The field enjoyed some nice golfing conditions. Mild temperatures, a gentle breeze (but that breeze felt quite a bit stronger when teeing off on 14 …) and some generous roll on the fairways created nice scoring conditions. The early birds were at it again today. Places 1-2 go to the 7am starters.

Chris Newman followed a steady front 9 (2Up) with an outstanding back 9 (4Up). He didn’t lose a single hole on that stretch. Paul Green equalled that score. But unfortunately for him his coffee kicked in early on the front 9 (5Up). His streak continued with wins on holes 10 and 11. But at that stage the wheels came off a bit. Best of the rest and first Woman was Cheryl with an excellent result of 5Up (4Up out/1Up in). She may have given the Top2 a stronger run for their money had she not picked up on holes 15 & 17. 4 players end on a score of 4Up. Shout-out to the MW Captain Henry for birdieing 3 holes (finishing birdie-birdie will make him come back for more on Sunday). Yours truly was inspired by Rory McIlroy and Colin Morikawa and holed out from the bunker on the 4th for a birdie.

All in all playing conditions didn’t prove too bad which clearly translates into the scoring.

Richard Owen stormed to victory with an impressive tally of 42pts (20+22). 2 errant holes (4-5) generated “only 1 point”. But he steadied the ship remarkably well. Suppose that playing the comp with a CH of 18 didn’t hurt … Nigel Ward and Robin both finish 1pt behind Richard. Nigel probably blew his chance to leapfrog RO with a NR on the 12th hole. Robin came out all guns blazing en route to 25pts on the front 9. A couple of 7’s and a snowman on the back 9 mean he has to settle for 3rd. 4th place is a just reward for Ray’s 40pts (he will have nightmares about the NR on 18). George and Duncan complete the Top6. First woman/junior today is Chloe who performed the feat of birdieing the 12th hole. Well done. Richard Young had the best back 9 with 23pts.

Good playing conditions with Spring sunshine, firm fairways and greens and the rough not yet ‘up’ led to generally good scoring from the white tees on Duke’s, with all white tees back on their correct teeing areas except the 17th.

It seemed as though Brian Ransom’s 36 points would be enough to win, just ahead of 4 players on 35 points (Adrian Wells and 3 Richards – Owen, Back and Norden). However, when the final 4-ball ‘finally’ came in, 40 minutes ‘late’ and 3 holes behind, they scooped the top 3 places (although I was tempted to DQ them or apply a 3 point penalty for not keeping up with play).

So the winner was Peppe Monterosso (40 Points) with 5 pars going out and 3 pars coming in. In 2nd place (38 points) was Julian James, who only managed 1 par but had 3 birdies – on the 3rd, 7th and 17th. And in 3rd place (37 points) was the 4th Richard in the competition (Richard Hanna) with 3 pars.

Sweep payout goes to the top 3 as usual (£9, £5 & £3)

Richard

None of the players managed to dodge the showers today. May be the weather wasn’t very clement. But I think the course needed it. And it didn’t seem to have had any negative impact on scoring either. The MW Captain was happy to escape the admin of his “Winter” Knockout. He lost 3 shots on the opening 2 holes. But then recovered quite remarkably to go out in 39 gross. 2 more birdies on the back 9 set him up for a 35 gross. He became leader in the clubhouse with a nett 62.

The 10am starters proved to be the biggest threat. Jim and Brian also had excellent back 9’s. That enabled both of them to beat the MW Captain on countback. But the victory spoils go the Women’s Captain. When she puts in a good score she goes really low (remember that she shot a 57 net last year at Captain’s Day). Just like the men behind her she really “mastered” the outward run (38 gross). Ronnie and new member Mayumi complete the Top6.

Please find below the PDF report, Competition Score Analysis (Note that Hole 1 played as SI 3 !!!, Hole 11 as SI 9 and Hole 17 as SI 8) ans Best Scores Analysis.

Freezing start for early starters; local protected weather station recorded -2C overnight. But sunshine developed and later clouds as well for a max 10 C.

Players continued to get used to the faster Spring condition greens [esp. on 6th]. Golf hole liners could have done with being inch or so lower.

Women

14 women today for the first monthly medal of 2022 which is a bit more like it and some good scores in with no fewer than 4 birdies between us, With Ronnie bemoaning her 7,7,8 scores when she was over-heating, no one was really expecting to see her topping the leaderboard.
The course has dried up so much now but we’re already into bare patches on the fairways and slightly odd bounces – something we might as well get used to, along with the balls not stopping on the greens.
The saying goes ‘beware the injured golfer’ and ours still managed to come in 3rd place (Joan) pipped on the back 9 by Monique who posted her best score for some time but congrats to Ronnie as the April medal winner.

