Early frost and ice gave way to a lovely sunny day with no wind. Late morning competitors experienced a graupel shower and looked in vain with the sun shining for a graupel-bow.

Scoring conditions were enhanced as a result with CSS being raised to SSS + 1 = 38 points. In the last game Roy Evans romped home with 44 points (and severe surgery to his handicap 15->13) with Brian Ransom 2nd 40 points. First lady Cheryl Woodhouse was beaten into 3rd on back 9 countback but is mentioned in despatches recording a ‘Two’ and of course handicap reduction 22-> 21. Results…

Secretary Peter Harrington crafted a mild draw to 8 feet on the long par three 14 to post a birdie and a ‘Two’. Welcome back to play for Ted Holt who also recorded a ‘Two’ at 4th. Midweek birdie tree…

Ladies

Very different conditions from last week saw the ladies record the first QRO of the winter season. A combination of a strong wind and a wet course after the rain of yesterday presumably the reason that 32 was the highest score. Susan Smith’s 19 points on the back 9 was enough to pip Angela Flynn despite her recording two birdie 2s in her 32 points. Results…

Although Habe remains at the top in the Eclectic, things have got a lot tighter after the second round and Lia is just 1.5 shots behind. R2 Leader board…

Men

The weather certainly didn’t help today. Rain of the last days created a good bit of mud and casual water. Add strong winds and rain around midday and you have all the ingredients for a round of winter golf.

Richard Owen certainly came prepared for today’s round. In the run-up to today’s comp he “bended” the rules a bit. Reportedly he also enjoyed a few good bounces (from certain trees). To be fair he took the opportunities when they presented themselves. 21pts on the front 9 (with a no score on the 7th – which due to the cold temperatures and head wind played like a par 6 today) set him up for a solid back 9. The nerves started appearing on the 18th (a thinned chip from behind the green confirms that). But he miraculously walked off with a par to close on 40pts. Richard’s handicap goes straight back to 12. Nigel Ward played a solid round on Prince’s again but he was outdone by the smallest of margins on the front and back 9. 38pts is enough for 2nd though. Keith Cassidy and Kerry Sargeant both recorded 37’s to take 3rd and 4th respectively. Ollie Griffin and Brian McMahon complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 37pts (9/35 in the buffer)

Ollie Griffin had a good day on a few other fronts:

• He takes the lead in the Winter Competition with 112pts ahead of Caleb Mills and Barry Page (both on 110). R5 Leader board…
• He’s also first in the Prince’s Eclectic with a Net 63, ahead of Chris Lordan and Richard Owen – both 66. R2 Leader board…

Lying snow from a ‘heavy dusting’ rendered the course sometimes unplayable and the round was treated as a social non-qualifying round for handicap.

Later competitors Jack Evans and Dylan Merchant had amazing 39 and 34 points respectively for the round and associated sweep with Sean Thomas third 33 points. Results…

Ladies

Amazing results from an unprecedented number of ladies in mid-winter & the weather was also pretty amazing and so much nicer than forecast. Of course lack of wind and having fairways that were not soggy bogs can only have helped.

Lia Donath had a very steady 19 points out and 20 back to beat Susan by some 5 points but was fortunate that her lack of signature was spotted before leaving. Her short game was definitely on form today – one putting definitely helps the scoring. Results…

In the accompanying Eclectic, Lia might have beaten the rest by some margin – but last week’s order remains the same. A matter of picking the right holes to improve your score on & Val and Cheryl both improved their scores by 5, but Val maintains a 3 shot advantage with one round to go. R3 Leader board…

Men

Looks like the field dealt pretty well with the cooler conditions. Four players managed to record a score of 39pts. A Par-Par-Birdie finish vaults James Anslow into 1st place. Over that span of 3 holes he nearly doubled his tally on the back 9. Not much you can do against that. James’ handicap drops to 16. Martin Heinrich’s solid round (20pts out and 19pts in) earns him 2nd place and a new handicap of 17. The back-up handicap secretary’s round was a bit more volatile: 22pts out but only 4pts on the last 3 holes prevented him from finishing higher than 3rd. Last of the 39 gang was Ollie Griffin. But just like the player ahead of him he struggled on the way in (FYI: he went out in level par aka 23pts). Three players finished on 37pts: Barry Page. Chris Lordan and Caleb Mills – who quite shockingly decided to rock up in long trousers! 16 out of 42 players remained in their buffer impacting CSS. Results…

CSS: 37pts

Winter Competition: 1st) Ollie Griffin (108), 2) Tamas Ladacs (103), 3) Peter Needham (103), 4) PHarrington (101), 5) Pete Harrison (101) 6) Chris Lordan (100). R4 Leader board…

Duke’s Eclectic: Pete Harrison (62), Chris Lordan (63), Oliver Maskell (65), Ollie Griffin (65), Kim Chaffart (66). R3 Leader board…

Grey and at times windy conditions prevailed and for the mid-morning competitors the forecast rain/drizzle finally arrived.

