Looks like RPGC members clearly prefer summer golf. The field was smaller than usual. On top of that today’s scoring was sub par.

The notable exception was Julian.

Junior Division

Julian went level par-birdie-bogey on the par 3’s. He missed out best front and back 9 by a single shot. This all translates into a score of 84 gross. This becomes a fantastic score Nett score of 65. PCC got adjusted to +3 and a healthy cut in his HI. Richard was a distant second with a score of Nett … 76. Rob Dykes finishes on the podium as the best of the group on 77.

Also wishing a speedy recovery to Graham.

Senior Division

Angus used 2 birdies on the front 9 to record the best score on the way out. The back 9 was a bit more volatile. But he still managed to also top the whole senior division for the best score on the way in. 82 gross (73 Nett) is enough win the senior division. Steady eddy Brian narrowly misses out on victory.

No surprise that hole 17 came out as SI 4 today ….

A chill grey day with easterly wind and mud…

Women

After many changes in the booking sheet, we were left with 2 equally balanced teams – 4 playing off 17, 2 on 21 and 2 on 26. No doubt everyone expected the results to be close as indeed they were – but done in quite different ways. Cheryl, Jayne, Katharina and Sheena dropped just 1 shot on the front 9 but their approach shots and long putts failed them more on the back 9 which took them 6 more to complete than the front, whereas Alison, Joan, Lia and Susan had a very balanced round of 41 in and out. Festive treats were provided as prizes to C, J, K & S.

But what a chilly grey day it was and one of those where trolleys gathered as much mud as they could cope with – the mulled wine with accompanying mince pie and hot custard was most welcome

Men

Considerng it was Duke’s (but yellows) scoring was not bad and no PCC adjustment.

Well done to Kerry winning the senior -medal in 67 (out in 1 over) with HI trimmed 0.5 to 9.7; he was chased with excellent scores from Paul K 67 and Luke 68.

Junior medal went to Ian Burgess 66 from Jihum Kim 68 and Paddy Stone 71;

Spare a thought for Ross Hood standing on the 11th tee 1 under par; whilst tragedy befell him at 15 (NR-lost ball??}, Ross recovered his composure to score his 4th birdie at the 18th!

There were brief glimpses of sunshine late morning but overall it was a gloomy and increasingly cold winter’s day.

Nobody found the course ‘easy’ and some players ‘walked off’ before the end of their rounds but some respectable scores were recorded and Uli managed 2 birdies. Our winner (36 points) was Pat Barbour, who also had the best front 9 (18 points) and an unlikely chip in from off the green on the 12th. Pralab took 2nd place (34 points), which was more than I expected after he declared he was giving up winter golf, when putting on the 14th. Richard Norden beat the others with 33 points by posting the best back 9 (19 points).

Sweep to top 3 (£10, £6, £3).

Sunshine broke through the gloom shortly after 8:00 on a chilly day. Many complained of losing balls amongst the fallen leaves.

Premier Cru went to Jim Deissler with 36 points to win the Midweek Champagne Chase Junior Division;

In-form Sheena put in yet another sparkling performance on countback for 2nd 35 points to take the win in the Senior Division from vintage performances from Chris N, Uli, Pier, Richard and Ross. Chris & Uli also getting bottles with the better back 9s. In the Junior Division, Richard H and Julian took the bottles.

Pat Barbour effervesced on front 9 – 20 points whilst Sheena and Ian B fizzed the back 9 20 points..

Sporadic showers petered out only to return for the late games; mild for early winter – 13C recorded per bottom of results. Turnout was good with 64 entrants

Pier Maria uncorked 41 points (22 on back 9) to win The Champagne Chase; vintage scores of 39 were settled on a back 9 countback with Toby having the advantage from Mark B. Bubbly 38s from Pete M and Oz followed with Pete winner on countback. Jay Barker NR first hole but normal service was soon resumed with 3 birdies in his round.

As is traditional, the women provided the prizes, this year 1st and 2nd place for each of the Senior (Toby & Mark) and Junior (Pier Maria & Giovani) Divisions, and 1st, 2nd & 3rd for the women – Pat, Susan & Sheena.

