Someone said: A bad day on the golf course is still better than a good day at the office. The members who attended our Away Day at Coombe Hill probably agreed. They enjoyed a course in excellent condition. 2 things stood out: 1) the club is called Hill for a reason and 2) as advertised the greens are the best defence of the course. Placement of tee-shots/approaches was fairly important. If this event were to be repeated a course planner would be welcome. Although Richard N made some very thorough preparations.
Secondly the weather turned out be more than decent. Special thanks go to Caroline. She never took off her waterproofs out of fear that this would have a very adverse effect on the weather. She definitely took one for the club …
Finally let’s talk numbers:
Overall winner is Paul G. He managed to stay just clear of Caroline. Rannesh came 3rd. But he will rue the last 2-3 holes. A certain victory slipped away on that stretch.
NTP 6th: Sean O’S
Longest Drive 11th: Ed H

Special thanks to Kim as well, for coming up with the idea of a social event at Coombe Hill in the first place, for helping to organise the whole thing and for taking over command after Uli dropped off last minute due to illness!

It was beautiful golf day today, with just enough sunshine, no recognizable wind and a Prince’s course in conditions we have not seen for more than half a year: the fairways had been freshly cut and widened, the rough cut down to manageable hights and the greens a pleasure to putt on! 🙂

RichardO took the most advantage and came back with unbeatable 42 points, including 3 birdies.
Late starter JustinW began his round with 2 blobs, but scrambled to 18 points on the front 9 and came back with 21 points, with 3 birdies on his card as well.

RichardO, RichardB and UliK share best gross score results with 75 shots.

It was the second day of bright sunshine in a row, when we played the second round of ‘The Founder’s Cup – E. Bailey’ competition.
Even first sightings of golf shorts were made … 😉

The Duke’s course had been closed for almost 5 months and was still in a less than ideal state: narrow fairways, with punishing high grass left and right … lead to extended ball searching and a rather slow round.
And, unfortunately, because of the 5 temp greens, the competition had to be changed to ‘non-handicap-qualifying’!
But it was good to play on Duke’s again, after such long ‘abstinence’!

Gina and Justin both played later in the afternoon and managed to navigate the difficult course very well to come in with respectable over-30-points results. Gina clocked a stellar 20-point back 9 to take the win!

Well, it was a rainy day! 🙂
And it was forecasted as such, so a good number of players chose to drop out / cancel their participation beforehand. Another handful of players, yours truly amongst them, decided mid-course that enough is enough …

Richard N came in first, with another stellar round: 42 points (23 on the first 9!). Very consistent play the last few weeks, congratulations!
Runner-up, with quite some points distance (38) was Ian B, followed by Richard M (36), who beat Mike Jones via countback of the last 9 holes.

The Sweep money got distributed like this:
1st place £13
2nd place £9
3rd place £4

Resultsheet

It was a cold and thankfully dry start becoming increasingly warm (relatively !) as the sun shone down. The course was very wet and muddy, so no run on the ball. Three temporary greens (3rd, 11th and 12th) which didn’t seem to have seen a mower for quite a few days. The 1st hole should also have had a temporary green and was in a dreadful state.

Nothing seemed to stop today’s winner Richard Norden though. His impressive 42 points included 6 pars and a birdie on the final hole. Clear 2nd place (38 points) went to Rannesh, who had one of those rounds with his putter producing 3 birdies on the 7th, 10th and 18th (two of which were putted from distance off the greens). This raises Rannesh to 3rd in the 2023 Friday Birdie Tree (attached). 3rd and 4th places in the competition (36 points) were decided on countback, with Pat Dalton squeezing out Charlie Haines. Pat’s score could have been even better if he hadn’t blobbed 2 holes because his ball was “lost in the sun”. Sweep payout to top two (£11, £6).

Storm ‘Bella’ cleared and players fought through the mud burning the Xmas kilojoules.

PeterN returned a superb 40 points to win – keeping a 6 off his card fresh from driving range practice. Three followed on 39: Bennie, Damber and consistent WHS improver Brian. Results…

John A had pocketed 2 birdies through 4th whilst there were commendable birdies on long 13th from Richard B and Bennie.

Reflecting perhaps a more aggressive and positive swing, Julie R was convincing women’s prize winner 32 pts from Katharina 29 and Ronnie & Gina 28s.

A little more time to adjust the sheet for today, although the start sheet ended up being published at least 4 times to accommodate changes which are a lot more problematic when playing in 2-balls. In the end 34 played.

Whilst the weather wasn’t exactly ideal, it could have been a lot worse with the showers being just that and the sun making a welcome visit if only for a short time. It did put rather a damper on Christmas jumpers and hats – but they were evident on a few. Unfortunately the rain since the weekend is starting to bring back memories of last winter underfoot. It was a bit like skating on mud at times.

As ever, there are always a few for whom these conditions appear to offer no great challenge and today’s winner, Peter G with 43 points is definitely one. He has had one blip during December when he managed only 30th spot but apart from that has definitely been in the money and is evidently at home in the mud! Playing in his first competition after gaining his handicap, Nafeez was just one point behind in 2nd spot. Last man in the 40s was Bennie with a 41. First woman, in 9th spot was Gina. Results…

The wheel literally fell off the men’s handicap secretary today so his 16 points were just for 10 holes – apparently the front wheel came off his electric trolley which would be a challenge if the ground underneath was dry!