Ladies

Just 8 ladies played in this month’s scheduled team event, which conveniently meant two teams of 4 for the popular format of a Texas scramble. Despite having been told that this was a slow format for us to play, in the event there was much waiting on the tees, either disproving this point or showing that it was the men who were slow today!

This week’s winning team has a great similarity to last week’s with Deb deciding she had more chance of winning in that team, she and Julie joined up with Alison & Tenesi to beat the others by three points on 43 with three birdies and just one double-bogey. Results…

Men

Overnight rain forced the greenkeeper to maintain 3 temporary greens. The mud and winds that grew stronger over the course of the day created additional complications. Richard H played the round of his life: 42 (out) and 41 (in) for a 21 handicapper is a tremendous result. (Un)Fortunately his handicap won’t change today. Anthony triumphantly walked into the clubhouse claiming a net score of 61. Turns out his maths could do with a bit of an upgrade. Tom C’s maths were up to par and he is keeping up his excellent form. A net score of 64 takes him into 2nd place today. Kim birdied one of the temp greens (3rd). The latter part of the front 9 was underwhelming. But some clutch par saving puts set up for a respectable net score of 65 (that score could’ve even been better if birdie puts on 15, 17 and 18 had not shaved past the edge of the cup). Damber makes it into the Top6 – again. Sean T and Brian M complete the Top6. Richard O had a round of extremes today: he recorded two 2’s but he also recorded 2 snowmen. Results…

CSS: N/A

32 competitors played a midweek first – the two loops of 9 holes on Duke’s. Pace of play was good, in marked contrast to Sunday. Conditions were muddier with recent Monday rain and mud was just the wrong consistency – sticking to trolleys.

New member Bennie shot the lights out with a gross 73 (5 over par) and 48 points and 3 birdies. Well done indeed!! Richard N again had a stunning round with 42 points and impressive front nine of 24 points to finish second. Paul B continued to recover from not playing for a few weeks with 40. Results…

The competition was non-qualifying for handicapping but counted towards the 2019/20 Midweek Winter Competition. After 3 rounds the leader is Richard N 115 with Paul B chasing 107. R3 Leader board…

Ladies

In view of the latest configuration of the two 9s on Duke’s, the ladies opted for another team event on the first Sunday of 2020. With 10 playing, the format was the best two scores for the 3-balls and the best and 3rd best scores for the 4-ball. In the end, there was no contest with the team of Alison, Doreen and Tenesi romping away to a 14 point win. They’ve obviously cracked the mud and club to use with no run on the ball whereas the rest of us need more practice!!

Men

40 players came out to play two loops of an improvised/shortened Duke’s course. It was Luke vs the rest today. He went level par gross on his 1st loop. That resulted in 25pts (!). His 2nd loop was marred by a 7 on his 16th hole (the 9th on Duke’s). But 18pts on the second loop was more than enough to make him today’s runaway winner. Sunny’s better 2nd loop allowed him to take 2nd place from Tom C. Jay went +3 gross to claim 38pts and 4th place. Pete N and Paul Gn both had 37pts and close out the Top6. Results…

Cold weather conditions sometimes force players into “weird” club choice. A player who birdied the 8th today (Duke’s 10th hole) hit a really long club into the green. Rumour has it it was his driver. Thank goodness he made the birdie putt.

CSS: N/A

Winter Competition
Ollie G 106, Pete N 106, Mike S 102, Adrian 100. R3 Leader board…

Duke’s Eclectic
Not played today

14 competitors showed up for the first competition of 2020. Conditions continued to be very muddy (slushy in places) despite relief from rain for a number of days. Three temporary greens so a non-qualifier for handicapping.

Kamil and Kerry were the early clubhouse leaders on 37 points until Adrian posted 41 to win with 22 on back 9 and birdie at 18. Results…

Kerry’s round showed much promise – out in 23 points, 4 birdies and one under par. With one more birdie on the back 9 Kerry is the 2020 Wednesday Birdie Tree leader. MW birdie tree…

The weather continues to wreak havoc forcing the greenkeeper to install 3 temporary greens on Prince’s (a bit of a rarity). As a result today’s competition becomes a Non-Qualifier for handicapping purposes. So the Top5 will just receive financial compensation.

