The day started with blue sky and sunshine with astrong breeze. The dry spell lasted until the back 9 when the wind became very strong and cold and heavy downpours which made golf very uncomfortable and difficult for some.!!
Peter Miller and Paul Green both recorded 21 points whilst Paul Giles made continued scoring with 20 points to go with his 22 on the front 9.
This was the 2nd round of 2 for the Mid Week Stableford competition and Tamas Ladacs produced a steady round of 36 to top the table with a total of 84 points 3 points ahead of Paul Green. Well done Tamas .

It was a good turnout for the 1st day of Spring with nice warm weather for a change and only 4 temp greens. The Princes course was not quite so wet and muddy and it seems to have caught some players unaware as scores were not quite as high overall as in earlier weeks.
However Tamas Ladacs found things very much to his liking with massive 48 points (24 out and 24 back). Peter Fisher took 2nd place with 42 points (17 out and 25 back). then there were a group of 5 who each scored 40 points. It took countback calculations by the computer to place in order.

A couple of extra reports for perusal.

Women

In what seems to have become a common event, our field of 11 had shrunk to just 6 by the time we ventured forth with the rain taking the blame for 4 of the defaulters, who by 1030 may have been regretting their decision. If we ignore that first part then overhead turned out to be rather pleasant, so much so that we didn’t need our winter layers as even the sun tried to join us.
A slightly different setup today with the real green back in action on the 1st but the 12th had one instead.
Jayne certainly took advantage of all the temps, putting with real aggression that generally worked and helped her amass 20 points on the front 9. The back 9 wasn’t quite as good with ‘only’ 17, but suffice to say was plenty to give her a comfortable win by 3 from Sheena on 34.

Men

A good turnout of 35 considering the rain after a few dry days; it eventually died out and last games had drizzle for a while.

Separate results for medal (1st Grand Medal 2024) and Stableford (Rnd 1 of Spring Stableford and also Rnd 5 of Winter Comp) attached. Both in divisions.

Medal results show Tamas Ladacs shooting the lights out with a net 60 off 14 scoring 2 birdies – good golf indeed Tamas. The early clubhouse leader Richard Smith followed with an excellent 64 with 3 birdies and incorporating a level par front 9. In the last game Paul Kamerling had a glorious 65 with 1 over par 34 on back 9. Star of the junior division was Andre Pelser who shot 57 off 31 – well done indeed. Nigel Ward followed net 64 dropping just 5 on back 9. Next were Mel Dunn and Ian Burgess both 65s.
The same scores but in stableford points were applied to the first round of the Spring Stablefrord doubling as 5th Winter Comp round ‘Best scores analysis confirms Andre Pelser best back 9 26 points and Tamas and Richard sharing 23 each on front 9.

After 5 rounds of the Winter Competition in the senior division Tamas shoots ahead of Kerry Sargeant with 125 points from Kerry’s 116 whilst Tom Simpkins and Gunnar Sundberg share the junior division lead 115 from Julian James 114.

With 4 rounds completed on Prince’s the associated Prince’s Eclectic goes to Richard Smith 58.6 from Tamas Ladacs 59.8.

The weather today was more kind than earlier this week and we all stayed dry although the ground was still very muddy in many places. There were 6 temp greens where putting was a lottery, thank goodness for the 2 putt rule.
However, scoring was fairly good and for some very good.
One can only hope that the conditions will continue to improve over the coming weeks.

A damp grey start for the March Plate on the composite Duke’s course with 6 holes played twice; conditions deteriorated with rain becoming heavier and a few came in early.

Gerard O had an amazing front 9 with 25 points in his total 43 to win from James W who shot a consistent 37 ahead of the early clubhouse leader Joe having another fine 36 points nipping Justin 35. There were 5 birdies with Kerry scoring 2 .

A cold and sunny start but although clouding over the forecast rain kept off. 8 temp greens with 4 played twice; rain in the week again meant some lying water with mud. Finding a dry spot to move the ball to was a challenge!

Women

As predicted the numbers fell away again with the news on the course being wetter than 2 weeks ago to just 2 teams of 3 both playing off 10. The winning team of Angela, Katharina and Sali had no double bogeys and a birdie on the 7th to beat Cheryl, Sheena and Susan by 3 shots with their net 73

Men

A good turnout of 37 for the 2nd iteration of the 12 holes plus 6 played twice on Duke’s.

Robert C won the senior division with 20 points out and in with 2 birdies. 2 behind was Joe G with a consistent 38 and then a fine round from Chris M on 35.

The junior division was clinched by Charlie W – an even 18 out 18 in 36 points with 2 ‘4-pointers’. Just second on countback over last 6 holes was Duncan T 35 from Alan K.

Course conditions were muddy but unseasonably warm with a light breeze coming up from time to time.

The highlight of the day was not the winners but a hole in one by Chris Rudkin at the second hole par 3.
A wonderful straight shot that bounced a few times before nestling at the bottom of the cup. His first ever hole in one.
We all enjoyed a drink on his success in the clubhouse afterwards.

The overall standard of scoring was very high, everyone seems to have got used to layout now.

The sweep winner was Peter Harrington with 43 points (23 out and 20 back). Sweep second is Richard Norden with 40 points and third in the sweep was Brian Ransom with 39.

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