Apart from the strong westerly wind, it was a relatively mild, sunny day for golf and a few players found the course “there for the taking”. The heavy rain of yesterday was evident as ‘standing water’ in a few low lying places but overall the Duke’s course has stood up well (so far) to the seemingly endless bands of rain. Only one temporary ‘fairway green’ on the competition holes (5th), but 2 further temporaries (11th and 12th) for those who ‘played on’.

Top of the leaderboard (25 points) was early bird Pralab Barua, who continued his recent good form with 21 points on the front 9 and capped it off with a birdie 2 (4 points) on the 10th. In 2nd place, just one point back, was another early bird Neil Elkins also with 21 points for the front 9 but ‘only’ a 3 points par on the 10th. Julian James (23 points) took 3rd place with a very steady 20 points on the front 9 and a par 3 (3 points) on the 10th. The last player in the money (4th) was Ian Burgess (22 points) with 19 points out (including a blob on the 2nd) and 3 points for par on the 10th.

Hope everyone enjoyed it and great to have Tony Barnett back fit enough to play with us again.
Sweep payout £9, £7, £4, £2

It was good to get back on the slightly less muddy Prince’s course and to be treated to morning sunshine, which faded somewhat as the day progressed. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the competition, although some found the course more challenging than others.

As is usual in team competitions, the final result was very close – only one point in it and determined by the team/individual scores (and missed putt) on the final hole. The worthy winning team (80 points) was Richard Norden, Julian James and Pat Barbour, with the standout player being Richard Norden (40 points) and a birdie 3 on the 18th hole. In 2nd place (79 points) was the team of Richard Owen, Rannesh Jansari and James Deissler, who had the same back 9 (41 points) but one less on the front 9, so the missed 2 foot putt on the last hole (!!!) made the difference.

Well done to Bob, Gary and Colin who came in 3rd (72 points). Further details of the scoring in attached Best Scoring Report. Sweep payout to the winning team (£7 each).

With the predicted band of morning rain falling on the course between 7.30am and 11am, it was decided to slightly delay the start and to reduce the competition to a 10 holes (only) shoot out. This proved to be the right decision with a full complement of players venturing out, hardly any rain during play and sunshine for the final holes.

There was really “nothing in it” when it came to scoring, all teams posting good scores in the windy conditions on a wet Duke’s course. The winning (and slowest !!) team of Paul Green, Ian Burgess, Seymour Laird and Duncan Taylor (46 points) pipped the 2nd place team of Jayne Maxwell, Richard Owen, Charlie Whiteman and Rannesh Jansari on a last 6 holes countback. Just one point behind were Brian Ransom, Pat Barbour, Adrian Wells and Pralab Barua, ruing their missed putts. Rannesh scored the only birdie (10th).

End of year complementary drinks (mainly Guinness) was enjoyed by the participants in the sun on the terrace afterwards (see photo).

An already small field just before Xmas was further reduced by a band of heavy rain falling at the park between 7am and 11am. However the 5 hardy souls who lingered to play after the rain subsided were blessed with a round in mild, sunny conditions on a soddon Prince’s course..

The clear winner, Brian Ransom (38 points) would, on initial inspection, seemed to have had a ‘steady’ round, 19 points out and 19 points back. However on closer inspection, his back 9 started with 2 blobs and finished with the last 5 holes played at 1 under par (birdie on the 15th). Rannesh Jansari in 2nd (35 points) had his nose in front until Brian’s late burst blew him away.

A freezing cold, frosty morning turned into a chilly but sunny afternoon. The ground was frozen, giving run on the fairways and difficult greens to ‘hit’. As always with Texas Scramble, the team scores were very close, with everyone feeling they played well and “must have won”.

The winning team of Uli, Cuneyt, Adrian Wells and Richard Owen scooped top spot with a net 59, with 4 birdies, one bogey and only 3s and 4s on their card. In 2nd place with the best of the net 60s were Ian Burgess, John Middleton and Adrian Mancebo – they could easily have won if they hadn’t all hit their tee shots on the 10th OOB and scored a 7 on that hole.

Glad everyone enjoyed it, sweep payout to the winning team.

There were brief glimpses of sunshine late morning but overall it was a gloomy and increasingly cold winter’s day.

Nobody found the course ‘easy’ and some players ‘walked off’ before the end of their rounds but some respectable scores were recorded and Uli managed 2 birdies. Our winner (36 points) was Pat Barbour, who also had the best front 9 (18 points) and an unlikely chip in from off the green on the 12th. Pralab took 2nd place (34 points), which was more than I expected after he declared he was giving up winter golf, when putting on the 14th. Richard Norden beat the others with 33 points by posting the best back 9 (19 points).

Sweep to top 3 (£10, £6, £3).

Again we were very lucky with the weather, a dry and sunny morning, clouding over mid afternoon. The Prince’s course was in good condition with only very occasional wet patches, although the grass was very lush off the fairways.

This is the first time we have tried the “Best 2 Scores” format and it seemed to be enjoyed by all. The winning team (88 points) of James Deissler, Rannesh Jansari, Jose Manuel Gomez and Richard Owen only clinched it on the 18th hole by scoring 7 points to the runners up team of Uli Katte, Richard Hodgkinson, Graham Cull and Chris Jones’s 4 points. Not too far behind were 3 teams all on 82 points. Colin, Gary and Bob brought up the rear with 70 points, but were disadvantaged by being only 3 members in their team. If anyone would like to examine individual scores in more detail, see the Competitions Scorecards Report attached.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£6 each)

Morning sunshine, low in the sky, made ball spotting difficult on a number of holes but as the day progressed the clouds rolled in and it must have started getting a bit dark for the late finishers – at least it was dry for everyone and the course was in reasonable condition after the heavy rain earlier in the week.

It was a 3-way tie on 38 points at the top of the leaderboard, with Rannesh’s birdie 3 on the last hole giving him top spot. Rannesh had 16 points out and 22 points in, beating Julian James into 2nd place (19 points out and in) and Ian Burgess in 3rd place (22 points out but only 16 points in). Ian’s 9 on the 18th hole meant that he also lost out to Pat Dalton on their 18th-hole match, so an expensive hole for him.

Leading woman was Pat Barbour on 35 points, gradually chipping away at her handicap which I’m sure will soon be in the 20’s.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£10, £8, £6, £3) and Best Scores Analysis report attached.