An overcast mild morning (without the forecast mist/fog thankfully) and the sun came out around midday to make it a pleasant and relatively wind-less day. Both the fairways and the greens could have done with a visit from the mowers and the course was playing ‘long’ due to a lack of run and the numerous wormcasts on some fairways.

Early starters Russell Stewart and Gerard Quinn set the pace with 36 and 35 points respectively only to be overtaken by Peppe’s 37 points in Game 3 of the mid-morning starters. However that was quickly overtaken by Leigh Drake’s winning score of 40 points and Peter Fisher’s 2nd place 37. There were no birdies on the Par 3’s but Brett birdied both the 2nd and 3rd holes. Peppe had the best front 9 (23 points) and Peter Fisher & Leigh both had 21 points on the back 9.

Unfortunately for Peter Fisher he didn’t enter the sweep, so the sweep prizes go to Leigh, Peppe, Stewart, Peter Miller and Gerard Quinn (£18, £13, £10, £7, £4 respectively). All the competition entry monies go to charity.

First of the autumn cancellations due to heavy rain from the previous day and more forecast on an already saturated course.

Women

It is safe to say that most found it rather a challenge today! The sudden descent of the thermometer no doubt didn’t help as the layers were piled on.
Not many cards didn’t include something higher than a 7 (38 in total)

Congratulations to Susan who beat Niamh by 1 to win with her net 70.
In true WHS style, despite no one playing to their handicap today, both Susan and Grace, along with 3rd & 4th placed Deb and Cheryl will see their handicaps drop a little tomorrow.

Men

A cold start and some mud to contend with – many wormcasts. Green were generally slow and ‘woolly’; dry and eventually sunny intervals for last round of the Grand Medal.

Oz Doyle won the senior division for the day net 66 with a commendable back 9 of 2 over par 35; Henry Lindesay-Bethune was just a shot behind 67 which included a level par back 9 – and his gross was lowest for the day. John Perkins and Greg Wright played well for their 68s.

The junior division was headed by Charlie Whiteman on back 9 from Julian James – both 69s with 41 each on the back 9. Sean O’Sullivan and Gerard Ouattara – and there was scope for improvement for Gerard with 3 8s.

This being the last of 7 rounds (July abandoned) sees the senior division of the Grand Medal Trophy going to Richard Smith 264 from Kerry Sargeant 270; Richard’s 4 counting rounds all in the 60s. The junior division is shared between Charlie Whiteman and Nigel Ward. Well done to Charlie for catching up today and to Nigel for consistent 60s scoring.

Today’s competition was round 8 of 8 of the Midweek Grand Medal.
After yesterday’s rain everyone was expecting muddy fairways and wet greens … and they were not wrong.
But it stayed dry all day and the comp finished undisturbed by the weather.

In Division 1 Henry (shooting the lowest gross score) won with a comfortable lead of 5 shots ahead of Gina, who herself lead MikeA and Angus by 3 shots.

In Division 2 the winners were a bit closer to each other, with GerradQ winning ahead of Julian and Jose.

Now, the overall Grand Medal competition 2024 (Best 5 rounds out of 8) has the following winners:

Division 1:
1. Gina
2. BillN
3. Sheena
4. Angus
5. Uli

Division 2:
1. PeterH
2. DaveC
3. ChrisJ
4. RichardN
5. ChrisR

Congrats to all of you for consistency!

A dry but cloudy day for the second round of the Autumn Stableford with 53 players.

In the senior division Sushant Lall and Richard Inglis led the way with excellent 41 points; Henry Lindesay-Bethune followed with 40 points with Umran Ali and John Perkins returning fine 38s.
The impact over the 2 rounds is that Henry consolidated his 1st round 37 to win on 77 from Richard Inglis.
In the junior division Alex Catlow had an excellent 41 points to win from Onursal Soyer, Tom Laybourn and Giovanni Caboni who had very creditable 39s.
Tom built on his first round 37 to win over 2 rounds on 76 from Alex Catlow 71.

Highlights from 2nd round:
Best front 9 Giovanni 24
Best back 9 Henry Lindesay-Bethune 23
Best woman was Sali Davies 38 points.