Breezy overall with spots of rain Sunday per bottom of results file and some run was available; last game got what sun there was. Ditch/trench across 9th fairway made an interesting feature:

Junior Ethan Ford crafted a professional 40 points to win the Plate and had 4 3s inc. one birdie at par 4 11th. Ethan will no doubt improve! Duncan Taylor had excellent back 9 22pts. Kerry Sargeant returned an excellent 38 pts with 1 over par on front 9 and 2 birdies. Kerry shared front 9 honours with Henry L-B. There were good 37s from Kim, Ulli and Robert C as well as 36s from Damber, Keith C and Paul K.

The predicted rain arrived around midday but wasn’t too bad, for most of us at least. Glendale’s closure of holes 8 and 9 for drainage trenching works was frustrating, however at least the 11th green was open.

Today’s clear winner was Adrian Wells, 35 points from 16 holes being 4 better than than his par off his Course Handicap. 16 points off the front 7 was the foundation and 19 points off the back 9 with one birdie and one blob completed a very solid round. 2nd and 3rd places, both with 32 points, were Veronica Mitchell and Ryan Jones respectively. It didn’t look as though it would be that way round when Ronnie started with a blob and Ryan had a birdie 3 for 4 points on the 1st, but it’s all about consistency and Ronnie’s 19 points on the back 9 pipped Ryan’s 17 points.

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

Spring golf made a  very welcome return to the park. The Royal Parks deciding to cut trees today was not really part of the plan. Therefore we had to run the competition over 16 holes. Milder temperatures, sunshine, faster greens, better looking fairways and some decent golf were all present. Pity that access to the clubhouse itself was rather limited.

But see photo afterwards of new layout and floor covering

Onto to the main talking points. 3 players recorded 37pts. Chris Rudkin was the best thanks to his 21pts on the back 9 (only matched by Paul G). Brian started with a birdie and maintained an excellent level of golf over the first 7 holes (18pts). 2nd place is a nice return for a steady back 9 (19pts). Alan King was playing like a man possessed on the way out: -1 gross through 6 holes. A DB on the 7th didn’t stop him from scoring 20pts on the way out. He recovered after a wobble on the 10th hole to come home with 17pts. Angus tightens extends his lead in the birdie tree with 3 extra birdies (2nd, 3rd and 17th). 5th place goes to the Women’s Captain today. Pralab and Allan benefit from the women not taking part in the sweep (cf. attachment). The game of Alan King, Alvaro Garcia-Hoz and yours truly managed as a group  to record 5 birdies on the first 7 holes.

The competition also constituted final round of Midweek Winter competition and associated Duke’s Eclectic. Juho Lim and Pralab share the honours on 115 with Mike Jones and Secretary Peter Harrington joint runners-up 114. The Duke’s Eclectic champion is Richard Owen 59.2 with Angus Robertson and Brian Ransom close on his heels at 59.6 and 59.9 respectively.

For the men, winter is over with the first event of the main competition season but the women, remembering previous March conditions played a team event. Indeed the weather may have been dry but out of the sun it was cold and conditions underfoot were decidedly boggy in places

Women

Another small field which shrank overnight to just 2 teams of 3. Two of the winner’s team had played at Easthampstead on the Saturday and obviously relished the relative ‘dryness’ of Prince’s today. As ever with these events the results were very close with just 1 shot separating the two teams, but undoubtedly Silvia’s ability to send the ball a long way will have helped them to reach many of the holes in regulation – not withstanding the tee shot she will want to forget on the 13th!! But the 2 birdies they scored also helped.

Men

A plucky back 9 from the Handicap Secretary led to a winning 63 from George Taylor and Dave Chilvers 64s. Robin Thomas had a glorious 65.

Congrats to Ross Hood who claimed 4 birdies to lead the Sunday tree. There were 5 birdies (‘Twos’) at new SI 18 11th.

In the divisional results George Taylor wins the senior medal 64 from Brian Ransom 66; The undersigned wins junior 63 from Dave Chilvers.

