Morning sunshine prevailed for the early holes, although the cold temperatures and areas of standing water on parts of the fairways and surrounds on the Princes course made it a typical winter round at Richmond Park. The clouds rolled in around midday but everyone completed their rounds in the dry.

Richard Owen had ‘one of those rounds’ (total 42 points) especially on the greens on the front 9, which was completed with 1 birdie and 6 pars for 23 points. The back 9 was more routine (19 points), with just 4 pars.

2nd and 3rd places, both with 40 points, were Richard Norden and Peppe Monterosso respectively. Richard had a great back 9 (23 points) and it was only the blob on the 9th that held him back from winning overall. Peppe had a steady 19 points out and 21 points in with 6 pars overall – a good result for someone who hasn’t played for several weeks.

Brian Ransom (39 points) was 4th with a very steady round which included 6 pars and a birdie on the 3rd hole – shame about the blob on the 1st hole.

Sweep payout (£7, £4, £3) to the top 3.

A healthy field of 21 players enjoyed the warmest Christmas Eve temperatures on record in England and there were even short periods of sunshine. As expected, conditions were muddy on the 14 holes available for play, however the grass could be seen growing on the fairways.

Colm put in another unbeatable round (35 points), 20 points on the front 7, 15 points on the back 7, 3 birdies and no blobs. In 2nd place was Sean O’Sullivan (31 points), with 16 points from 6 holes in the front 7 and 15 points on the back 7. Uli came in 3rd with 29 points, a very steady round finished off with an unlikely chip-in on the last and a successful first outing for his new driver. Purse pay out to top 3 (£10, £7, £4 respectively).

Finally, well done to everyone who entered holes 8 – 11 as “Did Not Play” – there were only two who entered NR instead, so Colm and Seema please note for next time.

Mild, overcast weather conditions prevailed with wet ground underfoot.

Good scores were posted by Thierry (39), Chris Rudkin (37) and the ever-consistent Julian James (36). The small sweep pot goes to the top 2.

On a cold but dry winter’s day it seems as though the Princes’ course was no push-over, perhaps due to the heavy overnight rain.

The best score (34 points) was posted by Juho Lim, who played the back 9 well. The runner up was Peppe on 32 points, just one ahead of Uli. In terms of gross scores, there was very little in it between John Curry, Mike Horsthuis and Uli.

Sweep payout to Juho (£8) and Peppe (£4).

A significantly reduced field braved the muddy (?) Dukes course in mild, overcast conditions – one can only imagine what it will be like this weekend after the promised rain tonight.

Julian continued his recent good form to win with 42 points (19 out and 23 points in), with late entry Uli taking 2nd place with 37 points (20 out and 17 in) and comfortably the lowest gross score. Ann beat the remainder of the men with a steady 30 points.

Julian wins £5 with Uli getting £1 to cover his entry fee.

Well done to all those who played today in cold, damp and increasingly windy conditions – ‘winter golf’ is truly here, although some scores were remarkably good.

Andrew Brown took the honours today with a sparkling back 9 (25 points) giving him a total of 42 points. In second place with 40 points was a resurgent James Deissler 19 out and 21 back, no doubt disappointed by his double bogey 6 on the 18th. In 3rd place was Ted with a commendable 39 points, 19 points out and 20 back. The limited sweep monies go to Andrew and James, with £1 to Ted to cover his entrance fee.

All the men playing off the yellow tees didn’t make the increasingly muddy Dukes course any easier for most of the field, although there were some good scores on this mild and cloudy autumnal day. All the deciduous trees have now turned brown, red or yellow with many of their leaves deposited on the course, making ball finding considerably more difficult and sometimes unsuccessful.

The best two scores were posted by Game 1, Tim Ash Vie and Adrian, both with 38 points, Tim winning on countback over the back 9 holes. As per last week, poor scores on the first hole don’t mean you can’t win (Tim had a blob and Adrian a 6). Tim then amassed 15 points on the front 9 and 23 points on the back 9, with 6 pars including 4s on the SI 1 14th and on the long 17th. Adrian had a much better front 9 (21 points), which included a birdie 3 on the 4th for 5 points ! – there must be a good story there.

In third place was John Curry (36 points), who it was very nice to see on a Friday. John had a very tidy round with 11 pars and gross 78. Sweep payout goes to these top 3.

Finally a mention for Benoit’s 5 on the SI114th, which I am told was a birdie with his 2nd ball, after the first tee shot went out of bounds – you never know when the golfing gods are on your side.

The round started in dank occasional mizzly rain which persisted for most of the front 9 (longer for Pralab who was out earlier), however the rain stopped by around 11.30am after which it was quite a pleasant autumn day. The muddy conditions made it a ‘long’ and tiring round for many of us and it was surprising to see that Glendale allowed some buggies on the Princes course.

In first and second places were Julian and Darragh respectively. Julian (36 points) got off to a slow start (just one point for the first 3 holes) but then got his net par on the 4th and never looked back, so 14 points out and 22 points back. Darragh (35 points) on the other hand birdied the first hole and had amassed 8 points when he had finished the 3rd hole; after that it was a steady round of 19 out and 16 points back. So the morale must be, “don’t give up if you get off to a much worse start than your playing partners”.

Richard Norden came in with a tidy 34 points to take 3rd place from yours truly. Sweep payout to Julian and Darragh and Richard N. gets his entrance fee refunded.

Finally a mention for Benoit who had his 39 playing handicap ‘capped’ to 32. With his reduced handicap he scored a creditable 31 points but this would have been 38 points if he had been allowed to play off his full handicap (which has now been reduced by 2 shots).

Thanks to everyone for taking part

Richard

Winter seemed to have arrived with a chilly north westerly wind and the heavy rain earlier in the week had left parts of the Dukes course extremely wet, with standing water in places. The 8th and 9th holes were closed making the competition over 16 holes only.

The best score of the day was posted by Adrian Wells (34 points), continuing his recent good form, with Justin Wildman (on half term holidays) 3 points back on 31 points. Richard Back was the best of a trio of players on 30 points, beating Teddy Holt and Rannesh Jansari, respectively, on countback. Sweep pay out to the top two players.