It was a fine autumnal day and a huge improvement from the wind and rain of last Wednesday. It was noticeable that the Park is steadily changing colour ready for the big leaf drop.  Our winner was our very early player Mel Dunn (playing off 12) with an exceptional six under total of 41 points.  Mel was just ok at the half-way stage but he changed gear and finished the back nine holes by dropping just one shot to par.  Also out for an early game Greg Poyser (playing off 23) was close to three under with this runner up score of 37 points.  Losing out to Greg on the countback and taking third place it was Captain Paul (playing off 11) who was more than two under his handicap with his 37 points. 

With less run on the ball the course is playing harder than during the dry hot spell and we see that less than 10% of Wednesday’s players managed to play to their handicaps or better.  Rather surprisingly, the stats show that the hole found to be the third most difficult was the first.

The standings after the first round of the Prince’s Eclectic show Mel (68.7) has a 3 strokes lead from Bill Norman (71.6) with Paul Green third on 71.9.

It was a pleasant dry day at the Park but it became uncomfortably cold as the final groups finished.  The format was greensomes and, with a stroke allowance of 21, our winning pair with 42 points were Ed Hall and Tony Kopczak (who was wearing his hot summer outfit).  They were out in 20 points and on the more testing back nine they managed 22 points.  ,

Taking second place with 41 points were Jim Matthews and Richard Back who were limited to a stroke allowance of just 9 shots.  Jim and Richard dropped just one shot to par on the front nine to give them 21 points and with a succession of pars until the last two holes the back nine ended with 20 points.  Peter Needham and Julian James, playing off 16, finished in third place with 40 points, with equal halves of 20 points. 

A lovely bright sunny day greeted the October Midweek Medal players. A breeze was around to add to the proceedings but was pleasant. 37 players competed in the 2 divisions.
After a 2 weeks layoff, Dave Cato cruised to the top of Div 1 with his net 65, 42 out and 39 back. Richard Owen was 2nd with his 66, 40 out and 37 back, with a birdie on hole 2. Angus Robertson came 3rd and had the lowest gross of the day 39 out and 33(level par) on the back. He had 2 birdies on 14 and 18,
In Div 2 Kim Jabbour also had a net 65 with 39 out and 43 back. He had two 7’s on his card and a 9 and 18!! Paul Hackett was 1 behind on 66, 46 out and 45 back. Cheryl Woodhouse was 3rd with her net 68; she had an up and down round out in 50 and back in 42.

This was the last round of the 2026 Midweek Grand Medal. For a long time Angus Robertson looked like the likely winner and indeed, no-one could catch him. Angus finished on 331, 5 ahead of Richard Owen (336), with Julian James and Dave Cato a further 9 strokes back on 345.

Women

Turned out to be a lovely day weatherwise and very warm when the sun came out. Apart from our esteemed captain it would seem that the change in conditions underfoot caught a few out today. Despite the roll on the still very bare fairways, more club was required to get the ball to the green and over the badger damage around the fringes of many greens..

Congratulations to Ali for her 5 shot win with a net 69 ahead of Doreen on 74.

Men

After a chilly start, a very pleasant partly sunny day with only a gentle breeze. Not much rough and plenty of run on the hard, still bare fairways, enabled good scores by the leading players.

Henry takes home the monthly medal glass for Division 1 with a sparkling 5-under net 63. Henry had the lowest score on the front 9 (just 2 over gross) and finished with 3 birdies on the last 4 holes. James Smith was 2nd in Division 1 with a net 64, followed by Joe and Lee, both net 66’s. Joe was just 3-over-gross for his round and level (33) on the back 9. Mel Dunn notched up an Eagle 2 on the 17th as the highlight of his round.

In Division 2 Gio Caboni takes home the medal glass with his net 67, followed by Robin Thomas (net 69) and Tony Kopczak and Steve De Long, both net 71s.

Today was the last round of the 2026 Grand Medal (cumulative best 5 rounds from 8) and the report on the final standings is attached.

In Division 1 Toby Hunt leapfrogged from 5th place to the top of the table, improving his score by 11 shots to 343 shots and sharing the trophy with Brian McMahon (on the same score). Pete Harrison was a close 3rd on 345 shots, with Oz Doyle a further 2 shots back.

In Division 2 today’s scores did not affect the top of the table, so Tony Kopczak is the winner on 342 shots, from Gregory Jean- Baptiste (351) and David Grace (352); the rest of the field was a further more than 10 shots back.

Well, what a day it turned out to be. A lot of constant rain nearly all day with many puddles on the greens.
There were lots of players who, for one reason or another, pulled out of playing and a lot of shuffling of pairs took place.
However early starters Mel Dunn and Billy Jackson topped the pile with 43 points. 24 out and 19 back.
Paul Gullett and Richard Marriott claimed second place on countback with a superior back nine from Kim Jabbour and Brian Ransom both on 42 points.
I think that everyone was glad to get back into the clubhouse and out of the rain. Just need to dry all of our equipment and clothing. Well done to all competitors who took part.

A warm pleasant day with a slight breeze.
Peppe Monterosso had a steady round 21 out and 18 back for his 39 points beating Toby Hunt and Graham Cull into 2nd and 3rd places with their 38 points. Graham had amassed 24 points on the front 9 but found the back 9 a little tougher going. Angus Robertson beat Kim Jabbour on countback both having 37 points.
For the first time for a while there were no 2’s recorded.

After a cloudy start, the sun came out and it was a very pleasant, warm Autumn day, with a moderate westerly breeze. The greens seem to have now recovered from the restoration work a few weeks ago and the fairways are beginning to ‘green up’. Substantial cutting back of the brambles and mowing of the long grass over the past week was evident.

This year’s winner of the Silver Jubilee trophy is Oz Doyle with a very steady and impressive net 64 (7 under par). Perhaps surpringly no birdies but 10 pars and no double bogeys. In second place was Tony Kopczak with a 6 under par 65; Tony started with 3 pars, finished with 3 pars and did little wrong in between. Three players had net 67’s, Richard Prosser beating Tom Laybourn and Richard Owen on countback, respectively. In 6th place, and best lady, was Ellie Rhodes with a net 68.

This was the final round of the Jubilee series and this year’s winner of the Anniversay Cup is Niamh Grace with a total of 275 shots from her best 4 rounds, 3 ahead of Nick Rogers (278 shots) and Oz Doyle (279 shots). The final results sheet is attached.

10 mixed pairs played for this year’s Men’s Invitation on a warm, sunny, but very breezy day. The greens on the Duke’s course were found to be running pretty true and the fairways were a little softer and greener than they have been for months – so less run!

Three pairs scored 40 points or more and the results at the top were very close. Two teams had 41 points and on countback (by one shot) Brian Ransom & Monique Hubaille beat Jonno McLean & Kelly Hewitt. In 3rd place, just missing out on the prizes, were Nick Rogers and Alison Chadwick (40 points); Dennis Keough & Doreen Dolby took 4th place with 39 points.

Pizza and chips were enjoyed after play and a good time was had by all.