Summer conditions again prevailed on the penultimate day of meteorological winter. Competitors took advantage with 60% within their buffer zone. In this the last round of the midweek Winter Competition Richard Young shot 43 points to win with Charlie Forrest nipping Richard Hodgkinson on countback 42 points. Results…

All handicap changes were reductions so please check your latest handicap.

Richard’s 42 was sufficient to win the overall Midweek Winter Competition with two 42s in his 120, four clear from long-time leader Mike Jones. Final Leader board…

Brett Colley prevailed to win the Midweek Duke’s Eclectic on 56.5 – a good net 3.5 clear from Tamas Ladacs. Final Leader board..

Ladies

What an amazing day, who would have thought they’d be playing in shirtsleeves in Feb in the UK and a complete contrast to the freezing temperatures of a year ago. As with the previous week it didn’t seem to help the golf overly much, but there were lots more scores in the 30s and CSS remained unchanged at 37 points.

The closest anyone got to it was Angela Flynn with 35 points and the day’s winner. One point behind was Maureen Slade, showing a long overdue return to good scoring after her knee surgery. Results…

Angela also ran out the Eclectic winner, knocking a fair few shots off her score with today’s round. Analysis of her scoring revealed that the secret was to birdie the par 3s, something Angela managed with three of them. Final Leader board…

Men

A large field enjoyed some excellent weather. The absence of any wind created near perfect golfing conditions. It should as no surprise then that scoring proved to be very good.

HLB continued his excellent form at the Park and posted a nice score of 40pts. A tidy front 9 (level par/23pts) was followed a couple of 3 putts and “only” 17pts on the way in. Kerry Sargeant did a bit better than HLB and went out in 25pts (that’s 2 under gross). An untidy tee-shot on the 10th and a no-score on the 16th (sounds familiar Paul B?) prevented him from scoring more than 15pts on the way in. As the day went on the weather and scoring got even better. Sean Thomas was another player joining the 40pts club. Given today’s scoring that is only good enough for 6th today. Four players recorded a score 41pts. Countback ranks them as follows: Toby, Gunnar, Martin and Tony. The first three get rewarded with new competition handicaps

Ollie Griffin killed two birds with one stone today. His score of 41pts earns him victory in the final round of the Winter Comp. Results…

He also win the Prince’s Eclectic with a net 57. Ollie’s competition handicap also gets a healthy chop down to 9.1. Final Leader board…

CSS: 38pts (25/41 players were in the buffer today).

The Winter Competition winner is Martin Heinrich with a score of 120pts ahead of Ollie Griffin on 117pts. Well Done!. Final Leader board…

A chilly breeze greeted competitors but it brightened up with mild sunny periods. Rain from a couple of days ago still gave cloying mud. With a ‘bucket’ hole on 11 the round was a non-qualifier for handicapping.

Richard Hodgkinson struck form with 42 points to win the 6th (of a now 7 possible) round played of the midweek winter comp. He was closely followed by a late 41 from Jack Evans and 39 from Nathan Street. Alastair Whyte continued his good form with the best 38 from Roy Evans and Henry Lindesay-Bethune. Best lady was Sheena 32. A shout-out to Gregory Jean-Baptiste for a birdie net albatross on 17 for 5 points! Results…

This was the last round for the associated Duke’s Eclectic which saw Brett Colley wining on 65.5 from Toby Hunt and Henry Lindesay-Bethune both 67.5 (software shows Toby 2nd on ‘countback’ last 9). Final Leader board…

In the Winter Competition Mike Jones continues to lead on 116 now from Richard Hodgkinson 114 but don’t discount the in-form Evanses (Roy and Jack) who only need 39/41 to pass Mike’s current score on Prince’s final round. R6 Leader board…

Ladies

The weather might have been bright & mild for February, but it didn’t help the ladies much. The course might have been significantly shorter for the men, but the ladies were still off their tees with the lack of run expected at this time of year.

CSS moved by 3 to 33 points at which point four ladies were in their buffer zones, so it was 0.1 back for everyone else. Winner of the last round of the eclectic was Jayne Maxwell with 33 points, beating Angela Flynn by 1 point. Results…

The winner of the Eclectic was Val Riziotis, who improved her leading score of the previous round to win with a net 71. Final Leader board…

Men

Mild weather and forward tees were a nice set-up for a large field. In the end 17 of the 46 players remained in their buffer. No idea where Nigel Ward went on holiday but the break did have its effect. 43pts ((21 out and 22 in) made him the runaway winner today. Nigel’s handicap gets cut a massive 2.1 strokes to 13. Steady Brian McMahon played an excellent back 9 (22pts) to claim 2nd with 40pts. Richard Owen nearly emulated Brian. But his 21pts on the back 9 means he has to settle for 3rd. George Taylor matched Richard Owen’s score but the countback rule puts him into 4th. Countback rule also had to separate the large group of players on 36pts. 5th place goes to Martin Heinrich and 6th goes to Simon Malin. Results…

