A slightly chilly start turned into a lovely warm Spring day, with players progressively ‘stripping off’ during their rounds. The course was packed with ‘weekend golfers’ and Glendale finally had their new Halfway House open for business.

Scoring conditions proved difficult for most of the field, with not much run on the course, due to yesterday’s heavy rain, and small fairways reducing the benefit of ‘pick and place’. Also, for the men, playing off the white tees made the course considerably longer.

Our winner, John Ahad (36 points), coped best with 16 out and 20 points in, finishing strongly with 3 pars and blobs on the 8th and 12th. Sam Williams (35 points) was second playing a very steady round, 20 points out and 15 in, with just one blob on the 10th. Uli was third (33 points), 17 out and 16 points in – could have challenged more strongly but for 2 blobs in the last 5 holes. It was good to have the men’s and women’s club champions, Richard Back and Sylvia Bortoli, playing with us – both had 2 birdies.

Sweep payout to the top 3 (£13, £8, £4)

If you keep in mind that last year’s winning score was 61 (FYI: that score was posted by the Women’s Captain) we could state that this year’s scoring was a bit underwhelming (makes me think of Rosamund Pike who said that it is strange that people are either over- or underwhelmed but never whelmed …). Or as the MC said: the course record on Princes is safe …

Pete Needham posted an excellent front 9 (39 gross). He was seriously rattled on the 10tth (an ugly 7). But he recovered remarkably with a birdie on the next hole. That enabled him to record a score of 38 (gross) on the back 9. Good enough for a score of 78 (gross – 64 Nett). 3 people finish 1 shot back on 65 (Nett). Richard had the best back 9 of those 3. Toby took advantage of Cuneyt’s mishaps on the 13th to take 4th. Peter F finishes 5th. Last year’s winner put up a valiant defence of her title by claiming 6th. Lots of birdies on the 4th hole (that hole played as SI 18 today). Jay managed to record 4 birdies today. Finally Richard B eagled the 9th.

Considering the amount of recent rain, Prince’s was quite playable with wet mud in just a few places.

Overall, the course played more difficult than expected with a PCC of +2.
No fewer than 4 payers returned 36 points with Hieu Van the winner on bck 3 countback from Pete M (another good consistent score), Wonil and Cuneyt ( who must rue blob on par 3 4th. Paul Kammerling tied with Cuneyt for front 9 – 18 points.

Ross led the chase on 34 points from Tony K and Paul K; congrats to Ross on securing 4th men’s Sunday eagle at 17th – as per attached.

A small field didn’t enjoy the best playing conditions. The rain of the last couple of days rendered the course really muddy. That mud, thicker air and changing winds reduced the carry on numerous holes. On top of that the greens were too wet to get cut. So judging the pace of the greens was delicate too.

The early starters take (most of) the honours today. Joe recorded a timely birdie on the 18th. That enabled him to record 20pts on the back 9. Add that to 19pts on the front 9 and you get today’s winning score. Ross, another early starter, had a solid front 9 (20pts). But an ugly bogey on the 18th prevented him from leapfrogging Joe. Pralab put together a solid round to claim 3rd (good thing the score of his 1st round was upheld – more on that later). PaulG is the last to earn some credits. Mayumi is first lady today. Believe that Peter Goodall managed the feat of recording more birdies than pars today …

Aggregate MW Spring Stableford

Pralab was the most consistent of the field over 2 rounds. 37pts today and 38pts last week make the winning score. Kim lost the plot over 4 holes on the back 9 and finishes 2nd. 

British Summer Time commenced in good British fashion with rain for much of the morning reducing the field quite considerably

Women

The second week of the Women’s Spring Meeting is traditionally a 4BBB event. Today was no exception and most of the field on the start sheet duly turned up on a day when we’d lost an hour of sleep and were scheduled out earlier than usual…Very impressive!! As was the decision of everyone to abandon the event but go ahead with early refreshments and prize giving – though chips at 9.00 didn’t somehow seem appropriate.

Prizes for the winter eclectics, monthly team events and last week’s stableford event were handed out to the winners and all present were given a waterproof marker pen as a gift for turning up and to ensure they have something to mark their balls with during the summer.

Men

Persistent rain greeted players for British Summer Time, reducing numbers for 2nd round of Spring Stableford.

In the senior division Pete Malla off HI15 again shot an excellent 41 points (22 out, 19 back); 6 ahead of Joe 35 with Tamas 34.

The early clubhouse leader was Cuneyt in junior division 37 points but he was joined by eventual winner on countback Ian B. Paul R and Martin H followed with 34s

The aggregate over 2 rounds shows winner of R1 & R2 Pete Malla winner of senior division from Toby 70 and Tamas 69. In the junior, Cuneyt held on to win scoring 69 from Ian B and Alan K 68s.

The weather forecast was pretty much spot on and the early starters had the best of the day. Morning sunshine gave way to heavy rain showers blown through on a strong south-westerly wind. After about 2 hours rain, rounds finished in the dry (just about), with dark stormy skies of rain, hail and thunder all around.

Last-minute entrant Cuneyt Sazer stole the day with a stunning 43 points, 22 out and 21 in, in fact he had 29 points after the first 11 holes. Consistent throughout but his one-putting from distance on 5 or 6 holes was the backbone to his score – a priviledge to behold. Rannesh (37 points) came 2nd with birdies on the first 2 holes and an unlikely ‘blob’ on the 18th. Pralab had the best of the weather and probably finished before it even started to rain, his 35 points makes him 3rd and last of the sweep winners.

Payout £9, £5, £3

Conditions were fairly tricky. The field experienced little roll on the fairways and receptive greens. There was also quite a bit of casual water. And it looks like swirling winds became stronger during the course of the day. The early starters must have faced the occasional drizzle. Based on the scoring the late starters fared better in today’s conditions.

Richard N and Pralab were among the late starters. But both of them had solid rounds. Richard N’s back 9 was excellent (22pts). That score enabled him to squeeze out today’s win. Yours truly’s round was the mirror image of RN: 22pts (front 9) and 17pts (back 9). He had a huge slice of good luck on the 10th. But that was offset by a freak incident with the pin on the 16th. His bogey putt hit the bottom of the pin and bounced straight back to him. Russell had 3 birdies on the front 9 to take 4th place. Ian and Stephen complete the Top6. First lady/woman today is Gina.

All to play for in Round 2 next week.