The Duke’s course was in good condition for the time of year, with all 18 greens in play (hopefully we’ve seen the last of the fluffy, fairway temporary greens !) and good delineation of the fairways. Some welcome ‘run’ was evident on the fairways, although the greens were ‘bumpy’. Mild weather with little wind, although partly overcast.

Best scores in Division 1 did not beat handicap (36 points), however Peter Needham took the first place honours with 36, followed by a brace of 35’s from Peter Harrison and Gavin Laniger, with Mel Dunn and Sunny Lall scoring 34s. In Division 2 better scores were achieved, with Billy Jackson and Nigel Ward both scoring 40 points, followed by three 38’s from Julian, Duncan and Robin respectively.

Today was also the final round of the Winter Competition (and the Duke’s Eclectic). In Division 1 the top three in the Winter Competition were Mel Dunn, Iker Lanzagorta and Richard Owen, and in Division 2 were Billy Jackson, Charles Haines and Brian Ransom. In the Duke’s Eclectic, Allan Boyd (net 63), Iker (net 64) and Billy (net 65) take the top three spots.

The forecast came true and we had a lovely warm sunny day for the first leg of the 36 hole Midweek Spring Stableford. It didn’t however translate to lots of lovely high scores and no one played to their handicap. It was also a first for 2026 with all 18 greens in play that obviously proved too much for us, especially the 8th being over 50 yds longer than we’ve got used to and which played as the most difficult hole. Lots of birdies on the par 3s with Joe Goncalves making it look easy despite having to putt across at least half of the green on each occasion.
In the clubhouse it looked like a matching pair of 35s for the top 2 spots, but unfortunately Richard Marriot mis-keyed his scores on the last 2 holes which left Peter Harrington the winner with his 35 points followed by Joe on 34 with Richard slipping back to 33 points but taking 3rd spot from 5 others on the same score.

This was also the 7th round in the Winter comp which sees Kevin Prendergast on 115 from Julian James on 110.

Women

Five women came out to play for the last winter team event of the year.   With five being a tricky number Sheena kindly opted to play a general play round with the chaps leaving four to play a team event.   For the second week in a row Cheryl and her partner won a 4BBB match, this time with Alison.  They had a narrow 2UP victory over Jayne and Doreen.   All enjoyed a beautiful sunny,  though windy, day.

Men

Scoring was generally well below par on a cool, cloudy and very windy morning; just 2 temporary greens on Prince’s but the spring maintenance program was evident with bumpy greens such that there was a PCC adjustment of 1 shot.

In Division 1 congratulations to Oz Doyle, winner with net 68, followed by Nigel Ward and Gavin Laniger respectively, both net 70. In Division 2 the winner was Tony Kopczak (net 64) three shots clear of Jonno McLean, Charles Haines and Attilio Cheso respectively, all on net 67.

We were treated to a fine day, and one which saw a welcome return to the Duke’s course for many, after what has felt an age on The Prince’s course.

Conditions were not easy, as the scoring showed. The fairways offered no run, the deep rough grass was thick, and the greens were midway through their spring preparation schedule, making putting a real challenge and much quicker than for the past few months.

Early starters Alan Treacy (36 points) and Mitch Cohen (34 points) took the honours, with Bill Norman 3rd on 33 points. Two 2s were recorded (by Andy Johnson and Ged Quinn).

Women

Four women played on the newly re-opened Dukes course which turned out to be “not too muddy”, with only two temporary greens and all four survived the full 18 holes.   Susan and Doreen played a 4BBB match against Cheryl and Jayne.   Cheryl and Jayne won the match 3&2. 

Men

After a break of around 3 months of not being able to play the full 18 holes on Duke’s, it was good to have a change from the Prince’s course (and Duke’s 1-11). Unfortunately today was overcast and rather chilly and worm casts made some holes particularly muddy – ball cleaning on every hole was the order of the day.

