It was a sunny but blustery day and the course was in very good condition, particularly the greens. Signs that the ‘fairway seeding’ had been effective were everywhere.

Our clear winner, with 40 points, was Brian Ransom, who could have had more if he hadn’t blobbed the last hole. It seems that having a few weeks off from golf was just what Brian needed, however it didn’t last long – he took an extra 14 shots playing the same course on Saturday!

Three players scored 36 points, taking the 2nd, 3rd and 4th places on countback. Chris Jones blobbed the first hole of the day but gradually improved throughout the round and took 2nd place with the best back 9 of anyone (21points). Elizabeth pipped Martin Hay to 3rd place by one point on the back 9 – Martin will be ruing his blobs on the 10th and 12th holes.

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

Mild temperatures were met with strong/swirling winds. Fairways still provided ample bounce & roll. The greens were fairly receptive. But all in all conditions proved to be challenging. Unfortunately a  lot of the 9.45am starters were on the back 9 when the floodgates opened. Not too much of a stretch to say that the 7am starters enjoyed the best of the weather.

These conditions bring the best out of good ball strikers. So it is no real surprise to see Naveed take the win today. He took the saying “every good round starts with a double bogey” a little too serious. He DB’ed holes 1 & 2! He recovered to finish the front 9 with 17 points. But his excellent 21pts on the back 9 were just good enough to hold off the competition. Darren was another early starter. He matched Naveed’s mark. But his 20pts on the back mean he settles for 2nd. Looks like he made up for missing out on victory today with a pretty good tee-shot on the 9th. Cheryl battled her way through the rain to 3rd place. Terry Wilson – another 7am starter – must have fed of Darren’s positive vibe to finish as the best of the group on 37pts. Alex used an outrageous back 9 to finish 5th. Yours truly takes 6th. But victory slipped through my fingers with a 5-6 finish.  Since Alvaro didn’t sign up for the sweep he allows James to improve his purse balance. Tamas is the newest member on the “Eagle Tree” thanks to an outrageous chip-in on the 9th.

Early drizzle petered out as per overnight forecast of front a further 20 miles south than previously anticipated. Sun increased as did warmth nudging 19C.

Women

A close result at the top of the table with Silvia winning the October medal by 1 from Katharina with her nett 71.
With the Barton Bowl however, results were reversed in a quirk of it being stableford rather than medal. Both Silvia and Katharina had 35 points but Katharina scored 20 of them on the back 9 compared to Silvia’s 17.

Congratulations to both.

Men

Best gross and net of the day went to Roger Rojas – 71 and 63; well done Roger! Roger wins senior division of day followed by Bernie Mc 64 with Kerry and Brendan returning glorious 65s.

The junior division was headed by Gregory 65 with Ed and Cuneyt following with 68s.

Special mention : Richard Back – level par back 9 33, Raymond for eagle at 9th.

This was last round in best 5 of 8 Grand Medal Trophy. Timing his form to perfection Kerry moved into first place in senior division with Brian M 2nd 338; Julian and Goran share junior division each 327.

After early morning mist, a bright morning greeted the players, however the clouds rolled in during the round and the wind became blustery; thankfully everyone finished before the rain started.

Today’s sweep was a 4-ball ‘team game’ where all 4 players point scores were summed to give the team score – this would have been a ‘surprise’ to the early and late starters (on personal Glendale bookings), as they didn’t receive the Start Sheet. Fortunately we had 24 players, neatly combining into 6 teams.

The winning team of Adrian Wells, Julian James, Ryan Jones and Richard Owen amassed 140 points (avge 35 points each), primarily thanks to Adrain and Julian who scored 38 points each (2nd and 3rd in the individual standings). In 2nd place was the team of Ed Robinson, Gary Simpson, Colin Price and Bob Kent (131 points) and in 3rd place (128 points) the team of Pralab, Mitch, Naveed and Peter Finch.

Best overall score of the day was posted by Ed Robinson (39 points), who also had the best front 9 (23 points). Best individual ‘hole score’ was Briget Stone with a 5-points (!!!) birdie on the 2nd hole. Naveed and Adrian both had 2 birdies in their rounds and Adrain & Julian had the best back 9 (21 points).

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each) and £4 for Ed for having the best individual score.

For some reason players felt nervous on the first tee/didn’t warm up properly. How else can you explain that Hole 1 played as SI 6 today?

Stu Duncan passed the test on the first hole without any major glitches. That positive trend continued for a while. He posted the best front 9 of the field (22pts). A steady back 9 (except for a snowman on the 12th hole) rewards him with a total score of 40pts and victory today.

