Sunshine and varying showers were the order of the day for the challenging bogey format for Fred Hawtree trophy. Major shower just after 3 o’clock.
The oak tree between 4th and 16th had been felled- see attached photos.

I always think it is good golf to be tied (all square’ in old money) but some astonishing golf was played by those ‘Up’, notably winner Giles Rawlinson 7 up and Alan Cobb 6 up.
Very early starter Mitch Cohen was laeader in clubhous for some time 4 up from Rob Dykes.

Best woman was Julie Ryan – Tied

Peter Goodall with 2 birdies was 5 up on front 9 whilst Giles held honours on back 9 . again 5 up.

There was a hint of autumn in the air today with that wind being a touch chilly.

Women

Some new names at the top of the tree today.
Sarita playing in her first competition with us is today’s winner with a nett 66 & another cut to her HI. 4 shots behind were Elisabeth and Bridget.

Take care playing the 18th – Elisabeth was hit a glancing blow to her ear and seems fortunate to have got away quite lightly.

Both will also get small HI reductions overnight.

The sun only seemed to make a proper appearance after we’d finished. But the ball is still running though there is a touch more give in the ground and amazingly the 14th & 15th fairways seemed to show a lot of improvement.

Looking at the scoring today there were some 22 quadruple or worse scores on various holes between us & not one birdie.

Men

Conditions remained dry but breezy and green grass areas continued to expand for the 7th round of Grand Medal Trophy.

In the senior division Adrian Wells net 61 was leader on countback from Kerry Sargeant; well done to both – Adrian kept a six off his card with one birdie whilst Kerry returned 3 birdies. Early starter Russell, Roger Rojas and Richard Smith shared 64s.
Zach score an eagle at 9th!

In the junior division Goran had lowest net of the day 60 finishing a superb round with a back 9 38. Pete Malia had a commendable net 65.

In the cumulative Grand Medal Trophy with just 1 round to go, James A leads senior division 34 from Paul Kamerling and Kerry Sargeant 343s.

There’s an exciting finish coming up for the junior division — Julin J, Goran are tied 327 with the author chasing on 337.

Although quite a few of the Friday regulars were away playing golf or on holiday, there was still a good turnout with most members playing to scores around their handicap and the top 6 separated by only 3 points.

Top of the pile with 40 points was Uli Katte, playing his usual very steady round with 11 pars and only one double bogey (on the 18th). Tied on 39 points were Richard Young (following up on his excellent winning round on Wednesday) and Julian James, with Richard just winning on countback. In 4th place (38 points) was Pralab, who had a very ‘ordinary’ front 9, but a good final few holes which included 2 birdies.

The Best Scores Analysis show that Bridget had the best front 9 (21 points), Pralab and Giles had the best back 9s (21 points) and that Tim Rose matched Pralab’s 2 birdies.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£9, £6, £4, £2)

Very breezy conditions persisted for the 2nd round of the Midweek Club Championship; despite no rain in the last week green grass patches expanded.

In the net for the day, Richard Young put into action all recent tips to win with a marvellous 64. He was chased by José Manuel Gomez and Rob Smyth 65s (Rob shooting 2 over par gross 73 with 5 birdies); José had 2 10s but otherwise excellent round which earned him an ESR of -1.0 and a cut in HI from29.4 to 27.1.

The midweek Handicap Trophy was tied with 131s from Rob Smyth and Hilary Casey 131s. Mike Sands and Mayumi were amongst chasers with both sixties rounds on 134.

In the overall men’s scratch the deserved Senior division winner was Richard Back 147 from Rob Smyth 148; the Junior winner being Roland Godfrey 173 from Colin Price 175.

The women’s scratch was won by Silvia Bortoli 161 with Sheena runner-up 169.

The wind ran counter to normal direction; green shoots of grass recovery were evident and as on Prince’s seeded grass in new drainage channels had germinated with rain earlier in the week.

Brendan Sullivan off 12 was the winner of the Bank Holiday Plate with an excellent 43 points just beating Robin Thomas on the back 9. Excellent golf. Curiously, WHS awarded Brendan a -1.0 ESR but HI didn’t change [‘hard cap’ ?] whilst Robin cut from 18.5 to 17.5. George Taylor and James Parker followed with very good 40s.

