Grey sunless and still early spring conditions proved ideal for golf. Following his recent midweek win, Toby Hunt was crowned the winner of the Coronation Cup with a glorious 65 narrowly beating Tony Bergqvist and leading lady Habe Crocker 66s and five following with 67s. James Barker claimed best gross 76. Results…

A good turnout of 60 produced CSS = SSS with ladies in receipt of 2 shots (difference in the SSSs).

An authoritative bark from Toby from the top of the men’s Top Dog Trophy (first event 2018) with 12 points echoed a new handicap of 12 having nudged 14 earlier in the year. Well done Toby! R1 leader board… 

Just 3 days ago both courses were unplayable per this view. Today the sun shone and it was a pleasant Spring day. It was a double first for Toby who won the first midweek grand medal round with a 66 and the best gross of the day 80. He was chased by Chris Phillips-Jones 67 and Richard Hodgkinson and Jeremy Prescott 69s. A jet-lagged Kim returned a respectable late 75. Results…

This view illustrates the weather conditions that caused the cancellation of the day’s competition.

A mild but at times blustery day greeted competitors hinting that Spring is surely just round the corner.

Ted Holt emerged the winner with 38 points ahead of Raymond Esin 37 and John Curry & Paul Grand 36s. Results…

Ted hit a perfect shot on 2 for an ace! And after 4 holes had 14 points in the bag. Well done indeed Ted. It was drinks all round (at least for late morning players) at the nineteenth.

This was the last round of the midweek Winter Competition confirming the 1-2-3 as before – Eeelco Snidjers 114, Peter Harrington 113 and Jonathan Rivers 112. Final leader board… 

Brett Colley won the Prince’s Eclectic on 64 with Henry Lindesay-Bethune 2nd on countback 64.5 from Chris Phillips-Jones. Final leader board…

Ladies

Despite the hint of spring to come with the sun making an unexpected showing for a few holes, the ladies made heavy going of their first medal round of the year. The small field of 9 did not cover themselves in glory, with only 2 managing less than 50 shots on the front 9. Things weren’t a whole lot better on the back 9, with the result that it was a QRO and the CSS went to 72. Winning with a net 77 and winning by one shot was Tenesi Karakaneva, by dint of a better back 9, Sheena Harrington took the second slot from the three on 78. Results…

Men

Early Spring conditions prevailed with mud in places but otherwise good for scoring opportunities. Jon Cooper shot an exceptional 62 to win the March Medal and by all accounts still left a shot or two on the course. Well done Jon! Second placed Jay Barker shot 66 and lowest gross 71 and beat Mike Shabani on countback. Paul House and Toby Hunt had 67s. Results…

The round doubled as first of 8 for the Grand Medal Trophy. R1 Leader board…

A shout-out to Kerry Sargeant for 2 ‘Twos’ and for recording the year’s first eagle – unusually at the fifth. Eagle tree…

Following the previous week’s snow, conditions were good for early Spring. Rain plagued the early starters whilst later competitors suffered an unexpected hail shower.

Henry Lindesay-Bethune started as he ended with a birdie and scored an outstanding 43 points to win the Midweek Inaugural Trophy (with a ‘blob’). Lesser mortals were led in 2nd place with a fine 40 from John Curry and workmanlike 39s from Jeremy Ryan and Paul Grand. Results…

CSS remained at SSS with 6 handicap changes including a 1.2 cut for Henry to 7.0.

Ladies

As the weather appeared to continue to deteriorate as the week drew to a close, a few names disappeared from the booking sheet. The start sheet of 8 ladies soon dropped to 6 and by Sunday morning to just 4 players. Those ‘hardy’ few found a course free from all but a few pockets of snow, little wind, and positively balmy temperatures compared with those we played in for the last few weeks.

Since all four would have been winners with the prize allocation for the Spring Meeting, the competition was abandoned and a 4-ball better ball match ensued. Habe & Lia played Doreen & Sheena in a close game that was halved on the 18th. A very fair result celebrated with drinks and biscuits all round.

Men

There were no doubt many at home, regretting their decision to pull out of the opportunity to win this 36 hole competition! Not that many would have believed golf would be possible after the snow that was still falling on Friday. After the temperature finally rose above freezing, the snow had all but gone and conditions underfoot were surprisingly good.

So it was a small field of 28 who entered the first leg of the first of the new 2018 season competitions. Giving the rest something to chase, Alan King takes a 3 point cushion into the second round. His winning score of 41 points, which included 2 blobs and 3 birdies, sees him rewarded with a 1.2 cut to his handicap. Paul House continues his recent run of form to lie in 2nd place on 38, with a 0.2 cut and there are a further 3 players one shot further back. Results…

CSS went to 37 points.