Men

Cuneyt set the early Saturday pace throwing a challenge of 67. First and second positions went to later starters Colm 60 and Secretary Peter 62. Colm is trimmed 1 full shot and Peter 1.1 to a new low 24. But therer were 2 more 62s -Wonil and Uli – well done all, chaps. Lowest score was Jay gross 76.

In the divisional medal results Wonil won Senior division on countback from Uli; Junior Colm from Peter.

Colm now leads the Grand Medal with 2 rounds now complete on 129 from Adrian and Tony K 132.


Well, we had all 4 seasons during the round and a ‘lake incident’ beyond the 18th – Jeremy will think twice about playing the Prince’s 18th, as it’s not long since his gosling kill on the same hole.

A blustery north wind and cold temperatures greeted our early starters and the wind prevailed all day. When the sun came out, it almost felt warm but within a couple of minutes a snow shower blew through. You would think that with these difficult conditions, playing off the white tees set right back on all holes and un-watered, un-receptive greens that the scores would poor – however this was not the case. As well as loads of Pars, there were 6 birdies and 1 eagle – see Best Scores Analysis report.

Our winner, Mat Grove, came in with 43 points (1 birdie and 7 pars) and runner-up, just behind on 42 points, was leading lady Cheryl Woodhouse, with a 5-points birdie on the 14th and 5 pars. Not to be outdone, Brian Ransom eagled the 14th for 5 points and had 6 pars, for 3rd place on 38 points. Adrian Wells was in 4th place, but only on countback, and played a very solid round. Sweep payout goes to these top 4 (£9, £6, £4, £3).

Thanks goes to Pralab Barua for his gift of ‘Indian sweets’, enjoyed by many.

Finally, it was good to see Glendale planting grass seed on the fairways – I have played the courses for more than 25 years and I have never seen fairway seeding before – let’s hope that the seed germinates and that Glendale will be moving on to sorting out the bunkers.

Richard

50 players decided to get 18 holes under their belt just before winter makes an unwelcome return. Maybe the forecast rain can help a course that is drying up really fast. The greens are still in recovery mode and it was near impossible to go pin seeking. Holding the greens proved very tricky.

Justin Wildman and Fhorkan Uddin’s rounds were mirror images of each other. Saffie Justin took apart the front 9 with 23pts. Fhorkan managed to score 24pts (!) on the back 9. Justin managed to hold it together on the last 9 holes (21pts). That was just enough to take victory today (Thank Goodness he didn’t play last week …). Peter Flint loses out to Fhorkan on countback. So 3rd place is his share today. Stephen Haworth is the first of the “late” starters. He also is the only player who managed to record 2 birdies today (a bit of bragging rights vs Jeremy over the coming weeks ). Ryan and Juho complete the Top6 and are the last players to receive some “Purse Adjustments”. Cheryl is first lady today. A shoutout has to go to Tony Barnett for an excellent round with 38pts. Ronnie proved that you can improve your golf as long as you play 5 rounds in 7 days. She even claims she fixed her putting!

Toby wins the aggregate Midweek Spring Stableford with 77pts ahead of Ryan Jones (74) and Ronnie (74).

Conditions were grey and chillier than of late but run continued and adjustment was still required to greens speed.

Suhail Salim set the challenge on Saturday with 40 points but it was late in the day when Martin Hay emerged winner for round 2 43 points with a ‘blob’ at17. Well done indeed Martin.
But round of the day goes to Jay Barker 2nd with 41 points playing off 4 . Well done indeed Jay – consolation is that the 4 birdies brings you level in the Sunday birdies tree attached. Sulhail above 3rd 40 then consistent Julian James 39 as wit Goran – new to the sweep enclosure.

Marnix had amazing front 9 – 24 points.

With 40 in the bag from round 1 last week, Martin wins overall Cup/Trophy 83 points 7 clear from Jay and Goran 76. Well done all.

It was a lovely warm and sunny Spring day and the Duke’s course was transformed from the last time we played it. The mowers had been to work on a firm, dry course and fairway definition was finally clear to see. For a change the white tees were used by the men, although they were still on the yellow teeing areas on the 5th, 10th, 15th, 17th and 18th holes.

The early leader in the clubhouse, Pralab Barua (38 points) was looking good until the final group came in and Julian James pipped Pralab on countback. There was more bad news for Pralab when his card was checked and found to have been incorrectly filled out. As usual, Julian’s card displayed a very consistent round, 20 points out and 18 points in, with 5 pars and one blob.

Second and third places were taken by playing partners Veronica Mitchell and Richard Owen, respectively, both 37 points and separated only by countback on the last 6 holes. Both had 21 points out and 16 points in, Ronnie notching up 4 pars and just one blob and Richard had 3 birdies (on the front 9), 3 pars and two blobs.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £6, £3)