Overall good scoring on a fine winter day with some run on the fairways and six all too familiar temporary greens.

Graham C (playing off 25) was the outright winner by 1 point with a stellar 44 points, which included 5 pars on the front nine for a total of 25 points and another 4 on the back nine for a total of 19 points. One behind was Andrew P (playing off 31) with a hardly less impressive 43 points, and another point behind was Brian (playing off 17) for the last money place, on 42 points with birdies on 3 and 18.

1st place £12: 2nd place £8; 3rd place £4

Round6 of the Midweek Winter Comp played on Princes.

Another comp another clubhouse lead for Mike J. And he’s getting pretty good at it too. 22pts on front and back 9 in these conditions are quite remarkable. And it could’ve been better had he not scored “only” 6pts on the first 4 holes. He also reinforced the golf rule that a good round starts with a DB. Only one player bettered that mark. After a strong 2nd place last week Peter F went one better this week. He managed to beat Mike by 2pts: 25pts (out) + 21pts (in). Best of the rest was Ian B. The countback rule separates him from the 2 other players on 37pts. 

MW Winter Comp Rankings (Indicative)
P Fisher 124, M Jones 120, S Gokbayrak 113, R Carlile 112

MW Princes Eclectic
J James 60.9, M Jones 62.6, P Giles 64.4, R Carlile 65

After a chilly start, winter sunshine was the order of the day for another round on Prince’s with 6 temps on the first 8 holes. Hopefully Glendale will release a few of the closed greens, as the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 8th are ‘looking ready’.

A sparkling 6-over-gross 74 (46 stableford points ) by Julian made him the clear winner. Julian had three birdie 2s on the 2nd, 4th and 16th holes and his HI drops from 16.8 to 16.1. Because Julian was in the last game, for a long time the leaderboard suggested that 37 points would be the winning score, carded by Rannesh and Rob Carlile. However, when Pat Dalton’s signed card was inspected and compared to his score entry, it was found that he too had 37 (not 36) points and had pipped Rannesh to take 2nd place.

Great to have Ann Gardner playing with us again, 4 months after her fall, as well as Jeremy after his back operation and the new women’s captain Cheryl, after her holiday in Portugal. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£9, £6, £3)

Looks like the field is getting used to the temporary greens. Scoring was very tidy again. Suppose that the shrinking number of 3-putts doesn’t hurt (thank you local rule).

Another week and another occasion for Mike Jones to set the mark. 19pts on front and back 9 is a very decent marker. In the end he proved of the best of a group of no less than 5 players on 38pts. Julian J had an incredible start: he already totalled 18pts after  just … 6 holes. Alan K had a decent outing until he decided to forego any sweep credit by recording a DB on 12,13 and 14. Richard M trumped Mike by a single point on the way out and in. He was joined by in form Peter F. PF’s back 9 was 1pt better than Richard. So he takes 2nd place. Clear winner today is Serhat. A decent front 9 (19pts) was followed by an excellent back 9 (23pts). More than enough to take the honours today.

MW Winter Comp Standings (indicative only)
Julian J 147, Robert C 146, Mike J 140, Peter F 136

MW Princes Eclectic
Julian 61.6, Robert C 65, Alan K 67.2,

Milder than of late with surface frost melted but wind increasing as storm ‘Isha’ approached. 6 ‘temps’.

Women

Interestingly all 3 teams scored better on the front 9, which perhaps we can put down to all the temporaries which shortened all but the 2nd and possibly helped by the 2 putt rule.
We definitely got the best of the weather today with a super speedy round despite following 5 games of men playing medal.

As ever with this format, despite the pressure of having to use 5 tee shots each, everyone enjoyed themselves and the winning team was as mentioned Doreen, Pat & Silvia with their 42 points with both the other teams on 38.

Men

Some very fine scoring with new member James Withers (still developing handicap) headlining with 61.

Winner of the senior division medal with a late 62 was Richard Smith playing off 10, 36 out & 36 in for a 4 over par 72 – well done indeed! 5 behind was Richard I 67 just nipping Michael H on countback 67s; 3 followed with creditable 68s – Richard B, Brian M and Kerry; congrats to Richard B lowest gross [on countback from Richard S!] 72.
The junior division medal was won with a feisty 64 from Tony K on countback from Gunnar (but who recorded a 10 at 10th so could have been much better) in another excellent round. Early clubhouse leader Oz just pipped Mel with a glorious 65.

