Although the course was wet and muddy in places, it was a lovely sunny day to play golf with no wind and milder temperatures.
The leaderboard kept changing as more players finished their rounds. Firstly it was Russell (33 points), then Julian (36 points), then Charlie Haines (37 points), then Joe Goncalves (38 points) and then the final group finished their rounds and Pat Dalton (44 points) smashed the rest and grabbed top spot. Pat’s round was ‘consistently good’, gross 85, only two 6s on his card, a best front 9 (24 points) and all 4s and 5s on the back 9 (20 points).

Joe doesn’t play Friday’s very often and had some trouble with his time-keeping, however his golf was immaculate as ever with a gross 76. Charlie’s good golf continues and his 37, beat the same score by Bill Norman and Peter Miller on countback – Bill had an unfortunate 6 on the 17th and Peter blobbed the 18th. Other highlights were Julian’s consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th holes (and best back 9 – 21 points) and Uli’s unlikely birdie 2 on the 13th following his tee shot finishing on the 10th tee! Sweep payout to top 3 (£10, £6, £3).

The weather forced the field do the battle on Princes rather than Dukes. Still plenty of temporary greens. Despite the tough conditions scoring proved very robust. Unfortunately today’s scores won’t count for WHS. Looks like the early starters struggled a bit more to adapt to the playing conditions. The sole 2 NR’s came from the 7.45 game.

Serhat is still on a tear. He managed to go out in 46 strokes Gross (30 Nett). He even improved on the back 9: 42 (Gross – 27 Nett). The best of the rest was Bill N. His numbers were: 43 (Gross – 34 Nett) and 39 (Gross – 30 Nett). But he will regret his 2 DB’s on the back 9 (14 & 16). Uli recorded the best gross scores on front and back 9 (39 & 37). So 3rd place seems a good return for his efforts. Alex B is a valiant 4th. But his round was fairly volatile: 1 DB, 2 Triple Bogeys and 1 Quad. 1st woman is outgoing WC Sheena.  

Women

Just 2 teams of 3 with a very close result. Being very generous only 4 tee shots each was required and we both finished up under par – net 72 & 73,
Susan, Cheryl & Sheena got 20 of their points on the front 9, courtesy of the eagle on the 8th which yielded 5 points, or they’d have been beaten on the back 9 if it were only a birdie. Amazingly another of the shots landed just 6″ from the hole which is where they expected to play from.

Vielen Dank Katharina for the stollen which as was evident we happily devoured as we had our Christmas drink on the club. The others missed out on a fun day and we even kept pretty much dry much to everyone’s surprise.

Men

Not as cold as recent freezing days and a reduced turnout for the December Medal.

Raymond triumphed in the senior division on 69 – 2 birdie on front 9 he was level par but after another birdie at 16 his only flaw came next with 7 at 17th; best gross came from 2nd in the division Aidan with gross 79 net 73 and best back 9. Paul Kammerling posted a very promising 76 which could have been better but for a couple of 8s on back 9.

In last game Charlie Whiteman shone to win junior with 69 but like Paul K above shot a couple of 8s on back 9. The earlier clubhouse winner Sean returned a solid 70 whilst the in-form Iker had 72 off 19.

Raymond and Charlie get medals.

A very cold morning with frozen fairways and greens greeted the smallest Friday field of the year. The ‘solid’ ground provided plenty of bounce and roll – a real change from the recent muddy conditions and it took some getting used to with approaches to the greens. Given the cold weather conditions (there were even flurries of light snow before midday) and the knowledge that there were 5 temporary greens over the final 8 holes of the course, the competition was reduced Holes 1 to 10 only. Some players continued to play the full 18 holes and were treated to some weak winter sun.

High handicapper Richard Norden was the clear winner (23 points) with a very solid display of driving, pitching and putting. By back-analysis, Richard should have been one of the lowest handicappers in the field! In 2nd place Julian James (20 points) played to his handicap; the rest of the field were also-rans.

Sweep payout to Richard N. (£7)

The 5 (!) temporary greens and muddy conditions were almost offset by the abundant sunshine. The back white tees on  the 18th must have been a bit of shock for the men. 

 Looks like the early starters had a bit more trouble adjusting to the conditions. The exception was Mike Jones. A steady front 9 (19pts) was followed up by a better back 9 (20pts). 39pts proved to be a pretty lofty target for most of the field. Andre P mirrored Mike’s round. He almost let victory slip away by not scoring any points on the 16th hole. But he was still able to outscore Mike J by 1pt on the back 9. Serhat matched Mike’s score over front and back 9 (19+20Pts). But the countback rule awards 3rd place to Serhat. As usual Peppe had a strong front 9 (21pts – a birdie for 4pts on the 8th doesn’t hurt). An ugly triple on the 16th stymied his march to victory. But the upside is that he managed to hold it together on the way in.

A cold frosty start with temps only nudging 6C and mainly dry for the Champagne Chase.

