The heatwave of the middle of this week made way for spring weather and some tricky gusts of wind. The drops of rain of the last couple of days still were not enough to provide some extra grip on the greens. Landing the ball short of the green and letting it roll on proved tricky too.

Jay followed a steady front 9 (18pts) with an excellent back 9 (21pts). The only other player on 39pts was Tenesi. But her round was the mirror image of Jay: superb on the way out (22pts) and a bit more volatile on the back 9 (17pts). Therefore the countback rule makes Jay the winner of today’s comp. Both players get interesting handicap cuts. Jay’s march to Handicap 3 is on. Three players ended on 38pts. Nigel W had the best back 9 (20pts) so he beats Rick (19pts on the back) and Roger (17pts on the last 9 holes). Richard I completes the Top6 with his score of 37pts. Bennie narrowly misses out on a Top6 spot despite scoring 24pts (!) on the back 9. Results…

Shoutout to Colm for birdieing 2 of the 5 par 3’s today. And another mention to Roger for his 2 on the 13th.

CSS = SSS = 37pts

The Top Dog Trophy leaders are Jay (30pts), Rick K (18pts), Nigel W (12pts), 

Appropriately, the sun beat down on the hottest day of the year for the Midsummer Trophy. Some very good scores but CSS was elevated 2 from SSS.

On top form was Gina with 40 points and this could have been better except for hitting the pin in 2 on 6th and then recording a 5 for 1. Recovering from anger, a beaming Gina professed herself very happy with her game.

Joe G shot another good round 39 points and earned an ESR of -0.5 taking his playing handicap to 12 – well done Joe. Ray played well  for 37 including  ‘Twos’ at 7 and 10.  Richard S shot a solid 36. Results…

On the course, Seymour drove from 3rd hitting one of the white markers AND over the ditch for a workmanlike 4.

The rain of the last couple of days didn’t leave too many traces: the field still enjoyed plenty of bounce and roll on the fairways. The greens could do with more grip. The wind proved tricky at times too.

Two players ended on 40pts. Rhys came out on top thanks to a stronger back 9 (21pts). Late starter Duncan came close (2pts less on the back 9) but has to settle for 2nd. They were followed by 2 players on 39pts. Oliver predicted a good round and he delivered in a big way. A strong back 9 earns him 3rd place. It also moves him a step closer to Cat1. Ray torched the front 9 (23pts). A snowman on the last hole prevented him from breaking into the Top3. Jay continued his good form with another solid round (38pts). Long hitter Bennie completes the Top6. 1st lady today is Tenesi. Results…

CSS: 36pts (Men & Ladies). The Top7 all earn small handicap reductions.

Thunder rumbled and serious rain was not far away so the field (including v. late games) were thankful conditions were not worse.

With April’s and May’s midweek medals decimated by Covid, this was round 2 of 7. Scoring was excellent at the head of the field with no less than 6 glorious 65s.

For the second time in the last few weeks the overall winner was a lady – Ronnie on countback from Messrs. Bergqvist, Rojas, Heinrich, Harrison and Ahad. Still below CSS at 66 were Charlie F, Brian M, and Jay (also lowest gross).
Ollie recorded eagle at 9th. Results…

There was a good sprinkling of ‘Twos’ and a shout-out to Aung for a well-deserved ESR cut of 1 down to 32.8 from 41.1 earlier this year. Aung plays off 30 in our competitions and there’s every confidence he’ll get below this soon.

Jon W illustrated the point that you can blob a couple of holes, staying in buffer zone and not get raised .1.

Finally in the associated Midweek Grand Medal, Jeremy R holds the lead om 139, 4 clear of Seymour and a further shot from Mike J and Tamas. R2 leader board…

Ladies

Continuing the greater interest in golf in these post-Covid times we had 20 ladies playing today.

Playing in her first competition in considerably better weather than she encountered while putting cards in for handicap, Katherina smashed it today with a net 65 and sees her handicap reduced by 1.2 to a new playing handicap of 19. Lia was 3 shots back with a net 68 and also receives a handicap cut of 0.6 but no change to her playing one of 17. Results…

These 2 were the only ones to beat the SSS so CSS remains at 69.

Men

The field enjoyed nice playing conditions. The fairways still offered quite some roll. But the odd bounce here and there could create some havoc.

Today’s winner is early starter Scott with an excellent 64 net. This was the result of a tidy front 9 (39 gross) and a more volatile back 9 (42). Scott’s handicap moves down to 16. Well done. A group of 5 players finished 1 stroke behind today’s winner. So based on the countback rule the rest of the Top6 goes as follows: Brian (+4 gross on the back 9), Damber (+4 gross on the back 9 too), Jay, Pete (he will have nightmares tonight over the 17th and 18th hole) and Toby. The lone player on 66 (net) is Roger but he could’ve leapfrogged all the 65’ers had it not been for an ugly 7 on the 7th hole. Results…

Looks like a lot of players had a card wrecker on their scorecard today (but look on the bright side: there are no pictures on the scorecard). Nick R tried his version of a Dominic Cummings (a shot that goes far but doesn’t go OB). On the 10th his tee-shot didn’t go far (barely made it past the ladies tee) but thanks to the long rough it stayed in play. He somehow made a 4 from that position. Another player teed off on the 16th and played his second shot from next to the 6th green.

