Morning showers abated but returned later in afternoon for the annual 3 clubs and a putter competition.

Over the years scores generally have compared with the normal 14 club allowance.

Well done indeed to winner Joe Goncalves on back 9 from Nigel Ward – 66s; 4 further scores in 60s from Sam,Brian M.Tony K and Paul Green. Joe shot 1 over par back 9 with his 3 clubs!!

Best woman Gina 72.

For the men, this was the last competition in the ‘Top Dog’.
In attached ‘friendly ‘ format Richard Owen is winner of The Senior Top Dog 29 points from Paul Kamerling 25 and Richard Smith 24 – after all JH Taylor KO matches results.

Also attached is the Junior Top Dog with Duncan T the narrow winner 25 from Goran K and Charlie W 24s – this after the 2 semi-finals of Two Courses Cup but the finalists have minimal/zero points so result would not alter Junior Top Dog.

Golf is already complicated enough. It doesn’t help when the weather conditions are pretty miserable. The recent rains had taken away all roll on the fairways. The biggest obstacle were the strong winds. As usual the winds were swirling pretty heavily.  Standing on the tees of the 5th and 14th it was pretty obvious that there was a headwind. How in earth is it then possible that you also have headwind on the 15th and 16th? One of the many mysteries of the park I guess.

Peppe battled through a painful knee to claim victory today. 22pts on the way out was a solid basis for a good round. 1-pointers on 13 and 18 were the sole blemishes on his card. 17pts on the back 9 were enough keep him clear of the chasing pack. Neil was one of the early starters. It can be argued that the winds were not as strong as later in the day. Despite a blob on the 14th Neil had an excellent back 9 (20pts) to take 2nd. Stu used the best back 9 of the day (21pts) to finish 3rd 1pt behind Neil. Places 4-6 all go to early starters. Tom Simpkins had the score on the way out (23pts). This pretty good enabled him to take the last “money spot”.

Just 2 other bits:

– the headwind on 15 and 16 was real. The 15th played as SI3 today. And there were no birdies on the 16th today. Only 4 (!!!) players parred that hole.

– Even though the tees were moved forward and there was a strong tailwind there were “just” 2 birdies recorded on hole 17.

Rain was the order of the day with early games catching the worse. The sun eventually shone but just before dusk the heavens opened with thunderstorms. As a consequence the field was reduced.

Full credit to Jihum off 19 returning 42 points [22 out 20 back] to win the Charity Trophy. 3 behind was Raymond with Will B 37..
Best woman was Silvia 31 off 7 with special mention to Mark Bean for 3 birdies on back 9.

The strong winds today must have caused a few headaches. How else explain the wide range of WITB (for the youtube neophytes WITB is an acronym for What’s in the bag)? The other most common remark after today’s round was: why do I carry 14 clubs in my bag? Think people overlook the fact we played Prince’s today. Playing this comp on Duke’s would be (even) more complicated.

Peppe put his brace on the correct knee today. He managed to record 26pts on the 12 par 4’s today (nobody matched that tally). His score on the 16th was not pretty (Triple Bogey). But it didn’t totally wreck his card. To his own surprise his score of 36pts (17+19) was the winning score today. Richard Owen recovered very well from 2 blobs on the front 9 (16pts out). His back nine was even better. A tap-in birdie more on the 18th more than made up for a blob on 12th (to be fair that was his only blemish on the back 9). Ian also recorded 35pts. But he had a softer back 9 to finish 3rd. Richard N and Brett finish 4/5th respectively. Brian was the best of the group on 32pts. His birdie on the 17th was a bit out of the ordinary: His tee-shot faded through the trees on the left and landed short of the road. That surgical precision was totally absent on his approach. His second shot went long (as Ross said to Rachel: really long). As karma would would have it he sank the mammoth birdie putt from off the green. This stroke (of luck) is not without importance: since one person ahead of Brian didn’t enter the sweep Brian slides into the last position that earns sweep money.

Shout-out to Gina and Ryan who finished their rounds this morning in 2h and 45 min.

A mild start with late autumn sunshine still having power to warm. Late games saw beginnings of a front.

Women

Unusually scores were generally better for the first round on Dukes, Julie was the only one with a higher score in her 2nd round. If Hilary had been keeping tabs on her score she might have harboured hopes of winning but late entrant Gina extended her first round lead to win the Committee Cup with Hilary in second spot.

Men

On the day, Ross Hood shot an exemplary 1 over par 69 (with 5 birdies) and his HI dropped to 4.5 -leading the Senior division on countback from Bernie McD ; Wil B completed firs 3 line-up in the division with 38.

Harrison Chesterton [4th WHS round ] and Suhail led Junior division 39 with trio of Tom Simpkins, Barry P and Robin T chasing with 36 points.

This was a 2 round competition and congratulations to Justin Bradford holding on to his first round lead to win Senior Division 76. Bernie McD and Richard B close behind with 75. In the Junior Division Suhail shot up the leader board with his 39 for a 2nd round72 from Sean O’Sullivan 71 with Michael Hackett 69.