Ladies

Piercing blue skies, an icy wind but a much drier course underfoot did nothing to inspire most of the ladies – let’s blame the number of layers being worn restricting movement. None of this stopped Joan Mulcahy whose 35 points gave her a run away victory by four from Lia Donath. Results…

With no one achieving the SSS, the CSS dropped to 34 points awarding Joan with a 0.4 handicap reduction and most of the rest of us a 0.1 addition.

The final round of the Eclectic saw a number of scores improve, with Habe Crocker and Val Riziotis on net 70, but Habe took it on countback, making her the winner on both courses. Final leader board…

Men

Another round of winter golf at Richmond Park today. The extra roll on the fairways was largely offset by polar winds and the fact that chipping/pitching around the greens and judging the speeds of those greens was pretty tricky. Quite obvious that these conditions would suit a man playing in his … shorts. 

Caleb Mills played a really steady round of golf (17pts out and 19pt in) to cruise to victory. The late morning starters put up a decent challenge but Habib (35pts), Martin, Christer and Michele (all on 34pts) came up a bit short. All 3 of them played excellent back 9’s. Roger, also on 34pts, completes the Top6. Results…

CSS: 35pts. Caleb is the only player to earn a handicap reduction.

Winter Competition
Nobody was to improve on their respective scores. With a score of 116pts Paul House seals his victory. Add that to his win in the Midweek Winter Matchplay and we can safely say that it’s been an interesting couple of months for Paul “yellow tees” House. Final leader board…

Prince’s Eclectic
James Barker wins this competition with a net Score of 59 just ahead of Roger (net 60). Final leader board…

Chilly with mud summarised the conditions. Some very good scores were returned with Jack Evans the winner of the penultimate midweek winter comp round on 43 points. Jeremy Prescot had a purple patch returning 42 beating Sushant Lal on countback. Kerry Sargeant returned a creditable 39 returning to single figure handicap. Results…

SSS remained at yellows/reds 37 points with no fewer than 10 handicap changes (mainly reductions).

Brett Colley is declared the winner of the associated Duke’s Eclectic on 62.5 beating Paul House by a clear shot. Final leader board…

In the overall midweek Winter Competition Eelco Snijders leads on 114 from Peter Harrington 113 and Paul House 112. With at least one round having to be played on each course, the results have been compiled manually and attached report has an additional column showing what competitors would need to score to beat Eelco on the final Prince’s round. R7 Leader board…

Ladies

Positively balmy conditions in comparison to last week encouraged a few to some good scoring on the front 9 with the ladies who finished in the top 3 spots all recording 17 points. The back 9 wasn’t so kind to them resulting in another reduction only round. Tenesi Karakaneva took first place with 31 points, followed by Habe Crocker on 30. Results… 

After the final round of the Duke’s Eclectic, Habe emerges the winner, having taken five shots off her previous total. Her winning score of 72 beating Susan Smith the previous leader by three. Final Leader board…

Men

At first sight the field didn’t seem to face the harshest conditions. Mild(er) temperatures, less mud/casual water and ever receptive greens might have given the impression that the course was there for the taking. The early starters failed to capitalize. Oliver Maskell overcame a sluggish front 9 with an excellent back 9. Three birdies put him en route to a score of 22pts on the way in and 38pts was good enough to become leader in the clubhouse. To give an idea about the struggles of the early starters until 1.30pm CSS was estimated at 35pts.

The later starters put on a show. Jim Fogarty had three birdies to total 39pts. Michele Prencipe’s round was a mirror of Jim Fogarty’s 18 holes: 19pts out and 20pts in take him into 1st place thanks to the countback rule. Michele sai che è già la seconda volta che fai un punteggio di 39 punti su Duke’s? Questo corso di golf e quasi fatto su tua misura.

Other late starters Chris Lordan, Paul House and Peter Harrington complete the Top6. Michele’s handicap gets cut 0.9 strokes and he now plays of 18. Auguri!! Jim Fogarty and Paul House also get new handicaps. Thanks to the flurry of good scores CSS went back to 36pts. Results… 

In the Winter Competition Paul House had to record a score on Duke’s to keep a chance of winning these series. Today’s score allows him to retain his lead with 116pts. Michele Prencipe is 2nd on 113pts. Oliver Maskell and Jay Barker are a little further back. R7 Leader board…

In the final round of the Duke’s Eclectic – report due soon. Final Leader board…