The rain of the last few days left its mark: competitors faced muddy fairways, some casual water in bunkers and fairly receptive greens. Roger Rojas was one of the early starters and laid down the marker with an excellent score of 39pts (he will regret his score on the 18th hole though. Stunningly his score was only good enough for … 6th place today. No less than five competitors managed to record 40pts.

5th place goes to Luke Baker who keeps up his excellent form (FYI: he finished second last week). Paul Grand just edged Luke thanks 19pts on the back 9. Paul B will have mixed feelings about his round: he would’ve taken 40pts and a par on the 16th hole on any given day. However today: that tally only leads to 3rd place and to make things worse he is beaten a) on countback by b) none other than … Val. She did a Paul Brown and let victory slip away with an untidy bogey on the 16th. Nigel Ward’s excellent back 9 (11pts on the last 4 holes) enable him to leapfrog Val into 1st. The whole 40-gang get sizeable handicap cuts. Results…

Please also note that Tony Kopczak went from hero (winner last week) to zero in just 7 days. Exit polls seemed to indicate that Captain and Secretary ended in a tie …

CSS: 37pts (Men & Ladies)

Benign but seasonably muddy conditions prevailed for the field of 31 competitors. Jon Cooper posted a winning 37 points to win the midweek Champagne Chase in his valedictory round at RP (after circa 33 years) with 37 points from a strong 36pts from Angela Flynn. Keith Cassidy and Tamas Ladacs shared honours on 35 points. Results…

On a day where the UK political situation shared characteristics of an embittered banana republic, the important question arose: did the presence of swans on the clubhouse pond spell curtains for Canadian Geese?

CSS remained at SSS.

Weather proved to awful for the 8.00am starters. Strong winds, muddy fairways, uneven greens were met by brief and heavy showers. It won’t come as a surprise that scoring proved to be tricky for the field.

Roger Rojas recovered from seeing his Man City lose to Chelsea yesterday to take the clubhouse lead with 35pts. Lee Marshall saw his round of solid golf rewarded with 36pts. Change of the clubhouse lead after just two completed games. Rain means that Tony Kopczak will show up with his blue Inspector Gadget coat. The trick seemed to work. A wobble on the 1st hole was immediately offset by a birdie on the 2nd. Another wobble followed when it took him 3 shots on the 8th just to get his ball … past the ladies tees. 19pts on the way out were followed by an identical score on the back 9. He even tried to be too smart for his own good. Sensing a good score he tried to manage his handicap by professionally messing up the 18th. He didn’t take into account that CSS would move (see below). As a result Inspector Gadget’s handicap gets cut by 1.2 strokes down to 18. Luke Baker, who was in the same flight, didn’t fare too well in the rain. Once the waterproofs came off he put on a clinic on the back 9: 24pts. He also skilfully messed up the 18th. Still good enough for 37pts and 2nd place. Anis Driaa matched Roger’s score and since both players recorded identical number of points on the way in the computer had to pick the player to finish 5th. HandicapMaster decided that Anis would finish ahead of Roger. The software developer must be a Chelsea fan or dislike Man City fans … HLB closes out the Top6. Results…

Other note: 2019 Men’s Captain Nigel Gaymond’s ambition for today was to complete one round without swearing. Unfortunately he pulled his tee-shot on the 1st into the trees on the left. Hacking out proved to be too tricky and a few 4-letter words soon followed … Outgoing Captain NR claims he could’ve avoided a +0.1. But he too got fixated by a static CSS. To use his words: If I’d tried harder on the back 9 I could’ve …

Only one lady stayed within her buffer. Rumour has it that a skilful display on the greens helped Sheena pull off that feat.

How tricky were conditions? Only 6 (!) out of 47 players stayed in their buffer. CSS: 34pts (Men & Ladies)

Threatened rain held back to allow some good scoring for the last midweek medal of 2018. An excellent 64 from an improving Jeremy Prescott decisively won the medal with Pralab Barua second and Bruno Clercx having best gross and third on countback from Richard Hodgkinson net 69s.

Jeremy’s 64 follows club captain Nick’s (and Jay Barker’s) inspiring 64 on Sunday. Best lady was Ann Gardner with a buffer-zone 72. Results…

CSS remained at SSS.

