Good playing conditions with Spring sunshine, firm fairways and greens and the rough not yet ‘up’ led to generally good scoring from the white tees on Duke’s, with all white tees back on their correct teeing areas except the 17th.

It seemed as though Brian Ransom’s 36 points would be enough to win, just ahead of 4 players on 35 points (Adrian Wells and 3 Richards – Owen, Back and Norden). However, when the final 4-ball ‘finally’ came in, 40 minutes ‘late’ and 3 holes behind, they scooped the top 3 places (although I was tempted to DQ them or apply a 3 point penalty for not keeping up with play).

So the winner was Peppe Monterosso (40 Points) with 5 pars going out and 3 pars coming in. In 2nd place (38 points) was Julian James, who only managed 1 par but had 3 birdies – on the 3rd, 7th and 17th. And in 3rd place (37 points) was the 4th Richard in the competition (Richard Hanna) with 3 pars.

Sweep payout goes to the top 3 as usual (£9, £5 & £3)

Richard

Well, we had all 4 seasons during the round and a ‘lake incident’ beyond the 18th – Jeremy will think twice about playing the Prince’s 18th, as it’s not long since his gosling kill on the same hole.

A blustery north wind and cold temperatures greeted our early starters and the wind prevailed all day. When the sun came out, it almost felt warm but within a couple of minutes a snow shower blew through. You would think that with these difficult conditions, playing off the white tees set right back on all holes and un-watered, un-receptive greens that the scores would poor – however this was not the case. As well as loads of Pars, there were 6 birdies and 1 eagle – see Best Scores Analysis report.

Our winner, Mat Grove, came in with 43 points (1 birdie and 7 pars) and runner-up, just behind on 42 points, was leading lady Cheryl Woodhouse, with a 5-points birdie on the 14th and 5 pars. Not to be outdone, Brian Ransom eagled the 14th for 5 points and had 6 pars, for 3rd place on 38 points. Adrian Wells was in 4th place, but only on countback, and played a very solid round. Sweep payout goes to these top 4 (£9, £6, £4, £3).

Thanks goes to Pralab Barua for his gift of ‘Indian sweets’, enjoyed by many.

Finally, it was good to see Glendale planting grass seed on the fairways – I have played the courses for more than 25 years and I have never seen fairway seeding before – let’s hope that the seed germinates and that Glendale will be moving on to sorting out the bunkers.

Richard

50 players decided to get 18 holes under their belt just before winter makes an unwelcome return. Maybe the forecast rain can help a course that is drying up really fast. The greens are still in recovery mode and it was near impossible to go pin seeking. Holding the greens proved very tricky.

Justin Wildman and Fhorkan Uddin’s rounds were mirror images of each other. Saffie Justin took apart the front 9 with 23pts. Fhorkan managed to score 24pts (!) on the back 9. Justin managed to hold it together on the last 9 holes (21pts). That was just enough to take victory today (Thank Goodness he didn’t play last week …). Peter Flint loses out to Fhorkan on countback. So 3rd place is his share today. Stephen Haworth is the first of the “late” starters. He also is the only player who managed to record 2 birdies today (a bit of bragging rights vs Jeremy over the coming weeks ). Ryan and Juho complete the Top6 and are the last players to receive some “Purse Adjustments”. Cheryl is first lady today. A shoutout has to go to Tony Barnett for an excellent round with 38pts. Ronnie proved that you can improve your golf as long as you play 5 rounds in 7 days. She even claims she fixed her putting!

Toby wins the aggregate Midweek Spring Stableford with 77pts ahead of Ryan Jones (74) and Ronnie (74).

It was a lovely warm and sunny Spring day and the Duke’s course was transformed from the last time we played it. The mowers had been to work on a firm, dry course and fairway definition was finally clear to see. For a change the white tees were used by the men, although they were still on the yellow teeing areas on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes.

The early leader in the clubhouse, Pralab Barua (38 points) was looking good until the final group came in and Julian James pipped Pralab on countback. There was more bad news for Pralab when his card was checked and found to have been incorrectly filled out. As usual, Julian’s card displayed a very consistent round, 20 points out and 18 points in, with 5 pars and one blob.

Second and third places were taken by playing partners Veronica Mitchell and Richard Owen, respectively, both 37 points and separated only by countback on the last 6 holes. Both had 21 points out and 16 points in, Ronnie notching up 4 pars and just one blob and Richard had 3 birdies (on the front 9), 3 pars and two blobs.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £6, £3)

After a chilly start, it was a lovely sunny Spring day but with a nagging (but drying) breeze. There are now significant signs of the grass growing and the Prince’s course was no longer wet and muddy.

