Morning sunshine, low in the sky, made ball spotting difficult on a number of holes but as the day progressed the clouds rolled in and it must have started getting a bit dark for the late finishers – at least it was dry for everyone and the course was in reasonable condition after the heavy rain earlier in the week.

It was a 3-way tie on 38 points at the top of the leaderboard, with Rannesh’s birdie 3 on the last hole giving him top spot. Rannesh had 16 points out and 22 points in, beating Julian James into 2nd place (19 points out and in) and Ian Burgess in 3rd place (22 points out but only 16 points in). Ian’s 9 on the 18th hole meant that he also lost out to Pat Dalton on their 18th-hole match, so an expensive hole for him.

Leading woman was Pat Barbour on 35 points, gradually chipping away at her handicap which I’m sure will soon be in the 20’s.

Sweep payout to top 4 (£10, £8, £6, £3) and Best Scores Analysis report attached.

Recent rains made the course very wet. The early starters arguably faced the worst conditions.

Silvia managed to score 21pts on the front 9. Her back 9 was a bit softer. But a birdie on 16 allowed her to close with 17pts. Good enough to become leader in the clubhouse. Tamas looked to build on a strong result in R1 last week. And the least you can say is that he delivered. 20pts on the way followed by 19pts on the back 9 make him today’s winner. A closer look at his scorecard learns that he recorded no less than 7 3-pointers (Steph Curry would be proud of that – but we are talking different sporting disciplines). Alan matched Silvia’ score of 21pts on the front 9. But unfortunately for him he recorded 4 1-pointers (Steph Curry would call them free throws) on the back 9. May be the fact of not signing up for the sweep relaxes him and allows him to play well … Stephen and Angus both record 36pts. But a better back 9 moves Stephen into 4th. Suppose that Angus’ 3 birdies are only a small consolation for finishing in the last money position. Since there fewer sweep entrants than usual Richard O misses out on some cash despite finishing 6th.

MW Winter Comp
Tamas and Alan K lead the way.

MW Prince’s Eclectic
Silvia takes the lead here.

Prince’s didn’t seem to have coped with the rain as well as Duke’s which always seems odd as it’s the higher of the 2 courses and signs of the water table getting higher were evident with some water back in the pond on the 10th.

Women

Pat’s best ever round since she joined us has deservedly put her top of the pile today with 39 points. A score that some of us can only dream of! Cheryl & Joan’s dreams are pretty on track with 37 and 36 points respectively.

Pat will see her HI drop to 30.5 tomorrow and Cheryl and Joan also get a drop.

The eclectic sees Susan at the top at this very early stage.

Men

This first round of the Winter competition saw Brendan overall winner and leader of the Senior division 40pts; he was chased in the division by 38s from Nigel W, Will B and Russell S

In the Junior division Giovanni leads on back 9 39pts from Paul Green and then Nigel G and TomS 37s.

Initial Prince’s Eclectic off 1/2 hcap shows Armi (off 0.5) a half-shot ahead from Jay who in turn a tenth of a shot from Brendan 69.0 . But early days with most having ‘NR’ due to at least 1 hole Nr’d.

It was a lovely dry and unseasonably warm (17 deg C) November day with afternoon sun and the Prince’s course was in great condition for the time of year (and by comparison with the more muddy Duke’s course).

Today’s clear winners (79 points) were the team of Peter Flint, Pat Dalton and Richard Norden. The foundation of the score was an excellent round by Peter, who had 41 points individually including lots of Pars (including the 7th) and a birdie on the 16th. Richard and Pat chipped in when needed and Richard had a strong back 9 (19 points).

In 2nd place (71 points) were the team of Adrian Wells, Uli Katte and Peter Goodall, who always looked good on paper for a high score. Their team’s performance was anchored by Uli, who had a personal score of 39 points, lots of Pars, a birdie on the 15th and a gross score of 75.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£6 each).

The rain of the last few days didn’t bode well for the playing conditions. But it has to be said that the course was in surprisingly decent state. Suppose that playing off the yellow tees for the men didn’t hurt either. Biggest complication at this time of the year is that ball hunting (off the fairways) is being seriously complicated by all the fallen leafs. 

Clear winner today is Jose Manuel Gomez. If does help if you have the best (stableford) score on front AND back 9 (20+22pts). Early starter Pralab had to overcome a few issues with his marker. He matched Jose-Manuel’s score on the front 9. But a softer start on his back 9 means he “only” records 20pts. Alan played one of his better rounds of his recent times. He too went out with 20pts. But his 3rd place can only make up a very tiny bit for his misfortunes on holes 16&17. Looks like victory slipped away from him on just those 2 holes (he had recorded 15pts on the first 6 holes on the back 9). Brett was one of a very select group of players to record 2 birdies. These were recorded on just the back 9. This set him up nicely for an excellent score of 22pts on the way in. Cheryl’s “good vibes” must have rubbed off on both Angus and Tamas. (Even though they could’ve played a bit faster) Their scores of 36pts set them up nicely for the rest of the MW Winter Comp.

