The course conditions were rather wet underfoot after the overnight rain and the temperature had dropped by a degree or two with a cool breeze.

However the division 2 players showed that scoring was not a problem. Richard Marriott birdied the 18th to record his net62 pushing Peter Fisher who only parred it into 2nd place. in 3rd place by bogeying the 18th was Mike Jones. They were followed by Dave Cato and Pat Dalton for the money places. Julian James was the only Division 1 player to break par and Bill Norman took the 2nd place money. The division 1 players I think knew that the higher handicap players would have the edge today.
It was pleasing to note that the real 6th Green was back in play and hopefully other temps will disappear shortly.

Women

Another huge field for the comp today!
Although we had the same number of temps that we’ve had for the last few weeks, it was encouraging to see some of the roped off areas being re-opened, an indication that perhaps at long last it is starting to dry up a bit.
Cheryl decided to have a drive-in on her first singles event since taking over the reins as women’s captain. Her artistic skills added to our challenge of deciding where we thought her shot would end up, but the consensus view was that Doreen got the closest. Well judged Doreen.

Perhaps with both the AGM and club dinner out of the way, Sheena was inspired. With her best round since August & recording 8 pars along the way she finished with 38 points. Jayne was just 2 points behind with 36, helped by her 4 points on the 18th.

Both made good inroads into Gina’s 5 shot lead in the Eclectic and now head it up with 1 round to go. So it looks like the result might end up being a close run thing in the end.

Men

A mild and dry day and a good turnout for another round of the Winter Competition.

Good golf and scoring. Kerry led division 1 on 42 points – 2 birdies and 23 on front 9; a point behind was Aidan with 23 on back 9. and 3rd was Tamas on 40 points.

The junior division saw a tie of 43 points between Gregory and Gunnar who just won on countback last 6 holes. Well done to both! Another tie for 3rd with Paul F just countback winner on the back 9 from Ashley = both 41 points.
The Prince’s Eclectic after 3 rounds gives Peter N the lead 61 from Tamas and Umran 62.

The round was 4th played in the Winter Comp and the senior division is headed by Tamas and Kerry tied 116 from Peter N 110 whilst in the junior Oz leads 113 from Gunnar and Onursal both 111.

Round6 of the Midweek Winter Comp played on Princes.

Another comp another clubhouse lead for Mike J. And he’s getting pretty good at it too. 22pts on front and back 9 in these conditions are quite remarkable. And it could’ve been better had he not scored “only” 6pts on the first 4 holes. He also reinforced the golf rule that a good round starts with a DB. Only one player bettered that mark. After a strong 2nd place last week Peter F went one better this week. He managed to beat Mike by 2pts: 25pts (out) + 21pts (in). Best of the rest was Ian B. The countback rule separates him from the 2 other players on 37pts. 

MW Winter Comp Rankings (Indicative)
P Fisher 124, M Jones 120, S Gokbayrak 113, R Carlile 112

MW Princes Eclectic
J James 60.9, M Jones 62.6, P Giles 64.4, R Carlile 65

Looks like the field is getting used to the temporary greens. Scoring was very tidy again. Suppose that the shrinking number of 3-putts doesn’t hurt (thank you local rule).

Another week and another occasion for Mike Jones to set the mark. 19pts on front and back 9 is a very decent marker. In the end he proved of the best of a group of no less than 5 players on 38pts. Julian J had an incredible start: he already totalled 18pts after  just … 6 holes. Alan K had a decent outing until he decided to forego any sweep credit by recording a DB on 12,13 and 14. Richard M trumped Mike by a single point on the way out and in. He was joined by in form Peter F. PF’s back 9 was 1pt better than Richard. So he takes 2nd place. Clear winner today is Serhat. A decent front 9 (19pts) was followed by an excellent back 9 (23pts). More than enough to take the honours today.

MW Winter Comp Standings (indicative only)
Julian J 147, Robert C 146, Mike J 140, Peter F 136

MW Princes Eclectic
Julian 61.6, Robert C 65, Alan K 67.2,

Milder than of late with surface frost melted but wind increasing as storm ‘Isha’ approached. 6 ‘temps’.

Women

Interestingly all 3 teams scored better on the front 9, which perhaps we can put down to all the temporaries which shortened all but the 2nd and possibly helped by the 2 putt rule.
We definitely got the best of the weather today with a super speedy round despite following 5 games of men playing medal.

As ever with this format, despite the pressure of having to use 5 tee shots each, everyone enjoyed themselves and the winning team was as mentioned Doreen, Pat & Silvia with their 42 points with both the other teams on 38.

Men

Some very fine scoring with new member James Withers (still developing handicap) headlining with 61.

Winner of the senior division medal with a late 62 was Richard Smith playing off 10, 36 out & 36 in for a 4 over par 72 – well done indeed! 5 behind was Richard I 67 just nipping Michael H on countback 67s; 3 followed with creditable 68s – Richard B, Brian M and Kerry; congrats to Richard B lowest gross [on countback from Richard S!] 72.
The junior division medal was won with a feisty 64 from Tony K on countback from Gunnar (but who recorded a 10 at 10th so could have been much better) in another excellent round. Early clubhouse leader Oz just pipped Mel with a glorious 65.