CSS: 67

In the Grand Medal Trophy Jay holds a 3 shot lead

Spits and spots developed into more persistent rain for later games. Turnout was good at 62 for the third and final round of the Founders’ Cup. We were back on the full back white tees at last.

Conditions clearly suited Lee who edged Damber on the back 9 countback to win the J Hume trophy on 40 points. (another) late player Luke scored a very creditable third with 39 and Alvaro and Jay on 38. Results…

We are so familiar with Lee and Damber grabbing headlines of late – congrats to both for ESRs of -.5 and -1 respectively following recent negative net differentials.

In the associated Founders’ Cup Lee and Damber tied on 81  and share the cup. New member Joe G took 3rd place 78 from leading lady Julie. R3 leader board…

A Full House to Lee and Damber – with swelling purse balances to boot.

Huge turnout today (83 players). Yesterday’s rain made approaches into the greens less tricky. But the odd bounce here and there on the fairways created some confusion.

Spoils of the day go to Jay: 16 pars, 0 birdies (that must be a first for him) and bogeys on 7 and 17 earn him 39pts. 2nd place goes to the man with a plan, Lee. An excellent front 9 and a birdie on the 10th must have sent his head spinning a bit. 8 holes and 5 dropped shots later he had to settle for 2nd. Still riding high from her win last Wednesday Julie scored 37pts (23pts on the way in). She beats a pack of 3 other players for 3rd place. Her handicap keeps trending down. Keep at it. Mark R, Luke and Tony B matched Julie’s points total. But based on the the countback rule they finish 4th, 5th and 6th respectively. Results…

Some notable bits today:

• Ronnie walked off the 16th with 35pts and some swag. But the endless hunting for Nick and Greg’s and the MC’s Titleist balls drained all her energy. She couldn’t add a single point to her tally.
• Tamas came out all guns blazing and torched the front 9 for 22pts. Roger and Toby had excellent back 9’s (21pts).
• The MC recorded 3 birdies (even missed a birdie put on 12) and still only scored 30pts (Thank goodness there are pictures on the scorecard)

The Top Dog Trophy leaders are Jay 18pts, Rick K 12pts, Lee 8pts, Gunnar 8pts. R2 leader board…

A good field of 56 attended for round 2 of the Midweek Founders’ Cup. Grey and cooler than of late, allowing concentration on golf and with 2/3 balls – first since lockdown. The courses need rain with hard bounces, cracking of some fairways and grass turning brown. Indeed the depression/pond in front of 10th green dried up from flooding earlier in year (** see further below).

It was a lady who won on the day – Julie with 41 points; congratulations and a h’cap chop of 2.0! Damber put in yet another good round, beaten on back 9 with 41. Lee returned excellent 40 and is now playing off 9. Solid scores from Jeremy R, Mark Rs and Tony B. Henry L-B scored eagle at 9th. Results…

In the associated Founders’ Cup after 2 of 3 round (best 2 of 3) Lee holds the advantage on 81 ahead of Joe G 74, Pete Hs and Ryan 73. R2 leader board…

** Paul Gd snapped up a cigarette card on Ebay depicting said depression in 1923 when course opened – see attached with pollarded weeping willows. Front | Back

Ladies

Unusually both rounds were played on Duke’s due to a mix up with Glendale. With 3 ladies on 36 points last week it was expected to be a hard fought campaign in the second week but resulted in a runaway win for Tenesi, proving that a long layoff from golf does not need to wipe out consistency. Following up with 35 points gave her a very comfortable winning margin of 8 from Veronica in 2nd pace. Her fellow co-leaders after the 1st round experienced very different days, with Deb halving her score this week! Results… | Leader board…

Well done to Caroline birdieing our new par 5 on the 8th hole and to Sheena for doing the same on the 12th.

Men

The new course layout keeps testing us. The extra bounce and roll means that quite a few amongst you are hitting short irons into the greens. That would be helpful if the bounces were not that unpredictable..

But enough of that on to honours roll. Rick K eagled the 3rd hole. Even though he ran into some trouble on the 14th hole he came out victorious today. Luke struggled badly last week. But he forgot all about that on the front 9 (+3 gross). His back 9 was a bit more volatile: 1 par, 2 birdies, 1 snowman and a few other bogeys. 2nd place is a small consolation. Kim finished 3rd with a net 72. Luca loses out to the MC on the countback rule. Seymour takes 5th. Sean T completes the Top6. Lowest gross score goes to Pete Hs. Results…

CSS: 71

The Grand Medal Trophy tbc. R2 leader board.

41 players competed for the first round of the Midweek Founders’ Cup in warm but not exceedingly sunny conditions.

Overall, competitors found conditions tough with CSS elevated 1.

A number of players hit the fairways running with new member Jon G returning a magnificent 42 points to win in a round including an ‘8’ at 12th. Lee similarly NRd at 7th with an exceptional 41. Pete Hs’ hand remained firmly on the tiller from recent win with 39. For the literary Chris J it was a good walk spoiled with NRs at 5 & 6 – otherwise > 38pts surely. Brian M returned a solid 37 points. Results…

This was the first competition with sweep after the club has gone ‘cashless’. First 6 men found Sweep credited to their new ‘Competition Purse’.