Oliver Khan used an excellent back 9 (21pts) to claim second place. The other money spots go to the early birds. Mike Jones was on absolute fire on the back 9 (24pts). May be relaxed after 2 snowmen on the front 9. Pat and Chris both record 37pts. But the countback rule awards 4th place to Pat. Mitch is the last player to earn some sweep money. On this rare occasion the Top 6 all get sweep money.

A chill start for the Silver Jubilee -slow warming with sunny periods/intervals; growth of grass greens fringes gave challenges to many.

Not a problem for the ‘Mr 59’ winner – Ben Dickey with consistent 40 out 41 back; well done Ben and EG have rewarded you with a -2.0 ESR with HI 20.2-> 16.4. Brendon had another excellent round – 66 with a cut in HI from 9.9 to 8.5. Brendon just beat Robin T on countback. Toby, Uli, John M, Monique and Wonil shared 67s.
Monique was best woman and earned sweep prize. First 8 in sweep got prizes.


This was the final (best 3 from 4) Jubilee in the Anniversary Cup which sees John Morris the winner 202 from 4 on 206: Mike S,Sheena, Paul K and Oz in the detailed report attached.

A balmy day greeted the pairs in this Saturday event which started with bacon rolls and a tea/coffee before the games followed by drinks enjoyed in the afternoon sun.

Good scoring from most pairs again today with a quick analysis of the scores showing that there were 6 birdies on the 8th and 5 on the 17th (less of a surprise here especially with the white tee being forward – though it didn’t help everyone (Roger!!)
Quite surprising though was the 8th playing as the hardest hole followed by the 7th – though not for our winners who got a birdie on the 7th.

I hope you all enjoyed your game today and had fun, although as Henry said, it did seem that those who didn’t play their best were the ones talking about the fun they had. Certainly true for your author’s game!

Following late ‘drop outs’ due to early morning drizzly rain, a reduced field enjoyed a mild, dry and eventually warm and sunny round of golf on an ever-greening Duke’s course.

Richard Owen was today’s winner with an astonishing 45 points (net 63) – one of his best rounds ever on Duke’s. He was spurred on by a friendly pairs match (with Seymour) against Uli Katte and Adrian Wells, which was eventually ‘tied’ on the 18th. Uli, who came 2nd in the sweep with 41 points, played his normal very steady round with 3 birdies (should have been 4 !). In 3rd place was Richard Norden who got off to a real ‘stormer’ with 14 points amassed from just his first 4 holes – thereafter quite a few 6s and 7s started to appear.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£6, £3, £2)

The Park (and the course(s)) changed quite dramatically over the course of 1 week.  Fairways were rock hard again. And the greens have been faster. The front tees on the 18th helped quite a bit (that hole played as SI 16 today).

Pat & Colm netted 3 birdies. That translates into 23pts on the front 9 and a remarkable 25pts on the back 9. The birdies were more than welcome to hold off Richard & Richard. They recorded the best front 9 (24pts). A “softer” back 9 means they finish second 1pt behind today’s winners. Tony and the Woman’s Captain used a very strong back 9 (24pts) to hold off Darren/Terry (23pts on front & back 9). The Gaelic/Iberian combination were the best of the teams on 45pts. But they miss out on sweep money. Yours truly and his partner in crime netted 3 birdies too. But a chip-in birdie by yours truly on the 18th was a tale of too little too late.

A distinct autumnal nip greeted competitors with an arctic wind blowing but gradually conditions warmed up with sunny periods.

Women

Today’s winners started off with a putt from front to back of the first green, straight into the hole for a par, promptly followed by another one on the 2nd hole. It is fair to say that Katharina and Sheena were surprised to find themselves only 2 points adrift of them after the front 9 and whereas they had 20 out things were reversed on the back 9 resulting in a finish just 1 point behind despite Jenny’s 3 for 4 on the long par 3 13th hole.
Monique was playing on her own but her score was included so she gets the recognition for her 2 birdies today – on the 12th and 15th, the only ones recorded today.

Prizes were awarded for the first 3 pairs today with vouchers for 1st and 2nd place being very kindly donated by Rannesh Jansari who runs Fushi.co.uk with his wife.

Men

Early starters Brendan Sullivan and Will Balakrishnan certainly gelled as a team to win with an astounding 46 points -23 in and out; they were chased hard by Nigel W & Tony K, Greg & Peter J [still flying the Treasurer’s flag – 52 pts last year] and Henry & Ross on 43 with last 9 countbacks decisive.

Joe G and son had best back 9 – 27 points.