A frosty start soon developed into a lovely sunny winter’s morning, with relatively dry and mud-free conditions and all 18 greens ‘in play’.

Good scoring proved difficult for almost all the field with only today’s winner, Bill Norman (39 points), scoring more than ‘par’. Bill par’d 6 of the first 13 holes, amassing 32 points by that stage, but wobbled with only 4 points on the last 4 holes (without which his score would have been well into the 40’s). In 2nd place was Bridget Stone (36 points); Bridget also found the front 9 easier with 22 points out but only 14 points in. Graham Cull, playing alongside Bridget, came in 3rd with 35 points; his was a steady round of 18 points out and 17 in. These top 3 were followed by a clutch of 6 players on 32 points.

The best scores analysis report shows that Bridget had the best front 9 (22 points) and Peter Flint had the best back 9 (19 points). Mayumi, Colin Price and Gary Simpson were best on the three par 3’s, all amassing 8 points, and Richard Back had 2 birdies (although he and Richard Inglis lost their side match against Kevin Prendergast and Richard Owen).

Congratulations to out our Top 3, who collect the sweep monies (£13, £8, £4).

The weather was dull and overcast but some ‘sparkling’ golf was played by the leading teams.

Top of the pile were Peter, Pat, John and Uli with a massive 49 points, playing off 9. They had 25 points out and 24 points in, with 6 birdies and one bogey on the card. Not far behind (47 points) were Rannesh, James, Alex and Ian playing off 10, with 24 points out and 23 in; a Par front 9 and 1 birdie on the back 9. Two teams, Pralab’s (off 8) and Brian’s 3-ball (off 9), had 45 points, both with 23 points out and 22 points in.
The game was clearly ‘easier’ for the 4-balls, as they took the first 3 places.
Sweep payout to the top 2 teams (£16 & £8).

It was a rather chilly, overcast day but at least the Duke’s had re-opened and the ground had ‘softened up’, so the frozen fairways and greens were a past memory.

Almost half the field managed a ‘par score’ or better (20 points for a 10 holes course). The winner, Richard Norden (22 points), got away to a flying start with 13 points on the first 4 holes, including a birdie on the 3rd. In 2nd place, Pat Dalton (21 points), also got away to a great start, with 3 pars and 14 points on the first 5 holes. Steady play from Pralab, Adrian and Julian saw them all score 20 points, Pralab taking 3rd place on countback and probably ruing his 7 on the SI18 2nd hole.

Most players played the ‘Full 18 holes’ and it was good to see Paul Grand taking part in his first Friday competition.

Sweep payout to the top 2 (£8, £4).

The frozen ground made the course much ‘shorter’ with summertime run on the fairways but it made pitching onto the (concrete) greens just about impossible. Bouncing balls and sideways kicks were the order of the day. Not really ‘proper golf’ but it was good to get back out on this sunny winter’s day, with no temporary greens.

In order of ‘fairness’, the two 3-ball teams had either Colin or Bill (who played as a 2-ball) added to their team, so everyone was in a 4-ball team. This made the result very close between four or the teams but still meant that the clear winners were the team of Julian James, Pralab Barua, Cuneyt Sazer and Adrian Wells, with an incredible 92 points (averaging more than 5 points/hole). The winning team takes the sweep money (£5 each).

Interestingly, it can be seen from the Competitions Scorecards (link below) that if all 4 scores had counted, the winning team of Julian, Pralab, Cuneyt and Adrian would have come 4th and the winners would have been Richard (O), Pete Goodall, Ian Burgess and Bill Jennings.

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).