It was another swealteringly hot day with little breeze early on, although freshening as the day progressed. Fairways were rock hard giving lots of extra roll, which was helpful if the ball stayed on the fairway but not if it ran or bounced into the penal rough. Greens showed signs of response to the now daily irrigation but were still hard, making it very difficult to ‘hold the green’, and some could also have done with a cut.

Scoring was pretty good for most of the field, the men being helped by playing from the yellow tees which made some of the longer holes (4th, 5th, 10th, 15th and 17th) considerably easier. Alex Braun was the clear winner (42 points), with a great front 9 (24 points), keeping up his recent run of good scores. He even had 2 blobs on the back 9 ! As a result of yesterday’s round, Alex’s Handicap Index reduced from 27.0 to 26.0, his lowest ever HI.

Michael Porter grabbed 2nd place (39 points) in only his 6th handicap qualifying round; his new (lower) HI is 23.9 (3.8 below his starting handicap just a few weeks ago). Michael had a shaky start, especially off the tee and was 9 shots over par for the first 4 holes, but then a run of 3 pars and 4 bogeys over the next 7 holes and a further 2 pars coming in showed that there is even better to come in the future.

In 3rd and 4th places, with 38 points, were Pralab and Pat respectively, with very little in the countback. Pralab had his usual steady round with only one blob, whereas Pat birdied the 2nd hole but had 2 blobs on the back 9. Pat’s round sees her HI drop by a further 0.5 to 18.9, her lowest ever index and I’m sure she’s not finished yet.

Best front 9 was by Richard Back (2 under gross: 2 birdies and 7 pars), however he couldn’t keep it up on the back 9. His 3 birdies yesterday did leapfrog him to to top of the ‘Friday Birdie Tree’ though.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£12, £8, £6, £4)

The drought and the high(er) temperatures are starting to take its toll on the course. The extra distance gained from the roll and bounce on the fairways very welcome for most of the field. The greens seemed more receptive too. However the penalty from bouncing/rolling off the fairway was steep since the rough is becoming more and more punishing.

None of this bothered the Top5 today. All of them had +40pts.
Russell changed his tactics. He abandoned the 7am starters. A bit of traffic drama made him show up just in time to tee off. The rest of his round was drama free. Even better: he probably would’ve been able to walk on water today. He could not be faulted. 8/10 he had an Up & Down from 70yds and shorter. Numbers speak for themselves: 24pts (front 9) and 20pts (back 9 – largely due to an ugly DB on the 17th – his sole 1-pointer of the day – he had 0 PU’s). ESR on its way …

Chris J played an excellent back 9 (25pts – 5*3pts, 1*4pts). Unfortunately he finishes just 1pt behind Russell. Peter G also torched the last 9 holes. A score of Level par gross awards him 23pts and 3rd place. 1st lady of the day was in form Cheryl. 19+22pts are her competition stats today. She must have some serious regrets over her PU on 8. Dave C is the last of +40 gang. Spare a thought for Alex B. He stood on the 15th with 34pts … Tommy H birdied the 2 par 3’s on the front 9 and parred the 13th.

Hot and humid conditions prevailed although rain and thunder arrived – but after cards returned.

Women

Perhaps Katharina has found the secret to playing well – send Uli away so no pressure on who is cooking dinner! A net 65 which would have been considerably lower without a 10 on the 17th has resulted in an ESR being applied – most unlike WHS which often seems to gift those who play well with either no change or an increase as older scores drop off. Katharina sees a drop from 20.5 to 18.4.
If realisation of how her game was going suddenly hit on that hole, it didn’t harm the last which resulted in a birdie finish (1 of 2 with Bridget also finishing well).

Bridget in fact finished 2nd, 5 shots behind and she got a much smaller .5 cut

Men

Tamas won the senior division with a well-crafted and consistent 64. He was chased by Michael Hayden 66 and best Mark Bean 67(also best gross 78 on countback).

In the junior division Richard Young shot an astonishing 60 proving the value of technique and practice. Onursal followed with a fine consistent 64 and Julian J 65; Julian’s round was superb except for the SI 1 7th where he recorded 12.

In 4th round aggregate of the GMT both divisions headed by only 3 players to complete the 4 rounds to date:
Senior: Tamas 278, Oz 294, Richard B 299

Junior: Dilip 277, Tom Simp 286, Tony K 286

As with recent days it warmed up with the sun melting clouds but still a chilly wind.

