Asides from the opening and closing holes, Prince’s had absorbed overnight rain well. However, many bunkers showed erosion from water with stones and no sand.

In the individual competition, early starter John Ahad was the worthy winner on 38 points (front 9 of 21), a point ahead of Kim Chaffart and three from Paul Concannon. CSS was one above SSS at 36 and the only playing handicap changes were increases for Graham Babington Smith, Ted Holt, Tamas Ladacs and Stephen Mason. Results…

A ‘Waltzing’ team* event took place simultaneously.  The overall winners with 72 points were James Barker, Ed Henery and Richard Owen. Results…

* Technical footnote: The handicapping software places a restriction on team events – all players must play against either the men’s par & SI or the ladies’ par & SI. To overcome this restriction, ladies’ scores at certain holes have been amended to deliver correct stableford points since men played off men’s card and ladies off ladies’.

Hole by hole scores for the team event are at this link.

The forecast’s prediction of wind and rain dissuaded a number from attending and a further group abandoned their rounds as it became a reality and we were blasted with a strong squall and icy pellets of hail for several minutes. Amazingly it departed as rapidly as it had arrived and left blue skies for a few holes before soaking those at the back again. However, the results show that most people played their better golf at the start of the round, which is not the norm on Prince’s.

There were just 2 people unaffected by, or perhaps enjoying, the weather. Alexander Krasnenkov and Jim Fogarty outstripped the remainder of the field coming in with 41 points, some eight ahead of the rest. Alexander, who won in the week, took the honours on the back nine. As such the CSS went up by two earning them both a 1.8 reduction in handicaps. Results…

24 competitors turned out on a largely grey but dry day with little wind. Alexander Krasnenkov scored a deserved 39 points and his putting was to die for on the front nine. The sand on the greens did not have such a random effect as on Sunday. Mike Shabani again put in a good performance with 38 and Kim Chaffart challenged with 37 with 22 on the front 9. Results…

CSS remained as SSS (men 37, ladies 36).

Ladies

Eight pairs of ladies turned out for the second leg of the Ladies Spring Meeting playing a 4 BBB. In third place on 36 points were Jayne Maxwell and Val Riziotis just shading out Habe Crocker and Cheryl Woodhouse also on 36 points. Jayne and Val were in turn pipped for second place by Lia Donath and Ann Gardner also on 36 points. The winners with 37 points were Susan Smith and Deborah Potter. Afterwards the ladies relaxed with nibbles and some rather tasteful Tate Gallery inspired prizes were awarded. Results…

Men

Another chilly dry Spring day delivered some good scoring. Captain Paul Brown was the round 2 winner on 39 and this could have been a number of points better. Paul finished one ahead of Pete Davis and three of Toby Hunt. CSS remained at SSS 36 points. Results…

The overall winner over two rounds was Toby Hunt with 74 points who led the first round on 38 tied with Raymond Esin. Well done Toby. Paul was 2nd on 71 with Paul Green 3rd on 70. Raymond finished 4th with 69. Results…

Early spring conditions prevailed with drying worm casts but a cold Easterly. Early starter Mike Shabani proved victorious with 38 points, two ahead of Tamas Ladacs and five from Peter Osgood. Overall play was such to reduce SSS by two to CSS 35 points. The clubhouse sunshine was enjoyed by members afterwards. Greenkeeping staff could be seen on Duke’s tining and sanding the greens. Results…

Ladies

Despite what turned out to be the first real spring-like Sunday of the year, none of the ladies took advantage of the conditions. Or perhaps we were so used to the wet and cold, it was hard to adjust and the competition was a reduction-only round for handicaps. The winner was Tenesi Karakaneva with a net 77. Results…

Men

Early spring sunshine, drying ground and light wind afforded opportunities to break Prince’s. In the event, only the deserved winner Cuneyt Sazer and well-handicapped new member Tony Bergqvist were spot-on SSS 67 with Roger Rojas 3rd on countback 69 from Peter Osgood in a round which showed much early promise. Members basked in sunshine afterwards by the clubhouse pond, sheltered from the cool breeze. Results…

CSS was elevated two from SSS 69.

Persistent overnight rain meant eight temporary greens on Duke’s and so play switched to Prince’s where there were none. The first was muddy but otherwise the course was quite playable. And despite weather warnings just the odd shower came along and there was an interlude where layers were taken off due to the warm spring sunshine.

The early morning group all shot in the 60s, with Stephen Mason the victor with an amazing 62 with two birdies – well done Stephen! Mike Shabani was 2nd on 67 and Brett Colley 3rd 68. Eyebrows were raised in the chasing groups when Stephen’s 62 was visible on mobile devices on Master Scoreboard Results button. All attempted to raise their game accordingly but to no avail. With 60% of players within their buffer zone of SSS 67, CSS was reduced one to 66. Results…

Ladies

It is probably fair to say that today’s round was one of those that most of the ladies would be happy to forget. The one exception being our latest recruit and currently the most consistent, Habe Crocker. With a net 68 she led the field by nine shots to win not only the Spring Meeting medal round, but also to earn herself a cut of 3.5 which included an additional ESR cut of one shot to reduce her handicap to 17. As Habe recorded the lone good score, the CSS increased by three, enabling four of the field to play within their buffer zones. Jayne Maxwell in second place was the only other lady to record a gross score below 100. Results…

Men

Very early frost melted to give playable conditions with mud in places. Toby Hunt regained form to win with 38 points – 21 on back 9 beating Raymond Esin on countback. Paul Green and Stephen Legg took 3rd and 4th places with 36 points. With CSS reduced one to 35 points, Toby is back to playing off 12. Results…

Conditions were cold, wet and miserable. Many entrants did not attend and six played a few holes but returned to the clubhouse cold and soaked. Six hardy competitors persevered. Mid-week captain Richard Owen shrugged off the conditions with a highly commendable 34 points to win the trophy, one ahead of early clubhouse leader Peter Osgood and Paul Concannon. Results…

Whilst there were teething problems with the player entry screen, members may care to note that they can in future observe on their mobile ‘phones the latest leader board whilst competition is underway. View sample…

New CONGU CSS calculation was applied with all category 1-4 scores included in the calculation.