We were fortunate to very largely dodge the heavy showers and it turned out to be a warm and sunny Spring day. The recent drier weather has allowed Glendale to extend their fairway and 1st cut mowing and the Duke’s course was in good condition for golf, with decent run.

The clear winners with 90 points were the team of Bill Norman, Brian Ransom, Richard Norden and Graham Cull (in order of points contribution !). In 2nd place, and not too far behind (85 points) were the team of Julian James, Seymour Laird, Alex Braun and Adrian Wells, and in 3rd place (82 points) were John Ahad, Mayumi, Ian Burgess and Charles Haines.

Sweep payout to the winning team but if it had been an individual competition today the leading scores were:
39 points : Bill & Cuneyt (with Bill winning on countback)
37 points : Julian & Brian
34 points : Richard Norden, Seymour and John Ahad.

Best front 9 was John Ahad (22 points); John par’d five of the first 6 holes and at that stage the team must have felt they were in with a real chance.

To put it mildly: that was tough. The field finally experienced spring weather. Milder temperatures created some welcome additional carry. The roll on the (freshly mown – the 9am starters could’ve done without the stalking of the Glendale staff …) fairways was a feature we had all but given up on. The greens could’ve run smoother. A bit of extra zip wouldn’t have hurt either. As you can tell from the results: only one player managed to play to his handicap,

Pralab wins today thanks to a score of 68 Net (+8 gross on front and back 9). His score could’ve been a lot better had disaster not struck on the 13th. 2 players called Chris finish on 69 Net. Chris R had the slightly better back 9 based on countback. Chris S “only” finishes 3rd despite 2 birdies on the back 9 (3 birdies over 18 holes). The 7 on the 6th will haunt him though … Another early bird Rob S is the lone player on 70 Net. Bill N takes 5th (the last “Money spot”) thanks to a 71 Net. Good to see 3 cripple (V, P and A) making their return to the park. Shout-out to Angus for finishing as the best of the “Returning Cripple”.

MW Grand Medal
Pralab (212), Richard M (215), Gina (219)

Playing conditions encouraged a good turnout of 65 for the May Bank Holiday Plate. Whilst dry, rough grass growth made it longer looking for balls and overall PCC was +1 – more difficult conditions. Last day for preferred lies.

A countback on back 9 determined the winner as Anthony Williams from Duncan T both 40 points; both had exceptional back 9s – Anthony 26 [inc. blob at par 3 11th], Duncan 25. Alone 3rd with 9 was Onursal (who also blob at 11th).
5 followed with 37s – Richard B (level back 9 33), Peter N, Robin T, Alex B and best woman Ali C who shared best front 9 21 points with Onursal.

Both Alan K and Richard B had 3 birdies.

Heavy cloud and a little misty rain in the air were present for the opening holes but it soon turned into a sunny and much warmer day.

Early starter Pralab Barua set the standard on the leaderboard with a commanding 40 points, which the rest of the field just couldn’t match. Pralab’s front 9 was ‘steady’ (17 points) but he really put his foot down on the back 9 (23 points), with 4 pars and a birdie over the final 5 holes. Paul McGrath’s 2nd place (36 points) seems to have been a combination of extremes with 3 blobs and 2 ‘7s’ but birdies on the 4th and 15th and 14 points scored on the five Par 3s.

The Richards took 3rd and 4th places, both with 35 points. Richard Owen had the better back 9 (19 points), whereas Richard Back’s front 9 included 2 birdies and an eagle (on the 9th) making it the best front 9 (20 points) in the competition.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£10, £6, £3)

As one competitor said: that was hard work. Even though the greenkeeping staff started prepping the course for (the future better weather it was hard to attack the course. Most of the casual weather disappeared but the fairways still offered next to no roll. Greens are definitely firming up. But they could be a bit more even. The swirling winds made distance control very tricky. Some pin position were fairly cruel (the 10th immediately comes to mind).  Believe the whole field appreciated the cut grass on the fairways. But the required carry off the tee was pretty demanding on some holes.

The early bird catches the worm today. Chris had the best front 9 (21pts – honour shared with Alex). Only 3 pars on the back 9 translate into 17pts. In the end 38pts was too high a bar for the rest of the field. Toby came closest (he will rue his scores on the 10th and 14th hole though). Paul G had the best back 9 (19pts – same as Toby) to claim 3rd. Single HI’ers Peter and Richard B both had 2 birdies to claim the last of the money positions.

Round 1 is in the books. 5 more  to go. Plenty of time to make up some ground.

Please find attached a PDF reports of the results, Best Scores Analysis and Competition Scoring Analysis (just see how holes 12,13 & 14 ranked today).

The forecast was for some heavy rain.

In the event there was some early persistent rain. Conditions were difficult and some long drives were needed to clear the rough before fairway on some holes. PCC remained at 0.

Onursal was crowned winner of Coronation Cup with net 68 ahead of 3 70s from Gregory, Pat B (first woman) and Ross H (also loewst gross 77); Onursal had reserves – he had 10 on 17th.

For the men this was the first event in divisionalised Top Dog for the season. In the attached we eee heading the senior division is Ross on 12 points followed by Joe G 8 down to Pete M 1; in the junior it’s Onursal 12 points from Gregory 8 down to Julian 1.

It was another very wet Friday and only the hardiest came out to play.

When the cards were ‘recovered’ from the Green Box on Sunday morning, there were very definite signs that they had only just dried out. There seemed to have been some remarkable scoring, most remarkable was Alex’s 5 points birdie on the SI1 14th, presumably a pitch in from distance. Adrian’s birdie (4 points) on the SI4 4th must have been a similar type of shot, although perhaps a chip rather than a pitch (?) and he also par’d the 14th.

Alex’s 34 points total earns him the £6 sweep money, beating Adrian’s 32 points and respectable 30 points scores by Charles and Richard.

Theme of the day had to be the number 1:

– there were 30 and 1 entrants

– the winning score (gross) was +1

– for the 1st time in donkeys’ years Ali entered the sweep. And the gamble/choice paid off (see below)

– and last but (certainly) not least: Ed Robinson aced the 2nd hole (guess drinks are on offer next week)

Believe the saying is that you can tell a good golfer apart from the way he rebounds from a bad result. Richard B had a sub-par day last Sunday. But he improved dramatically by posting the winning score of +1 gross. -2 gross on the front 9 (2 birdies and 7 pars if you are interested in details). The start and the end of the back 9 were solid (all pars). The only blemishes of the day were 3 consecutive bogeys on 12,13 & 14. Still a very decent day at the office. Another early starter Paul G(iles) came (distant) second with solid score of 67 (Net). He was matched by first lady Susan. But the countback rule sides with Paul. Ali broke par today with a solid score of 68 (Net). Peter G and Ian are the last to play better than their handicaps.