Conditions looked pretty tricky to play golf. But somehow a lot of players fared pretty well. Would distance matter after all? Looks like the extra roll proved quite beneficial. Hoisting the ball up in the air and landing angles from 45 degrees or more was not the way to go. Putting on ice was an added complication.

Mike J went out early again today. He went out in 32 Net (45 Gross). A couple of DBs on the first 2 par 3’s on the back 9 didn’t look pretty on the scorecard. Thanks to timely pars on 14 and 18 he finished on 30 Net. That mark proved to big of a hurdle for most of the field. A few late(r) starters did challenge in the end. Richard N matched Mike’s 62. But a Triple on 13 and a DB on …the last hole were his undoing. Tough to finish 4th on countback. Julian J trumped the other members of the 62 club. He also finished on 30 Net on the back 9. But a par on 13 and a birdie on 18 swung the countback balance in his favour. 2nd place is his reward. But star of the day was Peter F. He went out in 31 Net and just like the gang of 62 came back in 30 Net. Great scoring in these conditions.  Shout out to Umran for recording an eagle on the 9th.   

27 brave golfers gathered at the park today for 18 holes of golf on ice. Conditions must have been really “icy” for the 7am starters.

As per usual Mike set the target to beat with 35pts. And his score help up for quite a while. Should come as no surprise that the 9am starters took advantage of the “softer” conditions. Peter F started his round with a sequence of 4 3-pointers on the first 4 holes (over 18 holes he managed to record 8 3-pointers). He ended the front 9 with 20pts (Best Score today). 18pts on the back 9 put him 2pts clear of the field. Julian was the better of the players on 36pts. His better back 9 (18pst v 17pts) gives him second place. Dave will regret the 10th and 16th hole (he only scored 1pt on those 2 holes combined). Leader in the clubhouse Mike J was the best of 6 players on 35pts. The Men’s Secretary takes the last “Money Spot. The MW Captain Brian R managed to record 33pts despite 3 PU’s on the back 9.

MW Standings (purely as FYI)
Julian J 109, Robert C 108, Mike J 102, Graham C 101

MW Princes Eclectic
Robert C 65.9, Julian J 66.4, Mike J 69.6

A bright and sunny start for round 3 of the winter comp. on Prince’s and first Sunday 2024; cold but dry after recent rains and with 6 temps.

Women

Doesn’t look like the 2 putt rule helped anyone much apart from Reiko who appears to have liked the mud and found no problems at all. Winning by some 6 points from Silvia.

Think the rest of us probably took heart from it being a sunny, if cold, day after all the rain and enjoyed that if we didn’t find too much to enjoy from the golf – though Doreen kicks off the birdie tree for the women with her 2 on the 2nd.

Despite not playing today, Gina remains 5 shots clear of everyone in the accompanying eclectic

Men

Best scoring points came from the junior division -Giovanni 41, Pat D 39, Oz 39 and Mark L 38; Giovanni scored a remarkable 23 on first 9 with Oz 22.
Senior division winner was Kerry 36 on countback from Richard Smith also 36 and Tamas 35.
2nd hole proved fruitful for ‘Twos’ from Peter N, Pat D and Oz.

The round constituted 3rd round of the Winter Competition showing Tamas the senior leader on 108, Kerry 106 and Paul Kamerling 104; the junior division is headed by Oz 109 7 clear from Suhail, Onursal and Gerard 102. The associated Prince’s Eclectic reveals Peter N in lead 65 with 4 on 67 – Umran, Richard Smith, Julian and Roger.

Weather conditions forced the field to play Princes. 7 temporary greens were a vivid memory of the amount of rain that has come our way the last couple of months.

Mike J seems pretty comfortable with the current conditions. He recorded 19pts on the temporary greens (perhaps the 2-putt rule helped – FYI 14pts would be a respectable result).  When zooming out it stands out that he torched the front 9 for 23pts (!!). 4 for 4pts on the 3rd didn’t hurt. An ugly PU on th 15th rbiefly halted his march to victory. Add 16pts on the back 9 to his score on the front 9 and you get a winning tally of 39pts. Chris R had a solid round (18+19pts). 3 1-pointers on the front 9 and a PU on the 11th limit his score to 37pts and 2nd place. Niel B and Adrian finish 1pt back. Niel records 19pts on the back 9. This allows him to take 3rd place. Adrian had an excellent front 9 (21pts). But his softer back 9 means he has to settle for 4th.

Competition Scoring Analysis revealed (surprisingly) the 10th played as SI1 today.

15 brave/mad golfers faced swirling/gusting winds, sleeze and mud.

 I think Stu will ask Santa Claus for a manual on how to play an opening hole. His round started with a 7 and a 4. But he recovered with a birdie on 5 to finish with 20pts on the front 9. His back 9 was rocked with a DB on the 10th. The bogey on 12 was cancelled by a birdie on 14. 19pts on the back 9 still make for a decent day at the office. Aidan matched Stu’s score. But he let victory slip away on the tricky 16th. A DB on that hole means Aidan loses out on countback. 17pts on the front and 19pts on the way in allow Pete F to finish 3rd. Charles and Chris R finish on the same score. But Pete’s last 6 holes were a little better than Charles’ scores. Chris finishes in 5th place since he  “only” scored 16pts on the back 9.

Happy New Year. See you in 2024.