With sunny and warm Spring conditions The Priory Cup was closely contested.  The winner was Raymond Esin with 38 points on countback from Alexander Krasnenkov and Anis Driaa. Paul Grand challenged with 37 and was atop the leader board for 15 minutes. Results…

Paul Massie emerged the winner from a field of 31 with 37 points, three clear of Lee Marshall. Paul Green and Julian James challenged with 33. Paul earned a handicap reduction to 22 with CSS reduced to 35 points from SSS 37. Results…

Early light rain dissipated but interspersed with sunny intervals one heavy shower challenged 25 competitors. The winner of the Masters Bowl was Peter Osgood 70 on countback from Stephen Mason. Two shots adrift were Ted Holt, Chris Jones, Ed Henery and Paul Concannon. Leading lady was Gina Jillett. Results…

57 competitors turned out on a Spring day for the Coronation Cup. Early clubhouse leader Pete Davis posted 71 which remained unbeaten despite a strong challenge from Roger Rojas losing on a back 9 countback. Third was Kim Chaffart on 72 with Sunny Lall 4th on 73. CSS was elevated by 2 over SSS. Results…

The competition doubled as the medal NAPGC qualifier and first round of the Men’s season long Top Dog competition. R1 Leader board…

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…