Perfect golf weather, course dry.

The Coronation Cup was won today by Richard Back with the lowest gross score of 69, 65 net, in a fantastic performance off a handicap of 4. He birdied 3, 4 and 5 and put in a fourth birdie on the par 5 ninth for a -1 front nine. In second was Deborah Potter, also on 65 net, and in third Paul Fulham, on 65 net too. Mike Shabani was fourth with a 66, Susan Smith fifth with a 67 and Giovanni Caboni 6th, also with a 67. Though two ladies came in the top 6 neither put in for the sweep.

We were blessed with a fine sunny day with a brisk cooling wind from the East. However the top 6 players all coped very well and bettered or equalled par. Brett Colley had the best gross score of 75 eight better than his playing handicap of 13 for 44 points. 5 points back was Billy Jackson with gross 82 on 39 points. Next was Simon McKnight with a gross 77 off 9 for 38 points beating Kevin Prendergast on countback also with 38 points, in 5th and 6th place are two ladies both on 36 points Gina Jillett and Ellie Rhodes.
The rest of us had a more challenging round but also most enjoyable .

Women

Interesting that 1 of the pair in the 2 top spots came fresh to the course today. Not that that would usually make any difference but there did seem to be a fair amount of jadedness amongst the rest of us.

Kelly was outstanding. Sorry Lia, but you did your bit on the few holes that Kelly didn’t and your contribution ensured your win. With 42 points England Golf want such 4BBB cards submitted for handicapping. As long as one of the 2 is the scorer on 10 or more of the holes, their score is submitted.
In this case, although they scored the same points on a number of holes, 16 of them go through for Kelly. We also played off 85% of our course handicaps so EG has decided that Kelly played to nearly 10 below her current HI. I’m expecting a fairly hefty cut, probably to 29 or 30…….well done Kelly, you made it look so easy today.

So congrats to Kelly & Lia for winning and to Caroline & Cheryl in second spot.

Thanks to captain Ali for the prizes for both this and the singles leg of the Spring Meeting. As most were feeling pizza and chip’d out after yesterday we stuck to a drink and crisps/chocolate bar for our refreshments.

Men

Round 2 winners in the Spring Stableford were Greg in Div1 with 41 points, 2 clear of Nick and Allan. Charles claimed top spot in Div2 on 38 again by 2 points from Richard Prosser and Robin.

The overall winners were Allan, in Div 1, this time by 4 points from RichB and Mel. TonyK takes Div2 by 1 from Charles.

Good to see such a large turnout for the first Saturday event of the year and a fair number of new faces playing. The weather was kind to us and everyone seemed to enjoy the pizzas and chips afterwards.

Congrats to Els, in her first competition, and to Dave on pipping Sheena & Sean on the back 9 for the win.

A short rain shower for many slowed the greens, but Tom Simpkins clearly had no problem quickly adapting and proceeded to trounce the course by 5 (playing off 12) and is winner of the Priory Cup. Very well done.
Iain Barbour achieved an almost equally impressive 3 up playing off 31.

Women

Not quite the pleasant spring weather that most were probably hoping for with that chill swirling wind accompanying us but it will have helped to blow the cobwebs away for those for whom it was their first or second game of the year.

A field of 15 were playing in the Spring Meeting Stableford which is probably the highest turn out of women since captains’ day last year. With the course having dried out and the greens starting to return to normal after their Spring maintenance there was finally some run on the ball.

Sheena just pipped Ali on the back 9 to take first spot today. Both on 34 points with Ali accruing 5 of them on the 8th with a birdie 3 which is also our index 1 hole. Very impressive and also the first birdie on the Sunday Women’s Birdie tree. Subsequent enquiries found it was a 116 yd shot into the green which found the hole.

Men

The forecast was rain in the afternoon but fortunately everyone got round before any fell. The wind slowly increased so the early starters had a slight advantage.
For a change the level of scoring was (slightly) better in Div 1 than Div2 with 3 players in Div 1 each scoring 39 points and the next 3 players each scored 38. In Div. 1, Mel Dunn won on countback from Chris Mellish and Alan Boyd was 3rd. For those with 38 points, Richard Smith just pipped Richard Owen (5th) ahead of Richard Back (6th), so it’s all to play for in Round 2. Richard Back had the lowest Gross of the day (72, playing off 6).
In Div 2 Tony Kopczak topped the list with his 38 points, 1 point ahead of Sean O’Sullivan (2nd), Alex Catlow (3rd) and James Deissler (4th), all with 37 points, 1 point ahead of Brian Ransom (36 points).
Round 2 of this competition is scheduled for Sunday 19th April on Duke’s.

Courses closed for these 3 club days due to the incessant rain!

More rain caused both courses to be closed again – as they were the preceding 2 days

What a glorious winter’s day in the sun it was, though spotting the balls could be a little challenging on some holes.
Good to see that many had no issue with scores on the 7 holes with temporary greens

In Division 1, Adrian had a comfortable 3 shot win with a net 68 that included an 8 on the 17th and in second spot was Jonathan.

Division 2 was a different matter with 3 coming in on net 67s. Both Ged and Charles will be ruing their 7s on the back 9. Charles leaving his to the 18th and Ged’s was on the 17th – Paul who took the honours today kept his to the front 9.