | 89 | 29.7 | 27 |
| Colin Reardon | 3 | 86 | 28.7 | 24 |
| Nigel Guillaume | 3 | 79 | 26.3 | 19 |
| Bryn Owen | 3 | 80 | 26.7 | 18 |
| Graham Ottaway | 3 | 79 | 26.3 | 14 |
| John Machin | 3 | 76 | 25.3 | 14 |
| Trevor Vincent | 3 | 70 | 23.3 | 11 |
| Michael Schurch | 3 | 61 | 20.3 | 10 |
| Richard Riddell | 2 | 47 | 23.5 | 5 |
Congratulations to Tony Malyon for winning the Tour for the second consecutive year. Paul Sims came a very creditable second with newby Dan Haw in third place. The prize for the most points scored on the par 3's was shared by Martin Thomas and Paul Sims with 25 points apiece.