Like Sunday, a third of the field NR’d but the PCC calculation was +1.
Winner of the medal was Toby H wit a very fine 70; just one shot behind was Cheryl 1 – had Cheryl’s birdie at 16 been repeated then she would have won by a margin. Pat B and Alex B followed with 71s.

Jay took best gross 80 and both front and back nine honours.

Graham C leads the Midweek Grand Medal (best 5 from 8 rounds) but are only players to have completed 4 rounds.

Another brilliantly ‘blazing’ June day with glorious sunshine. The NE wind kept temps down.

With a third of the field NR’ing you might think a positive PCC would arise – but it didn’t and remained at zero.

Anyway, there was still some very good golf – from ‘in-form’ players. Cheryl took the honours with a glorious 65 after an inspiring win in the Women’s Invite the day before. Such is the nature of WHS that her HI remained the same because she ‘lost’ a good counting score from January. An amazing round with birdie at 17th – well done! Another recent winner Richard Young challenged with a 66 for second place ahead of Raymond 68; wrt WHS again, Richard’s HI actually increased 0.3 since he ‘lost’ a better score from last August in the best 8 averaging.
Many no doubt NR’d due to still thick rough.

Spare a thought for Raymond – he stood on 13th tee level par and recent birdies at 11 & 12. Raymond returned best grossof the day 81 but dropped all the shots 13-18.

This was first Jubilee of 4 in the Anniversary Cup.

It was a chilly start but those of us who chose to wear shorts were not disappointed when the sun broke though about 11.30am. Glendale has extended their mowing of fairways and semi-rough but woe-betide anyone who went into the rough beyond, which was penal. There was evidence that Glendale has ‘found’ the sprinklers around the greens and tees but no evidence of them having used them yet – unfortunately !

Perpetual front runner and early starter Pralab posted a score (39 points) which none of us could overtake. His front 9 (23 points) was the foundation of his score, with a birdie on the 2nd and 3 other pars before the turn. Richard Owen played a steady round (18 out and 20 back) to take second place and playing partner Uli Katte was 3rd on 37 points; impressive golf on the front 9 considering he scored 19 points with blobs on the 5th and 8th. Graham Cull’s 36 points sneaked 4th place from Seymour on countback due to his ‘Best Back 9’ score of 23 points, although Seymour recorded ‘Most Birdies’ , one on the 9th and the other on the 11th. Sweep payout to the top 3 ( £10, £7, £4).

If Karma played golf it would’ve made Kevin Prendergast winner today. But that script never materialised. After underwhelming scoring last Sunday on Princes things looked rather ominous for today’s field. The rough was still stupidly high. And the bounces on the fairway/fringes were extremely unpredictable. But it has to be said that the field outperformed (and that is putting it mildly). 3 of the players finishing in the Top 5 went out at the crack of dawn.

Gina’s brisk pace of play (she and Ross finished 18 holes in 2h37) translated into an excellent score of 37pts. But her mark was bettered by Vinny (39pts). Alan T had a remarkable eagle on the 5th. 18pts out and 24pts in are his final numbers. The 9am starters did have the final laugh. Richard Y picked up on 3 holes on the front 9 (17pts). But he blew everyone away with 25pts on the back to snatch victory from Alan. Chris R had an excellent round (19+22pts). But he will have regrets about the 18th hole (recorded a DB). It has to be said that the tee-shot on the 18th  from the white tees is becoming quite daunting. In a couple of years you will either have to use an 8 iron to just get on the fairway or (as Sam W does) bend/slice it around the trees. Finally Ross has to thank Gina for not entering the sweep. He is the last player to get a “positive purse adjustment”.

MW Founders Cup Standings
Chris Rudkin (132), KSC (131), Gina (128 – but she has a great opportunity to make up ground the coming weeks), PDH (124).

Similar conditions of late prevailed but warmth 23 C from sunshine was abated by wind.

Women

Men

The rough was not a place to be in, ruining a hole’s score; run on fairway sometimes ran unexpectedly into bunker and hard greens needing water wouldn’t hold pitches and were ‘fast’.
Additionally loose plastic liners at top of holes annoyingly lifted and needed replacing for next player. Greens having dried out since placing of liners.
Unsurprisingly PCC was again lifted to +1.

But there was some good golf. Winner by one point was Luke R 38 pts with good front 9 21 pts and a birdie at first. Chasing one point behind were Alan K and Duncan T. Duncan with an inspired back 9 24pts.

Sam Williams recorded 3rd men’s Sunday eagle of year at 17 [total eagles 5] – well done!.