Starting in cool and cloudy conditions, with the sun breaking through occasionally after midday, it was another round played on dry, rock hard fairways with lots of extra run. It is good to see Peter Goodall return to form with a winning 41 points (19 points out, 22 points in, 1 blob and no birdies); just behind was runner-up Mike Horsthuis who had 40 points (18 points out, 22 points in, 2 birdies and a gross 74 shots); and coming in 3rd was Richard Norden on 37 points (15 out and 22 back) – so it was all decided on the front 9 holes! Sweep payout to the top 3.

The course conditions proved tricky. Teeing off everybody must have been feeling like Bryson Dechambeau (the extra roll on the fairway was ridiculous at times). On the flip side landing shots into greens proved challenging. And the greens seemed to be speeding up during the course of the day. Perhaps playing (very) early in the morning was the way to go (4 players in the Top 7 went out at the crack of dawn).

 Today’s winner is Aung with a remarkable score of 5 Up His front 9 (4 Up) was excellent. He lost 3 holes on the way in to close the back 9 1 Up. Keith’s movement back to single figure handicap is right on track. A great back 9 (3 Up – he only lost 3 holes today) set him apart from Jim Deissler. Unfortunately Jim pulled out all the stops on the way out (4 Up). Based on the countback rule Keith finishes 2nd and Jim takes the last march on the podium. Diego takes 4th with a strong score of 3 Up. 4 people finish on 2 Up. Gina had the best back 9 of that group (2 Up), Mike Jones was the most consistent (1 Up on front and back 9).

The men’s captain managed to not win a single hole on the back 9. Luckily he was 4 Up on the front 9 (starting birdie-birdie-birdie/his chip on the 3rd almost nearly dropped for an eagle)..

A bitingly cold nor’easter took the shine off what turned out to be another brilliantly sunny day for 85 competitors in the Coronation Cup.

Tidy golf from Rhys on 66 was enough to be 2 clear from Mike H, Jayne M and early starter Russell.

Stats show Nick R and Kerry level on the par 3s with Kerry best back 9, Henry L-B and Ant best front 9.

Just 2 Twos were recorded -by Kerry and rejoiner Ross at 16 and 3 respectively. Ross scores Eagle on his return – well done!

For the men, the round constituted round 1 of The Top Dog Trophy.

In glorious sunshine, and with dry, rock-hard fairways and insufficient rain over the past few weeks to support growth of the rough, the Dukes course had few defences for our leading players. The honours today were taken by early starter Graham S. with an impressive 43 points (22 out and 23 back) and it was good to see that Graham submitted his card to WHS so that his handicap can be adjusted to reflect this excellent round. In second place Keith C. continued his recent good form with 42 points (19 out and 23 back) including birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, when he was finally ‘let through’ to play at his usual pace! Pralab and Rannesh took the final sweep prizes of 3rd and 4th places with 41 points each. Pralab recovered from an average front 9 (16 points) to record a 2-over-par back 9 (25 points) with one birdie. Rannesh was 18 points out and 23 points back, with a birdie on the 17th. Well played to all.

The field enjoyed pretty decent golfing conditions. Although it can be argued that the late morning faced stronger winds (and the mercury swung around a lot too). Greens seem to be improving. There was still plenty of roll from rock hard fairways.

 Pat Dalton was the star of the day: h23pts and 22pts earn him victory by quite a margin today. He recorded 4pts on no less than 3 holes. His score could even have been better had it not been for a … 7 on the 17th. Usual suspect Brian had a decent day at the office. 5 3-pointers (to use basketball terms – wink wink to the MW captain HLB) and 4 lay-ups aka 2 pointers and the countback rule set him on the way to 2nd place. Graham Swindells narrowly misses out on 2nd. But an unfortunate 7 on the 17th prevented him from beating out Brian. Keith had a steady round (19+20pts) to take 4th. Paul Green blanked the 17th (seems to be a theme today) and only takes 5th. Rick Kimber and Seymour are the last members of the 39 club.

First Woman today is former secretary Susan Smith.

Women

Can’t imagine for one moment that Donna, on her first round back with the club for some time, thought her 74 would be good enough to win today, especially as she didn’t rush to enter her score!
We didn’t exactly set the course on fire with our scores today, in the old days it would have been a reduction only round, but of course such things no longer exist. Following Donna, 4 of us fought it out for 2nd spot with 75s with Gina taking the place deservedly so with 2 birdies on her card.
Let’s blame the speed or rather the lack of it for putting us off our games. Three balls don’t seem to be making the rounds much shorter/quicker at all. But it was a good day weatherwise although the wind kept its bite. The lack of recent rain could be seen by how much the pond on the 10th had dried up from our last visit to Prince’s 2 weeks ago.

