It was a mild, autumnal day with strong, blustery winds from the south and occasional glimpses of the sun. Threatening dark skies appeared from time to time but luckily very little rain fell as the wind blew the showers by.

Although there were a few late cancellations, 5 teams competed and recorded good and very good scores. Only one stroke separated the first and second teams, with the 4-man team of Peters Goodall and Flint, Rannesh Jansari and Richard Owen coming out on top with a net 61 (67 gross which is 4 under par for the men’s card). Some amazingly good putting on the front 9 was the backbone of this scoring, with all the first 8 holes being 1-putted.

The runner-up 3-man team of Naveed Manazir, Richard Norden and Ian Burgess, with a net 62, had a 74 gross (3 over par for the men’s card). It’s always more difficult competing with just 3 in a team, so great scoring.

In 3rd place the team of Adrian Wells, Julian James, Brian Ransom and Seymour scored 66 net, 73 gross (which is just 2 over par for the men’s card – so solid scoring). A close thing for 4th and 5th places between Gary Simpson + Colin Price + Bob Kent on net 70 and the women’s team of Jayne Maxwell + Ann Gardner + Anya Toprak Zengin with a net 71.

Sweep payout to the winning team (just £4 each !)

It was a dull but mild day with just a few sprinkles of rain towards the end of our rounds.

As shown on the Best Scores Analysis report the team of Peter Goodall, Jeremy Prescott and Cheryl Woodhouse had the best front 9 (39 points); the best back 9 (41 points) was scored by the Graham Cull, Seymour Laird and Richard Owen team, and by the Pralab Barua, Peter Fisher and Richard Norden team. Unsurprisingly, the most points scored on the Par 5 holes was by the team with 2 women (Ann Gardner, Elizabeth Piner and Peppe). Commiserations to Rannesh and Uli Katte, who ‘lost’ their 3rd team member (Ed Robinson) after his first 9 holes and who had to play separately, rather than together.

When all the points were counted up, the clear winners (78 points) were the team of Graham, Seymour and Richard O. The 14 points they scored on the final 3 holes was probably the main difference and thanks to Graham for scoring 9 of them. Runners up, just 3 points behind were Pralab, Richard N. and Peter (75 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team.

It was a sunny but blustery day and the course was in very good condition, particularly the greens. Signs that the ‘fairway seeding’ had been effective were everywhere.

Our clear winner, with 40 points, was Brian Ransom, who could have had more if he hadn’t blobbed the last hole. It seems that having a few weeks off from golf was just what Brian needed, however it didn’t last long – he took an extra 14 shots playing the same course on Saturday!

Three players scored 36 points, taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places on countback. Chris Jones blobbed the first hole of the day but gradually improved throughout the round and took 2nd place with the best back 9 of anyone (21points). Elizabeth pipped Martin Hay to 3rd place by one point on the back 9 – Martin will be ruing his blobs on the 10th and 12th holes.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£8, £5, £4, £3)

After early morning mist, a bright morning greeted the players, however the clouds rolled in during the round and the wind became blustery; thankfully everyone finished before the rain started.

Today’s sweep was a 4-ball ‘team game’ where all 4 players point scores were summed to give the team score – this would have been a ‘surprise’ to the early and late starters (on personal Glendale bookings), as they didn’t receive the Start Sheet. Fortunately we had 24 players, neatly combining into 6 teams.

The winning team of Adrian Wells, Julian James, Ryan Jones and Richard Owen amassed 140 points (avge 35 points each), primarily thanks to Adrain and Julian who scored 38 points each (2nd and 3rd in the individual standings). In 2nd place was the team of Ed Robinson, Gary Simpson, Colin Price and Bob Kent (131 points) and in 3rd place (128 points) the team of Pralab, Mitch, Naveed and Peter Finch.

Best overall score of the day was posted by Ed Robinson (39 points), who also had the best front 9 (23 points). Best individual ‘hole score’ was Briget Stone with a 5-points (!!!) birdie on the 2nd hole. Naveed and Adrian both had 2 birdies in their rounds and Adrain & Julian had the best back 9 (21 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each) and £4 for Ed for having the best individual score.

Following late ‘drop outs’ due to early morning drizzly rain, a reduced field enjoyed a mild, dry and eventually warm and sunny round of golf on an ever-greening Duke’s course.

Richard Owen was today’s winner with an astonishing 45 points (net 63) – one of his best rounds ever on Duke’s. He was spurred on by a friendly pairs match (with Seymour) against Uli Katte and Adrian Wells, which was eventually ‘tied’ on the 18th. Uli, who came 2nd in the sweep with 41 points, played his normal very steady round with 3 birdies (should have been 4 !). In 3rd place was Richard Norden who got off to a real ‘stormer’ with 14 points amassed from just his first 4 holes – thereafter quite a few 6s and 7s started to appear.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£6, £3, £2)

Having been away for a few days it was quite a surprise to see how green the park is again and with less run on the ball scores are slightly suppressed, or more likely back to more usual levels.

Peter Flint was the winner with 37 points just 1 clear of Peppe who is probably ruing his 2 7s on the front 9, but showing that a summer away from golf has done him no harm (although perhaps it helps as he missed the rock hard fairways). A further shot behind was Ronnie and Ryan with Ronnie having the better back 9.

With 25 players sweep goes to 4th place (£10, £7, £5, £3)

Cooler temperatures and much softer ground after yesterday’s heavy rain greeted today’ competitors. These conditions were not conducive to good scoring, as nobody played to their handicap and 34 points was the best that was achieved.

Winner by 1 point was Rannesh Jansari, 17 out and 17 back – it could have been better if he hadn’t missed a short birdie chance on the 17th and put balls OOB and then in the ditch on the 18th.

Countback separated Uli Katte and Pat Dalton (both on 33 points), Uli’s 17 points on the back 9 pipping Pat’s 15 points.

Payout to top 3 (£9, £6, £3)

Although quite a few of the Friday regulars were away playing golf or on holiday, there was still a good turnout with most members playing to scores around their handicap and the top 6 separated by only 3 points.

Top of the pile with 40 points was Uli Katte, playing his usual very steady round with 11 pars and only one double bogey (on the 18th). Tied on 39 points were Richard Young (following up on his excellent winning round on Wednesday) and Julian James, with Richard just winning on countback. In 4th place (38 points) was Pralab, who had a very ‘ordinary’ front 9, but a good final few holes which included 2 birdies.

The Best Scores Analysis show that Bridget had the best front 9 (21 points), Pralab and Giles had the best back 9s (21 points) and that Tim Rose matched Pralab’s 2 birdies.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£9, £6, £4, £2)