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)

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).

Light rain showers were evident over the first few holes and the weather forecast promised dry sunny conditions from about 11am, however the clouds kept rolling in and, with the wind becoming more northerly, it was decidedly ‘cold’ by mid afternoon.

It seemed for a long time that early starter Russell Stewart’s 38 points would easily win the day, however in the penultimate game Peter Miller came in with 40 points ( 23 points on the back 9) and Julian James equalled Stewart’s 38 points, but missed out on countback. Russell had birdies on the 11th and 14th, while Peter birdied the 4th and Julian birdied the 17th. Sweep pay-out to these top 3 (£9, £6, £3).

This week it was ‘5 Clubs and a Putter’, which is a good deal ‘easier’ than 3 clubs and a putter and playing off the yellow tees also helped. Due to the heavy rain over the preceding days, there were 3 ‘temporary greens’, although these were simply holes in the fairway with no additional mowing or boundary marking.

The top 3 of Alex Braun (37 points), Andre Pelser (37 points) and Richard Norden (36 points) all put in very solid and consistent rounds, although Alex equalled Pralab with a best back 9 of 23 points and Andre had the best front 9 (20 points). Andre also scored 6 on all of the last 8 holes, which is highly unusual.

Mention must be made of Pralab’s round. Although finishing with a ‘middle-of-the-road’ 32 points, he only had 4 points after 8 holes. He then eagled the 9th, birdied the 10th and then went on to also birdie the 15th and 18th holes. What a change in form!

Events on the SI 1 14th hole in the game involving Tamas and Richard Norden also deserves a mention, as 2 balls were holed with one shot. Richard played his 6th shot to just a few inches from the hole before Tamas played his 3rd (approach) shot onto the green – Tamas’s ball knocked Richard’s ball into the hole, and then followed it in. A great birdie for Tamas, but Richard had to replace his ball and putt for a 7. Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £5, £3).

The early morning rain showers quickly subsided for the 10am starters and the sun then appeared to make it a pleasant Autumn day, at least for a few hours. At around 2.30 pm however, black shower clouds appeared and Games 3 to 7 had to endure around 15 to 20 mins of heavy rain, which was unfortunate.

Our winner, Peppe (40 points), was in Game 1 so missed the late downpour and, apart from the 4th hole, put in a very solid round (18 points out and 22 points in). Second place goes to Poria Alinia (39 points) who had an average front 9 (17 points) but a back 9 (22 points) super-charged by consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. Rannesh takes 3rd place with 37 points, thanks to some excellent 4 iron tee shots (no driver or 3 wood in his bag !), surprisingly good approach shots and a steady putting display. Gary Simpson and Colin Price both scored 36 points for 4th and 5th places. Best front 9 was Tom Simpkins (21 points) and best back 9 was Andre Pelser (23 points). Sweep payout to top 3 (£14, £9, £5).

After a slightly chilly start it turned out to be another sunny, warm autumn day, Still plenty of bounce and run on the fairways but the grass on the greens was in need of a cut.

An outstanding round of golf by Richard Norden (46 points) makes him the clear winner and earns him a 2 strokes cut in his handicap index (including an ESR of 1.0) – he’s now back down to 22.4, where he was 2 years ago. Richard started with a blob (tree trouble) but then didn’t look back with a consistency and driving, approach shots and putting display of a low teens handicapper. Perhaps the most surprising thing about his round (and score) were that there were no birdies.

Early starter Ed Robinson bags 2nd place with a fine 43 points, achieved over 16 holes, as he blobbed the 5th and 16th holes. In 3rd place, with a similarly steady round (just 1 blob) was Richard Hodgkinson (40 points).

Special mentions also go to Poria Alinia (35 points) who had 3 birdies on the front 9, including consecutively on the 7th and 8th holes, but then rather fell apart on the back 9 with 3 blobs, and to Graham Cull (39 points) who had an outstanding front 9 (24 points) – even beating Richard Nordon’s front 9.

To win the sweep money on a Friday it helps to have a high handicap (!!!); the monies go to the top 3 (£12, £8 & £5). However, there were also some good gross scores by the lower handicappers: Richard O. 80, Pralab 82 and Brian 84.

It was a relatively warm and sunny autumn day and the course was in good condition, although the greens needed cutting (very slow).

Regular Bill Jennings recorded his first ‘win’ with the club, 38 points and the strongest back 9 of anyone in the field (23 points). Well Done Bill !!
In 2nd place, just one point behind was Adrian Norris; a remarkable result with 4 blobs on his card. 3rd and 4th places, both on 35 points were Adrian Wells and Ed Robinson, respectively. Most players found the back 9 easier than the front 9; best front 9 was by Seymour (20 points). Rannesh birdied 2 of the par 3s. The surprise pairing of Gerald and Seymour easily saw off Uli and Richard Owen in their pairs matchplay side competition, 3&2.

Sweep payout to the top 4 (£10, £7, £3 & £2)

A thankfully dry day following the heavy rain earlier in the week.

Late entrant Jose Manuel Gomez had a another good round and was the clear winner with 43 points, three clear of George Taylor in 2nd place (40 points) and with Gerard Ouattara 3rd (39 points). George had the best front 9 (22 points) and Jose & Gerard the best back 9 (23 points). Jose’s handicap was trimmed by just over a shot to a new Low Index of 22.1.

Uli Katte and James Deissler (recently returned, like Gerard, from warm weather golfing in Spain) were 3 shots back on 36 points. Only 3 birdies were scored, by Brian, George and Mitch.

Sweep payout to top 3 (£14, £9, £5)