Best woman was Jayne 37 with 22 points on back 9. In the last game the author scored most on the par 3s [9pts] whilst another Paul (Kamerling) joined Kerry Sargeant and Richard Back with a ‘Two’ – only Russell also had a Two on 10th.

Another lovely summer’s day for golf, although possibly a bit too warm for some. The rain on Thursday had further encouraged the fairway grass to green up and grow.

There was good scoring with a tie at the top on 41 points. As Fridays are non-trophy sweep competitions, players are now allowed to play off 95% of their Course Handicaps, with no cap of 32 for men or 38 for women, and Tony Barnett took full advantage, beating Justin Wildman on countback. Tony’s 20 points out & 21 in pipped Justin’s 21 points out and 20 in – Justin’s double bogey 7 on the 17th was his downfall from a very sound round including 8 pars.

Recent new member Bill Jennings takes 3rd place with 39 points, 21 out (a birdie and 2 pars) but only 18 points in (2 pars); 7s on the 17th and 18th spoilt a very tidy card.

Toby Hunt and Teddy Holt both had 38 points and both had a birdie on the front 9, Toby beating Teddy on countback.

The Best Scores Analysis shows Teddy had the best front 9 (23 points), Adrian had the best back 9 (22 points) and 3 players had 2 birdies each : John Curry, Rannesh and Richard Back.

Sweep pay out to top 3 : £12, £8, £3

The quality of the golf today was excellent. And it has to be said that the pace of play was pretty decent too.

Senior Division

Naveed went out early. 3 birdies set him on course for a very tidy 71 (gross) to become leader in the clubhouse. 2 other early starters (John Perkins and Rob Smyth) came pretty close but couldn’t better Naveed’s marker. Richard Owen as per usual posted an excellent round on Prince’s. None of the late morning starters threatened Naveed’s gross score. The last remaining threat were the pm starters. And the sting was clearly in the tail. Strong of his win in the main CC RIchard Back managed to record no less than … 7 birdies. Scores of 34 (gross) on the front 9 and 32 (gross) on the back 9 give him a reasonable cushion for Round 2 next week. Jay must absolutely hate hole 10 on Prince’s now. Rather uncharacteristically he experienced the same problems as in the main CC. Despite that costly misstep he remains within touching distance of Richard B.  Silvia put in an excellent round and is first woman today (no trophy for that unfortunately).

Silvia leads women’s round 1 scratch 76 from Sheena 83′

Junior Division

Roland ended front and back 9 with birdies to take a 1-shot lead into next week. Colin made a good birdie on the 6th to fully remain in the hunt. Chris Jones and Pat Dalton are a further shot back. Not surprisingly the field is much tighter in the Junior Division.

Nett Results/Handicap Trophy

Results are a bit different re: the MW Handicap Trophy. Hilary is keeping up her recent good form by posting an incredible score of 58 (Nett). Richard B is a close second with his score of 60 (Nett). John Perkins and Naveed are a bit further back on Nett 63’s.

Conditions were cooler than of late with sunny intervals extending to sunny periods. After rain a week or so ago random bounce was not quite so pronounced and still plenty of run.

The deserved winner of the President’s Putter with an immaculate 45 points was Susan Smith and she also earned an ESR with HI dropping from 17.8 ->15.7. Ryan Jones led the challeng with and excellent 42 pts with Silvia and Charlie Whiteman 40s Charlie’s 40 included 2 ‘blobs’. Brian McMahon had best back 9 – 23 points.

There were novelty NTP par 3 prizes as below
NTP 2nd Louis Dickey
NTP 4th Tim Rose
NTP 11th Paul Kamerling
NTP 13 in 2 Richard Inglis
NTP 16th Roger Rojas

The competition was the 6th of 7 for the men’s Top Dog:
Senior division is headed by Richard Smith 24 pts from Ryan and Richard Owen 18s
Junior division is a 3-way tie on 24 points for Duncan, Goran and Charlie Whiteman.