7 mainly soggy cards were returned from competitors braving the atrocious wind/rain. Congrats to all! With at least one green under water the competition was abandoned for handicapping purposes and there were no exact playing handicap changes. Raymond Esin would have won with 37 but like Michael Choo omitted to sign his card. Honours fell to Paul House with a commendable 32 points followed by Tamas Ladacs 31 and Chris Jones 30. Results…

The impact on the associated Winter Competition was minimal with Peter Harrington leading 110 from Paul House 109. R5 Leader board…

Paul ties with Michael in the Duke’s Eclectic. R3 Leader board…

Ladies

With the forecast predicting (& proving to be correct) rain, sleet or snow for most of the day, all bar a few hardy souls cancelled. Of the 5 who made it to the Park, one didn’t venture forth, two more called it a day after 5 holes, leaving the hardy duo of Susan Smith and Habe Crocker to battle the elements and course to make it round all 18 holes.

Less said about their scoring the better, but with the men reporting flooded greens, the competition was abandoned, but Susan did manage to increase her lead by one shot in the Eclectic as well as finishing ahead of Habe. R3 Leader board…

Men

22 brave/foolish players faced some real winter conditions. Getting out as early possible was the way to go. The flags on some of the greens became surrounded by water deeming the course unplayable. Therefore the Competition Committee had no choice but to make today’s competition a Non-Qualifier. Keith Cassidy posted a respectable score of 35pts to become leader in the clubhouse. Oliver Maskell put together an impressive back 9 (20pts) with birdies on 11 and 18 to overtake Keith with a total of 36pts. Tamas, James, Peter Harrison and Alan complete the Top6. Results… 

Oliver also becomes the new leader in the Winter Competition with 109pts. Alan King matches that score but the countback rule pushes him into second. R4 Leader board…

In round 3 of the Duke’s Eclectic – report due soon. R3 Leader board…

A cold nor’wester chilled competitors to the bone. Gust at times almost blew competitors over. Enter stage right Secretary Peter Harrington who led from the rear in the last game. Peter took full honours:

• Winner 40 points. Results…
• Leader Prince’s Eclectic on 69.5. R2 Leader board…
• Leader Winter Competition on 110. R4 Leader board…
• Joint leader on Men’s SI 1-4 (‘new’ report available on system). Results…

Peter is cut 2 shots 21->19. Jonathan Rivers played well for 38 and Cosmo Liefting-Moore for 37.

Ladies

Three teams of three took to the Princes course for a Texas Scramble. A fine time was had by all, enjoying the absence of rain and wind chill. One team stood head and shoulders above the rest. Congratulations to Sheena, Jane F and Deborah who scored gross 74, net 64. The other teams trailed behind on net 68 and net 69. Sheena continues her winning streak in the Winter team events being on the winning side for the last 3 months. With just one team event to go the ladies are all angling for a spot on Team Sheena! Results…

Men

A big field battled away on a muddy Prince’s course. The stars were clearly aligned for Damian Hackett. It was his 55th birthday today, his beloved New England Patriots, aka cheaters (Spygate, Deflategate), and rugby team won this weekend. Truth be told he did play an excellent round of golf: 36 gross on the front 9 (2 birdies) and 34 on the way in. End result: 70 gross (60 net). Things could even have been better had he not raced his eagle putt past the cup on the 9th (he did 3-putt to make a par …).  Damian’s new handicap now stands at 9.0 and he’s set up himself up for an ESR. Martin Heinrich deservedly finishes 2nd thanks to a wonderful 82 (63 net). Mike Shabani had an excellent front 9 (36 gross) but struggled a bit on the way in. A score of 76 (64 net) earns him 3rd place today. Phil Flanagan, Paul House and Scott Sparks complete the Top6. Results…

CSS: 67

A long list of new handicaps. Please take note of your new handicap. Handicap list…

Whilst muddy underfoot, the sun surprisingly endured. With little wind, conditions were positively spring-like.

Some good scores resulted and it was tight at the top. Michael Choo emerged winner on 39 points – having only dropped two shot through 10th. Richard Owen finished 2nd with 38 whilst Meesrs. House, Rivers, Cepeda and Mason returned 37s. Results…

In the associated Duke’s Eclectic Michael is 1/2 a shot clear from John Curry on 66.0. R2 Leader board…

In the 3rd round of the associated Winter Competition Brett Colley shares the lead with John Curry on 103 points. R3 Leader board…

Ladies

Report due soon. Results…

In the associated Eclectic report due soon. R2 Leader board…

Men

A raw, biting nor’easter persisted through the day mitigated by weak winter sunshine; the going was soft – heavy in places.