Men

A gorgeous spring day greeted competitors with that nagging nor’easter from arctic having gone.
Greens seemed watered but we still need natural rain.

Louis Dickey shot an astoinishing net 60 and but for a 7 at 18 we would be saluting him as ‘Mr 59’!

From the back of the field, Julian shot the lights out for 62; Mitch won 3rd on countback from father Ben D 65; Ant and Rannesh returned 66s.

This time it was Ned’s turn for an eagle at 9 – well done!
The results double as first of the Grand Medal Trophy.

It was a lovely sunny Spring morning, only a light wind, and with the rough yet to grow, an excellent opportunity to post a good score. However, even with the extra bounce and run that we are getting off bone dry fairways, the Princes course was no push-over. Our winner, Ann G. with 38 points was the only one to beat the course’s previous SSSs – well played Ann. Our runner-up Keith posted 37 points and in third place was new member Mike H. The Purse payouts have been: Ann £10, Keith £7 and Mike £4.

One of the nicest things about playing yesterday was the opportunity to be able to sit down and have a drink with our playing partners on the island when it was all over – first time we’ve been able to do that for 3 months!

I hope to see many of you playing again on future Fridays.

Richard

The first mixed medal round on Duke’s since the introduction of WHS caused a few surprises. With both yellow and white tees in operation, the women received an additional 5.1 shots for their competition handicap (men off white’s got 2.1). With slope adjustment as well, both Sheena & Veronica were playing off 23 and they made good use of all those shots to finish 1st and 3rd respectively. Neither had recorded good scores since the return to play until today when 19 or one third of the field recorded No Returns and this before the grass has started to grow with any vigour.

Sheena’s net 67 was a card of double bogeys or pars, not total consistency! Also on a 67 is new joiner MikeH, possibly benefiting from a lockdown spent playing golf on the IoM but perhaps ruing the 7 on the 17th to allow my back 9 to beat his. For Veronica and Russell both on 68s there was a similar situation with Russell’s snowman on the 12th giving Veronica the better back 9.

Initial reports were of another eagle sighted in the Park, but unfortunately correct identification provided only a birdie. It would have been very unusual to record eagles in 3 consecutive weeks.

The redeeming feature of the day for those behind the leaders was that neither Sheena nor Veronica were in the sweep, but with 51 people in it payment is down to 9th place (excluding Sheena & Veronica):

The associated Grand Medal table will show the same results as today, so will be included after the next medal.

Women

Excluding the 2-ball it looks like the teams were pretty evenly matched with just 3 shots between 1st & 5th place, but nipping it by 1 was Elisabeth, Val & Jayne with a net 68 and in 2nd spot was Caroline, Katharina & Julie who’s front 9 consisted of 8 5s. The 2-ball was just excited to finish level par.
It wasn’t exactly a spring like day although the sun did eventually appear to try & tempt us into removing a layer or two, only for it to then disappear and the cold wind to pick up – but hopefully you all enjoyed your spring scramble.

Some more excitement from Monday with the computer in the clubhouse back in use and being allowed to stay and have a drink afterwards, albeit still outside.

Men

Unseasonably cold conditions prevailed and in afternoon dark cloud in short horizon heralded wintry precipitation. Rain is need without flooding for the courses as well as some warmth for grass  to grow etc.

A good turnout – 70 again for second round of Men’s Spring Stableford. Bennie drew ahead of the field to win with 40 commendable points. Eliot was just 1 behind 39 with 3 (Gunnar, Ben and James A sharing 38 settled by countback.

PCC for the day was 0 standard conditions

Glenn Bennett was Master of the Twos with birdies at 7 and 16.

The overall Spring Stableford Trophy over the 2 weeks goes to Richard O 75 points, just 1 ahead of Bennie and Russell; Eliot, James A and Barry P had 73s over the 2 weeks.

Well done to Bennie for a good ‘chase’ in 2nd round and to ‘Mr Consistency’ Russell.

Last year’s winner by 7 points  Damber failed to return his 2nd round score.

It turned out to be a very pleasant Spring day with sunshine in the late morning/early afternoon. Because of the lack of rain over the last week or two, the fairways were dry with more run than we have had for some months and the greens were surprisingly ‘quick’. Some found the course hard going but our leaders, Alvaro and Andrew B., both scored very respectable 37 points, with Alvaro winning on countback. Sweep pay out was to the top 3: Alvaro £12, Andrew £7 and John A. £4. Well done to you all.

Although the competition was non-qualifying, 6 members chose to have their scores submitted to WHS.