Senior Division

Ryan Jones recorded the best front 9: +1 gross (translates to 31 Net). His back 9 was more volatile: 43 (gross) 2 pars on the par 3’s steadied the ship a bit after a couple of double bogeys. His biggest scare today non-golf related. A mistake in the set-up of the comp prevented him temporarily from recording his score (apologies for that). But in the end it all worked out. Peter Goodall’s birdie on 18th is the tie-braker between him and Ross.

Junior Division

Giles Rawlinson posted a stunning 65 Net to win the Junior Division. 43 out (32 Net) and 45 on the back represent an excellent day at the (golf) office. Mitch was another early starter who posted an excellent score. 42 (gross – out) and 42 (gross – in) are his magical number combination of the day. Richard Norden laid the base for 3rd place with an excellent front 9 (45 gross – 31 net). Chris had a steady round to take the last “Money Spot” in this division.

Midweek Grand Medal Trophy

A few players had chance of catching the leading duo. But Gina, Peppe and Seymour came up a bit short today. Tamas and yours truly finish in a tie. So the winner will have to be decided on countback.

A chill start but the sun came out to warm – nudging 19C per graph at bottom of results. This stimulated a stiff breeze affecting shots.

Women

What a glorious day it was to play golf. Hilary taking her cues from Spanish weather was dressed the most appropriately though I’m sure that most of us didn’t think so at the start when the autumn chill was definitely present. With the ball still running and only a slight wind scoring was good today and there is all to play for between you in the 2nd round next week.

Leading the way with a slender margin of 1 is Gina with 36 points closely followed by Avi and Hilary with a further 3 just 3 shots back – it could all change after next week’s round.

Impressive looking 2 from Gina on the 16th, a hole I rarely make the green on and definitely one from Seema, whose tee shot on the 10th was little more than a foot from the pin. Never quite sure why only birdie 2s are reported but Katharina had a nice birdie 3 to finish her round in style.

Men

Overall on the day Pierpaolo led the way 42 points but divisional results show:
Senior Division : Winner Justin B chased by Richard Back40 then Sal Goodchild-Way 38′
Junior Division: Winner Pierpaolo 42 from Michael H and Sean O’S 40.

Congrats to Richard Back and Goran for their eagles on 17th [per attached report that makes 19 so far this year]

Mild temperatures were met with strong/swirling winds. Fairways still provided ample bounce & roll. The greens were fairly receptive. But all in all conditions proved to be challenging. Unfortunately a  lot of the 9.45am starters were on the back 9 when the floodgates opened. Not too much of a stretch to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the best of the weather.

These conditions bring the best out of good ball strikers. So it is no real surprise to see Naveed take the win today. He took the saying “every good round starts with a double bogey” a little too serious. He DB’ed holes 1 & 2! He recovered to finish the front 9 with 17 points. But his excellent 21pts on the back 9 were just good enough to hold off the competition. Darren was another early starter. He matched Naveed’s mark. But his 20pts on the back mean he settles for 2nd. Looks like he made up for missing out on victory today with a pretty good tee-shot on the 9th. Cheryl battled her way through the rain to 3rd place. Terry Wilson – another 7am starter – must have fed of Darren’s positive vibe to finish as the best of the group on 37pts. Alex used an outrageous back 9 to finish 5th. Yours truly takes 6th. But victory slipped through my fingers with a 5-6 finish.  Since Alvaro didn’t sign up for the sweep he allows James to improve his purse balance. Tamas is the newest member on the “Eagle Tree” thanks to an outrageous chip-in on the 9th.

Early drizzle petered out as per overnight forecast of front a further 20 miles south than previously anticipated. Sun increased as did warmth nudging 19C.

Women

A close result at the top of the table with Silvia winning the October medal by 1 from Katharina with her nett 71.
With the Barton Bowl however, results were reversed in a quirk of it being stableford rather than medal. Both Silvia and Katharina had 35 points but Katharina scored 20 of them on the back 9 compared to Silvia’s 17.

Congratulations to both.

Men

Best gross and net of the day went to Roger Rojas – 71 and 63; well done Roger! Roger wins senior division of day followed by Bernie Mc 64 with Kerry and Brendan returning glorious 65s.

The junior division was headed by Gregory 65 with Ed and Cuneyt following with 68s.

Special mention : Richard Back – level par back 9 33, Raymond for eagle at 9th.

This was last round in best 5 of 8 Grand Medal Trophy. Timing his form to perfection Kerry moved into first place in senior division with Brian M 2nd 338; Julian and Goran share junior division each 327.

For some reason players felt nervous on the first tee/didn’t warm up properly. How else can you explain that Hole 1 played as SI 6 today?

Stu Duncan passed the test on the first hole without any major glitches. That positive trend continued for a while. He posted the best front 9 of the field (22pts). A steady back 9 (except for a snowman on the 12th hole) rewards him with a total score of 40pts and victory today.

Oliver Khan used an excellent back 9 (21pts) to claim second place. The other money spots go to the early birds. Mike Jones was on absolute fire on the back 9 (24pts). May be relaxed after 2 snowmen on the front 9. Pat and Chris both record 37pts. But the countback rule awards 4th place to Pat. Mitch is the last player to earn some sweep money. On this rare occasion the Top 6 all get sweep money.