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.

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).

A rather cold and windy day, but at least dry. Scoring was pretty good for most of the field. Rannesh and Julian led the field, tied on 39 points, with Rannesh sealing the countback win with a birdie on the 18th. Adrian and Aiden took 3rd and 4th places respectively, both on 37 points. Sweep payout to the top two £10 & £6.

A dry, cloudy and increasingly breezy shortest day of the year, with the usual 5 temporary greens in play on Prince’s.

Scoring was incredibly good by all 3 teams and very close in terms of gross scores (66, 67 & 67), so the result was down to the handicap allowances.

The winning team of Charles, Julian, Peter and Richard Norden had a nett 57 (3-under gross 67) with 4 birdies and just one bogey. Team Rannesh, James, Adrian and Neil, in 2nd place, had a nett 58 (4-under gross 66) with a more exciting (erratic ?) round which included 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. Cheryl, Brian, Justin and Richard Owen had the most consistent round, 3 birdies and 15 pars for a nett 60 (gross 67). All 3 teams birdied the 4th hole. Purse payout to the winning team (just £3 each ! ).

It was a still, dry day and chilly rather than cold. The course was wet but no significant standing water. The temporary greens on 1,2,3, 5 and 8 hadn’t been mowed due the the past several days of rain but hopefully we are in for a few days respite from the rain and they will get a ‘trim’.

On a shorter course (yellow tees, 6 mats and 5 temp greens) the scoring was generally good and Richard Norden again proved unbeatable (41 points). Rannesh pipped Julian (both 40 points) to 2nd place and no doubt rues his blob on the 2nd hole. Graham’s 39 makes him 4th, one ahead of Chris, Charles, Tamas and Uli (all on 38 points). Best front 9 (21 points) was Julian, Uli and Richard Norden; best back 9, also 21 points, was Rannesh and Brian. Uli has now almost caught Pralab on the Friday Birdie Tree but as they are now both away for the rest of the year, there’s still a chance for Rannesh to overtake them. Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £5, £3).

Although the course was wet and muddy in places, it was a lovely sunny day to play golf with no wind and milder temperatures.
The leaderboard kept changing as more players finished their rounds. Firstly it was Russell (33 points), then Julian (36 points), then Charlie Haines (37 points), then Joe Goncalves (38 points) and then the final group finished their rounds and Pat Dalton (44 points) smashed the rest and grabbed top spot. Pat’s round was ‘consistently good’, gross 85, only two 6s on his card, a best front 9 (24 points) and all 4s and 5s on the back 9 (20 points).

Joe doesn’t play Friday’s very often and had some trouble with his time-keeping, however his golf was immaculate as ever with a gross 76. Charlie’s good golf continues and his 37, beat the same score by Bill Norman and Peter Miller on countback – Bill had an unfortunate 6 on the 17th and Peter blobbed the 18th. Other highlights were Julian’s consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th holes (and best back 9 – 21 points) and Uli’s unlikely birdie 2 on the 13th following his tee shot finishing on the 10th tee! Sweep payout to top 3 (£10, £6, £3).

A very cold morning with frozen fairways and greens greeted the smallest Friday field of the year. The ‘solid’ ground provided plenty of bounce and roll – a real change from the recent muddy conditions and it took some getting used to with approaches to the greens. Given the cold weather conditions (there were even flurries of light snow before midday) and the knowledge that there were 5 temporary greens over the final 8 holes of the course, the competition was reduced Holes 1 to 10 only. Some players continued to play the full 18 holes and were treated to some weak winter sun.

High handicapper Richard Norden was the clear winner (23 points) with a very solid display of driving, pitching and putting. By back-analysis, Richard should have been one of the lowest handicappers in the field! In 2nd place Julian James (20 points) played to his handicap; the rest of the field were also-rans.

Sweep payout to Richard N. (£7)

A real drop in temperature overnight and players faced a cloudy morning with a cold, brisk wind from the north west. The sun showed itself briefly around midday and again nearing the end of our rounds but winter has certainly arrived. Five temporary greens in play, as expected (holes 1,2,3,5 & 8), all having been recently mowed to make putting less of a lottery. The greens on the 13 holes in play were in good condition and, with very little rain over the past 2/3 days, the fairways were much firmer and less muddy.

Most of the field scored reasonably close to, or better than, their handicap on what was a ‘shortened course’, due to forward mats on the 2nd, 4th, 13th & yellow teeing area on the 18th, and the 5 temporary greens. The stand-out performer was Bill Norman, our winner on 43 points (19 out, 24 in); Bill had 3 pars on the front 9 and 2 birdies and another 3 pars on the back 9. In 2nd place on 39 points was Charlie Haines with one of his best rounds for a long time, which included 3 birdies (on the 4th, 15th and 18th). In 3rd place, just one point back, was another good, steady round by Pat Dalton.

Charlie’s 3 birdies jumps him up to 4th on the 2023 Friday Birdie Tree, not too far behind Uli and Rannesh in 2nd and 3rd spots respectively, but still some way behind our leader Pralab on 16 birdies.
Sweep payout goes to top 3 (£11, £7, £4).

Light rain showers were evident over the first few holes and the weather forecast promised dry sunny conditions from about 11am, however the clouds kept rolling in and, with the wind becoming more northerly, it was decidedly ‘cold’ by mid afternoon.

It seemed for a long time that early starter Russell Stewart’s 38 points would easily win the day, however in the penultimate game Peter Miller came in with 40 points ( 23 points on the back 9) and Julian James equalled Stewart’s 38 points, but missed out on countback. Russell had birdies on the 11th and 14th, while Peter birdied the 4th and Julian birdied the 17th. Sweep pay-out to these top 3 (£9, £6, £3).

This week it was ‘5 Clubs and a Putter’, which is a good deal ‘easier’ than 3 clubs and a putter and playing off the yellow tees also helped. Due to the heavy rain over the preceding days, there were 3 ‘temporary greens’, although these were simply holes in the fairway with no additional mowing or boundary marking.

The top 3 of Alex Braun (37 points), Andre Pelser (37 points) and Richard Norden (36 points) all put in very solid and consistent rounds, although Alex equalled Pralab with a best back 9 of 23 points and Andre had the best front 9 (20 points). Andre also scored 6 on all of the last 8 holes, which is highly unusual.

Mention must be made of Pralab’s round. Although finishing with a ‘middle-of-the-road’ 32 points, he only had 4 points after 8 holes. He then eagled the 9th, birdied the 10th and then went on to also birdie the 15th and 18th holes. What a change in form!

Events on the SI 1 14th hole in the game involving Tamas and Richard Norden also deserves a mention, as 2 balls were holed with one shot. Richard played his 6th shot to just a few inches from the hole before Tamas played his 3rd (approach) shot onto the green – Tamas’s ball knocked Richard’s ball into the hole, and then followed it in. A great birdie for Tamas, but Richard had to replace his ball and putt for a 7. Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £5, £3).