Ladies

The first of the team events coincided with the start of the new lady captain’s reign and a customary drive-in started the day. Deborah Potter, the new LC hit a perfect shot down the centre of the fairway, probably she was the most surprised! A drive-out was also included for the outgoing LC as she’d missed her own drive-in, obviously now in more relaxed mode, hers went close to the tree on the left.

The team event was a Texas scramble with two teams of four and one of three, and not only were the shot allowances close, but so were the results. Despite having four chances on each hole, it was the three man (lady) team to record the only birdie of the day. Both teams of score had gross 73s, but the captain’s team of Deborah, Alison, Val & Sheena prevailed courtesy of their additional 0.2 handicap allowance. Results…

Men

This week’s rain clearly left its mark on the Prince’s course. Muddy fairways, sticky/slower greens that turned out to be pretty uneven too in some occasions. Kudos to Jay for rediscovering his mojo. 69 gross was a welcome result after a couple of tough(er) weeks. Three birdies (one of them on the 7th and another one on the 13th) were the testament of a very good round of golf. Caleb Mills and Oliver Maskell netted excellent scores to claim spots in the Top6. Steady Brian McMahon and resurgent Jim Fogarty (who will regret the last 3 holes – he actually did a “Paul Brown” on the 16th …) complete the Top6. Nick Rogers made the golfing headlines for the right reasons on this occasion. A double bogey 6 on the first seemed to settle his nerves rather than rattle him. A solid front 9 was followed by an excellent back 9. Countback awards victory to the soon to be former Men’s Captain. Well done! Results…

CSS: 69 (14 out of 42 remained in their buffer)

Somewhat iffy conditions were forecast but 31 competitors turned out for the fun ‘Waltz’ team event. Wind gradually increased to very blustery but just spits and spots.

Interestingly, first place went to the first game – Jon Ramphul, Susan Hempsell and Philp Taggart with a combined total of 70 points whilst second place went to the last game – Charlie Renton, Dylan Merchant and Jack Evans 7 behind – 67 points.

Doppelgängers at random of Peters Harrington and Jagger were assigned to 2-man teams of Tony Bennett/Mike Sands and Mitchell Cohen/John Maxwell. Results…

Ladies

At times it was hard to see the ball in the air as it merged into the overhead greyness on a drear & chilly day. With a touch of déjà vu, the results for 1st & 2nd place are the same as last week but this time both scored 37 points. In a twist though Caroline Stilwell switched her best 9, with 21 on the back 9 to beat Cheryl Woodhouse’s consistent 18 and 19. Third place was also hotly contested with both Fiona Coombe and Tenesi Karakaneva on 36, with Fiona recording the better back 9. Results…

CSS remained at 36 points.

Men

The field faced cold(er) conditions. Maybe it was a foregone conclusion that “Northeners” would thrive in these conditions. The first “Northener”, Keith Cassidy, laid down the mark with a solid score of 37pts (birdies on 9, 13 and 17 didn’t hurt). Henry LB overtook Keith. But his round was quite eventful: he dropped a “silly” shot on the 8th by hitting the ball with his putter during his practice stroke. And on the 17th his hybrid landed in the bunker and it took him 4 more shots to finish that hole. Alexander Krasnenkov played a solid round of golf to record 37pts. Richard Inglis’ back 9 could’ve been even better were it not for his no score on the 17th. Chris Lordan played a strong back 9 (19pts) to finish in the Top6. As mentioned before the conditions did seem to favour “Northeners” and Christer Larsson delivered. 41pts make him today’s winner. Christer’s handicap gets cut by a massive 2.2 strokes. He also receives an ESR of 0.5. Therefore his new handicap stands at 26.4. Well done! Jon Cooper managed to record two 2’s (7th and 16th). Results…

Ladies

A reminder that we are in November today, with a cold wind taking a lot of warmth out of the sun. After the additional run of the ball during the long hot summer, remembering that more club is required is a definite requirement. Looks like only 3 ladies achieved this and with them no more than a shot apart and the winner on 37 points, CSS went to 36.

