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.

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.

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]. Suhai followed with a sparkling 41 and then Paul Green with effervescent 40.

Best woman not far behind was Suan Smith 37. Just 3 ‘Twos’ all at par 3s with most notable being Tamas at long 13th.

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.

 Nowhere to hide from the casual water and mud (all of us took their fair share home …). The 2 temporary greens and forward tees on a lot of holes rendered the course fairly short.

So you could argue the above offset each other. Gerard O recorded 5 3-pointers and 2 4-pointers. That translated into 19pts on the front 9 and 21pts on the back 9. Pretty impressive in these conditions. Another early starter Robert C finished 1 point back of Gerard. He may regret the 3 5’s to start his back 9. 5 players scored 38pts. Chris J and Richard O matched Gerard’s score on the back 9 (21pts). But Chris’ last 6 holes were marginally better than Richard’s. Adrian W and Mike J had a softer back (20pts). But it was enough to claim the last “money spots”.  Pepe M had the best front 9 (21pts).

MW Winter Standings
Julian J, Robert C 73pts, JM Gomez 72, Serhat G 71

MW Princes Eclectic
Richard O 71.9, Robert C 72.1, Adrian W 73.6

Cool and grey with the odd spell of light rain. 2 temps & a non-qualifier for handicap.

Women

It was Joan’s turn to make it look easy this week with 35 but she was closely followed by 3 on 34. Think Katharina and Sheena were playing in a parallel universe but it gives us plenty of room for improvement in the next rounds of the eclectic.
In the eclectic, Gina tops it followed by Jayne & Joan courtesy of the half handicap allowance- you can check the holes you need to improve from the report on MS

Men

The senior division was headed by Peter Needham who started with a welcome birdie and against normal form had a better front 9 (22pts) than back (17pts) for 39 total; in a similar vein Thierry Andretta had 21 out 16 back for his 37. Paul Kamerling finished 3rd with steady 35 then club champion Roger Rojas 35.

The junior division returned higher points scores with Onursal Soyer 42 [best front 9, 23pts ], Paul Green 41, Sean O’Sullivan 3rd 40 on countback from Julian James and Paul McGrath .

The first round of [8] for Winter Comp. reflects the above whilst in first [of 4] Prince’s Eclectic is headed by Peter Needham 70.1 from Julian James 72.2.

A small field faced tough conditions. Autumn/Winter golf was back with a bang at the park. Even though the rain was less present the last 36h mud and casual water were ever present. There were still 3 temporary greens (3rd, 11th and 12th). Avoiding the rain today proved impossible. Even though the rain wasn’t very hard it was very persistent during the whole day.

Early starter Brett Colley put up a valiant effort to come home with 35pts (17+18). But the day belonged to the late morning starters. Arguably the weather was worse for them. 3 players finished on 36pts. Julian had the best back 9 of the three. The last 6 holes of Julian James and Bill Norman were the tie-breaker: Julian had 12pts over those holes . Bill scored 1pt less. José-Manuel Gomez scored 16pts on the back 9 so he finishes 4th. Mike Jones was the only player “to beat his HI”. 38pts (20pts out and 18pts in) make him the clear winner. For 1 week at least he leads the MW Winter Comp standings. 

Breezy and bright but dry after recent storm/rains for the November Medals. With 3 temporary greens the competitions became non-qualifying for handicap.

Women

Silvia made it look pretty easy but am assuming conditions were pretty much as muddy and horrible as they were today and possibly raining as well? Your author was enjoying some sun in Spain!

So congratulations to Silvia who wins the last of the 2023 women’s medals – on to team games next month.

Men

Pete Malla led the way in the Senior division with net 70 just 1 from Paul Kamerling; with 73s came Umran Ali, Aidan Hurley and Joe Goncalves; Aidan had lowest gross of the day.

With a glorious 65 Charles Haines won the Junior medal from early leader Alan King 67. Mark Laverty teed off with a birdie for his 68 whilst Richard Hanna shot 70 with a promising front 9 gross 41 net 31.

The course was muddy after more recent rain.

The winner of the Medal was Serhat with an amazng 63 with Graham C 2nd 65 on countback from Robert C.

With the 2 Matchplay KOs finished and now the final competition – Lissaman Cup, final Senior and Junior positions are shown below: