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.

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.

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.

Women

Having entered Jenny’s score rather than her own it turned out that Bella managed to hold on to 1st place with her own score – but by just 1 point and not such a high one!

It turned out to be a lovely sunny day after the wet start and I think we all took layers off at one point. Hopefully the 11 who cancelled are regretting it.

Men

A much reduced field as many were put off by the rain on Saturday & overnight, but despite it being somewhat slippery underfoot most of us played in glorious sunshine, though the early guys will have had some rain.

As the course set-up was largely forward tees, with many mats, the tee of the day was yellow, which better reflects the scores going through to WHS.

In Div 1 Allan Boyd took 1st spot on the back 9 from Richard Owen both on 38, followed by Toby Hunt on 37 and Greg Wright on 36.
Div 2 was headed by Sean O’Sullivan with 37 points followed by Charles Haines and Mike Shabani on 36, with Charles taking 2nd spot on the back 9.

This was also the first round of the Prince’s eclectic & the scores can be seen on MS under the Results tab.

The weather was kinder than forecast earlier in the week, with no rain but chilly conditions. There were very slow rounds for some of the later groups, probably due to the ‘medal’ format and ball searching amongst the leaves. Thankfully the vast majority of the competitions over the next few months will be stableford.

In Division 1 there was a trio of players who played to their handicap (net 68) with Peppe winning the monthly medal spirits crystal glass on countback from Alan Treacy and Richard Smith, respectively. Richard had the best front and back 9s and the lowest gross score overall.

In Division 2 the winner was Chris Rudkin with the best net score of the day (net 65), followed by Stephen Philbin on net 68 and Kim Jabbour & Peter Harrington, both on net 71.

Duke’s generally in good condition and lots of good scoring.

Winner today with a terrific 41 points was Kevin Prendergast (17), 22 out and 19 in, piling on the points from hole to hole without pause. In second, Tamas Ladacs (13) went round in 18 out and 20 in, piping Andy Johnson (20), who went round in 21 out and 17 in, both compiling a considerable tally of 38 points each. In 4th was Mitchell Cohen, tied on points with Julian James in 5th, both making 35 points.

Women

The result couldn’t have been much closer, decided on the last 6 holes that Cheryl, Deb, Susan & Sheena had 5 pars and 1 bogey versus 4 pars and 2 bogeys.
Congrats to Ali, Bella, Caroline & Niamh who had nothing worse than a bogey all the way round.

Not easy conditions today after all the overnight rain had softened things up but definitely less stress out there with the 3 tee shot decision and at times a glorious sunny day for the first of the women’s winter team events.

Men

A little chilly but sunny and dry for the November Medal after the clearance of early rain.
The First (senior) division was keenly contested with both Allan Boyd and Paul Kamerling returning 69s Allan winning on countback but Paul recording best gross 77 of the day and also best back 9; well done. Tom Laybourn came a shot behind 70 for 3rd place.
In the Second division there was again a tie with both David Grace and Tony Kopczak 75. David won on back 9 countback. Ged Quinn came 3rd 76 and Gerard Ouattara 4th 77.
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The rain started around 10 o’clock time and did not stop until the last players finished their round. So the early starters definitely had the best of the weather. There were many sad and soggy scorecards along with quite a few who walked in off the course!! If the rain had been any heavier the course would have been unplayable with a lot of puddling on the greens.

However……
3 Players finished on 37 points with Julian James in first place on countback with 18 out and 19 back. Ged Quinn was 19 out and 18 back with a blob on hole 18. Justin Wildman had 20 out and 17 back with a 6 for 1point on the last hole.
The rest of us followed on.