Contrary to expectations Glendale (or their contractors) chose to perform some (much needed) drainage works on the first 2 holes on our competition day. Unfortunately the works started after the early starters went out. As a consequence we are forced to make today’s competition a Non-Qualifier. But as previously players are welcome to submit their scores a General Play Scores. Please reply to this mail if you want us to take care of this input.

Onto the order of the day:

Russell had 3 birdies today. He recorded 16pts (over 7 holes) on the way out. The start of his back 9 was a bit shaky: he recorded no points on the 11th hole (blame an ugly 7). But he bounced back brilliantly with a birdie on the 12th. In total he netted 22pts on the last 9 holes. Kevin had a sub-par front 9 (14pts). But he more than made for that on the way in (23pts). Colm recorded the same points total but the countback rule awards 2nd place to Kevin. Jeremy Prescot copied KP’s method: 13pts (out) + 23pts (in) on his way to 4th place. Pralab had a solid round (15 +21pts). Brian’s back 9 was quite diverse: 3*1pt, 4*3pts and 1 4-point play.

Midweek Winter Competition: Mike Jones (114), Tamas Ladacs (112) .

Dukes Midweek Eclectic: R. Dykes (67), B. Colley (69), B. Ransom (70)

Early frost melted to give a largely sunny [and again dry] day with sun gradually gaining elevation. Towards end of round it became distinctly chilly with a cold breeze.

Good for scoring then and n weeks since Duke’s playing all 18 holes.

Women

Guess no one was too keen on the conditions and weather today and despite the fact that yesterday was pretty windy, Gina who played then takes this weekend’s comp with 31 points.

In the accompanying eclectic, with holes 8 & 9 previously out of action scores weren’t calculated but unsurprisingly (if you look at recent results) Gina is also in the lead in this – by some large margin with just 1 round to go.

Men

Cuneyt, playing on Saturday [6 entrants was the worthy winner 40 points on countback from Brian McMahon; Another Saturday entrant Dilip was third alone 39. Jihum, Julian (again) and Ross completed the first 6 line-up on 38 points.

This was the penultimate round of the Duke’s Eclectic with Richard Inglis om a commanding lead of 60.2 from Brian Ransom 65.2- but possibility remains that winner may emerge from those with no scores at 8 and 9.

The round also constituted 5th in Winter Competition with Roger Rojas leading 115 from Julian and Secretary Peter 114 then Adrian and Tony 113s.

Performance stats reports below

What a difference a couple of dry days can make. Most of the standing water has gone (except for the 1st and 18th fairway and some more remote areas of the course). Holes 8-9 were even open on Duke’s. And to top it all off there was even a slight chance to get bounce/roll on certain patches of the fairways. Add “milder” temperatures and some forward tees and you had a cocktail for some low scoring.

Juho is today’s clear winner. 24pts on the back 9 set the bar pretty high for anybody. Richard N takes 2nd with an excellent score of 42pts. The hottest golfer of 2022 James put in another stellar round to take 3rd (23pts on the way in). Something lit a fire under Alan today (surely not something that will be confirmed coming Sunday?). 4 birdies (yes 4) enable him to finish 4th. Richard O put in another solid round on Princes (although he will have nightmares about the 1st hole). Jenny and Sheena take 6 and 7th respectively.

Midweek Winter Comp (TBC)

Peter Goodall (115), Mike Jones (114), Julian James (113), Tamas Ladacs (112)

Midweek Eclectic Princes

Peter Goodall (58 Net), Richard Owen (61), Jeremy Ryan (63)

Another grey but dry day [see men’s results for bland temperature plot] after many days/weeks on no real rain produced perfect scoring conditions.

Women

As with all these scrambles, the scores end up very close and could not have been much closer today. Ali was the only member of the first game in the clubhouse when others got in & despite declaring otherwise it was probably to let us know that they had a birdie on the 18th, which was in fact her tee shot, her 2nd shot & her 3rd shot which has resulted in them winning today’s event courtesy of the back 9 being a better score.

Now that’s been duly reported! Congrats to Jayne, Susan, Doreen & Ali for what was of course a team effort,

Conditions were definitely drier underfoot today but not exactly what has been described in the intro para as being ‘perfect for scoring’.

Men

The target was set on Saturday by Sean Julliard on 59 which seemed unbeatable until James Goh strolled into the clubhouse on Sunday with 58! Sean shot just 2 over par 70 whilst James at 73 was just 5 over.
Sean is cut from 10.1 to t.6 whilst James cut from13.9 to8.5 assisted en route with a -1 adj ESR. Best absolute gross just 1 over 69 from Ross Hood .

The rest of the field included many good scores but the overall Playing Conditions Calculator [PCC or CSS adj. in old money] was zero. Stats reports for the 2 days attached.

Gunnar and Adrian shot magnificent 62s whilst Patrick Murphy (fresh from the sun and warmth of Costa del Sol) and Robin Thomas 63s.

Indeed, 27 from 55 cards were in 50s or 60s.

Divisional Medal results reflect the above with James winning Senior (low handicap) Division and Gunnar the Junior Division.

