All the men playing off the yellow tees didn’t make the increasingly muddy Dukes course any easier for most of the field, although there were some good scores on this mild and cloudy autumnal day. All the deciduous trees have now turned brown, red or yellow with many of their leaves deposited on the course, making ball finding considerably more difficult and sometimes unsuccessful.

The best two scores were posted by Game 1, Tim Ash Vie and Adrian, both with 38 points, Tim winning on countback over the back 9 holes. As per last week, poor scores on the first hole don’t mean you can’t win (Tim had a blob and Adrian a 6). Tim then amassed 15 points on the front 9 and 23 points on the back 9, with 6 pars including 4s on the SI 1 14th and on the long 17th. Adrian had a much better front 9 (21 points), which included a birdie 3 on the 4th for 5 points ! – there must be a good story there.

In third place was John Curry (36 points), who it was very nice to see on a Friday. John had a very tidy round with 11 pars and gross 78. Sweep payout goes to these top 3.

Finally a mention for Benoit’s 5 on the SI114th, which I am told was a birdie with his 2nd ball, after the first tee shot went out of bounds – you never know when the golfing gods are on your side.

The field enjoyed some surprisingly mild temperatures. That made up a bit for the expected mud. Ball hunting was made more complicated (especially near trees …).

Chris Jones used an excellent back 9 (22pts) to claim victory today. His win will still have tasted a bit bitter sweet because of an untidy 6 on the 18th. Early starter Pralab recorded a very solid score of 39pts to finish 2nd. Julian had the best back 9 (23pts). Peter Goodall used 3 birdies to match Julian’ score of 38pts. But the countback rules awards 3rd place to Julian. A group of 4 players finished on 37pts. First woman of the day, Gina, was the best of this group (the birdie on 14 didn’t hurt). The Men’s Secretary has to settle for 6th (blame the countback rule again …). Stephen could’ve avoided the crowd had it not been for a … 6 on the 18th.

Midweek Winter Rankings: Tamas (37pts), Brett (74pts), Rob (73pts)

Midweek Eclectic Princes: Jay (71), Brett (72), Richard S/Pralab (73)

Please see below a PDF report of the results, Scoring Analysis.

Mild and grey conditions prevailed . Not as muddy as Wednesday.

Women

At least it wasn’t too wet underfoot today, even if we’re back to needing a trusty stick with which to dig out the mud from our trolley wheels for those of us unable to carry. But probably the best thing was that our round finished in less than 4 1/4 hours which hasn’t happened on a Sunday for some time.

After last week’s runaway victory today’s was a much closer affair with Katharina & Alison both on 36 points missing out by 2 to Jayne with 38 – a steady round of 19 out & 19 back. Alison might have thought her back 9 of 19 would be good enough for a 2nd place, but Katharina’s contrasting round of 13 out & 23 back ensured that she takes 2nd spot.

Needless to say Jayne is leading the eclectic, but only just & there are 3 more rounds to go (weather & Covid willing).

Men

Playing Prince’s with new flags showed inaccuracy – course established 1923 not 1924 although Duke’s course was added and RPGC formed 1924.

First place was hotly contested between James A and Secretary Peter H on 40 points with James leadng on countback – despite Peter recording a net albatross 3 on`15th. Julian shot a consistent 39 ahead of Adrian, Gunnar, Tony K and Kerry with 38s.

The 16th was the scene of yet another nearly hole in one for Richard O- see picture below. Previous was 6 October on 2nd Prince’s. Next time Richard….

The Prince’s Eclectic which favours low handicapppers is led by Ant 71.2 just .1 from Armi with Kerry 3rd 72.0 after the first round.

The round started in dank occasional mizzly rain which persisted for most of the front 9 (longer for Pralab who was out earlier), however the rain stopped by around 11.30am after which it was quite a pleasant autumn day. The muddy conditions made it a ‘long’ and tiring round for many of us and it was surprising to see that Glendale allowed some buggies on the Princes course.

In first and second places were Julian and Darragh respectively. Julian (36 points) got off to a slow start (just one point for the first 3 holes) but then got his net par on the 4th and never looked back, so 14 points out and 22 points back. Darragh (35 points) on the other hand birdied the first hole and had amassed 8 points when he had finished the 3rd hole; after that it was a steady round of 19 out and 16 points back. So the morale must be, “don’t give up if you get off to a much worse start than your playing partners”.

Richard Norden came in with a tidy 34 points to take 3rd place from yours truly. Sweep payout to Julian and Darragh and Richard N. gets his entrance fee refunded.

Finally a mention for Benoit who had his 39 playing handicap ‘capped’ to 32. With his reduced handicap he scored a creditable 31 points but this would have been 38 points if he had been allowed to play off his full handicap (which has now been reduced by 2 shots).

Thanks to everyone for taking part

Richard

Overcast weather, light drizzle but mild temperatures gave the park a real autumn feeling.