MW Winter Comp: too early to go into these standings

MW Duke’s Eclectic: Rob Smyth takes the lead.

After a chilly start, the sun came out and it was a pleasant, dry Autumn day. However, heavy rain earlier in the week had changed the Duke’s course into true ‘winter conditions’ with negligible bounce and run and the early signs of wormcasts.

The lengthening of the course by the ground conditions was counteracted (for the men) by playing off the Yellow Tees (shortening the course by nearly 500yards), so scoring was similar to usual, with a tie-at-the-top on 37points. The winner on countback was Brian Ransom, who had 19 points out and 18 points in, pipping Giles Rawlinson’s 20 points out and 17 points in. Giles had 2 birdies on the front 9 (3rd and 9th), whereas Brian had his one birdie on the (shorter than usual) 15th.

In 3rd place was last week’s winner Cuneyt Sazer (36 points) who, like Peter Flint in 4th place (35 points), had a ‘top-scoring’ 22 points on the front 9. Further details of scoring on the Best Scores Analysis report.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£10, £7, £4, £2)

For info, Adrian Mancebo who played his 1st round with us in the group with Richard Norden and the two Giles’s, scored 44 points off his course handicap of 25 (HI 23.9), however as he had less than 6 qualifying rounds on his WHS record, he was excluded from the competition (club rule). As a result of his round, his HI has been cut to 16.9 !!!

Today proved to be a tough day at the office for most players. Only 4 players played better or to their HI. Needless to say that the return of the fall means any extra toll on the fairways is totally wiped out. Although the greens were fairly receptive they also lacked a bit of speed. The biggest nuisance today was probably the swirling wind. The 16th hole in particular was vastly affected. That hole was only like 123yds long. It played as SI8 (!!!) today.

Junior Division

Newcomer PM Micucci is not going to make a lot of friends by wining his first competition since joining. A few DB’s and the rare Triple prevented him from posting an even lower score. Ian finishes 1 shot back in 2nd. Bridget made the (brave) decision to enter the sweep. That boldness was rewarded with 3rd place. She could’ve finished higher if the first hole had been a bit kinder to her. Chris Jones matched Bridget’s score. But a softer back 9 forces him into 4th place.

Senior Division

Pralab may have picked the best time to complete his round. It is up for debate that the winds were not blowing so hard in the early morning. Nevertheless he recorded a tidy 66 (Nett) to claim the win. Richard confirms his reputation as the “Princes whisperer”. As per usual he carded a solid round on the P course. Closer examination of his scorecard learns that his solid back 9 played a big part in this success. Tamas was back at the park after a 2-week break. And to his own surprise he played one of his better recent rounds. He managed to record a 2 on the 16th. Angus played consistent golf: 39 (gross) and 38 (gross) on front and back 9 are a decent result on today’s conditions.

Morning showers abated but returned later in afternoon for the annual 3 clubs and a putter competition.

Over the years scores generally have compared with the normal 14 club allowance.

Well done indeed to winner Joe Goncalves on back 9 from Nigel Ward – 66s; 4 further scores in 60s from Sam,Brian M.Tony K and Paul Green. Joe shot 1 over par back 9 with his 3 clubs!!

Best woman Gina 72.

For the men, this was the last competition in the ‘Top Dog’.
In attached ‘friendly ‘ format Richard Owen is winner of The Senior Top Dog 29 points from Paul Kamerling 25 and Richard Smith 24 – after all JH Taylor KO matches results.

Also attached is the Junior Top Dog with Duncan T the narrow winner 25 from Goran K and Charlie W 24s – this after the 2 semi-finals of Two Courses Cup but the finalists have minimal/zero points so result would not alter Junior Top Dog.

Considering that competitors were limited to 5 clubs and putter, the scores were as good (if not better !) for many of the participants on this very mild late October day with occasional sunshine and very little wind.

First place went to Cuneyt Sazer (43 points), a weekend regular but rarely seen on a Friday. His outward 9 holes (20 points) started with 3 straight pars and his back 9 (23 points) comprised 5 pars and 4 bogies – all would seem to have been quite straightforward for him, however his playing partner Brian described some of his play as “miraculous”, from difficult situations.

Pat Barbour took 2nd place with 41 points; 17 points out (including 2 blobs) and 24 points in (the best scoring back 9 of the day). Today’s round was one of Pat’s best ever rounds and, as it was entered for General Play, should earn her a handicap reduction.

Two Friday regulars, Andrew Brown and Richard Norden, took 3rd and 4th places with 37 points, Andrew’s back 9 22 points narrowly beating Richard’s 21 points. The ‘Competition Scoring Analysis’ report and ‘Best Scores Analysis’ report are attached. Interestingly, the front 9 had the 3 easiest holes (2nd, 3rd and 4th) followed by the 4 hardest holes (5th, 6th, 7th and 8th).

Sweep payout to top 4 (£11, £8, £5, £3).