Best scores were around player’s handicap, with the course playing ‘long’ due to lack of run, wet grass and the cold temperatures. Dan Ballantyne came out on top in Division 1, beating Lee Frost on countback (both 36 points), with Bill Norman and Iker close behind (both 35 points). In Division 2 Cuneyt came out top, beating Charlie Haines on countback (both 37 points), with Billy Jackson 3rd on 35 points and Attilio 4th on 31 points. Billy had the best front 9 of the day (19 points) and Cuneyt the best back 9 (21 points). The hardest scoring holes were the 13th, 17th and 14th, and the easiest were the 10th, 15th and 7th. Birdies were at a bit of a premium, with only Richard Back bagging 2.

After 6 rounds of the winter competition, Richard Owen and Iker top the table in Division 1 with 108 points each (best 3 scores) and in Division 2 Charles Haines leads on 113 points, from Sean O’Sullivan (108) and Billy Jackson (107), these 3 being well ahead of the remainder of the Div. 2 field.  In the Duke’s Eclectic, Chris Mellish leads from Justin, Allan Boyd and Dan Ballantyne ( see attached reports).

A good turn out…..for a ‘work’ day. Can’t complain about the weather and the conditions. Even some of the six temporary greens were quite fast, and many fairways were newly mown and even green coloured.

Scoring pretty good….with 9 twos recorded and 5 players beating net par.
Lowest gross goes to Angus Robertson…71. Very well done. Top net results as follows:

Division 1
Angus Robertson (6):: 65
Kevin Prendergas (14): 65
Julian James (14): 67

Division 2:
Paul Gullet (20): 65
Fhorkan Uddin (17): 66
Peter Harrington (21): 68

….meanwhile, in the Midweek Winter Competition, Kevin Prendergast has taken a probably unassailable lead of 5 points (see report). The Eclectic is much closer however with Bill Norman, Charles Haines and Ged Quinn all struggling for glory, but all stuck together with net 61’s.

Also shout out for Brett Colley….Eagle on 14.

Women

As has been the norm recently the number had dwindled to 6 by the Sunday but allowed for 2 teams of 3 to have a friendly scramble. It is always a surprise that the results are so close, but with both teams having 14 shots there was 1 difference in our scores.
Team Elisabeth, Kelly & Sheena bogeyed every hole on the front 9 but scrambled 5 pars on the back 9 to go with the other 4 bogeys giving them a gross 82.
Team Deb, Doreen & Susan by contrast started with 5 4s and were 2 shots ahead after 9 but despite par’ing 4 holes on the back they also had a couple of double bogeys ending with an 83.

Men

Perhaps it was a good sign that on the first day of the new month, the weather treated us better than forecast and was definitely on the milder side & we were back on the 2nd green again, albeit just the front of it, although they then added the 12th back in.
Some good scoring in both divisions today with no fewer than 8 birdie ‘2s’ listed on the results and 29 in total recorded.
Playing in his first comp since the beginning of January, Mel takes the honours today in Div1 with 41 points, 24 of which were recorded on the front 9 and was 4 ahead of a group of 3 tied on 37 points (Richard O, Iker and Michael).
In Div 2 Brian R followed up his 40 points midweek with another 40 today and took the honours on the back 9 from Charles who matched his score. 1 back was Billy on 39.

Today was also the last round in the Prince’s Eclectic which Charles has won with a net 59 from Mel on 60. Payout for this happens occurs at the same time as the Winter Comp results once that is over (which looks to be dependant upon Duke’s being open or not).

Taking rounds on Prince’s only for now, the Winter Comp leader is RichardO on 108 from Iker on 103 and Allan & Greg on 102.

We were greeted with the best weather of the year so far – blue skies and a warming sun, what a difference!!

Scoring was good with 21 scores of 30+ points. The number of players scoring 2’s also was up as putting was a little easier (except on the temporary greens).

Brian Ransom played a steady game of 19 out and 21 back to get to the clubhouse with 40 points. Just 1 point ahead of Bill Norman, who managed 2 consecutive birdies on 13 and 14 to boost his score to 39 points. Tams Ladacs just edged out Charles Haines on countback with 36 points each. Ged Quinn was 5th with his 35 points.

Duke’s course completely closed due to wet conditions.