In 1st place was Caroline Stilwell who shot 22 points on the front 9 and was looking set for a good score on the back 9, but finished with scoring 15 after the 16th, blobbing both 17 & 18. She is rewarded with 0.4 cut in handicap to take her back to 21 after spending several weeks on 21.5. Cheryl Woodhouse continues her recent run of form with 36 points and 2nd place. Results…

One further shot back was Habe Crocker; she leaps to a 6 shot lead on 75 in the accompanying Eclectic after the first round. R1 Leader board…

Men

The field met some nippy weather, cool breezes and some very unappealing pin positions. The one on the 16th was particularly brutal.

Today was really a tale of two halves. The early morning starters struggled badly. Caleb Mills was the only one of the 8.00am starters to play his handicap. His score of 37pts was good enough for take the clubhouse lead. Scoring proved to be so bad that around 1.30pm CSS was estimated to be 35pts! (For a reminder: SSS for Prince’s is 37pts). Thankfully the 9.00am starters put on a better show. Three players matched Caleb’s score. 20pts on the back 9 vaulted Sean Thomas into 1st place. Caleb holds onto 2nd. Gunnar Sundberg confirmed to his recent good form and captured 3rd place. Ollie Griffin was the last member of the 37-gang and finishes 4th. Jon “steady” Cooper had an excellent back 9 to claim 5th place and Julian James completes the Top6. Results…

A few bits and pieces:

• Nigel Ward, Tony Kopczak and Mike as per usual went out together and all three of them recorded the same number of points. What a coincidence …
• Captain Nick made it past the ladies’ tees with his 1st shot on all the holes …
• Roger’s round was all or nothing: he recorded 3 birdies but the rest …

CSS: 37pts

After 2 rounds Tamas Ladacs is the leader of the 2019 Winter Competition with 69pts. R2 Leader board…

Round 1 of the Prince’s Eclectic– report due soon. R1 Leader board…

Mild, bright and breezy conditions prevailed for the first round of the Midweek Winter competition. Alexander Krasnenkov shot a convincing 41 points to win the round from John Curry 37. Countbacks settled Toby Hunt, Oliver Khan and Jonathan Rivers with 36s. Cheryl was best placed lady 33. Results…

CSS was unchanged from SSS at 36pts, both Men and Ladies.

In the associated Duke’s Eclectic positions are reversed with John 74.0 leading Alexander 74.5 with James Barker making an early move 75.5. R1 Leader board…

Ladies

There were only 6 survivors from the original start sheet, but those who withdrew because of the weather were probably kicking themselves when the day turned out to be gloriously sunny & dry, if a little wet underfoot in places.

Habe & Sheena should probably have joined them, but the remaining four adjusted quite easily to the new soggier conditions. With 3 of the 4 in their buffer zones against SSS, the small field adjustment came into force resulting in CSS going to 37, pushing all but Val Riziotis with 34 points and today’s winner, out of their buffers. Results…

Positions of 1st and 2nd are reversed after the first round of the accompanying Eclectic, with Jayne Maxwell leading the way. A result of the half handicap allowance. R1 Leader board…

Men

42 players weren’t scared off by the weather forecast and the prospect of soaked greens and muddy fairways. Truth be told the course held up pretty well: the fairways offered no roll and the greens were very receptive. Some of the bunkers had some casual water. The wind made things pretty tricky too.

Barry Page went out (really) early and recorded a superb 41pts (19pts out & 22pts in). As a result Barry’s new handicap drops to 15. Pete Harrison put up excellent numbers: 18pts on the way out and 21pts on the way in to finish second with 39pts. Bruno “Rain Man” Clerckx proved again that he’s at his best in wet conditions. 20pts on the way in offset an untidy front 9 (17pts). 3rd place is his based on the countback rule. James Anslow and Damian Hackett netted 37pts too. Jeremy Thompson closes out the Top6 with 36pts. Results…

Captain Nick Rogers’ day was made up from a high (eagle on the 17th) and a couple of lows (it took him two shots to make it past the ladies’ tee on the 15th and another unspecified hole).

CSS: 36pts. 14 players remained within their buffer zone.

Round 1 of the Duke’s Eclectic – report due soon. R1 Leader board…