50 players decided to get 18 holes under their belt just before winter makes an unwelcome return. Maybe the forecast rain can help a course that is drying up really fast. The greens are still in recovery mode and it was near impossible to go pin seeking. Holding the greens proved very tricky.

Justin Wildman and Fhorkan Uddin’s rounds were mirror images of each other. Saffie Justin took apart the front 9 with 23pts. Fhorkan managed to score 24pts (!) on the back 9. Justin managed to hold it together on the last 9 holes (21pts). That was just enough to take victory today (Thank Goodness he didn’t play last week …). Peter Flint loses out to Fhorkan on countback. So 3rd place is his share today. Stephen Haworth is the first of the “late” starters. He also is the only player who managed to record 2 birdies today (a bit of bragging rights vs Jeremy over the coming weeks ). Ryan and Juho complete the Top6 and are the last players to receive some “Purse Adjustments”. Cheryl is first lady today. A shoutout has to go to Tony Barnett for an excellent round with 38pts. Ronnie proved that you can improve your golf as long as you play 5 rounds in 7 days. She even claims she fixed her putting!

Toby wins the aggregate Midweek Spring Stableford with 77pts ahead of Ryan Jones (74) and Ronnie (74).

Conditions were grey and chillier than of late but run continued and adjustment was still required to greens speed.

Suhail Salim set the challenge on Saturday with 40 points but it was late in the day when Martin Hay emerged winner for round 2 43 points with a ‘blob’ at17. Well done indeed Martin.
But round of the day goes to Jay Barker 2nd with 41 points playing off 4 . Well done indeed Jay – consolation is that the 4 birdies brings you level in the Sunday birdies tree attached. Sulhail above 3rd 40 then consistent Julian James 39 as wit Goran – new to the sweep enclosure.

Marnix had amazing front 9 – 24 points.

With 40 in the bag from round 1 last week, Martin wins overall Cup/Trophy 83 points 7 clear from Jay and Goran 76. Well done all.

It was a lovely warm and sunny Spring day and the Duke’s course was transformed from the last time we played it. The mowers had been to work on a firm, dry course and fairway definition was finally clear to see. For a change the white tees were used by the men, although they were still on the yellow teeing areas on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes.

The early leader in the clubhouse, Pralab Barua (38 points) was looking good until the final group came in and Julian James pipped Pralab on countback. There was more bad news for Pralab when his card was checked and found to have been incorrectly filled out. As usual, Julian’s card displayed a very consistent round, 20 points out and 18 points in, with 5 pars and one blob.

Second and third places were taken by playing partners Veronica Mitchell and Richard Owen, respectively, both 37 points and separated only by countback on the last 6 holes. Both had 21 points out and 16 points in, Ronnie notching up 4 pars and just one blob and Richard had 3 birdies (on the front 9), 3 pars and two blobs.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £6, £3)

Spring golf made a (very) welcome return to the park. A large field enjoyed great weather and a course that is gradually being prepped by the greenkeeping team for a summer onslaught. The condition of the greens was a bit more debatable. But all in all scoring proved to be excellent today.

MW Captain Henry L-B set the early pace with an excellent score of 40pts. 2 birdies were offset by an untidy 7 on the 8th. Another early starter Wonil was just 1pt behind Henry. Henry’s score held for most of the day. Toby was the only player able to improve on the MW Captain’s score. 21pts on the way out and 20pts on the way in make him today’s winner. First woman of the day is the Woman’s Captain with a very steady 38pts. Usual suspect Peppe racked up another Top6 finsh. 22pts on the back 9 certainly helped (that score was matched by Handicap Secretary PaulG and Tony B.).

No less than 5 players ended with 38pts. Alan and Pralab being the last 2 players to end  “In the Money” (. Reiko and Ronnie confirmed the return in force of the female contingent (hope you saved some birdies for next week Ronnie). If Paul Brown would the sheer number of birdies on the 16th (7!!!) today he would probably never come back to the park.  Best front 9 goes to Alan King who needed only 8 holes to record 22pts!

Very pleasant early Spring conditions with drying worm-casts, sun and breeze. Greens were noticeably faster then we’ve experienced in recent months. UV levels matched by temp in results report plot.

Very good golf with countback placing Ulli 1st from Oz – both super 42s. John Cho 3rd 41, Martn Hay 40 with Gunnar (welcome back Gunnar) and Captain John39s. Junior Ethan maintained form 38 with previous captain Kim.