This was the first (of 8) rounds in the appropriately named Grand Medal Trophy and results mirror the day’s results.

After the heavy rain we had earlier in the week, the Prince’s course was very wet with standing water in places both off and on the fairways (but not on any greens). The recent bounce and run on the fairways was gone and deep pitch mark repair was necessary on some greens. However, under these difficult conditions scoring was pretty good across the whole field and especially good for some.

Colm (40 points) was today’s winner, reportedly ‘trying’ on the front 9 (25 points including 2 birdies) and just ‘cruising’ on the back 9 (15 points with 3 blobs and 1 birdie). Brian put up a spirited challenge (39 points), with a strong back 9 including a birdie. (Pat had to buy the beers I believe). In 3rd place with 38 points was Peter Finch with a very solid round throughout. Sweep payouts go to these top 3 and as Ryan had to ‘retire hurt’ after 4 holes, his entry fee will be refunded.

Another beautifully sunny day to lull everyone into the idea of removing a few layers – not a good one if playing early with ice on the author’s windscreen this morning. However, the sun did it’s job and things warmed up considerably before the cold wind started to pick up again in the afternoon. Increasing temperature lagged slightly behind solar radiation per bottom of main men’s results. There was a little run and with the sun now noticeably higher in sky balls were easier to follow in flight.

Women

Perhaps I shouldn’t have told everyone ahead of playing how far behind the leader we were in the eclectic!! Still the weather went a long way to compensate. There was an interesting mix of conditions, with slightly firmer ground allowing for a bit of run, but in what direction – hard bits of mud/wormcasts lying around could certainly send the ball off course.
The largest field in the 4 rounds of Duke’s eclectic saw Ronnie take 1st place with a 32, 2 clear of Doreen in 2nd spot.

But as indicated in the start sheet there was little chance of catching Gina in the eclectic who improved her score by 2 to win on 76.4 from Sheena, just a few shots back on 81.8. However that was a 10 shot improvement on her previous score.

Both eclectics thus having the same outcome – 1st Gina, 2nd Sheena

Men

Continuing his Midweek winning streak Julian James was victorious with a late 42pts thwarting hitherto clubhouse leaders Mike Shabani and Pat Dalton (Pat if only those putts….). There were very spirited 38s from James P, Richard O and Colm.

Holes 8 and 9 were out of action for Saturday entrants but Dilip had 2 birdies on 7th and15th (4 and 5 points respectively).

This was final round for the Winter Comp so congrats to winner Colm 121 from Julian and Richard O 118.

Richard I is confirmed Duke’s Eclectic Champ 60.2 from Richard O. 63.4.

It was a lovely mild and sunny winter’s day with much less wind than the past week/10 days. The Duke’s course was restricted to 16 holes (8 and 9 closed for drainage works) and there was a temporary green on the 11th hole. Today’s winners all made the most of the conditions by all posting 35points, 3 shots better than their handicaps.

On countback, the overall winner was James Deissler who played some of the best and most consistent golf Rannesh, I (and Cheryl) have seen for some time – no blobs on his card and 4 pars. In 2nd place on countback was Colm who put in a late charge with an Eagle 2 on the last hole (for 5 points). Seymour took 3rd place with a well balanced card, 17 out and 18 back. Sweep payout goes to these top 3 (£9, £5, £3).

The ‘apparent’ leader in the clubhouse, Pralab with 37 points, was found to have played 18 holes on the Princes course and was therefore excluded from the competition.

Now that storms Franklin and Eunice are a thing of the past a large field enjoyed decent playing conditions (except for some standing water and usual muddy spots).

