A significantly reduced field played for the December Plate in overcast, chilly, but thankfully dry conditions. The recent dry spell of weather made the course less ‘slippery’ underfoot and lessened the need for ball cleaning.

Scoring was pretty good with almost half the field scoring 20 points or more (compared to a ‘par score’ of 22 points on this shortened course). The winner Ged Quinn beat Olav Bridie, both 24 points, on last 6 countback (holes 6 -10, +2). Similarly, Alan Boyd beat Duncan Taylor, both 23 points, on last 9 countback.

Neither Olav nor Allan entered the Sweep, so the sweep payout goes to Ged, Duncan, Greg and Lee.

The temperature was down to about 6 degrees with a chill wind blowing from the East. However the Prince’s was otherwise in good condition. The top 11 players scored 30+ points with Charles Haines (35 points) winning his first Plate trophy, scoring 20 points on the back nine to push Richard Owen into second place and Duncan Taylor into third spot on 35 points countback. Angus had a good round off 6 handicap to take fourth place on 34 points just ahead of Andy Johnson on 33 points.

A grey and overcast day for the Sunday before Christmas’ American Greensomes but there were a few in festive attire to brighten things up.

Some pairs certainly made it look easy with scores that could match some of the summer ones for this event. Although of course in summer men are off the back white tees and today would have had many forward mats.
The scores were off the women’s card which resulted in 2 eagles. 1 on the 7th for Tom & Joe and another on the 13th for Dennis & RichardS as both have higher pars for the women.
Greg & Michael made short work of the course, playing off just 3 they came back with 44 points beating BrianR & Robin and Giovanni & Gregory who both had 43.

Today was a fun round playing American Greensomes. The weather was overcast with a gentle breeze and no rain. With the back 8 holes being closed on Duke’s we opted to play just the 11 open ones rather than a double loop with the mud still making things rather tricky.

With everyone playing off the same tees, yellow was the chosen colour and was played off the women’s pars and stroke indices which caused confusion on the 8th hole which is a par 4 for the women off the yellow tee which is more forward than the red.

RichardO & BrianR felt hard done by to get a par rather than a birdie but as it is SI6 everyone had a shot on the hole so Angus & Justin were the winners on countback, both having 24 points on the 11 holes.
One point behind on 23 points was the pair of Alan & Mitch who in turn were followed with 2 teams on 22 points.
Well done to everyone

A sunny day saw a smallish field play for the Christmas Hamper on 2 loops of 9 on the very muddy and slippery Duke’s course. (Playing 3-10 then 2, twice with stroke indices adjusted for the second loop)
Whilst this layout is much shorter than the normal 18 holes, conditions were not conducive to great scoring but don’t think anyone told Gerard this was likely. Or perhaps it was the prize on offer that produced his score (including 1 pickup) of 40 points to win by 3 points. There were 3 players following on 37 points but Billy had the better back 9 to take 2nd spot with Bill in 3rd place. Tom misses out on the prizes in 4th spot and did his scoring the wrong way round with 20 of his points coming on the first loop.

The women realised a number of years ago that there was no chance of them winning the hamper, so now there are separate prizes for the top women.
Niamh is the first place woman some way down the results list with her 26 points – a keying error has sadly dropped Joan down from 26 to 23 points. The second woman was Bella.

Thankfully most people had read Richard’s request in the start sheet to fill the card in starting from hole 1 as usual – made the checking a whole lot easier.

The Princes course greeted us with temp greens on holes 1 and 2 which for some meant an easy par but for others not such a great start!! The weather was mild and the sun came out. It was just the mud that proved troublesome. More than half the field scored 30 +points.
The winner was Peter Harrington who was in the last group and had 17 out and 22 back which included one blob and one 4 pointer. In 2nd place Pat Dalton had 16 out and 22 back with one blob on hole 8. 1 point back from Pat is Steve De Long 16 out and 21 back for 37 total. Both Ged Quinn and Richard Smith had 35 points but Ged just beat Richard on countback for 4th place.
Susan Smith was the best placed lady on 33 points and there was only one two recorded by Jonno McClean on hole 11, so well done to them.

Women

With conditions as muddy as ever, the decision was just 3 tee shots apiece which gave another close result. Ali, Bella, Deb & Jenny, maximising their extra 6 shots over Cheryl, Jayne, Joan & Susan even allowing for a 7 & 6 on their card, gave them a 1 shot win.

Both teams had birdies one of them even managing it on the temp green on the 2nd hole.

Hopefully the January event will not be a repeat of the first 2 events when 11 were booked in but only 8 played!

Men

The weather forecast was correct: rain up until around 9.30am, a cloudy, dry interlude till midday, then more rain – challenging conditions for golf, especially with muddy conditions underfoot. We had hoped to have all 18 greens in play, but overnight rain caused the 1st and 2nd to be temporaries.

After a few late drop outs, 34 hardy souls played the December medal with surprisingly only one NR, although there were several double digit hole scores on a number of cards.

In Division 1, Suhail Salim takes home the monthly medal glass with an impressive net 68, just pipping Brian McMahon, Greg Wright and Paul Green (all on 69), and Oz, Paul Kamerling and Joe on 70. Joe had the lowest gross of the day (73) – for the 2nd week running! Chris Mellish could have equalled Suhail if he had par’d the 14th, instead of taking 3 tee shots and recording a 9!

In Division 2, Duncan Taylor was the clear winner, also with a net 68 and takes home the monthly medal glass. Jonno McLean, Dennis Keough and Gerard Ouattara took 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, all on 72. Gerard will be ruing his 9 on the 8th, which spoilt an otherwise impressive card.

Weather conditions were much more pleasant than of late with blue skies and a light wind. Underfoot was very muddy with no or little run on the ball. Many rounds (14) ended in No Returns due to not being able to find the ball because of the leaves on the fairways.
The scores overall reflect the degree of difficulty described above but the senior division showed their class with nearly all being in the 70’s.

It was a chilly and frosty morning with low winter sunshine which became a very pleasant day for golf. However, the soft ground conditions and lack of run on and off the fairways made the course long for most players, even off the yellow and red tees.

Only Joe Goncalves, our winner today on 38 points, ‘beat the course’. Joe had a 4-over-gross round of 74, comprising 14 pars and 4 bogeys – exceptional golf. He was obviously out to impress his two women playing partners ! In 2nd and 3rd places, both on 34 points were Lee Frost and Paul Kamerling, respectively. There was then a group of 4 players on 32 points. Because of the low scoring, WHS decided that there would be a PCC of 2 shots.

The leading women for the champagne prizes were Hilary Casey and Caroline Stillwell respectively, both on 26 points.

For the first time, both the men and women played from the yellow tees (all the tees were almost together anyway). Conditions were frosty to start but slowly improved after the sun came out. Scoring was not bad with over half of the field scoring 30+ points.

Today’s winner with 39 points was Andy Johnson 22 out and 17 back. He just pipped Toby Hunt who scored 38 points. Toby played very steady 19 out and 19 back. Iain Barbour was 3rd on countback also with 38 points 21 out and 17 back. Mitchell Cohen edged into 4th place on countback ahead of Tamas Ladacs with a superior back nine score of 21 to 17 by Tamas.

There is special mention to Charles Haines with his hole in one on the 4th par 3. Also, the only 2 was an Eagle, scored by Greg Wright on the 15th hole. Everyone enjoyed a free drink in the clubhouse thanks to Charles.