In addition to drinks prizes, sweep was paid out to 9th place. Kerry had best front 9 22pts, Paddy best back 23.

Again we were very lucky with the weather, a dry and sunny morning, clouding over mid afternoon. The Prince’s course was in good condition with only very occasional wet patches, although the grass was very lush off the fairways.

This is the first time we have tried the “Best 2 Scores” format and it seemed to be enjoyed by all. The winning team (88 points) of James Deissler, Rannesh Jansari, Jose Manuel Gomez and Richard Owen only clinched it on the 18th hole by scoring 7 points to the runners up team of Uli Katte, Richard Hodgkinson, Graham Cull and Chris Jones’s 4 points. Not too far behind were 3 teams all on 82 points. Colin, Gary and Bob brought up the rear with 70 points, but were disadvantaged by being only 3 members in their team. If anyone would like to examine individual scores in more detail, see the Competitions Scorecards Report attached.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£6 each)

Hard to say if Japan’s victory over Germany during today’s round at the World Cup was a bigger surprise than the weather at the park. 24 brave souls teed off despite doomsday weather forecasts. But that courage (or foolishness) paid off. By some sort of miracle the rain stopped around 9.30. Guess that for once the 3 early starters experienced the worse conditions.

Only 2 women teed off. And the least that you can say is that they stretched the field. Sheena finishing first and Cheryl closing the leaderboard … The women’s captain used scores of 18pts (front 9) and 21pts (best score on the back 9) to leave everyone else far behind. Rob Dykes finishes 2nd but is the winner of today’s sweep. Julian is keeping up his good form with 3rd place and 36pts. Alan could/should’ve done better had it not been for 3 blobs. Wouldn’t be surprising if PCC are adjusted (only 5 players played to their HI today). Only 3 players get sweep payouts. But since quite a few of the better scorers today opted out of the sweep the sweep payouts reach as far 6th place.

Just to highlight what a weird day it was: hole 3 played as SI 5 and the 16th played as SI … 9. It may come as less of a surprise to  see the 17th play as SI 3. 

The early games caught the worst of the rain but it dissipated to give sunny periods.

Women

Hard to recall those summer days when the ball ran forever and we were clubbing down all the time. Now most of us don’t have clubs we can move up to on almost every hole. It’s definitely got wet and soggy underfoot with the 17th winning the worse condition by some margin. A whole host of men must have cancelled when they saw either the forecast or the rain this morning – but overhead it was a lovely day until the end when the clouds started to appear.

Congrats to Silvia who demonstrates the benefit of being able to hit the ball a long way and even though she played off 6 beat the rest of the field by 2 to win today and lead the eclectic by some 8 shots.

Men

This was first Duke’s Winter competition and an extremely tidy 42 points (23, 1 over par on the harder back 9) from Raymond Esin gave him overall victory for the day and Senior division. Indeed with an overnight PCC of +2 Raymond earned an ESR of -1.0 with his HI being chopped from 11.7 to 9.6.

Wil B took 2nd place in Senior division.

In the Junior division Julian emerged ahead on countback 35 from Paul Green.

In the Winter Comp round 2 Raymond and Will B share the Senior honours 76 points; Paul Green heads Junior 74 from Giovanni; in the associated Eclectic Raymond and Richard Back share lead with 76s

Morning sunshine, low in the sky, made ball spotting difficult on a number of holes but as the day progressed the clouds rolled in and it must have started getting a bit dark for the late finishers – at least it was dry for everyone and the course was in reasonable condition after the heavy rain earlier in the week.

It was a 3-way tie on 38 points at the top of the leaderboard, with Rannesh’s birdie 3 on the last hole giving him top spot. Rannesh had 16 points out and 22 points in, beating Julian James into 2nd place (19 points out and in) and Ian Burgess in 3rd place (22 points out but only 16 points in). Ian’s 9 on the 18th hole meant that he also lost out to Pat Dalton on their 18th-hole match, so an expensive hole for him.

Leading woman was Pat Barbour on 35 points, gradually chipping away at her handicap which I’m sure will soon be in the 20’s.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£10, £8, £6, £3) and Best Scores Analysis report attached.