Conditions looked pretty tricky to play golf. But somehow a lot of players fared pretty well. Would distance matter after all? Looks like the extra roll proved quite beneficial. Hoisting the ball up in the air and landing angles from 45 degrees or more was not the way to go. Putting on ice was an added complication.

Mike J went out early again today. He went out in 32 Net (45 Gross). A couple of DBs on the first 2 par 3’s on the back 9 didn’t look pretty on the scorecard. Thanks to timely pars on 14 and 18 he finished on 30 Net. That mark proved to big of a hurdle for most of the field. A few late(r) starters did challenge in the end. Richard N matched Mike’s 62. But a Triple on 13 and a DB on …the last hole were his undoing. Tough to finish 4th on countback. Julian J trumped the other members of the 62 club. He also finished on 30 Net on the back 9. But a par on 13 and a birdie on 18 swung the countback balance in his favour. 2nd place is his reward. But star of the day was Peter F. He went out in 31 Net and just like the gang of 62 came back in 30 Net. Great scoring in these conditions.  Shout out to Umran for recording an eagle on the 9th.   

Although still officially closed Glendale kindly allowed the club to play on a restricted number of holes on Duke’s. The weather had not allowed for the fairways to be mown, but everyone was impressed with both the tees and the greens. The 16 holes comprised 1-10, a repeat of 7-10, 14 & 18. Possible because it was just a relatively small number of games, although congestion for the repeat holes did build at one stage.

Women

The 5 women who played had their own competition with Susan taking the honours on 34 points, 5 ahead of Jayne and swelling her purse with the mega win. Pat made her first return to golf with her new knee and although scoring wasn’t to her usual high standard after 8 months off, she was inspired to renew her Glendale card.

Men

A dry day after wrecking rains of the past few weeks; the sun came out around midday. Winter rules were extended to a club length’s relief anywhere on the course.

An exceptional round from Brendan clinched victory with 45 overall and for the junior division; a somewhat distant 12 points away was Gunnar on 33 points and Tony K 31 on countback 31 from Julian.
The senior division was won by Kerry with a fine 34 [blob on 4th] on countback from Robert C, Peter A and Paul K.
Unsurprisingly with his 45, Brendan took first 9 honours (25) and back 7 (20).

A cold and cloudy day but no longer the frozen ground of Wednesday, it stayed dry and there seemed less mud on the fairways.

Texas Scramble competitions often yield good scores and very close results and today was no exception. The winning team of Charles, Bill, Alex and Uli had a gross 64, net 57 (4 under par), just one stroke (net) less than the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, who had gross 65 and 66 strokes, respectively. The winners had 6 birdies and 2 bogeys, spread evenly over the front and back 9s. The 2nd place team of Richard O., Rannesh, James and Chris had one birdie and 1 bogey on the front 9 and then 4 birdies and one bogey on the back 9. The 3rd placed team of Graham, Robert, Niel and Julian had the best front 9 of any team (3 birdies and no bogeys), but just one more birdie on the back 9, together with two bogeys. Everyone enjoyed the format and sweep money goes to the winning team (£4 each).

27 brave golfers gathered at the park today for 18 holes of golf on ice. Conditions must have been really “icy” for the 7am starters.

As per usual Mike set the target to beat with 35pts. And his score help up for quite a while. Should come as no surprise that the 9am starters took advantage of the “softer” conditions. Peter F started his round with a sequence of 4 3-pointers on the first 4 holes (over 18 holes he managed to record 8 3-pointers). He ended the front 9 with 20pts (Best Score today). 18pts on the back 9 put him 2pts clear of the field. Julian was the better of the players on 36pts. His better back 9 (18pst v 17pts) gives him second place. Dave will regret the 10th and 16th hole (he only scored 1pt on those 2 holes combined). Leader in the clubhouse Mike J was the best of 6 players on 35pts. The Men’s Secretary takes the last “Money Spot. The MW Captain Brian R managed to record 33pts despite 3 PU’s on the back 9.

MW Standings (purely as FYI)
Julian J 109, Robert C 108, Mike J 102, Graham C 101

MW Princes Eclectic
Robert C 65.9, Julian J 66.4, Mike J 69.6

A bright and sunny start for round 3 of the winter comp. on Prince’s and first Sunday 2024; cold but dry after recent rains and with 6 temps.

Women

Doesn’t look like the 2 putt rule helped anyone much apart from Reiko who appears to have liked the mud and found no problems at all. Winning by some 6 points from Silvia.

Think the rest of us probably took heart from it being a sunny, if cold, day after all the rain and enjoyed that if we didn’t find too much to enjoy from the golf – though Doreen kicks off the birdie tree for the women with her 2 on the 2nd.

