A mild springlike morning with a moderate breeze and occasional short unpleasant showers. The 1st and 6th greens were open; ‘only’ the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 8th were temporaries. Scoring was predicably good among the 25 participants. Peter Fisher and Brian Ransom were neck and neck on 43 points with Peter winning the competition on countback. Bill Norman was third with a good 38 points. Sweep payout to the top 3.

Competition played on a drier course than of late with a bit of run on the fairways. Dry overhead and some sunshine while remaining cool with a strong wind. The green on the 1st was open for the first time in 2024. 1st, 2nd and 3rd all finished with a creditable 38 points, with Niel Barbour winning and Pat Dalton coming in second in front of Ed Robinson.

A diminished field met a watery course, wet and windy conditions, but was rewarded with some dry spells eventually. Huge puddles in bunkers etc made play difficult.

Winner with a cosmic 53 points was new member Gerrard Q playing off a recently gained handicap of 36. His round comprised 8 pars and 30 points on the front nine. He put in a general play score and can expect a handicap reduction overnight. Second place goes to Richard N with a commendable 38 points playing off 22, with six pars. 1st place £7; 2nd place £4.

Overall good scoring on a fine winter day with some run on the fairways and six all too familiar temporary greens.

Graham C (playing off 25) was the outright winner by 1 point with a stellar 44 points, which included 5 pars on the front nine for a total of 25 points and another 4 on the back nine for a total of 19 points. One behind was Andrew P (playing off 31) with a hardly less impressive 43 points, and another point behind was Brian (playing off 17) for the last money place, on 42 points with birdies on 3 and 18.

1st place £12: 2nd place £8; 3rd place £4

After a chilly start, winter sunshine was the order of the day for another round on Prince’s with 6 temps on the first 8 holes. Hopefully Glendale will release a few of the closed greens, as the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 8th are ‘looking ready’.

A sparkling 6-over-gross 74 (46 stableford points ) by Julian made him the clear winner. Julian had three birdie 2s on the 2nd, 4th and 16th holes and his HI drops from 16.8 to 16.1. Because Julian was in the last game, for a long time the leaderboard suggested that 37 points would be the winning score, carded by Rannesh and Rob Carlile. However, when Pat Dalton’s signed card was inspected and compared to his score entry, it was found that he too had 37 (not 36) points and had pipped Rannesh to take 2nd place.

Great to have Ann Gardner playing with us again, 4 months after her fall, as well as Jeremy after his back operation and the new women’s captain Cheryl, after her holiday in Portugal. Sweep payout to the top 3 (£9, £6, £3)

An exclusive field of only 8 players tackled Richmond on Friday on a fully-iced up Prince’s, and the victor, Chris, scored an impressive 39 points. Second placed went to Niel, with a 5-pointer birdie on the par three 13th being the highlight of his round.

£5 for 1st place, £3 for 2nd place.

A cold and cloudy day but no longer the frozen ground of Wednesday, it stayed dry and there seemed less mud on the fairways.

Texas Scramble competitions often yield good scores and very close results and today was no exception. The winning team of Charles, Bill, Alex and Uli had a gross 64, net 57 (4 under par), just one stroke (net) less than the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, who had gross 65 and 66 strokes, respectively. The winners had 6 birdies and 2 bogeys, spread evenly over the front and back 9s. The 2nd place team of Richard O., Rannesh, James and Chris had one birdie and 1 bogey on the front 9 and then 4 birdies and one bogey on the back 9. The 3rd placed team of Graham, Robert, Niel and Julian had the best front 9 of any team (3 birdies and no bogeys), but just one more birdie on the back 9, together with two bogeys. Everyone enjoyed the format and sweep money goes to the winning team (£4 each).

A rather cold and windy day, but at least dry. Scoring was pretty good for most of the field. Rannesh and Julian led the field, tied on 39 points, with Rannesh sealing the countback win with a birdie on the 18th. Adrian and Aiden took 3rd and 4th places respectively, both on 37 points. Sweep payout to the top two £10 & £6.

A dry, cloudy and increasingly breezy shortest day of the year, with the usual 5 temporary greens in play on Prince’s.

Scoring was incredibly good by all 3 teams and very close in terms of gross scores (66, 67 & 67), so the result was down to the handicap allowances.

The winning team of Charles, Julian, Peter and Richard Norden had a nett 57 (3-under gross 67) with 4 birdies and just one bogey. Team Rannesh, James, Adrian and Neil, in 2nd place, had a nett 58 (4-under gross 66) with a more exciting (erratic ?) round which included 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. Cheryl, Brian, Justin and Richard Owen had the most consistent round, 3 birdies and 15 pars for a nett 60 (gross 67). All 3 teams birdied the 4th hole. Purse payout to the winning team (just £3 each ! ).

It was a still, dry day and chilly rather than cold. The course was wet but no significant standing water. The temporary greens on 1,2,3, 5 and 8 hadn’t been mowed due the the past several days of rain but hopefully we are in for a few days respite from the rain and they will get a ‘trim’.

On a shorter course (yellow tees, 6 mats and 5 temp greens) the scoring was generally good and Richard Norden again proved unbeatable (41 points). Rannesh pipped Julian (both 40 points) to 2nd place and no doubt rues his blob on the 2nd hole. Graham’s 39 makes him 4th, one ahead of Chris, Charles, Tamas and Uli (all on 38 points). Best front 9 (21 points) was Julian, Uli and Richard Norden; best back 9, also 21 points, was Rannesh and Brian. Uli has now almost caught Pralab on the Friday Birdie Tree but as they are now both away for the rest of the year, there’s still a chance for Rannesh to overtake them. Sweep payout to top 3 (£9, £5, £3).