After early morning mist, a bright morning greeted the players, however the clouds rolled in during the round and the wind became blustery; thankfully everyone finished before the rain started.

Today’s sweep was a 4-ball ‘team game’ where all 4 players point scores were summed to give the team score – this would have been a ‘surprise’ to the early and late starters (on personal Glendale bookings), as they didn’t receive the Start Sheet. Fortunately we had 24 players, neatly combining into 6 teams.

The winning team of Adrian Wells, Julian James, Ryan Jones and Richard Owen amassed 140 points (avge 35 points each), primarily thanks to Adrain and Julian who scored 38 points each (2nd and 3rd in the individual standings). In 2nd place was the team of Ed Robinson, Gary Simpson, Colin Price and Bob Kent (131 points) and in 3rd place (128 points) the team of Pralab, Mitch, Naveed and Peter Finch.

Best overall score of the day was posted by Ed Robinson (39 points), who also had the best front 9 (23 points). Best individual ‘hole score’ was Briget Stone with a 5-points (!!!) birdie on the 2nd hole. Naveed and Adrian both had 2 birdies in their rounds and Adrain & Julian had the best back 9 (21 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each) and £4 for Ed for having the best individual score.

For some reason players felt nervous on the first tee/didn’t warm up properly. How else can you explain that Hole 1 played as SI 6 today?

Stu Duncan passed the test on the first hole without any major glitches. That positive trend continued for a while. He posted the best front 9 of the field (22pts). A steady back 9 (except for a snowman on the 12th hole) rewards him with a total score of 40pts and victory today.

Oliver Khan used an excellent back 9 (21pts) to claim second place. The other money spots go to the early birds. Mike Jones was on absolute fire on the back 9 (24pts). May be relaxed after 2 snowmen on the front 9. Pat and Chris both record 37pts. But the countback rule awards 4th place to Pat. Mitch is the last player to earn some sweep money. On this rare occasion the Top 6 all get sweep money.

A chill start for the Silver Jubilee -slow warming with sunny periods/intervals; growth of grass greens fringes gave challenges to many.

Not a problem for the ‘Mr 59’ winner – Ben Dickey with consistent 40 out 41 back; well done Ben and EG have rewarded you with a -2.0 ESR with HI 20.2-> 16.4. Brendon had another excellent round – 66 with a cut in HI from 9.9 to 8.5. Brendon just beat Robin T on countback. Toby, Uli, John M, Monique and Wonil shared 67s.
Monique was best woman and earned sweep prize. First 8 in sweep got prizes.


This was the final (best 3 from 4) Jubilee in the Anniversary Cup which sees John Morris the winner 202 from 4 on 206: Mike S,Sheena, Paul K and Oz in the detailed report attached.

A balmy day greeted the pairs in this Saturday event which started with bacon rolls and a tea/coffee before the games followed by drinks enjoyed in the afternoon sun.

Good scoring from most pairs again today with a quick analysis of the scores showing that there were 6 birdies on the 8th and 5 on the 17th (less of a surprise here especially with the white tee being forward – though it didn’t help everyone (Roger!!)
Quite surprising though was the 8th playing as the hardest hole followed by the 7th – though not for our winners who got a birdie on the 7th.

I hope you all enjoyed your game today and had fun, although as Henry said, it did seem that those who didn’t play their best were the ones talking about the fun they had. Certainly true for your author’s game!

Following late ‘drop outs’ due to early morning drizzly rain, a reduced field enjoyed a mild, dry and eventually warm and sunny round of golf on an ever-greening Duke’s course.

Richard Owen was today’s winner with an astonishing 45 points (net 63) – one of his best rounds ever on Duke’s. He was spurred on by a friendly pairs match (with Seymour) against Uli Katte and Adrian Wells, which was eventually ‘tied’ on the 18th. Uli, who came 2nd in the sweep with 41 points, played his normal very steady round with 3 birdies (should have been 4 !). In 3rd place was Richard Norden who got off to a real ‘stormer’ with 14 points amassed from just his first 4 holes – thereafter quite a few 6s and 7s started to appear.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£6, £3, £2)

The Park (and the course(s)) changed quite dramatically over the course of 1 week.  Fairways were rock hard again. And the greens have been faster. The front tees on the 18th helped quite a bit (that hole played as SI 16 today).

Pat & Colm netted 3 birdies. That translates into 23pts on the front 9 and a remarkable 25pts on the back 9. The birdies were more than welcome to hold off Richard & Richard. They recorded the best front 9 (24pts). A “softer” back 9 means they finish second 1pt behind today’s winners. Tony and the Woman’s Captain used a very strong back 9 (24pts) to hold off Darren/Terry (23pts on front & back 9). The Gaelic/Iberian combination were the best of the teams on 45pts. But they miss out on sweep money. Yours truly and his partner in crime netted 3 birdies too. But a chip-in birdie by yours truly on the 18th was a tale of too little too late.

