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.

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.