The course conditions proved tricky. Teeing off everybody must have been feeling like Bryson Dechambeau (the extra roll on the fairway was ridiculous at times). On the flip side landing shots into greens proved challenging. And the greens seemed to be speeding up during the course of the day. Perhaps playing (very) early in the morning was the way to go (4 players in the Top 7 went out at the crack of dawn).

 Today’s winner is Aung with a remarkable score of 5 Up His front 9 (4 Up) was excellent. He lost 3 holes on the way in to close the back 9 1 Up. Keith’s movement back to single figure handicap is right on track. A great back 9 (3 Up – he only lost 3 holes today) set him apart from Jim Deissler. Unfortunately Jim pulled out all the stops on the way out (4 Up). Based on the countback rule Keith finishes 2nd and Jim takes the last march on the podium. Diego takes 4th with a strong score of 3 Up. 4 people finish on 2 Up. Gina had the best back 9 of that group (2 Up), Mike Jones was the most consistent (1 Up on front and back 9).

The men’s captain managed to not win a single hole on the back 9. Luckily he was 4 Up on the front 9 (starting birdie-birdie-birdie/his chip on the 3rd almost nearly dropped for an eagle)..

A bitingly cold nor’easter took the shine off what turned out to be another brilliantly sunny day for 85 competitors in the Coronation Cup.

Tidy golf from Rhys on 66 was enough to be 2 clear from Mike H, Jayne M and early starter Russell.

Stats show Nick R and Kerry level on the par 3s with Kerry best back 9, Henry L-B and Ant best front 9.

Just 2 Twos were recorded -by Kerry and rejoiner Ross at 16 and 3 respectively. Ross scores Eagle on his return – well done!

For the men, the round constituted round 1 of The Top Dog Trophy.

In glorious sunshine, and with dry, rock-hard fairways and insufficient rain over the past few weeks to support growth of the rough, the Dukes course had few defences for our leading players. The honours today were taken by early starter Graham S. with an impressive 43 points (22 out and 23 back) and it was good to see that Graham submitted his card to WHS so that his handicap can be adjusted to reflect this excellent round. In second place Keith C. continued his recent good form with 42 points (19 out and 23 back) including birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, when he was finally ‘let through’ to play at his usual pace! Pralab and Rannesh took the final sweep prizes of 3rd and 4th places with 41 points each. Pralab recovered from an average front 9 (16 points) to record a 2-over-par back 9 (25 points) with one birdie. Rannesh was 18 points out and 23 points back, with a birdie on the 17th. Well played to all.

The field enjoyed pretty decent golfing conditions. Although it can be argued that the late morning faced stronger winds (and the mercury swung around a lot too). Greens seem to be improving. There was still plenty of roll from rock hard fairways.

 Pat Dalton was the star of the day: h23pts and 22pts earn him victory by quite a margin today. He recorded 4pts on no less than 3 holes. His score could even have been better had it not been for a … 7 on the 17th. Usual suspect Brian had a decent day at the office. 5 3-pointers (to use basketball terms – wink wink to the MW captain HLB) and 4 lay-ups aka 2 pointers and the countback rule set him on the way to 2nd place. Graham Swindells narrowly misses out on 2nd. But an unfortunate 7 on the 17th prevented him from beating out Brian. Keith had a steady round (19+20pts) to take 4th. Paul Green blanked the 17th (seems to be a theme today) and only takes 5th. Rick Kimber and Seymour are the last members of the 39 club.

First Woman today is former secretary Susan Smith.

It was a lovely sunny Spring morning, only a light wind, and with the rough yet to grow, an excellent opportunity to post a good score. However, even with the extra bounce and run that we are getting off bone dry fairways, the Princes course was no push-over. Our winner, Ann G. with 38 points was the only one to beat the course’s previous SSSs – well played Ann. Our runner-up Keith posted 37 points and in third place was new member Mike H. The Purse payouts have been: Ann £10, Keith £7 and Mike £4.

One of the nicest things about playing yesterday was the opportunity to be able to sit down and have a drink with our playing partners on the island when it was all over – first time we’ve been able to do that for 3 months!

I hope to see many of you playing again on future Fridays.