A distinct autumnal nip greeted competitors with an arctic wind blowing but gradually conditions warmed up with sunny periods.

Women

Today’s winners started off with a putt from front to back of the first green, straight into the hole for a par, promptly followed by another one on the 2nd hole. It is fair to say that Katharina and Sheena were surprised to find themselves only 2 points adrift of them after the front 9 and whereas they had 20 out things were reversed on the back 9 resulting in a finish just 1 point behind despite Jenny’s 3 for 4 on the long par 3 13th hole.
Monique was playing on her own but her score was included so she gets the recognition for her 2 birdies today – on the 12th and 15th, the only ones recorded today.

Prizes were awarded for the first 3 pairs today with vouchers for 1st and 2nd place being very kindly donated by Rannesh Jansari who runs Fushi.co.uk with his wife.

Men

Early starters Brendan Sullivan and Will Balakrishnan certainly gelled as a team to win with an astounding 46 points -23 in and out; they were chased hard by Nigel W & Tony K, Greg & Peter J [still flying the Treasurer’s flag – 52 pts last year] and Henry & Ross on 43 with last 9 countbacks decisive.

Joe G and son had best back 9 – 27 points.

Having been away for a few days it was quite a surprise to see how green the park is again and with less run on the ball scores are slightly suppressed, or more likely back to more usual levels.

Peter Flint was the winner with 37 points just 1 clear of Peppe who is probably ruing his 2 7s on the front 9, but showing that a summer away from golf has done him no harm (although perhaps it helps as he missed the rock hard fairways). A further shot behind was Ronnie and Ryan with Ronnie having the better back 9.

With 25 players sweep goes to 4th place (£10, £7, £5, £3)

Conditions proved tricky today. The rain of the last days rendered the fairways very lush. The green grass (of the fairways – not of home like Tom Jones would say) annihilated the bounce/roll that was ever present during the heat wave. On top of that the green keepers decided to punch/sand the greens.

Brett Colley posted a score of 41 gross on front and back 9. His score of 68 (Nett) not only made him leader in the clubhouse. More importantly this target proved too much for the rest of the field. Yours truly finished second. Instead of playing extra-ordinary golf yours truly played consistent golf: my scores on all 18 holes were better than the average score of the field. First woman of the day is Mayumi. Unfortunately she didn’t sign up for the sweep. So she misses out on a small payout. MC John did sign up for the sweep. And since he finished 4th overall (2nd in the Jr. Division) he takes the biggest payout in Division 2. Looks like Angus is fully recovered. An excellent outscore (38 gross) was followed by a steady back 9. MWC Henry wasn’t suffering from any jet lag on the front 9. 37 (Gross) was the best score on the first 9 holes. May be the travelling took its toll on the back 9. Alvaro was happy with his result. Just don’t talk to him about his score on the 13th hole. Teddy Holt, Alex and Mike take the last money positions in the Jr. division. If you saw clubs getting airborne on the 7th hole just ask Ronnie the name of the culprit.

MW Grand Medal Ranking
Both Tamas and yours truly are on 335. Gina still has a chance thanks to her score of 339. Peter Goodall is a bit further back. (Seymour Laird has a pretty good shot to leapfrog everybody).

After the sad events of the second half of the week the attention turned to golf again. Remarkable what a bit of rain can do. Fairways were lush (taking divots became rather common). The greens offered grip/zip and some speed.

Div 1 Results

Brendan Sullivan put together a remarkable round of golf. +3 gross on the way out (1 birdie on the 3rd hole) resulted in 21pts. But his back 9 was better. He came back in level par gross. Add the 25pts of his back 9 (birdies on 11 & 15) to his score on the front 9 and you get an astounding result of 46pts. Needless to say that he takes the win today. He will also get an ESR. Well done. Best of the rest in Div1 was Richard Smith  who put together a steady round: 20pts on front and back 9. Adrian Wells had the best front 9 of the whole field (23pts). Even though he matched Richard’s total his “softer” back 9 moves him into 3rd place. Dodgy Roger finished the back 9 strong to take 4th place with 39pts. Best woman in Div1 was Gina with a solid score of 38pts.

Div 2 Results

Normally any player would be happy with a stableford score of 42pts. But today Sean the southpaw misses out on the overall win. He has to settle for the win in Div2. Goran takes 2nd place. 6’s on the last 2 holes prevented him from improving on a score of 41pts. With quantitative precision he keeps chipping away at his HI. Sarita put together the best score on the par 5’s on her way to 37pts. By doing so she is the last player to earn some sweep money in Div2.