A mixed event to enter but with separate prizes for the men and women, provided traditionally by the women’s section

Iker Lanzagorta uncorked a magnificent 48 points to win with just irons and won honours for front and back 9s : 23 and 25 respectively; close behind though was a bubbling 45 from Sushant Lall [24 on back]. Suhail followed with a sparkling 41 and then Paul Green with effervescent 40.

For the women Susan beat Gina on the back 9, both with 37 and Jayne took the 3rd spot with a 31.

Just 3 ‘Twos’ all at par 3s with most notable being Tamas at long 13th.

A real drop in temperature overnight and players faced a cloudy morning with a cold, brisk wind from the north west. The sun showed itself briefly around midday and again nearing the end of our rounds but winter has certainly arrived. Five temporary greens in play, as expected (holes 1,2,3,5 & 8), all having been recently mowed to make putting less of a lottery. The greens on the 13 holes in play were in good condition and, with very little rain over the past 2/3 days, the fairways were much firmer and less muddy.

Most of the field scored reasonably close to, or better than, their handicap on what was a ‘shortened course’, due to forward mats on the 2nd, 4th, 13th & yellow teeing area on the 18th, and the 5 temporary greens. The stand-out performer was Bill Norman, our winner on 43 points (19 out, 24 in); Bill had 3 pars on the front 9 and 2 birdies and another 3 pars on the back 9. In 2nd place on 39 points was Charlie Haines with one of his best rounds for a long time, which included 3 birdies (on the 4th, 15th and 18th). In 3rd place, just one point back, was another good, steady round by Pat Dalton.

Charlie’s 3 birdies jumps him up to 4th on the 2023 Friday Birdie Tree, not too far behind Uli and Rannesh in 2nd and 3rd spots respectively, but still some way behind our leader Pralab on 16 birdies.
Sweep payout goes to top 3 (£11, £7, £4).

With Duke’s closed the Midweek November Plate was played on Prince’s – with 5 temporary greens at 1,2,3,5 & 8.

Andre Pelser proved the winner with 46 points playing off 31; in his first 3 holes alone he scored 2 4 pointers and11 points! 25 out and 21 back – well done.. Returning to the clubhouse in almost dark, Umran shot an amazing level par 68 gross – all 3s and 4s [gross] except on 12th where a rare 7 ensued. Well done indeed to Umran and 2nd on 44 points.

Bill Norman won 3rd position 43 points on countback from Niel who returned best front 9 of 24 points. Richard 1marriott edged Mike Sands on countback with both41 points; special mention for Richard’s back 9 of 25 points in contrast to 3 ‘blobs’ on the front.

Best woman Gina 37.

General consensus was that the course should either have had 18 temps or be closed. On the first green footprints went several inches below the surface leaving it in an appalling condition which is likely to render it out of action for some months.

Women

Hmmm what to say! Last week Joan made it look easy. She still managed to come out on top today but it wasn’t quite the master class of last week. In fact it was her 17 points on the back 9 that made the difference, started with her birdie on the 10th.
Susan was just one point behind but she kept alternating great shots with ones she’d rather forget.
Our second game today are all currently shown as NRs in the eclectic as they all recorded rahter a number of blobs.

As with last week, handicapping affects the order in the eclectic with Susan & Joan swapping places but it’s only the first round.

Men

Tamas shot a consistent 41 points [inc. 2 birdie ‘Twos’ at 7 and 16 ] to lead Senior division for the day ahead of Kerry 38; Kerry’s round showed scope for improvement with a couple of ‘blobs’ but had a fine birdie at 12th. Paul Kammerling’s 35 showed much promise. In the cumulative Winter comp Tamas leads after 2 rounds 73 from Paul’s 71 and Kerry’s 70.
The stats show Kerry had most holes under par [so birdies since no eagles today] – 3.

The Junior division for the day was headed by Robin T with a fine 40 points [21 on back 9] 3 ahead of Gerard O’s 37 [which was 21 out but with 3 ‘blobs’ on back 9]. Suhail led the rest of challenge on with 36 on countback from Rannesh and Tony K. Sean ties the cumulative Winter comp after 2 rounds with Onursal both 75 points.

It was a cold and thankfully dry start becoming increasingly warm (relatively !) as the sun shone down. The course was very wet and muddy, so no run on the ball. Three temporary greens (3rd, 11th and 12th) which didn’t seem to have seen a mower for quite a few days. The 1st hole should also have had a temporary green and was in a dreadful state.

Nothing seemed to stop today’s winner Richard Norden though. His impressive 42 points included 6 pars and a birdie on the final hole. Clear 2nd place (38 points) went to Rannesh, who had one of those rounds with his putter producing 3 birdies on the 7th, 10th and 18th (two of which were putted from distance off the greens). This raises Rannesh to 3rd in the 2023 Friday Birdie Tree (attached). 3rd and 4th places in the competition (36 points) were decided on countback, with Pat Dalton squeezing out Charlie Haines. Pat’s score could have been even better if he hadn’t blobbed 2 holes because his ball was “lost in the sun”. Sweep payout to top two (£11, £6).