Scoring was average overall with CSS=SSS 37 points but Jim Fogarty eased further into the Wednesday scene with a commendable 39 to win round 4 of the midweek winter competition. New member Charlie Forrest and best lady Sheena Harrington followed with 38s. Both Jim and Sheena are cut a shot. Results…

In the midweek Prince’s Eclectic Hassan Mouilah leads with net 65.0 with midweek captain Kim Chaffert tied second with John Curry 68.0. R2 Leader board…

The midweek Winter Competition is led by Mike Jones 105 from Sheena and John 102. R4 Leader board…

Ladies

Another good turn out for the ladies’ team event which was another Texas scramble (a bit of a favourite for many). The winning team was Maureen, Fiona, Habe & Jane with a gross 71 and net 63.1. Conditions underfoot were considerably drier than for last month’s event, but the wind did its best, picking up as the round went on. However, it obviously wasn’t too tricky with 5 more birdies recorded than last month. Interestingly the 15th was the only hole that all 4 teams recorded a par on. Results…

Men

Conditions were quite testing. Mud (again), cooler temperatures and winds that grew stronger during the course of the day proved a bit too much for most of the field.

Luke Baker is keeping up his excellent form (who awarded him an initial handicap of 20?). A consistent round of golf (43 out and 44 in) is enough for Net 66 and 1st place today. Luke’s competition handicap drops to 17. Looks like the nerves got the better of him on the last hole. An untidy 7 prevented him from adding even more cachet to his win. Four players recorded Net 68’s. The countback rule fills up places 2 to 5 in the following order: Nigel Ward, Brian McMahon, Tamas Ladacs and Jim Fogarty (an unfortunate finish on the 18th prevented Jim from moving clear of the band of 68). Toby was the 1st of a group finishing on 69. Pete Harrison recorded the lowest Gross Score. And Peter Jagger netted an excellent 2 on the 16th. Other golfing highlights were very rare. It will come as no surprise that CSS rose to 68. Results…

You are not mistaken if you heard a lot shouts of Fore. They all came from Mike Shabani who had a clear preference to the left side of the course (aka a severe case of the hooks). Finally one member doesn’t seem to like the new drop rule. According to him it is the “gayest” way of dropping a ball.

CSS: 68 (as mentioned above)

Cold conditions prevailed, especially for holes into the wind. Some odd spits and spots (first rain for what must be getting on for a month) meant continuing cloying mud. Sean Thamas mastered the conditions with 39 points to win and recorded the day’s only ‘Two’ and the two birdies on back 9 helped 21 on the difficult back 9. James Anslow fought valiantly for 37 points and was followed by the trio of Messrs. Evans, Shabani and Mouilah on what proved to be a reduced CSS of 35 points. Best lady was Sheena Harrington 34 points. Results…

In the associated Midweek Winter Competition after 3 rounds Mike Jones leads 105 from Oliver Khan 97. R3 Leader board…

Meanwhile in the Duke’s Eclectic Philip Taggart net 70.0  leads Hassan Mouilah and John Curry nett 71.0s. R2 Leader board…

Ladies

The relatively benign conditions for the first week of January saw 15 ladies venture forth and the gloom of the first few holes gave way to a sunny afternoon. Whilst a good number struggled to score, at least on both 9s, Susan Smith had no problem. Frequently out-driving her playing partners with her 3-wood she was equally good with her approach shots. Although her driving skills deserted her for a few holes on the back 9, she still managed 18 points, which together with the 20 on the front 9, gave her a four shot victory today and a 0.6 handicap cut. Results…

CSS remained at 36.

In the associated Eclectic report due soon. R2 Leader board…

Men

Competitors who use trolleys probably wasted a lot of time clearing up the mud they took home. Greens could’ve offered better/truer rolls. But all in all conditions turned out to be relatively fine. Scoring on the other hand was not very good. CSS decreased to 35pts. Even with the CSS adjustment only 13 of the 40 competitors remained in their buffers.

Mike Shabani was Houdini today. He pulled off escape after escape. On numerous occasions he was hitting shots from “wrong” fairways (needless to say that this didn’t improve the speed of play). A steady front 9 was followed by an excellent 21pts on the way in. Well deserved victory and 0.8 handicap cut are his rewards. Three birdies sent Oliver Maskell on his way to 37pts and 2nd place. Fatherhood/lack of sleep didn’t prevent Caleb Mills from taking 3rd place with a commendable 36pts. Jay Barker, James Shine and Lee Marshall (whoever recorded Lee’s score did a pretty awful job. The recorded score of Keith Cassidy could’ve been better too …) complete the Top6. Results…

Pete Harrison recorded 3 birdies. Enough to take the lead in the Duke’s Eclectic with a Net 66 (ahead of Oliver Maskell and Barry Page). R2 Leader board…

In the associated Winter Competition – report due soon. R3 Leader board…

A decidedly chilly start to the first Medal of 2019 greeted competitors. Whilst no rain had fallen for a week, mud cloyed to trollies and shoes. Carl Latham fulfilled a New Year resolution winning the medal and being cut – well done Carl. Jim Fogarty and Chris Philips-Jones fought valiantly for 67s – CSS and SSS for the course on the day. Congrats also to Philip Taggart for best gross- 79. Results…

Students of handicapping will notice that Oliver Maskell NR’d but did not get raised .1 – how come? A: he dropped just 4 shots but NR’d at 14; a net double bogey was assigned for handicapping at this par 4 SI 12 hole (6 since he gets no shot at the hole) therefore an overall net differential of 4+2=6 being within his buffer zone. Moral: always return your card.