Early starter Mike Jones posted an excellent score of 43pts (22+21) to become leader in the clubhouse. He would hold on to that spot until midday. It took an outrageous score of 49pts to beat Mike. New member Lamont matched Mike and John Ahad with 22pts on the front 9. But he caught fire on the way home: birdie on 18 for 5pts, par on 11 for 4pts. Add to that 3 points on holes 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17. Only blemish was a 1 pointer on the 14th hole. End result: 27 (!!!!) pts on the back 9. Tamas “frozen” Ladacs can you give me a prescription of your medication? May be it will soothe my back? Whatever the medication was it worked wonders (suppose it would be a stretch to ask the Glendale to perform drug tests after each round). 3rd place is yours thanks to your great score of 42pts. John used an excellent front 9 (22pts) as launchpad to 4th place (total score: 41pts). Rob Dykes is the final player to reach 40pts. Richard B closes out the Top6.

Needless to say that Lamont takes the lead in the Midweek Winter Comp. Ed -later chopped 19 shots to 14.3. He also leads in the Duke’s Eclectic just ahead of Richard Back.

Below PDF report of the results, Scoring Analysis and Sweep payouts.

Last of the Sunday medals for the women until April, but the men carry on!!

The best thing to say about the day was that it didn’t rain and the sun shone – but that wind was cutting and pretty gusty at times

Women

I can’t imagine that anyone except Cheryl isn’t pleased to see the end of medals for the women on a Sunday until April. She seems to have played a different game from the rest of us, finishing 9 shots ahead of the rest of the field and proving that the newly reduced slope is fine if you can hit your ball well. Well played Cheryl – guess all those lessons are paying off.
Of the 12 who played, only half have an actual result with 5 NRs and Fiona signing for a 5 on the 13th but her entry on the computer and on the card she marked both showed a 6.

Men

White tees received 3 shots from the yellows and the overall winner with an extremely tidy 61 was John Perkins, 2nd on back 9 countback was Kevin P from Saturday entrant Nick R. Captain Kim followed 4th 65.

Divisional results also attached confirm John P winning Senior Division with Nafeez the Junior on 69.

The remnants of the recent rain were still visible on the course. Add to that cooler temperatures [slight air frost 5:00am below?, the usual swirling winds and even some fog for the early starters and you have all the ingredients for a round of autumn golf at the park. But it has to be said that most of the field (correction: that should read the 9am starters) made the most of today’s conditions.

Making the most of the conditions is probably an understatement for Angus’ round of golf: +4 gross out and -1 gross set him up for a round of 69 gross (60 !!! Net). This is even more remarkable since he started the round with a double bogey 6. May be this had the merit of relaxing him. Here is some more perspective of his round: 4 birdies and 13 putts over the … last 11 holes. 2 players came pretty close. Stephen and Mark both recorded scores of 62 Net. The countback rule awards 2nd place to Stephen. Peppe proved that last week’s victory was no fluke and finishes 4th with an excellent score of 63 Net. An unlucky day on the greens prevented the MC from finishing higher than 5th. Uli rounds out the Top6 with a score of 65.

Cheryl had a near hole in 1, a near birdie and a solid par 3 all on one hole (i.e. the 16th).

The day started with atrocious weather but the course was open for the Lissaman Cup ( 3 clubs & putter); local weather station (not as exposed as RP) reveal screenshot below:
Peak rainfall of .92 in per hour around 10:30 with rain stopping at 11ish;

Peak wind of 14mph but think this was in fact well beaten by gusts as I gazed out of my warm dry lounge.

Some remarkable golf was played, most notably by those setting out later.

Jay shot a faultless net 68 to win – no 6 on the card for him oh no and birdies on [SI 3] 8th and 9th. Nick followed closely behind 69 with Sean T 71 and Cuneyt , Ben and Sean O 72s. Gina best woman 75.
It never ceases to amaze me that scoring not materially different to if full 14 clubs allowance.

For the men this was the last comp in the hotly contested Top Dog. Only Cuneyt and Louis could topple Rhs from winning and the final 1-2-3-4 points are:
Rhys 25, Cuneyt 24, Louis 16 and (late charge) Sean O 14.

Mild temperatures and swirling winds helped the dry out process at the Park (unfortunately the weather forecast calls more rain the coming days). 2 players separated themselves from the pack today.

Both of them enjoyed excellent front 9’s. New member Pep scored 1pt less on the front 9 than John Perkins (23pts vs 24). As a consequence he had the better back 9 and wins today’s comp. Even though John Perkins still managed 2 birdies on the back 9 he “only” recorded 17pts on the way in. MW Captain HLB was probably a bit hung over from successfully defending the Men’s Pairs KO . He dropped no less than 8 (!) shots over the first 5 holes. But he managed to go +2 over the next 13 holes (with a 6 on the 18th …). Usually Richard records his good scores on Prince’s. But today was an exception. 39pts and the countback rule send him into 4th place. The MC had another of “What could’ve been” day. 6th place goes to Adrian Wells with 37pts. Birdman of the day was Alvaro who recorded 3 birdies. First woman of the day was late starter Gina on 33pts.

A mild autumn day greeted competitors for the Charity Cup and a couple of holes10 & 11 still showed large puddles. The round was the first played under the recent re-rating of the courses by Surrey Golf. Red and white tees received 2 (previously 1) shot for the comp. An extract WHS guidance document attached explains (Medal simple – diff CRs) and there’s a table below which I trust is correct!

Fresh from the Autumn Mixed 4 somes on Saturday, Justin W put in an amazing 44 points to win. He had 17 going out and 27 coming back!!! -well done indeed. Pedro shot 1 behind for 43, still terrific golf. Louis D and Saturday entrant Onursal returned glorious 41s
Best woman was Gina 39.