An exclusive field of only 8 players tackled Richmond on Friday on a fully-iced up Prince’s, and the victor, Chris, scored an impressive 39 points. Second placed went to Niel, with a 5-pointer birdie on the par three 13th being the highlight of his round.

£5 for 1st place, £3 for 2nd place.

Conditions looked pretty tricky to play golf. But somehow a lot of players fared pretty well. Would distance matter after all? Looks like the extra roll proved quite beneficial. Hoisting the ball up in the air and landing angles from 45 degrees or more was not the way to go. Putting on ice was an added complication.

Mike J went out early again today. He went out in 32 Net (45 Gross). A couple of DBs on the first 2 par 3’s on the back 9 didn’t look pretty on the scorecard. Thanks to timely pars on 14 and 18 he finished on 30 Net. That mark proved to big of a hurdle for most of the field. A few late(r) starters did challenge in the end. Richard N matched Mike’s 62. But a Triple on 13 and a DB on …the last hole were his undoing. Tough to finish 4th on countback. Julian J trumped the other members of the 62 club. He also finished on 30 Net on the back 9. But a par on 13 and a birdie on 18 swung the countback balance in his favour. 2nd place is his reward. But star of the day was Peter F. He went out in 31 Net and just like the gang of 62 came back in 30 Net. Great scoring in these conditions.  Shout out to Umran for recording an eagle on the 9th.   

A cold and cloudy day but no longer the frozen ground of Wednesday, it stayed dry and there seemed less mud on the fairways.

Texas Scramble competitions often yield good scores and very close results and today was no exception. The winning team of Charles, Bill, Alex and Uli had a gross 64, net 57 (4 under par), just one stroke (net) less than the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, who had gross 65 and 66 strokes, respectively. The winners had 6 birdies and 2 bogeys, spread evenly over the front and back 9s. The 2nd place team of Richard O., Rannesh, James and Chris had one birdie and 1 bogey on the front 9 and then 4 birdies and one bogey on the back 9. The 3rd placed team of Graham, Robert, Niel and Julian had the best front 9 of any team (3 birdies and no bogeys), but just one more birdie on the back 9, together with two bogeys. Everyone enjoyed the format and sweep money goes to the winning team (£4 each).

27 brave golfers gathered at the park today for 18 holes of golf on ice. Conditions must have been really “icy” for the 7am starters.

As per usual Mike set the target to beat with 35pts. And his score help up for quite a while. Should come as no surprise that the 9am starters took advantage of the “softer” conditions. Peter F started his round with a sequence of 4 3-pointers on the first 4 holes (over 18 holes he managed to record 8 3-pointers). He ended the front 9 with 20pts (Best Score today). 18pts on the back 9 put him 2pts clear of the field. Julian was the better of the players on 36pts. His better back 9 (18pst v 17pts) gives him second place. Dave will regret the 10th and 16th hole (he only scored 1pt on those 2 holes combined). Leader in the clubhouse Mike J was the best of 6 players on 35pts. The Men’s Secretary takes the last “Money Spot. The MW Captain Brian R managed to record 33pts despite 3 PU’s on the back 9.

MW Standings (purely as FYI)
Julian J 109, Robert C 108, Mike J 102, Graham C 101

MW Princes Eclectic
Robert C 65.9, Julian J 66.4, Mike J 69.6

A bright and sunny start for round 3 of the winter comp. on Prince’s and first Sunday 2024; cold but dry after recent rains and with 6 temps.

Women

Doesn’t look like the 2 putt rule helped anyone much apart from Reiko who appears to have liked the mud and found no problems at all. Winning by some 6 points from Silvia.

Think the rest of us probably took heart from it being a sunny, if cold, day after all the rain and enjoyed that if we didn’t find too much to enjoy from the golf – though Doreen kicks off the birdie tree for the women with her 2 on the 2nd.

Despite not playing today, Gina remains 5 shots clear of everyone in the accompanying eclectic

Men

Best scoring points came from the junior division -Giovanni 41, Pat D 39, Oz 39 and Mark L 38; Giovanni scored a remarkable 23 on first 9 with Oz 22.
Senior division winner was Kerry 36 on countback from Richard Smith also 36 and Tamas 35.
2nd hole proved fruitful for ‘Twos’ from Peter N, Pat D and Oz.

The round constituted 3rd round of the Winter Competition showing Tamas the senior leader on 108, Kerry 106 and Paul Kamerling 104; the junior division is headed by Oz 109 7 clear from Suhail, Onursal and Gerard 102. The associated Prince’s Eclectic reveals Peter N in lead 65 with 4 on 67 – Umran, Richard Smith, Julian and Roger.