The extremely high south-westerly winds and rain that fell after midday made playing golf very difficult and far from enjoyable. The scores reflected the conditions and just finishing was an achievement.

Long hitting Charlie Edwards, playing in his first Friday competition for a while, took the honours with 32 points (17 out, 15 in and 7 pars). In 2nd place, just one point back, was Uli Katte who seemed to relish the bad weather, going out in only 11 points but scoring 20 points on the back 9 (6 pars total). Brian, Graham and Colm all scored 29 points, with Brian taking 3rd place on countback. With the reduced field of 15 players the sweep pay out will be to 1st and 2nd only.

Next week the format changes to a stableford ‘1,2,3 waltz’ team competition, however anyone who wants to submit a card to WHS can still keep an individual card and submit as General Play.

On an overcast but thankfully dry day, the in-form Seymour posted an impressive 42 points to take top spot. Seymour’s round was the model of consistency, scoring on every hole, having 21 points out and 21 points in, and one birdie on the 11th. Richard N., in second place with 40 points, had a steady front 9 (17 points) but a very strong and consistent back 9 (23 points). Giles completes the top 3 places with a similar scorecard to Richard (16 points out and 23 points in) but notably birdies on both the 2nd and 4th holes. The sweep prizes will be credited to the top 3.

The rain showers of the past week has finally promoted the grass to grow and the fairway definition was much improved. However, the rough is also looking ‘healthy’ so over the coming weeks it will become much harder to ‘recover’ from errant shots (or even find your ball !).

It was a lovely sunny Spring day on our return to the Dukes course, which had benefited from some heavy rain showers over the preceding days – although the fairways continue to give lots of bounce and run.

Naveed was today’s winner (40 points, playing off of 9), just ahead of John A. with 39 points and and a brace of 38s by Keith and Graham S. Well played to all our leading players; I haven’t studied the scorecards this week but one exceptional score I did witness was Brian’s 5 points Eagle on the 17th. Sweep pay outs will be made to the purses of the top 3.

Thankyou to all 22 players who participated and special thanks to Ann G. for waving the flag for the ladies.

Starting in cool and cloudy conditions, with the sun breaking through occasionally after midday, it was another round played on dry, rock hard fairways with lots of extra run. It is good to see Peter Goodall return to form with a winning 41 points (19 points out, 22 points in, 1 blob and no birdies); just behind was runner-up Mike Horsthuis who had 40 points (18 points out, 22 points in, 2 birdies and a gross 74 shots); and coming in 3rd was Richard Norden on 37 points (15 out and 22 back) – so it was all decided on the front 9 holes! Sweep payout to the top 3.

In glorious sunshine, and with dry, rock-hard fairways and insufficient rain over the past few weeks to support growth of the rough, the Dukes course had few defences for our leading players. The honours today were taken by early starter Graham S. with an impressive 43 points (22 out and 23 back) and it was good to see that Graham submitted his card to WHS so that his handicap can be adjusted to reflect this excellent round. In second place Keith C. continued his recent good form with 42 points (19 out and 23 back) including birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, when he was finally ‘let through’ to play at his usual pace! Pralab and Rannesh took the final sweep prizes of 3rd and 4th places with 41 points each. Pralab recovered from an average front 9 (16 points) to record a 2-over-par back 9 (25 points) with one birdie. Rannesh was 18 points out and 23 points back, with a birdie on the 17th. Well played to all.

It was a lovely sunny Spring morning, only a light wind, and with the rough yet to grow, an excellent opportunity to post a good score. However, even with the extra bounce and run that we are getting off bone dry fairways, the Princes course was no push-over. Our winner, Ann G. with 38 points was the only one to beat the course’s previous SSSs – well played Ann. Our runner-up Keith posted 37 points and in third place was new member Mike H. The Purse payouts have been: Ann £10, Keith £7 and Mike £4.

One of the nicest things about playing yesterday was the opportunity to be able to sit down and have a drink with our playing partners on the island when it was all over – first time we’ve been able to do that for 3 months!

I hope to see many of you playing again on future Fridays.

Richard

It turned out to be a very pleasant Spring day with sunshine in the late morning/early afternoon. Because of the lack of rain over the last week or two, the fairways were dry with more run than we have had for some months and the greens were surprisingly ‘quick’. Some found the course hard going but our leaders, Alvaro and Andrew B., both scored very respectable 37 points, with Alvaro winning on countback. Sweep pay out was to the top 3: Alvaro £12, Andrew £7 and John A. £4. Well done to you all.

Although the competition was non-qualifying, 6 members chose to have their scores submitted to WHS.

For many entrants it was the first time playing the Princes course after 3 months of 2nd wave Covid 19 lockdown. Unfortunately the warm ‘shorts’ weather earlier in the week had given way to cold winds from the north under a cloudy sky and it was decidedly nippy till the sun came out briefly in the early afternoon.

Going by the scores, most found the course decidedly challenging, or was it that we hadn’t played hardly any golf for 3 months? Only 2 of the 18 players matched the course’s pre-WHS SSS of 37 points, with Peter N. the overall winner on 38 points pipping Julian J. on 37 points; sweep prize allocation was Peter £12 and Julian £6.