A very pleasant summer’s day for the Platinum Jubilee – first of 5 in the Anniversary Cup. Sunny with a breeze not cloudy with northerly wind of late.

Conditions on Duke’s proved very difficult with the thick rough meaning many lost balls and time searching etc. 12 hole scores of 10 or over were recorded and 22 ‘No Returns’. No doubt the WHS Playing Condition Calculation overnight will reflect this.

The winner was Chris Mellish off 12 with 72 – Chris went out in 35 but back in 49 inc. an 8 and 9; next were three 73s from Umran Ali (7 & best back 9), Mike Assender (12) and Robert Carlile (14). Next was early starter Bernie McDermott 74. Best woman Silvia Bortoli off 10 – 78.

Playing his 4th WHS round was Tom Laybourn with creditable 72 off 32. [6 needed for comp win eligibilty].

The course was in good condition and the weather held fine with a modest breeze.

Jose Manuel Gomez had a steady round 18 out and 19 back for 37 with a no score on 16th. Kevin Prendergast headed the group of 5 players on 36 despite hitting the tee board on the first tee and almost rebounding into the pond in front of the club house and not scoring on that hole along with a blob on hole 9. Raymond Esin had a steady round but recorded a blob on 16th.

This was the 4th round (of 6 ) in the Founders’ Cup which sees Gina Jillett the leader 127 from Peppe Monterosso 116 with Peter and Sheena Harrington now both 115.

Mainly dry with a stiff breeze and sunny intervals. Fairways had been cut wider but balls still difficult to find/hit just in the rough. Good turnout of 52 for the Spring Bank Holiday Plate.

Women

Alongside the plate, the women were playing the second leg of the Committee Cup which had to be re-scheduled after rain closed the course for the original first round.

Sheena and Jenny were a few shots ahead of Cheryl after the first 18 and they extended that difference in today’s round. Commentary below shows Sheena’s round was enough to keep her at the top for most of the day so no surprise that she ended up 9 points ahead of Jenny to win the cup.

Mixed

‘Birthday Boy’ Gunnar Sundberg celebrated with 41 points to win and secured best front and back 9s [back shared with Alison Chadwick] – 20 & 21 points respectively in spite of a ‘blob’ at 14th. He overhauled the long-time clubhouse leader Sheena Harrington who had the better back 9 [20] on countback for 36s from Serhat, Suhail and Paul Kamerling.. Birdies proved hard to come by so well done to Aidan and Louis for scoring 2.

The threat of rain discouraged a number of players who had entered the competition from playing and the start sheet was almost constantly being updated. However, the main threat of rain did not materialise although conditions were extremely tough if one strayed off the fairways into the very wet rough and usually resulted in a lost ball!!
The fairways had been cut and the 1st cut area had been widened to assist but the overnight rain still make life difficult.
Scoring was unsurprisingly on the low side but Richard Norden showed everyone how to play the course with a fine 37 points.
Mention should also go to the two players who managed to get a two on the par threes.

After 3 rounds of the Founders Cup Bill Norman is in the lead from Gina Jillett.

Women

Staying out of the rough was definitely the secret today & one that Sheena appeared to manage for the front 9 with 20 points and then came the back 9!! Jenny though scored 19 of her points on the back as she kept it down the middle. For the first time since last year playing on the full 18 holes of Duke’s was a salutary reminder of the effect that not only the rough but the ditches can have on your score. Now we have to hope for some hot days to burn off all that grass where there are no doubt a lot of golf balls nestling down.

Men

Overnight cloud cleared quickly to leave a bright sunny day with variable wind for the Summer Cup.

Very tough conditions on Duke’s with thick rough sometimes just off fairways with attendant time looking for balls many of which were never seen again.

Greg Wright had predicted winning with his ‘bandit’ handicap before being apprised of our 6 rounds first rule (& today’s results has seen his handicap cut by several shots). With the better back 9 the system showed that he would have won from Paul Kamerling both with 37s. Paul is therefore the winner of the Summer Cup.
Umran shot a super 36 points with a gross 78 off 7 and Iker Lanzagorta had the best front 9, 20 pts with 35 points overall. Well done to Aidan, Sam and Will for their 3 birdies.

It was the second day of bright sunshine in a row, when we played the second round of ‘The Founder’s Cup – E. Bailey’ competition.
Even first sightings of golf shorts were made … 😉

The Duke’s course had been closed for almost 5 months and was still in a less than ideal state: narrow fairways, with punishing high grass left and right … lead to extended ball searching and a rather slow round.
And, unfortunately, because of the 5 temp greens, the competition had to be changed to ‘non-handicap-qualifying’!
But it was good to play on Duke’s again, after such long ‘abstinence’!

Gina and Justin both played later in the afternoon and managed to navigate the difficult course very well to come in with respectable over-30-points results. Gina clocked a stellar 20-point back 9 to take the win!

On Tuesday May 7th, BrianR and UliK played their Surrey Golf Foursomes match against London Scottish.
After the usual initiation rites (both had to borrow the mandatory post-office-red shirts), the game proceeded, in beautiful spring weather.
It went up and down, in the end LS were 1up on the 18th tee.
Our team managed to claw back that last hole and went on to win on the first extra hole.
Next opponents will be either Drift GC or Couldon Court GC.

A bright sunny start for the May Bank holiday plate – and despite clouding over it remained dry after recent course closures. .
Scoring conditions were tough with little roll and odd fairway not reachable off back tees with good drives.

Silvia Bortoli rose to the top winning with a very creditable 35 points off 7; Silvia had a steady 18 pts out and 17 back with 11 scored on the 4 women’s’ 3 par 5s. Joe Gonclaves chased a point behind and had best of hard back 9 – 18 points.
Julian James came 3rd 33 points just 1 ahead of Mel Dunn whilst Gunnar Sundberg had best back 9 to win countback fro Duncan Taylor both 31. Alan King had very promsing front 9 – 20 points.

For a change the weather was warm and sunny with virtually no wind at all. There were a few drops at the end of play as it threatened to rain but fortunately it held off.
Staying out of the rough was the order of the day and only three players managed to have net scores below par.

In division 1 Russell Stewart won on countback on the last 6 holes by virtue of a birdie on 18 to push Toby Hunt into second place. Sheena Harrington took 3rd place ahead of Alan King and Kevin Prendergast in 5th all on net 70.

In division 2 It was much clearer with yours truly with a net 64 ahead of Paul Giles on net 66…and also The MW Grand Medal series on 202 from Chris Jones 207.

A more pleasant day weather wise but with a cold northerly wind.
The competition was again switched over to the Princes course to allow it to be a counting comp. It also meant that we didn’t have such long carries off the tee to reach the cut fairways.
Scoring was steady with Mike Jones winning with 37 points. Close behind in second was Ed Robinson. Third place was a contest between three players on 35 and Paul Giles pipped the others on countback over the final six holes.