The 10:33 grouping were challenged by Glendale’s Frederico at the 2nd tee par 3 to be nearer the pin on green than him. Frederico narrowly missed the green but the competitive trio all landed on green with Mark Bean just 1 inch from hole. Photos attached of Mark’s achievement, a Glendale voucher and the trio proudly sporting their vouchers. Note the immaculately clean trolley and brand new golf bag of the Handicap Secretary in group photo.

Frost early melted and eventually the sun came out. Men’s results report shows an interesting double temp. peak -2:30 and 8:00 in the evening. Mud, some mats and bobbly greens persisted. Holes 8 and 9 were out of action.

Women

Looking at the scores it seems no one was too keen on the conditions out there today and most would have been finishing by the time the sun came out in force. Late starter Gina appears to have taken advantage and was the winner on 27 with Katharina and Monique 2 back on 25.

Recording ‘hole not played’ rather than no score is still causing some confusion but fortunately for those concerned the scorecard is still king!

Men

Brian Ransom shot a stonking 38 points [with 23 back 9], 3 ahead of folllowing35s divided by countback : Nigel Ward, Kim, Colm and Ryan. Captain Kim leads the birdies tree with 3 YTD. Kerry mastered the par 5 with birdie.

In the associated Winter Competition Roger Rojas on 115 has the advantage from Secretary Peter .

In the Duke’s Eclectic Richard Inglis is our leader 67.3 from Brian and Russell 69.1s.

A shortened round of Winter golf for the field today. Luckily the rain held off a bit start of the week. Add that to the reduced (very) low temperatures and the field played a course with substantially less standing water. But the mud was ever present and the greens were tricky (bumpy and slow).

Allan Cobb recorded decent score going out (15pts – that result was matched by 4 other players – curiously most of them were also early starters). He then continued his strong performance by recording the best score on the back 9 (17pts). So quite logically he wins today’s competition. Richard Norden and Angus finished 2pts behind Allan. Countback rule awards 2nd place to Richard (the birdie on the 16th didn’t hurt). Notwithstanding 2 birdies Angus has to settle for 3rd. Julian had a solid round (15 + 14) to take 4th place. 5th place goes to Brian. The women didn’t quite enjoy today’s conditions. 1st woman today was Cheryl in 12th place.

The first competition of 2022 took place in mild but very muddy conditions; late in the round there were spits and spots of rain and the Handicap Secretary’s umbrella bust in a zephr! 4 holes were out of play but some signed in for and entered General Play Scores to qualify for handicap.

Colm put in another convincing score to win by a mile, 34 points.

There were five 29s, separated on countback: Pat Dalton, Duncan, Kerry, Sean O’S and Joe G.

Colm and Julie dominated the scoring analysis stats attached.

Six won sweep .

Meanwhile, on Prince’s James Anslow shot gross 72 with first ESR of the year and a hcap cut from 15 to 12.

Happy New Year!

Playing conditions were not very welcoming. But standing water, lots of mud and the occasional showers didn’t scare off 43 players. The absence of roll on the fairways and limited carry were more than compensated by the forward tees.

Jim Deissler was steady as a rock today: 22pts on front and back 9. A well deserved win. Kevin was gaming a new putter and it worked its magic. Any putt within 6 feet was drained. 21pts on the way in and out allowed him to finish in 2nd place. Brian finished 3rd 1pt behind KP. Richard S had an excellent front 9. 20pts on the way in allowed him to match Brian. But the countback rule breaks the tie in favour of Brian. Jeremy P also recorded 41pts. But his 19pts on the way in send him into 5th place. Julian recorded the best overall score on the back 9 to take 6th (FYI: Roger had the best overall score on the front 9 – also 23pts).

Winter golf made a comeback with a vengeance. Icy temperatures turned the park into a golfers’ version of the Disney movie Frozen. The greens were tricky: judging the speed was challenging. But the lack of carry was offset by the extra bounce on the fairways.

The men’s Secretary is currently the in form player at the club. The H&H combo proved too much for the rest of the field. 22pts out was an excellent start (Owen/Prescot and Woodhouse/Wildman association bettered that score with 23pts each). But they then managed to rack up 25pts on the way in. Just enough to see off the nearest challengers (thank you countback rule). Second place goes to the pairing of Mike Jones and Roger Rojas. Especially Mike seemed to enjoy the winter golf. He drained just about any putt from more than 10 feet. Their 25pts on the back 9 compensated for a more volatile front 9.

As indicated above Woodhouse, Wildman and associates (does have the ring of a law firm in the city don’t you think?) decided to start strong but wavered a little on the back 9. 44pts is still good enough for 3rd place. Best score on the back 9 goes to Susan and Gregory.

Fog at Richmond Park delayed start until 10ish with any entrants having returned home.
Nearby weather station in East Sheen was unaffected by fog but at bottom of main results the wind increase measured 11ish would have cleared the fog at RP and allowed temperature to rise.

The winning combination was Nick Rogers and Gina 48 points separated only by back 9 countback from Justin and Sheena.Third place in this last Sunday comp before Christmas were Mike Shabani and Nigel Ward.