The Sunday Swindle Monthly Report: January 2026

Dear reader

This is, I hope, a welcome return of the monthly stats report.

Obviously with this being the first post of the year the actual stats are a bit thin on the ground. Those that have played the most games will be winning and those that haven’t managed to put their golfing boots on in 2026 will be in a large pile at the bottom.

Let’s start with the stuff we know first, and then do a bit of house keeping. Congratulations to the winners in January!

January Hall of Fame

Week 1

Name H’cap Date point table out in tot finish

Paul Soltys 25 04/01/26 Stableford points 17 25 42 1

Fenton Newport 15 04/01/26 Stableford points 22 16 38 2

Michael Smith 24 04/01/26 Stableford points 21 16 37 3

Week 2

Marc Brewer 22 11/01/26 Stableford points 23 19 42 1

Adam Goodwin 2 11/01/26 Stableford points 17 19 36 2

Dave Landy 21 11/01/26 Stableford points 18 18 36 3

Week 3

Kevin McTasney 19 18/01/26 Stableford points 21 20 41 1

Steven French 19 18/01/26 Stableford points 17 20 37 2

Simon Wilson 13 18/01/26 Stableford points 17 20 37 3

Week 4

Mike Cormack 17 25/01/26 Stableford points 18 20 38 1

Chris Reilly 9 25/01/26 Stableford points 17 17 34 2

Twos Pot winners

Name Hcap Date Point table Holes

8 11 14 17

Chris Reilly 8 04/01/26 Strokes 2

Jack Emsden 15 11/01/26 Strokes 2

Luke Hartman 11 11/01/26 Strokes 2

Gary Jones 9 11/01/26 Strokes 2

Michael Fancourt 12 11/01/26 Strokes 2

Marc Brewer 22 11/01/26 Strokes 2

Paul Soltys 22 18/01/26 Strokes 2

Dan Delgaty 21 18/01/26 Strokes 2

Michael Fancourt 12 18/01/26 Strokes 2

Simon Wilson 13 18/01/26 Strokes 2

Paul McLean 8 25/01/26 Strokes 2

Chris Reilly 9 25/01/26 Strokes 2 2

Mike Cormack 17 25/01/26 Strokes 2

The Chip Portion

January 2026: The Chips of Wrath

Name h’cap Date Score out in Total Finish

Week1

Jon Huckstepp 13 04/01/26 Stableford points 9 13 22 22

Thomas Bates 6 04/01/26 Stableford points 11 13 24 21

Frank Drane 18 04/01/26 Stableford points 14 12 26 20

Week2

Paul Soltys 22 11/01/26 Stableford points 8 0 8 23

Jon Huckstepp 13 11/01/26 Stableford points 9 12 21 22

Steven Quinn 35 11/01/26 Stableford points 9 12 21 21

Week3**

Chris Reilly 8 18/01/26 Stableford points 14 15 29 26

Gary Jones 9 18/01/26 Stableford points 12 17 29 25

Luke Hartman 11 18/01/26 Stableford points 12 18 30 24

Week4

Terry Catheral 25 25/01/26 Stableford points 14 10 24 9

Gary Jones 9 25/01/26 Stableford points 16 10 26

So how is this any different from the Par-Up app?

The app shows who has most points in the group but that is not the winner of the Order of Merit, it doesn’t factor games played, otherwise we’d all be playing for third place behind Steve French and Paul Soltys. (Those boys play more Swindles in one year than many of us play in two!)

I’ll be keeping track of your handicap, your strokes and calculating your Stableford points from that information which is cross checked against the app. I’ll also be recording your finishing places which is a fun new data set to play with. So we have every score on every hole by every player in the Swindle. The winner of the Sunday Swindle Order of Merit is the player with the highest score based on their best 12 scores from the season. The 2026 season will run from 4^th January to Sunday 13^th December 2026. The App does not show those results.

Each Monthly report

In addition to the winner, chips and twos pot each month, the plan is to show an updated table each month of everyone’s placing in the order of merit. Plus the usual commentary and fun facts and a few insights as we go. Towards the end of the year we may stop showing the Order of Merit table as it is always tight at the top. It’s fun to have a big reveal of the winners. But if you want to run the numbers from the app yourself you can spoil the surprise. But where’s the fun in that?

Nuts, bolts and electric trickery

I will always be very happy for thoughts and suggestions from the actual math-magicians in our ranks. I’m running Linux and using Libra-calc so you if you’ve been leaning on excel functionality you might have to mop your brow because it’s giving Office 97 vibes here. We’re outside database levels of input. I have no current plans to share this data.

Order of Merit Prizes

Prizes are always subject to change. There is a small slush fund that the Swindle Officers have access to, but it very much depends on the winnings each month and the amount of players. Currently it seems our funds might be being pillaged by the two pot winners! Prizes have always been at the discretion of the Committee and reflect the many different players winning. It has been very common to spend more money on the consolation prizes that the winners prizes. The Swindle is, and will always be, a money-go-round. But the trophy is satisfyingly GRAND. Your wives and girlfriends will hate it!

