Golfing conditions were not optimal. Dry fairways made bounces unpredictable. Even though the greens were a bit more receptive it was still very tricky to hold the greens. The gusting winds complicated things more. To round it all off the greenkeepers’ prayers were answered. Towards the end of play the floodgates opened. The later starters needed their waterproofs and umbrellas.

Richard Y had a steady round (18pts on the front and back 9). Other players ran either hot or cold over 9 hole stretches. So no-one was a match for Richard’s consistency. Juho had an excellent front 9 (20pts). After recording 36pts over 16 holes he looked a lock for a decent score. But unfortunately he didn’t record a singular extra point. 2nd place and the leader position in the ranking of the MW Founders Cup are his. Tamas was in the same game as Juho and also recorded 36pts. He and Richard H had an excellent score of 21pts on the front 9. Despite 3 blobs on the back 9 Tamas still beat Richard H on countback to take 4th. A strong back 9 (19pts) takes Jeremy to 5th place. Peter had an ugly front 9 but was on fire on the back 9 (22pts).

As mentioned: Juho takes the lead in the ranking of the MW Founders Cup.

A large field enjoyed dry and very warm, sunny conditions and the course looked more like a links than a parkland course, with bone dry fairways. The greens had been watered and were slightly receptive, although landing the ball short and rolling it onto the green was the better strategy.

A lot of players recorded scores of 23pts or more on the easier front 9, however our winner, Mark Bean, took full advantage of the conditions to record 4 birdies on the back 9 (over the stretch of just 7 holes – 12th to 18th) recording 24pts on the way in. That strong back 9 helped him to beat a Saturday starter, Dilip Mailvaganam, who’s round was a mirror image of Mark’s: 23pts out and 20pts in. He would probably like to play the 18th again – an untidy 7 was one of the very rare blemishes on his card. Martin Hay also recorded a very strong front 9 (23pts) but he too stumbled on the 18th. Dave Chilvers and Richard Owen take 4th and 5th respectively with very decent scores of 40pts. Nigel Ward and James Anslow are the last players finishing “In The Money”. Suhail was in a very good position to leapfrog Nigel/James (he had 36pts teeing off on the 17th), unfortunately for him he walked of the 18th with a scorecard still on 36pts.

The first Saturday event of the year saw just 9 pairs playing. This is a mixed random draw event, so you don’t find out who your partner is until just before the event – & hope that you’ve drawn a good’un

It was good to see all the games coming in so swiftly one after the other with no large gaps anywhere – must have been a consequence of all that good play out there.

As this is a comp with awards at the annual dinner all the cards and technically should have resulted in a DQ for two pairs – thus raising the finishing place of those of us lower down the order. However as both have finished just outside the prizes I have left them but can’t check their scores.

Needless to say, the winners with an outrageous 49 points are HIlary & Colm (who were probably disappointed on the 5 holes where they scored less than 3 points) and 5 points back on a very good score of 44 was Joan & John who as first out sat there at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day.

Bacon rolls with tea/coffee before play were the order of the day, followed by a drink afterwards as we gathered for the first social event.

It was a lovely warm, sunny May day, reminiscent of the weather that we had in the first lockdown in May 2020 and definitely ‘shorts weather’.

Peppe continued his recent good form and was today’s winner on 38 points. The foundation to Peppe’s score was his front 9 (22 points with a birdie on the 6th); late round nerves must have crept in with blobs on 16 and 18, so just 16 points on the back 9 – or did Sheena remind him he was playing in the Hawtree on Sunday and not to overdo it today (?). 2nd and 3rd places were decided on countback; both Richard Hanna and Sheena had 36 points with 20 points out and 16 back but Richard really torched the final 3 holes (9 points), with an eagle 5 on the 17th. Sweep payount to the top 3 (£8, £6, £4).

The highlight was Gina scoring her first ever hole-in-one on the 16th – hope everyone enjoyed their complimentary drink. That was only the start of quite an eventful day with 40% of the field playing better than their HI and Richard H, a late joiner to the competition, posting a stunning nett score of 59, which proved too much to beat for the rest of the field.

John Ahad, the club Captain, rounded up 10 very successful days: positive results in 2 NAPGC competitions now followed by individual success – 2nd place with a nett 62. Alvaro in 3rd had the best front and back 9, nothing spectacular (0 birdies) but solid golf over 18 holes. First Woman today is Ronnie; she was the best of large group with scores of 64 (Nett). She could’ve done better had it not been for an ugly 7 on the 1st hole. Toby ends up in the money again. Chris Rough is the last to receive some sweep money. A few players missed eagle putts on the 9th. Tamas recorded 3 birdies.

Peter Goodall takes the lead in the MW Grand Medal Trophy (207).

Extended bounce and roll continued and there was some very brief ‘nuisance’ rain. Teeing grounds seemed to have a little better defnition.

Jim Deissler set an extremely challenging target for the May Bank Holiday Plate on Saturday of 44.

But 06:15hrs Sunday starter Russell Stewart was up to the challeng and shot 45! Jim holds honours for front 9 23pts and Russell back 23. Susan shot a commendable 42 with Robert C and Ed 41s.