Our winner Stephen Haworth (37 points) made a slowish start with 16 points on his outward 9 holes, which included 2 blobs, however he made light work of the back 9 with 5 pars and 21 points. 2nd, and beaten only on countback, was Peter Flint with a birdie start and a very steady round of 18 points out and 19 points in. Just behind on 36 points were yours truly and Mat Grove with my steady 18 points out and back just beating Mat’s 19 points out and 17 back.

Sweep payout goes to the top 3 as usual (£8, £5, £3)

The predicted rain arrived around midday but wasn’t too bad, for most of us at least. Glendale’s closure of holes 8 and 9 for drainage trenching works was frustrating, however at least the 11th green was open.

Today’s clear winner was Adrian Wells, 35 points from 16 holes being 4 better than than his par off his Course Handicap. 16 points off the front 7 was the foundation and 19 points off the back 9 with one birdie and one blob completed a very solid round. 2nd and 3rd places, both with 32 points, were Veronica Mitchell and Ryan Jones respectively. It didn’t look as though it would be that way round when Ronnie started with a blob and Ryan had a birdie 3 for 4 points on the 1st, but it’s all about consistency and Ronnie’s 19 points on the back 9 pipped Ryan’s 17 points.

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

After the heavy rain we had earlier in the week, the Prince’s course was very wet with standing water in places both off and on the fairways (but not on any greens). The recent bounce and run on the fairways was gone and deep pitch mark repair was necessary on some greens. However, under these difficult conditions scoring was pretty good across the whole field and especially good for some.

Colm (40 points) was today’s winner, reportedly ‘trying’ on the front 9 (25 points including 2 birdies) and just ‘cruising’ on the back 9 (15 points with 3 blobs and 1 birdie). Brian put up a spirited challenge (39 points), with a strong back 9 including a birdie. (Pat had to buy the beers I believe). In 3rd place with 38 points was Peter Finch with a very solid round throughout. Sweep payouts go to these top 3 and as Ryan had to ‘retire hurt’ after 4 holes, his entry fee will be refunded.

It was a lovely mild and sunny winter’s day with much less wind than the past week/10 days. The Duke’s course was restricted to 16 holes (8 and 9 closed for drainage works) and there was a temporary green on the 11th hole. Today’s winners all made the most of the conditions by all posting 35points, 3 shots better than their handicaps.

On countback, the overall winner was James Deissler who played some of the best and most consistent golf Rannesh, I (and Cheryl) have seen for some time – no blobs on his card and 4 pars. In 2nd place on countback was Colm who put in a late charge with an Eagle 2 on the last hole (for 5 points). Seymour took 3rd place with a well balanced card, 17 out and 18 back. Sweep payout goes to these top 3 (£9, £5, £3).

The ‘apparent’ leader in the clubhouse, Pralab with 37 points, was found to have played 18 holes on the Princes course and was therefore excluded from the competition.

A smaller than usual field enjoyed a lovely sunny winter’s day on the now much drier/less muddy Dukes course.

Uli posted the best score of the day (39 points) with birdies on the 2nd and 11th holes; second place was taken by early player Pralab (35 points) who had a very steady round throughout. Peppe and Julian came in 3rd and 4th, respectively, both with 30 points.

Many thanks to Uli and Richard Norden who both marked handicap cards for prospective members.

A band of heavy rain ‘blew through’ between 7.30am and 10.30am causing a little standing water and wet patches on some greens and fairways and a good deal of puddles on pathways. The early rain caused some entrants to ‘cry off’ and early starter Pralab to abandon his round after 1 hole, but those of us who turned up to play enjoyed a very pleasant, entirely dry winter’s day with spells of sunshine.

Julian James again tops the leaderboard with 37 points from 17 holes; the 18th being closed due to ongoing drainage contractor’s work. As usual, a very steady round from Julian, scoring on every hole and with a birdie 3 on the 15th. In 2nd place was late entrant Russell Stewart, with 35 points, also birdieing the 15th but then making a mess of the 100yard 16th. Three players came in on 34 points, with 3rd, 4th and 5th places to Brian, Chris Rudkin and Seymour respectively on countback. Brian also birdied the 15th but was then unfortunate not to find his drive down the middle of the fairway (reportedly !) on the 17th and had to go back for 3 off-the-tee. Quite a few players ‘made hay’ by scoring 3 and 4 points on the shortened first hole.

Sweep payout mainly to the top two (£8 & £5 respectively), with a £1 ‘ return of entry’ to 3rd, 4th and 5th, and no charge to Pralab.