Everybody in the Top5 had (really) good front 9’s: 20pts for Sheena and Paul, 22pts for Tony and Damper and to top them all 23pts for Sunny. Sheena and Paul then matched Sunny’s back 9 (all of them had 18pts on the way in). Tony and Damper had a softer back 9 (16pts both of them). It has to be said that all of them had an off moment on the last 9 holes. Sunny, Paul and Damper all had 5’s on the 16th. Sheena lost her chance on the 13th. And Tony will regret the DB on 12 and the 3-putt on the … 16th. Richard Owen completes the Top6 but will regret his two no scores on the 2nd and the 10th. Results…

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“I never played a round when I didn’t learn something new about the game of golf.” (Ben Hogan)

“The uglier a man’s legs are, the better he plays golf. It’s almost a law.” (HG Wells)

“It took me 17 years to get 3000 hits in baseball. It took one afternoon on the golf course.” (Hank Aaron)

“Golf is a compromise between what what your ego wants you to do, what experience tells you to do and what your nerves let you do.” (Bruce Crampton)

Enjoy the end of the year festivities. See you all in 2020 for more golfing highlights.

Today’s American Greensomes on the Prince’s course was a moment of pre-Christmas fun and to brighten up the day the sun appeared. Our winners were the pairing of Brian Ransom with Paul Grand who amassed a tidy 42 points. Susan Smith and Lia Donath captured second place with 41 points and in third place with 39 points we had the pairing of Sunny Lall with Kinga Nemes. In all, there were 22 players braving today’s course conditions and today’s format was a very agreeable diversion from the normal individual events.

Pictures on the course today: Prince’s 10th | Duke’s 11th

After more rain, Prince’s continued to get muddier and tee mats were in use at some holes. The day itself was dry and there was some good golf. A cracking 40 points with 21 on the back nine won Sunny Lal the event one ahead of Brian Ransome and two from Stephen Haworth, Russell Stewart and Richard Owen with 38s. Results…

Recently (Sunday) ESR’d Damber Thapa continued his rich vein of form with 37 and he clambers aboard the 2019 midweek Eagle Tree with a 2 at 17.

Heavy overnight rain and chilly winds made life pretty miserable for the field. The men failed to take advantage of the forward tees. One lady member hinted that this was an indication of the poor quality of the men’s short game (no prizes if you can guess her name. On second thought: the 1st male member who e-mails me the correct name of that member wins a sleeve of new/unused Taylor Made TP5 balls – send your answer to kchaffart@gmail.com – one entry per person).

Cheryl Woodhouse recorded 23pts on the back 9 (only blemish being a 1-pointer on the 17th hole). A total score of 39pts was matched by new member Damper. Cheryl’s better back 9 makes her today’s winner. As a reward her handicap finally gets a healthy cut down to 20. Damper’s receives an ESR taking his handicap down to 15. Richard Inglis was able to take 3rd place despite 3-putting 4 greens. Adrian Wells keeps up his good form by taking 4th place. Luke Baker (holing a monster birdie putt on 13 didn’t hurt) and JDR complete the Top6. Results…

Conditions proved to be tricky: CSS = 35pts !!!

Capitan vs Secretary
Even though the Top 2 were on the Secretary’s team he lost to the Captain (aka Kim Chaffart deputising for Nigel El Capitan) by a score of 714-695.

A very early sparkling 23 points posted by Mark Rosamund set the target in the midweek Champagne Chase in so-so conditions but at times blinding sunshine over 10 holes. But Adrian Wells really fizzed with 24 points to win the bottle of bubbly just edging an effervescent round from Seymour Laird on back 9. Brett Colley and Richard Norden also had flashes of brilliance with 23s. Results…

38 players entered the shoot-out over 10 holes at the Park. A comp over only 10 holes leaves very little room for error. Two players finished on 21pts. Russell had the more consistent round handing him victory today. Ollie’s birdie on the 7th could’ve served as launch pad. But unfortunately for him he went DB – Par – Bogey on the last 3 holes. So based on the countback rule he has to settle for 2nd. Luke should’ve joined/passed that group had it not been for a horrible finish: DB (7th), DB (8th), bogey (9th) and DB (10th). Keith and Kim also recorded 20pts but have to settle for 4th and 5th places respectively. Kerry’s 2 birdies set him up nicely for a 6th place finish. First lady today is Susan Smith. Results…