Richard

Women

Excluding the 2-ball it looks like the teams were pretty evenly matched with just 3 shots between 1st & 5th place, but nipping it by 1 was Elisabeth, Val & Jayne with a net 68 and in 2nd spot was Caroline, Katharina & Julie who’s front 9 consisted of 8 5s. The 2-ball was just excited to finish level par.
It wasn’t exactly a spring like day although the sun did eventually appear to try & tempt us into removing a layer or two, only for it to then disappear and the cold wind to pick up – but hopefully you all enjoyed your spring scramble.

Some more excitement from Monday with the computer in the clubhouse back in use and being allowed to stay and have a drink afterwards, albeit still outside.

Men

Unseasonably cold conditions prevailed and in afternoon dark cloud in short horizon heralded wintry precipitation. Rain is need without flooding for the courses as well as some warmth for grass  to grow etc.

A good turnout – 70 again for second round of Men’s Spring Stableford. Bennie drew ahead of the field to win with 40 commendable points. Eliot was just 1 behind 39 with 3 (Gunnar, Ben and James A sharing 38 settled by countback.

PCC for the day was 0 standard conditions

Glenn Bennett was Master of the Twos with birdies at 7 and 16.

The overall Spring Stableford Trophy over the 2 weeks goes to Richard O 75 points, just 1 ahead of Bennie and Russell; Eliot, James A and Barry P had 73s over the 2 weeks.

Well done to Bennie for a good ‘chase’ in 2nd round and to ‘Mr Consistency’ Russell.

Last year’s winner by 7 points  Damber failed to return his 2nd round score.

It turned out to be a very pleasant Spring day with sunshine in the late morning/early afternoon. Because of the lack of rain over the last week or two, the fairways were dry with more run than we have had for some months and the greens were surprisingly ‘quick’. Some found the course hard going but our leaders, Alvaro and Andrew B., both scored very respectable 37 points, with Alvaro winning on countback. Sweep pay out was to the top 3: Alvaro £12, Andrew £7 and John A. £4. Well done to you all.

Although the competition was non-qualifying, 6 members chose to have their scores submitted to WHS.

Women

First Sunday back and it was the first leg of the spring meeting and what a weird day weather-wise. It really didn’t look as if the sun stood any chance of warming the day up at we teed off on the 1st, but gradually you could see layers being removed by everyone as the clouds cleared and the temperature went up warming the wind as it did so. Sadly there’ll be no tea & buns after next week’s event & it was a strangely low turnout considering that we had 20 for the last return. For some it was their first round back and for others of us it was just another sub-standard game – or perhaps I’m just talking about my own game rather than anyone else.
But there were 3 birdies out there – earlybird Ronnie on the 10th and Gina and Lia on the 17th. I doubt if you’d asked Lia after the front 9 how it was going, she’d have been very upbeat having just made it to double figures, or perhaps she just remembered how to play after that, scoring 21 points on the back 9 ending up 3rd. Gina’s score whilst not as good as her 37 midweek, was enough for her to finish in 2nd place with 32, but romping home on 36 points and 1st place was Jane.

Happy Easter

Men

Despite an early chilly start there was abundant sunshine for 1st round (of 2) Spring Stableford; for many it was a case of further unwinding from lack of golf due lockdown and adjusting to the pace of greens etc.

Saturday entrants Richard O and Rannesh were early leaders in the clubhouse with Richard winning 1st round 41 pts and Rannesh pipping Lee on countback for 2nd, both on 39pts. Paul Gre was alone on a commendable 38 with Barry, Russell and Richard B sharing spoils with countback 37s.

Nigel W excelled with the first eagle of the year at 17 – well done.

Playing Conditions Calculation came to +1 and was influenced by women also playing (only with handicap index 36.0 and below). We won’t have more than 1 PCC – it’s calculated by EG according to a formula. But be aware we are influenced by any other WHS acceptable scores recorded on the day at the park.

With 68 players in the sweep, 8 individual payouts to purse were made.

For many entrants it was the first time playing the Princes course after 3 months of 2nd wave Covid 19 lockdown. Unfortunately the warm ‘shorts’ weather earlier in the week had given way to cold winds from the north under a cloudy sky and it was decidedly nippy till the sun came out briefly in the early afternoon.

Going by the scores, most found the course decidedly challenging, or was it that we hadn’t played hardly any golf for 3 months? Only 2 of the 18 players matched the course’s pre-WHS SSS of 37 points, with Peter N. the overall winner on 38 points pipping Julian J. on 37 points; sweep prize allocation was Peter £12 and Julian £6.