It was a cold, overcast Spring day requiring extra layers. The course was ‘looking good’ but not playing that easily due to the prolonged dry spell and it was the final chance for players to take advantage of pick-and-place winter rules.

Our winner was James Deissler (40 points) who, like others returning from Turkey, found the conditions ‘particularly nippy’. James’s round was the model of consistency, apart from the 3rd hole, but nowhere near as good as the 44 points he recorded today for the club’s weekend competition. In 2nd place was Ryan Jones (38 points) who played very well but missed out on 3 or 4 putts. Veronica came in 3rd (37 points) with 18 points out and 19 points in – shame about the blobs on the 8th and 10 holes but well done on the others. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£7, £5, £3).

The weather was pretty good although the dry, hard fairways and greens made good scoring difficult for most of the field.

The clear winner, Ryan Jones (40 points), never missed a fairway (or green) with his tee shots on the first 16 holes but then rather made a mess of the 17th and 18th holes (7 on each). Ryan had 19 points out and 21 points back in. In 2nd and 3rd places, both with 36 points, were Juho Lim and Jeremy Prescott, respectively. Both also had 19 points out and both had 17 points back in (so very close). Sweep payout goes to these top 3 (£8, £5, £3).

The field enjoyed good weather. But the course was very unforgiving. The extra bounce and roll on the fairways was very helpful to gain extra distance. Since the greens didn’t hold rolling the ball onto the greens would have been a very wise strategy. But the various slopes on Prince’s rendered the bounces/rolls very unpredictable. An approach might look good at first but many players will have been confronted with unpleasant surprises  when walking upto the greens. Almost 30% of the field N/R’ed today.

Half of the Top6 were 7am starters. Pat Dalton wins today thanks to an excellent score of 65 (Net). Stephen beat out of few single figures handicappers in his flight to finish as runner-up. Yours truly birdied the 14th (just like last Sunday – but in a less dramatic fashion than 3d ago) and the 17th. That far better back 9 takes me into 3rd. Tamas also used a very strong back 9 to earn one of the “money” positions. Gina finishes 5th despite severe jet lag. Another early starter Thierry closes out the Top6. A more in depth analysis of the scores shows that Kevin would’ve easily won today if the comp was only held over 15 holes. He went +7 over the last 3 holes.

Juho takes the lead in the MW Grand Medal Trophy.

Excellent scoring was achieved by all 6 teams on this sunny, warm (23 deg C) Spring day. The recent dry weather had produced very firm fairways with lots of run; however stopping the ball on the greens was difficult, as they didn’t appear to have been watered.

The final 3-ball team of Paul Green, Marnix and Peter Goodhall posted the winning score of 55 net (51 stableford points). They had 4 birdies on the front 9 and an eagle and 1 birdie on the back 9 – their only blemish being a bogie on the 18th hole. In second place, on countback, with 57 net (49 stableford points) was the team of Adrian, Chris, Shaun and Julian, who had 5 birdies and one bogie in their round. In 3rd place, pipped on countback, were Kevin, Justin and Ryan who had 4 birdies and one bogie on the front 9 and an eagle, one birdie and one bogey on the back 9.

Sweep payout goes to the winning team (£7 each) – some small consolation for missing out on the club-sponsored post match drink.

The field enjoyed some nice golfing conditions. Mild temperatures, a gentle breeze (but that breeze felt quite a bit stronger when teeing off on 14 …) and some generous roll on the fairways created nice scoring conditions. The early birds were at it again today. Places 1-2 go to the 7am starters.

Chris Newman followed a steady front 9 (2Up) with an outstanding back 9 (4Up). He didn’t lose a single hole on that stretch. Paul Green equalled that score. But unfortunately for him his coffee kicked in early on the front 9 (5Up). His streak continued with wins on holes 10 and 11. But at that stage the wheels came off a bit. Best of the rest and first Woman was Cheryl with an excellent result of 5Up (4Up out/1Up in). She may have given the Top2 a stronger run for their money had she not picked up on holes 15 & 17. 4 players end on a score of 4Up. Shout-out to the MW Captain Henry for birdieing 3 holes (finishing birdie-birdie will make him come back for more on Sunday). Yours truly was inspired by Rory McIlroy and Colin Morikawa and holed out from the bunker on the 4th for a birdie.

All in all playing conditions didn’t prove too bad which clearly translates into the scoring.

Richard Owen stormed to victory with an impressive tally of 42pts (20+22). 2 errant holes (4-5) generated “only 1 point”. But he steadied the ship remarkably well. Suppose that playing the comp with a CH of 18 didn’t hurt … Nigel Ward and Robin both finish 1pt behind Richard. Nigel probably blew his chance to leapfrog RO with a NR on the 12th hole. Robin came out all guns blazing en route to 25pts on the front 9. A couple of 7’s and a snowman on the back 9 mean he has to settle for 3rd. 4th place is a just reward for Ray’s 40pts (he will have nightmares about the NR on 18). George and Duncan complete the Top6. First woman/junior today is Chloe who performed the feat of birdieing the 12th hole. Well done. Richard Young had the best back 9 with 23pts.

Good playing conditions with Spring sunshine, firm fairways and greens and the rough not yet ‘up’ led to generally good scoring from the white tees on Duke’s, with all white tees back on their correct teeing areas except the 17th.

It seemed as though Brian Ransom’s 36 points would be enough to win, just ahead of 4 players on 35 points (Adrian Wells and 3 Richards – Owen, Back and Norden). However, when the final 4-ball ‘finally’ came in, 40 minutes ‘late’ and 3 holes behind, they scooped the top 3 places (although I was tempted to DQ them or apply a 3 point penalty for not keeping up with play).

So the winner was Peppe Monterosso (40 Points) with 5 pars going out and 3 pars coming in. In 2nd place (38 points) was Julian James, who only managed 1 par but had 3 birdies – on the 3rd, 7th and 17th. And in 3rd place (37 points) was the 4th Richard in the competition (Richard Hanna) with 3 pars.

Sweep payout goes to the top 3 as usual (£9, £5 & £3)

Richard