Pralab went out early and set a very decent target of 40pts. That score held for most of the day. Richard H and Juho came close but have to settle for 3rd and 4th respectively. The only player beating 40pts was Julian. He torched the back 9 for 23pts (his only 1-pointer came as a result of a 6 on the 12th hole). As an FYI: the best front 9 belongs to Russel (22pts – cf. Best Score Analysis Report).  Cheryl was the only one other player recording 23pts on the back 9 (guess 5pts on the 14th didn’t hurt). A bit of last minute scorecard drama was resolved so she takes 5th place.  Chris Rudkin and the MC take 6th and 7th respectively. Looks like in general the women faired pretty well playing off the yellow tees (I believe the only nasty surprise came on the 12th tee).

There’s just one round of the Midweek Winter Comp left – next Wednesday twinned with the Inaugural Trophy; latest position is in attached [software cannot cope with bespoke requirement which insists that best 3 from 8 but at least one round must be played on each course].

A new leader has emerged – Pralab Barua!. His 40 yesterday replaced 30 on Prince’s advancing him 10 points from previous 105. The laws of maths apply but if I were a betting man I would tip Julian James [a course and distance winner] who only needs to have 34 or better to lead Pralab.

Of course the winner could be someone with just 1 score from each course so far.

MW Winter Comp: Pralab (115), Mike J (114), Peter H (114), Julian J (113), Tamas (112) Juho (112). Last round of the MW Winter Comp will be held next week. MW Prince’s eclectic goes to Peter Goodall

The storms of Dudley & Eunice did not appear to have caused too many fallen trees on the courses although sadly the rain has brought a return to the very wet conditions underfoot. Luckily the rain kept off as umbrellas would not have survived in what were still very windy conditions. Those with long memories will recall the October 1987 Hurricane – outcome more esp. with trees in full leaf multiplying the wind force.

Women

The scores don’t seem to have been unduly affected by the weather.

Susan is today’s winner, 4 clear of Sheena in 2nd and would have been more had she not book-ended her round with 7s. Interestingly, only 1 person scored on the 18th today.

It was also the last round of Prince’s eclectic (winter must be coming to an end!!) and we actually completed all 4 rounds which has become something of a rarity. The result of this never seemed in doubt from the first round, but in the end was a close result but Gina hung on in, winning by the slender margin of .5 on 68.4. Susan’s score improved by 1 but Sheena overtook her with a 2 shot change.

Congrats to both Susan and Gina

Men

A leprechaun provided a lucky tee to Sean O’Sullivan who smashed the back 9 – 25 and a ‘blob’ at 7th for 43 points; separated by countback on 41 were Saturday entrant Suhail and Colm. Marnix and Richard O put in strong 40pts performances.

Colm ensured winning of the Prince’s Eclectic on 55.1 from Paul K and Richard O 58.5s


Colm seems to have the Winter Comp sewn up on 118 from Roger R 115 with 5 on 114 – Secretary Peter, Sean, Richard O, Brian and Julian. With just 1 round left to play results are no longer on MS since misleading since software ignores the minimum of 1 round on each course.

Strange conditions at the park today. The field enjoyed mild temperatures. But the rain of the last days had created lots of areas with standing water. It even forced the greenkeeper to close 2 holes. The greens were very receptive. Although it was a surprise not having to face any temporary greens. Distance control was tricky today. There was very little roll (believe that quite a few tee-shots must have plugged on the fairways). The swirling/gusty winds made things even more complicated.

It was a case of one man v the rest today. The men’s secretary took the course apart today with an outstanding score of 38pts. 17pts on the front 9 was already quite a feat. His 21pts on the back 9 look even more impressive since he didn’t score any points on the 17th. The best of the rest was Alan King. It has to be said he had to use the countback rule to claim 2nd. Riding high on his nomination to the club’s main committee he recorded 14 and 19pts. Yours truly took 3rd. Brian Ransom used an excellent back 9 (20pts) to steal 4th place from Richard O.  Only 3 birdies were recorded today. Four of the hardest holes were on the back 9. The 5 most difficult holes today were (in descending order): 12th, 14th, 13th, 6th and 17th. Jeremy Prescot managed to score 2 4-pointers today.

Looks like Rob Dykes wins the Duke’s eclectic (TBC).