A shout out and congrats to John Cho who recorded the season’s first eagle at 9th.

After a chilly start, it was a lovely sunny Spring day but with a nagging (but drying) breeze. There are now significant signs of the grass growing and the Prince’s course was no longer wet and muddy.

Our winner Stephen Haworth (37 points) made a slowish start with 16 points on his outward 9 holes, which included 2 blobs, however he made light work of the back 9 with 5 pars and 21 points. 2nd, and beaten only on countback, was Peter Flint with a birdie start and a very steady round of 18 points out and 19 points in. Just behind on 36 points were yours truly and Mat Grove with my steady 18 points out and back just beating Mat’s 19 points out and 17 back.

Sweep payout goes to the top 3 as usual (£8, £5, £3)

Weather forecast convinced quite a few players to tee off early. The plan seemed to work like a charm especially when the rain intensified during the course of the day.

Juho, Alan and Gregory all set the early pace. But the honours go to two 9am starters. Peppe had a shaky start (DB – Bogey). But regained some impressive composure to finish the front 9 at +5 gross. His back 9 also showed some shaky patches. But he couldn’t regroup in the same way as on the front 9. He finished on 86 gross (66 Nett). This score proved too much of a hurdle for most players. Colm used a strong back 9 (40 gross) to better Peppe’s score by a whopping 4 strokes. Birdie on the 14th didn’t hurt.
First woman today is Cheryl Woodhouse. Lowest gross score was posted by Rob.

Breezy overall with spots of rain Sunday per bottom of results file and some run was available; last game got what sun there was. Ditch/trench across 9th fairway made an interesting feature:

Junior Ethan Ford crafted a professional 40 points to win the Plate and had 4 3s inc. one birdie at par 4 11th. Ethan will no doubt improve! Duncan Taylor had excellent back 9 22pts. Kerry Sargeant returned an excellent 38 pts with 1 over par on front 9 and 2 birdies. Kerry shared front 9 honours with Henry L-B. There were good 37s from Kim, Ulli and Robert C as well as 36s from Damber, Keith C and Paul K.

The predicted rain arrived around midday but wasn’t too bad, for most of us at least. Glendale’s closure of holes 8 and 9 for drainage trenching works was frustrating, however at least the 11th green was open.

Today’s clear winner was Adrian Wells, 35 points from 16 holes being 4 better than than his par off his Course Handicap. 16 points off the front 7 was the foundation and 19 points off the back 9 with one birdie and one blob completed a very solid round. 2nd and 3rd places, both with 32 points, were Veronica Mitchell and Ryan Jones respectively. It didn’t look as though it would be that way round when Ronnie started with a blob and Ryan had a birdie 3 for 4 points on the 1st, but it’s all about consistency and Ronnie’s 19 points on the back 9 pipped Ryan’s 17 points.

Sweep payout to the top 3 (£8, £5, £3)

Spring golf made a  very welcome return to the park. The Royal Parks deciding to cut trees today was not really part of the plan. Therefore we had to run the competition over 16 holes. Milder temperatures, sunshine, faster greens, better looking fairways and some decent golf were all present. Pity that access to the clubhouse itself was rather limited.

But see photo afterwards of new layout and floor covering

Onto to the main talking points. 3 players recorded 37pts. Chris Rudkin was the best thanks to his 21pts on the back 9 (only matched by Paul G). Brian started with a birdie and maintained an excellent level of golf over the first 7 holes (18pts). 2nd place is a nice return for a steady back 9 (19pts). Alan King was playing like a man possessed on the way out: -1 gross through 6 holes. A DB on the 7th didn’t stop him from scoring 20pts on the way out. He recovered after a wobble on the 10th hole to come home with 17pts. Angus tightens extends his lead in the birdie tree with 3 extra birdies (2nd, 3rd and 17th). 5th place goes to the Women’s Captain today. Pralab and Allan benefit from the women not taking part in the sweep (cf. attachment). The game of Alan King, Alvaro Garcia-Hoz and yours truly managed as a group  to record 5 birdies on the first 7 holes.

The competition also constituted final round of Midweek Winter competition and associated Duke’s Eclectic. Juho Lim and Pralab share the honours on 115 with Mike Jones and Secretary Peter Harrington joint runners-up 114. The Duke’s Eclectic champion is Richard Owen 59.2 with Angus Robertson and Brian Ransom close on his heels at 59.6 and 59.9 respectively.