The first few holes were played in a very light misty rain, then we had over 2 hours of serious rain, and at about 1pm the sun came out, although by then there were puddles on fairways, paths and some of the early greens – a typical early Spring day at Richmond Park.

Five teams competed in the Texas Scramble competition, all teams scored well and the result was very close, with only 3 stableford points separating all 5 teams.

Top spot, on a 49 points countback, was the team of Jayne Maxwell, Susan Smith, Brian Ransom and Cuneyt Sazer. They had a total of 6 birdies, including a stretch of 3 consecutive birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th, and just one bogey (on the 8th). Apparently Cuneyt really found his touch with the putter, which wasn’t behaving for him 2 days earlier on Duke’s.

Also with 49 points, in 2nd place, was the team of Cheryl Woodhouse, Uli katte, James Deissler and Seymour Laird, who had 4 birdies and no bogeys, but a weaker back 9 than the winning team.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the format and sweep payout to the winning team (£4.50 each).

Heavy overnight rain gave way to brighter conditions as the day went on and the Duke’s course was back to its muddy self.

The clear winner (35 points) was Rannesh Jansari, out in Game 1 with James Deissler, who came 2nd (32 points). Rannesh had the best back 9 (20 points) and best scores on the Par 4s. Pralab Barua had the best front 9 (16 points) and was the best on the Par 3s (paring them all). Uli Katte had the only Birdie of the day, on the 10th.
Sweep to top 2 (£6 & £2)

It was a chilly and cloudy day but dry and with very little wind. Fairway mowing was underway as well as construction of the new ditch which will eventually run all the way down the slope from the ‘wet area’ (now a pond) adjacent to the Prince’s 5th teeing area to the pond by the 5th green.

The clear winners of the team sweep were the team of James Deissler, Rannesh Jansari, Seymour Laird and Adrian Wells with an excellent 90 points (18 points more than a ‘par’ 72 points score). This team had the ‘Best Front 9’, the ‘Best back 9’, most points on the ‘Par 4s’ and on the ‘Par 5s’, and equal best score on the ‘Par 3s’ (with the team of Cheryl Woodhouse, Cuneyt Sazer, Richard Owen and Colin Price). Star of the team was James, with an individual General Play score of 42 stableford points.

There was only 1 point between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, with Cheryl, Cuneyt, Richard and Colin (83 points) pipping Graham, John, Adrian and Ian (82 points) because of a much stronger back 9.

Play by the later 2 games was much slower than it should have been and everyone should read, and make every effort to adhere to, the club’s Fast Play Guidance (attached). As the season progresses the course will become busier and we do not want our competition to cause any ‘blockage’.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each).

A chilly and cloudy mid morning gave way to a short, fine drizzly spell around midday, after which the sun came out.

The results show a tie-at-the-top on 21points by Brian Ransom, Pat Dalton and Richard Norden. All 3 players also all scored par for 3 points on the only hole played on the ‘back 9’. However, the software identifies Brian as the Countback winner on account of the “last 6 holes on the Front 9” and Pat as 2nd on account of the “last 3 holes on the Front 9”.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£7, £5, £4)

Hopefully the ladies will be back playing with us again next Friday on Prince’s.

On a mild but cloudy day, the strong south-westerly winds from the effects of Storm Otto over Scotland were the most significant challenge (and assistance) during the round.

The ‘best 2 scores from 3 players’ proved difficult for all teams on some holes with all teams have the odd 2-pointer (or less !!). It turned out that there were only 2 teams that played ‘better than par (72 points)’, with the team of Pete Goodall, Justin Wildman and Seymour Laird (79 points) outscoring Pat Dalton, Bill Norman and Alex Braun (77 points).

As is so often the case, the story of winners and runners up came down to the closing few holes. Alex birdied both the 15th and 16th and his team scored 13 team points on those 2 holes, but then they only scored 7 team points on the 17th and 18th. Pete birdied the 15th and the 18th (on the green with his tee shot), giving his team 13 points on 17th and 18th, plus 9 team points on the 15th and 16th.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£6 each).

A frosty start soon developed into a lovely sunny winter’s morning, with relatively dry and mud-free conditions and all 18 greens ‘in play’.

Good scoring proved difficult for almost all the field with only today’s winner, Bill Norman (39 points), scoring more than ‘par’. Bill par’d 6 of the first 13 holes, amassing 32 points by that stage, but wobbled with only 4 points on the last 4 holes (without which his score would have been well into the 40’s). In 2nd place was Bridget Stone (36 points); Bridget also found the front 9 easier with 22 points out but only 14 points in. Graham Cull, playing alongside Bridget, came in 3rd with 35 points; his was a steady round of 18 points out and 17 in. These top 3 were followed by a clutch of 6 players on 32 points.

The best scores analysis report shows that Bridget had the best front 9 (22 points) and Peter Flint had the best back 9 (19 points). Mayumi, Colin Price and Gary Simpson were best on the three par 3’s, all amassing 8 points, and Richard Back had 2 birdies (although he and Richard Inglis lost their side match against Kevin Prendergast and Richard Owen).

Congratulations to out our Top 3, who collect the sweep monies (£13, £8, £4).