Not surprising that CSS was reduced by two from SSS 36 to 34. Some players mastered the conditions so congrats to the winner Danny Deprez 37 followed by Pete Harrison and Oliver Maskell with 35s. Both Danny and Pete receive a cut to playing handicap. Results…

In the associated Winter Competition – Alan King 102 leads from Kerry Sargeant 99. R3 Leader board…

In round 2 of the Duke’s Eclectic Alan Cinnamond leads on 70 from Roger Rojas, Kerry Sargeant and Alan King all with 71. R2 Leader board…

Mud provided challenges but chief challenge was the wind in the aftermath of storm Eleanor. A crisp 67 with a back nine 36 secured Oliver Maskell victory with Chris Jones four behind 71 and Stephen Mason 3rd 72.

The competition was ‘abandoned’ for handicapping purposes by the Committee due to Glendale staff cutting fresh holes during the competition. Under such conditions CSS=SSS with only reductions to handicaps; no handicap changes arose. Results…

A reduced field met with some pretty poor golfing conditions. The rain of the last couple of days had created a lot of casual water on the fairways and in the bunkers. Some of the greens were pretty soaked too (thankfully we didn’t play on Duke’s today).

Damian Hackett decided to finish 2017 on a bang. He went out on 16pts but really came alive on the back. An impressive 21pts on the last 9 holes sent him onto victory today. Mr Steady himself Brian McMahon closed on 36pts together with Toby Hunt and Martin Heinrich. Brian’s 20pts on the back 9 earn him 2nd place. Martin in particular will regret the 18th hole where he probably let victory slip from his grasp. Paul Green and Kerry Sargeant complete the Top6. 1st lady today is Tenesi (33pts). Final shout-out goes to Lia who recovered from a miserable front 9 to net 20pts on her way in. Results…

CSS: 37pts (Men & Ladies). No handicap changes and just one DQ.

Still conditions with early mizzle allowed competitors to focus on their game. James Barker pulled a real cracker of a two under par 68 with 42 points to clinch the competition. His back nine 30 included three birdies for 22 points. Well done indeed James! Sushant Lall was 2nd with 41 points and Alan King had a great round but blobbed 18 for 40 in 3rd position. Jayne Maxwell led for the ladies with 38 points with Lesley Mason a point behind. Results…

James has an unassailable lead in the Wednesday Birdie Tree 2017 and is challenged to birdie 13 or 18 (either course). Results…

A big field braved arctic temperatures. Play was even delayed for 20 minutes because of the fog. The early starters also had to deal with frozen greens. The greens were defrosted when Oliver Maskell went out. So he barely had any excuses for using up 11 (!) putts on the first … 3 holes.

Peter Osgood bounced and skated his way to the clubhouse lead with 36pts (just 16pts on the back 9). Taking a picture of the Christmas hamper (that actually belonged to Putney Park) was a classic case of hubris by the clubhouse leader. The challenge had to come from the late morning starters. The tandem of Heinrich and Karakaneva felt pretty comfortable in the icy conditions. Superior back 9’s allowed both of them to push Peter Osgood off first place. Steve Cross scored 18pts on the back 9 to relegate Peter to his final spot of 5th. Alan King’s tally of 35pts earned him 6th place. Today’s winner came from the very last game. Anis Driaa was the only player to play better than his handicap. 37pts (19 out and 18 in) earn him victory today. The ladies didn’t really enjoy today’s conditions: the next lady is Jayne Maxwell in 10th place. 3rd lady is Lia back down in 22nd place. Results…

CSS: 35pts (Men & Ladies)

An impressive list of handicap changes. Please take note of your new handicaps.

Finally:

• Barry: the blue scorecard box belongs to Putney Park! Our scorecards go in the green box!
• Ray: it would be good to once in a while sign your scorecard
• There even was a player who left his scorecard in the green box without recording his score on the computer. I know you all want to do your Christmas shopping but it literally takes 2 minutes to record your score on the PC (unless you record the stableford points instead of your number of strokes, correct Joan? The stableford score did look quite impressive it has to be said).