Lots of money goes back to the club

The Swindle account has previously been used to fund the “Be Our Guest” days” for senior golfers to play a buggy round and have lunch with Swindle members for free. The Swindle give Christmas presents to the Club staff and Marshals on your behalf, and we help fund the club’s Annual Open Day. The Swindle works hard for the club, much of it behind the scenes largely thanks Mick Smith assisted by Mark Thomas, and Del Ratenyake.

The twos pot

The lowest handicappers will adapt the quickest to change and thrive in tricky conditions, but on a windless T-Shirt and shorts day in June they are going to get a good hiding for the mid to high handicappers. They can shoot a 75 and get beaten by a 28 handicapper who suddenly bangs in 5 pars and a birdie.

Enter the twos pot. This magical device is the meat that the big dogs play for. The adept target golfers who can pepper a flag, not just hit a green have something to play for every week. You’ll see the same names returning to the list. It’s not a fluke. If you’re playing with them it would be wise to pay attention, they will make you a better golfer.

Twos pot prize structure

1 winner £30 2 winners £30 shared. 3 winners £30 shared. 4 or more winners £10 each.

If we’re going to have any money left by the end of the summer I think we should speak to Ben the grounds keeper about narrowing the hole in the 17^th because that green is becoming a problematic one putt zone and we’re only five game in.

The ones pot

“Any chancer with a 7 iron can step up on a par three tee box and think that a hole in one might be on the cards. No one thinks about an Albatross on a par 5.”
Insufferable Albatross holder Adam Raynham May 2018

Ones pot rules.

The ones pot payment request will be sent out every couple of months. There is one on the Swindle chat right now. You pay in advance in £10 instalments that cover you for the next ten weeks. If you join part way through the year you have to cover the payment for the weeks that are outstanding for the year. Please put your initial and surname and 1s pot in the bank reference.

Payments

The odds of winning are 12,000 to one so there is an excellent chance that the pot will not be won this year. At the end of the year it is traditional to spend the ones pot in a pub and clear the pot of the next year. We don’t want lots of money swilling around in a prize pot. In the very unlikely event that you win the ones pot, you will be paid out to the value of the date that you won, not the whole pot. So win in December not January if you can.

Can we talk about January 2026?

Look at you all, coming out of the Christmas break with your shiny new reset handicaps that Santa brought you to begin the new Swindle season.

It would be fair to say that the Sunday Swindle has gotten off to an absolute flyer. Just getting four Swindles in January is a massive achievement, English weather being what it is. But for our massive support of the Norman Plumb and Leslie Wood Teams we would have had over 20 players for every week.

It looks like some have decided to use their reset new season handicaps to navigate the tricky winter conditions. Others (I’m looking at you Soltys, Brewer, Cormack and Newport) cashed those points in right away casting caution to the wind and securing some early big boy scores. It’s a bold strategy. Scoring big in January drops your handicap and you carry that burden throughout the year. Those 38+ scores are difficult to come by at Ingrebourne, to post one in January is outstanding. Fortune favours the brave, but will cheerfully bury the incautious.

What the heck happened in Week 3 ?

37 points was not enough to win, and 30 was not enough to keep you out of the chips!

I love the new app. I like seeing the leader-board as we go round the course and seeing where I am in the field. Par-Up has elevated the Swindle experience, but on days like this the scores reveal in the club house would have been hilarious.

Spare a thought for our Luke Hartman. He beat Jonesey and Reilly, carded 30 points and still ended up doing the chip walk. Golf is hard.

At the other end of the table Paul McClean and Michael Fancourt with 36 were shouldered out of the way by Simon Wilson and Steve French who both had great back nines to post 37 points. Surely that’s enough? Nope! Taz trotted home with 41 points. 6 pars and a birdie 41 points in mid January is outrageous off an 18 handicap. Excellent golf.

It’s important to remember that 30 is a solid score and will likely be one of your tail end scores in your best 12 come December. You can finish in the top ten with a pointer in your best 12. To score 30 and still buy chips is a bit worrying. Not to diminish anyone’s achievements, but hopefully it is just a function of a few reset and slightly overpowered handicaps awarded to improving players. But just to be safe I am stating this: Taz is definitely winning the 2026 Sunday Swindle Order of Merit and Marc Brewer will be a very close second. There! That should do it! We are all safe now!

January has been kind to us

Weather and course conditions January have been kind. Storms have been arriving during the week rather than at the weekends which we should all take as a kindness from the golfing deities. Sogginess that in previous year might have closed the course has diminished greatly thanks to the effectiveness of the drainage work over the last 18 months or so. Always mention this to Dominic when you see him. It absolutely makes his day and it always gets back to the ground keepers.

For the new year, please do this one thing for me. Text those friends you don’t see too often. Make plans. You won’t regret it.

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