Despite not playing today, Gina remains 5 shots clear of everyone in the accompanying eclectic

Men

Best scoring points came from the junior division -Giovanni 41, Pat D 39, Oz 39 and Mark L 38; Giovanni scored a remarkable 23 on first 9 with Oz 22.
Senior division winner was Kerry 36 on countback from Richard Smith also 36 and Tamas 35.
2nd hole proved fruitful for ‘Twos’ from Peter N, Pat D and Oz.

The round constituted 3rd round of the Winter Competition showing Tamas the senior leader on 108, Kerry 106 and Paul Kamerling 104; the junior division is headed by Oz 109 7 clear from Suhail, Onursal and Gerard 102. The associated Prince’s Eclectic reveals Peter N in lead 65 with 4 on 67 – Umran, Richard Smith, Julian and Roger.

Weather conditions forced the field to play Princes. 7 temporary greens were a vivid memory of the amount of rain that has come our way the last couple of months.

Mike J seems pretty comfortable with the current conditions. He recorded 19pts on the temporary greens (perhaps the 2-putt rule helped – FYI 14pts would be a respectable result).  When zooming out it stands out that he torched the front 9 for 23pts (!!). 4 for 4pts on the 3rd didn’t hurt. An ugly PU on th 15th rbiefly halted his march to victory. Add 16pts on the back 9 to his score on the front 9 and you get a winning tally of 39pts. Chris R had a solid round (18+19pts). 3 1-pointers on the front 9 and a PU on the 11th limit his score to 37pts and 2nd place. Niel B and Adrian finish 1pt back. Niel records 19pts on the back 9. This allows him to take 3rd place. Adrian had an excellent front 9 (21pts). But his softer back 9 means he has to settle for 4th.

Competition Scoring Analysis revealed (surprisingly) the 10th played as SI1 today.

A rather cold and windy day, but at least dry. Scoring was pretty good for most of the field. Rannesh and Julian led the field, tied on 39 points, with Rannesh sealing the countback win with a birdie on the 18th. Adrian and Aiden took 3rd and 4th places respectively, both on 37 points. Sweep payout to the top two £10 & £6.

15 brave/mad golfers faced swirling/gusting winds, sleeze and mud.

 I think Stu will ask Santa Claus for a manual on how to play an opening hole. His round started with a 7 and a 4. But he recovered with a birdie on 5 to finish with 20pts on the front 9. His back 9 was rocked with a DB on the 10th. The bogey on 12 was cancelled by a birdie on 14. 19pts on the back 9 still make for a decent day at the office. Aidan matched Stu’s score. But he let victory slip away on the tricky 16th. A DB on that hole means Aidan loses out on countback. 17pts on the front and 19pts on the way in allow Pete F to finish 3rd. Charles and Chris R finish on the same score. But Pete’s last 6 holes were a little better than Charles’ scores. Chris finishes in 5th place since he  “only” scored 16pts on the back 9.

Happy New Year. See you in 2024.

A dry, cloudy and increasingly breezy shortest day of the year, with the usual 5 temporary greens in play on Prince’s.

Scoring was incredibly good by all 3 teams and very close in terms of gross scores (66, 67 & 67), so the result was down to the handicap allowances.

The winning team of Charles, Julian, Peter and Richard Norden had a nett 57 (3-under gross 67) with 4 birdies and just one bogey. Team Rannesh, James, Adrian and Neil, in 2nd place, had a nett 58 (4-under gross 66) with a more exciting (erratic ?) round which included 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. Cheryl, Brian, Justin and Richard Owen had the most consistent round, 3 birdies and 15 pars for a nett 60 (gross 67). All 3 teams birdied the 4th hole. Purse payout to the winning team (just £3 each ! ).

Weather forced the field to move to the Princes course. The downpour of the last days/weeks/months still forced the greenkeepers to maintain a lot of temporary greens. All in all the field were pleasantly surprised to play a “competitive round of golf”. All things considered playing conditions were not as bad as feared. Turns out that a few competitors weren’t totally in sync with the correct SI’s.

Runaway winners today were Adrian and Julian. 22pts on the front was only matched by Pat/Andre. But they did create the difference with a stellar … 26pts on the back 9. A stableford score of 26pts looks as follows: 1*4pts, 6*3pts and 2*2pts. Dark horses Robert/Mike were the lone pair teeing off before 8am. Inevitably they would be leaders in the clubhouse. But they also did set to bar pretty high for the rest of the field. An 8 on the 9th limited their score on the front 9 to (just) 20pts. A birdie on 17 offset a 6 on the 10th. Their rally of 24pts on the back enables them to finish 2nd. As mentioned Pat/Andre demolished the front 9 with 26pts (they even PU’ed the 7th …) A 7 on the 12th halted their advance on the back 9. The Harringtons finish just off the podium.