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.

It was a lovely dry and unseasonably warm (17 deg C) November day with afternoon sun and the Prince’s course was in great condition for the time of year (and by comparison with the more muddy Duke’s course).

Today’s clear winners (79 points) were the team of Peter Flint, Pat Dalton and Richard Norden. The foundation of the score was an excellent round by Peter, who had 41 points individually including lots of Pars (including the 7th) and a birdie on the 16th. Richard and Pat chipped in when needed and Richard had a strong back 9 (19 points).

In 2nd place (71 points) were the team of Adrian Wells, Uli Katte and Peter Goodall, who always looked good on paper for a high score. Their team’s performance was anchored by Uli, who had a personal score of 39 points, lots of Pars, a birdie on the 15th and a gross score of 75.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£6 each).

After a chilly start, the sun came out and it was a pleasant, dry Autumn day. However, heavy rain earlier in the week had changed the Duke’s course into true ‘winter conditions’ with negligible bounce and run and the early signs of wormcasts.

The lengthening of the course by the ground conditions was counteracted (for the men) by playing off the Yellow Tees (shortening the course by nearly 500yards), so scoring was similar to usual, with a tie-at-the-top on 37points. The winner on countback was Brian Ransom, who had 19 points out and 18 points in, pipping Giles Rawlinson’s 20 points out and 17 points in. Giles had 2 birdies on the front 9 (3rd and 9th), whereas Brian had his one birdie on the (shorter than usual) 15th.

In 3rd place was last week’s winner Cuneyt Sazer (36 points) who, like Peter Flint in 4th place (35 points), had a ‘top-scoring’ 22 points on the front 9. Further details of scoring on the Best Scores Analysis report.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£10, £7, £4, £2)

For info, Adrian Mancebo who played his 1st round with us in the group with Richard Norden and the two Giles’s, scored 44 points off his course handicap of 25 (HI 23.9), however as he had less than 6 qualifying rounds on his WHS record, he was excluded from the competition (club rule). As a result of his round, his HI has been cut to 16.9 !!!

Considering that competitors were limited to 5 clubs and putter, the scores were as good (if not better !) for many of the participants on this very mild late October day with occasional sunshine and very little wind.

First place went to Cuneyt Sazer (43 points), a weekend regular but rarely seen on a Friday. His outward 9 holes (20 points) started with 3 straight pars and his back 9 (23 points) comprised 5 pars and 4 bogies – all would seem to have been quite straightforward for him, however his playing partner Brian described some of his play as “miraculous”, from difficult situations.

Pat Barbour took 2nd place with 41 points; 17 points out (including 2 blobs) and 24 points in (the best scoring back 9 of the day). Today’s round was one of Pat’s best ever rounds and, as it was entered for General Play, should earn her a handicap reduction.

Two Friday regulars, Andrew Brown and Richard Norden, took 3rd and 4th places with 37 points, Andrew’s back 9 22 points narrowly beating Richard’s 21 points. The ‘Competition Scoring Analysis’ report and ‘Best Scores Analysis’ report are attached. Interestingly, the front 9 had the 3 easiest holes (2nd, 3rd and 4th) followed by the 4 hardest holes (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th).

Sweep payout to top 4 (£11, £8, £5, £3).

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 !)