A good turnout for New Year’s Day [44] with the gates opening 09:00 . It remained dry although due rain previous day(s) 2 temporary greens on 5 and 11 meant the round non-qualifying for handicap.

As with last Sunday, a clear leader emerged to win the plate -Rannesh with 42 points – 24 out and 18 back [with a ‘blob’ at par 3 10th so could have been even better] – well done indeed.. Will and Peter G challenged with 38s, then 34 from Adrian and 6 33s including best woman Gina.

With the predicted band of morning rain falling on the course between 7.30am and 11am, it was decided to slightly delay the start and to reduce the competition to a 10 holes (only) shoot out. This proved to be the right decision with a full complement of players venturing out, hardly any rain during play and sunshine for the final holes.

There was really “nothing in it” when it came to scoring, all teams posting good scores in the windy conditions on a wet Duke’s course. The winning (and slowest !!) team of Paul Green, Ian Burgess, Seymour Laird and Duncan Taylor (46 points) pipped the 2nd place team of Jayne Maxwell, Richard Owen, Charlie Whiteman and Rannesh Jansari on a last 6 holes countback. Just one point behind were Brian Ransom, Pat Barbour, Adrian Wells and Pralab Barua, ruing their missed putts. Rannesh scored the only birdie (10th).

End of year complementary drinks (mainly Guinness) was enjoyed by the participants in the sun on the terrace afterwards (see photo).

A small field didn’t really enjoy the best golfing conditions. The apocalyptic rains didn’t materialise. But the wind created a serious chill factor.

Chris Newman is the runaway winner today. A blob on the 7th didn’t prevent him from recording 19pts on the front 9. His back 9 was even better. His score could’ve been outstanding had it not been for a bogey-bogey-bogey finish. 39pts in these conditions was a remarkable result. Only Alan finished within reasonable distance. An excellent front 9 (21pts) was followed by a more volatile back 9 (16pts). Thanks to an excellent score on the way in Susan is first lady today. Unfortunately she didn’t sign up for the sweep. Julian was able to increase his purse a bit thanks to a 4th place. Ray is the last to earn some credits.

Please find attached a PDF report of the results, Sweep payouts, Best Score Analysis, Competition Scoring Analysis (Today’s shockers: hole 14 played as SI 5 and hole 16 as … SI 3) and final 2022 rankings for Birdie/Eagle Tree.

Happy New Year

20 players took advantage of tee-times from approx. 09:00 negotiated with Glendale for a festive Boxing Day round.

Conditions proved more difficult to score with PCC settling at +1 – but this didn’t seem to impair the runaway winner Pier Maria Micucci with 39 points – 20 out and 19 back with 9 level pars; 3 33s chased with Oz leading on countback from Adrian Mancebo and Pat Barbour (all had 3 or more ‘blobs’ [so much in reserve].

Queen of the par 3s was Cheryl – 13 points for the 5 of them.

The club had placed a tab behind the bar which it is hoped was taken advantage of for a festive tipple.

An already small field just before Xmas was further reduced by a band of heavy rain falling at the park between 7am and 11am. However the 5 hardy souls who lingered to play after the rain subsided were blessed with a round in mild, sunny conditions on a soddon Prince’s course..

The clear winner, Brian Ransom (38 points) would, on initial inspection, seemed to have had a ‘steady’ round, 19 points out and 19 points back. However on closer inspection, his back 9 started with 2 blobs and finished with the last 5 holes played at 1 under par (birdie on the 15th). Rannesh Jansari in 2nd (35 points) had his nose in front until Brian’s late burst blew him away.

After a week of polar temperatures and occasional snow the Duke’s course re-opened for the MW Pairs comp played as US Greensomes stableford, with 2 temporary greens (5th & 11th) on a wet course.  It was an enjoyable romp in mild, dry conditions with the bookies favourites posting a clear win (by 3 points) with drinks and mince pies in the clubhouse afterwards.

Cheryl/Richard took full advantage of the “generous” shot  allowance afforded all the teams with women (3 extra shots). On the 4 holes that they had 2 shots, they recorded a total of 10pts. Zoom out and we learn that they scored 23pts on the front 9 and 22pts on the back 9. An unbeatable target for the rest of the field. Gina/Jon Cooper had only one blemish on their scorecard. Both of their tee-shots on the 3rd ended up in quite a bit of trouble. But they still posted a solid score on the front 9 (20pts). An excellent score of 22pts made up for those soft opening 9 holes. Despite a couple of very close putts on the last 3 holes they were able to hold off 2 other pairs who also ended with 42pts.

Peter/Brian are the last pair to finish “in the money”. 

Courses closed due to snow.

The course is currently closed and competition cancelled due snow.

Sadly this much anticipated competition had to be cancelled when the klaxon sounded at 9.30 to close the course as the fog rolled in.