CSS: 36pts

Winter Competition: Nigel’s fantastic score today vaults him into the lead with 115pts. Still all to play for in next week’s round. R7 Leader board…

Duke’s Eclectic: Three players finished on net 62. Countback makes Pete Harrison the winner of this series. Final Leader board…

The promised mild, dry and sunny conditions prevailed enhancing scoring opportunities. Continuing improver Adil Lalani took advantage to win with 43 points earning a two shot reduction in handicap. A creditable 41 points from consistent Bruno took second place with Stephen Haworth returning best 40 on countback from Mike Jones. Jim Fogarty, Roy Evans and John Maxwell. CSS was one above SSS 37 at 38 points. Ladies returned 2 of the 3 ‘Twos’ – Sheena and Alison. Results…

This was the 5th round played of the Winter Competition with two remaining, with the requirement that at least one round on each course to be played. Mike Jones leads on 116 from Jim Fogarty 109. R5 Leader board…

In the associated Prince’s Eclectic with one round left, Brett Colley 59.5 leads Bruno 62.0. R3 Leader board…

Ladies

The start sheet showed another good turn out from the ladies for a Sunday in February, however nearly a third never made the first tee, presumably deterred by the weather forecast. In the event it was the underfoot conditions that were more challenging following the rain during the week.

Tenesi Karakaneva made the best of the conditions with a 35 to take first place today with Fiona Coombe three back in second spot. As such CSS was increased by 2 to 35 and these two were the only ones not to get 0.1 back. Results…

In the penultimate round of the Eclectic, Habe maintains her lead but there was a good shuffle of names behind her with Cheryl moving into second place. Habe improved her score by three shots today. R3 Leader board…

Men

Threatened heavy rain did not materialise allowing some good scoring and CSS elevated 1 from SSS 37 to 38 points.

Congrats to Tamas who held on through back 9 (22 points) for 41 points to secure victory in round 6 from Martin Heinrich 40. A prile of 39s from Ollie Maskell, Pete Harrison and Sean O’Sullivan completed the five breaking CSS. Tamas and Martin earn handicap reductions. Results…

In the Winter Competition Round 6 itself (attached being best 3 from 8 with minimum one round from each course) James Anslow leads 114 points form Pete Harrison, Martin Heinrich and Ollie Griffin all 112. R6 Leader board…

Finally, in Round 3 of the Prince’s Eclectic the leader is Ollie Griffin 61 from Roger Rojas and Kerry Sargeant 62. R3 Leader board…

Heavy overnight rain meant 3 temporary greens (and large holes) and play from mats (from driving range?). Yellow tees. But the weather was calm, mild and dry with some very good scoring. Jim Fogarty had a strong front 9 in his 64 but Alastair Whyte had the stronger back 9 to win on countback. Well done to Alastair for what I believe is his first medal. Results…

A tidy and consistent 69 from Bruno earned best gross in this non-qualifying round for handicap. Midweek birdie tree…

Ladies

Not knowing who might turn up if the courses were open after the sub-zero temperatures of the last few days, the ladies event was decided in the morning when in fact everyone turned up, plus an extra who hadn’t booked. The decision was another Texas scramble with the added option to tee up shots on the fairway to assist the injured amongst us – though drivers were banned in this instance!

Overhead it was another fabulous crisp & mostly sunny morning, underfoot it started as frozen making clubbing somewhat tricky and producing as expected some strange bounces. By halfway, things had changed for holes in the sun.

Given the conditions it was quite surprising the number of birdies recorded compared with previous scrambles and all 3 teams were well under par after 18 holes.

The team of 4 of Alison, Sheena, Tenesi & Jess, playing as a visitor, were the winners with a 63.1 that included 4 birdies and just 3 bogeys. Interestingly, all 3 teams birdied the 18th, a hole that can be the nemesis of many a good round. Results…

Men

A reduced field faced a winter onslaught. Given that both courses were closed 24h earlier it came as no surprise that today’s conditions proved challenging to put it mildly. The extra roll from the frozen fairways was offset by unpredictable greens. Chipping onto the greens was also very tricky. The Competition Committee decided to make today’s competition a Non-Qualifer.

Bruno Clerckx had already proved his skills in the rain. He can now claim the crown as best ice golfer of the day. His victory was largely due to a well managed back 9. 39 strokes on the way in offset a more volatile front 9. Tony Kopczak played solid golf during 14 holes. But a severe brain freeze sent him on his way to a score of 71 net. He’d probably like to have the last 4 holes back. The MoC/Secretary Peter Harrington posted a solid 73 net to claim 3rd place. Damian Hackett did a little better than the Irish rugby team and finishes 4th. My money would’ve been on a Northerner to thrive in these conditions. But Tony saved the Scandi honour with a 5th place. Alan King completes the Top6. Results… 

CSS: N/A