The first few holes were played in a very light misty rain, then we had over 2 hours of serious rain, and at about 1pm the sun came out, although by then there were puddles on fairways, paths and some of the early greens – a typical early Spring day at Richmond Park.

Five teams competed in the Texas Scramble competition, all teams scored well and the result was very close, with only 3 stableford points separating all 5 teams.

Top spot, on a 49 points countback, was the team of Jayne Maxwell, Susan Smith, Brian Ransom and Cuneyt Sazer. They had a total of 6 birdies, including a stretch of 3 consecutive birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th, and just one bogey (on the 8th). Apparently Cuneyt really found his touch with the putter, which wasn’t behaving for him 2 days earlier on Duke’s.

Also with 49 points, in 2nd place, was the team of Cheryl Woodhouse, Uli katte, James Deissler and Seymour Laird, who had 4 birdies and no bogeys, but a weaker back 9 than the winning team.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the format and sweep payout to the winning team (£4.50 each).

Spring golf is edging closer but the field still faced swirling winds and chilly temperatures. At least the fairways offered occasional roll, but once off line you did run the risk of a plugged lie.

Run away winner today is Richard Marriott. Despite a blip on the 6th he recorded an outstanding score of 64 (Net). A duo finished 4 shots back. Leader in the clubhouse Joe posted an excellent 79 (gross – 68 Net). He was matched by his playing partner Darren. But Joe had the better back 9 (Darren’s back 9 was quite volatile).  Another duo finishes on 69 (Net). Richard Owen and Alex Braun claim the last of the payouts. First woman of the day is early bird Gina. Lowest gross score was posted by Jay, A word of sympathy for our Gordon Foster Captain Uli. He was humming along nicely. But disaster struck on the 14th.  He had a bit of good fortune finding his tee-shot. But his conservative approach to get his ball back into play backfired. Out of sympathy the report will not mention his score on that hole.

Below see Best Score Analysis and Competition Scoring Analysis (looks like our “Amen Corner” lived up to its reputation again).

A pleasant Spring day with some sunshine and temperature nudging 14C for the 3/4 player team Waltz where where best stableford points scored best 1 1st hole then best 2 2nd then 3 third and so on.

The team of Richard Inglis, Justin Wildman, Will Balakrishnan, Kevin Prendergast came out on top with 86 points – 44 on the back 9
Runners-up a point behind on 85 were Kerry Sargeant, Toby Hunt, Justin Bradford, Alan King
– 43 out and 42 back with a very useful 10 points on 18th.

Heavy overnight rain gave way to brighter conditions as the day went on and the Duke’s course was back to its muddy self.

The clear winner (35 points) was Rannesh Jansari, out in Game 1 with James Deissler, who came 2nd (32 points). Rannesh had the best back 9 (20 points) and best scores on the Par 4s. Pralab Barua had the best front 9 (16 points) and was the best on the Par 3s (paring them all). Uli Katte had the only Birdie of the day, on the 10th.
Sweep to top 2 (£6 & £2)

It continued cold, grey and dry following driest February for 30 years.

Women

The last women’s team event of the winter saw a not unfamiliar number of just 9 taking part. As ever it was a close thing with the winning 3 doing so on the back 9 but as in the previous 2 months Ali managed to be in the winning team!

Men

In the first of 8 monthly medals comprising Grand Medal Trophy there was good scoring.
Will B taking the senior division with a super 64 inc. level back 9. Excellent 65s followed from Pete Malia and a late round from Tamas. Kerry took front 9 honours just 2 over and like Tamas Kerry was level par on the par 3s.

Dilip took the junior division 67 chased by 68s from Anthony Williams. Eliot and Duncan.

It was a chilly and cloudy day but dry and with very little wind. Fairway mowing was underway as well as construction of the new ditch which will eventually run all the way down the slope from the ‘wet area’ (now a pond) adjacent to the Prince’s 5th teeing area to the pond by the 5th green.

The clear winners of the team sweep were the team of James Deissler, Rannesh Jansari, Seymour Laird and Adrian Wells with an excellent 90 points (18 points more than a ‘par’ 72 points score). This team had the ‘Best Front 9’, the ‘Best back 9’, most points on the ‘Par 4s’ and on the ‘Par 5s’, and equal best score on the ‘Par 3s’ (with the team of Cheryl Woodhouse, Cuneyt Sazer, Richard Owen and Colin Price). Star of the team was James, with an individual General Play score of 42 stableford points.

There was only 1 point between the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, with Cheryl, Cuneyt, Richard and Colin (83 points) pipping Graham, John, Adrian and Ian (82 points) because of a much stronger back 9.

Play by the later 2 games was much slower than it should have been and everyone should read, and make every effort to adhere to, the club’s Fast Play Guidance (attached). As the season progresses the course will become busier and we do not want our competition to cause any ‘blockage’.

Sweep payout to the winning team (£5 each).