Sheena Harrington
Sheena Harrington
Founders Cup – E Bailey (2/6)
It was the second day of bright sunshine in a row, when we played the second round of ‘The Founder’s Cup – E. Bailey’ competition.
Even first sightings of golf shorts were made … 😉
The Duke’s course had been closed for almost 5 months and was still in a less than ideal state: narrow fairways, with punishing high grass left and right … lead to extended ball searching and a rather slow round.
And, unfortunately, because of the 5 temp greens, the competition had to be changed to ‘non-handicap-qualifying’!
But it was good to play on Duke’s again, after such long ‘abstinence’!
Gina and Justin both played later in the afternoon and managed to navigate the difficult course very well to come in with respectable over-30-points results. Gina clocked a stellar 20-point back 9 to take the win!
Spring Weekend Away 2024
Everyone’s hopes were high that we’d experience some decent golfing conditions at Donnington Valley having heard that they’d been allowing buggies for most of the winter. Unfortunately the recent deluges prohibited these and trolleys were sliding around in many places but we played the full course. Although very lucky in that it didn’t rain, the wind on Saturday and more so on Sunday was somewhat of a challenge, as was scoring for most people. With no run on the fairways and approaches to the greens being very soft, it was galling to see a ball that landed on a green run all the way through.
None of these issues affected Paddy, who was the highest scorer on both Sat & Sun and the only one to get into the 30s with his amazing 36 points (& he was 2nd man on Friday). In 2nd place was Brian, some 12 points further back.
The women were playing for the Lockie Trophy which was probably won with the lowest ever score of 47 points by Sheena. In 2nd spot was Angela on 42.
Despite this we managed 7 birdies on the par 3 9th and James went one better with an eagle on the 7th – so there were some good moments!
Another successful weekend after a lot of hassle this time with a late venue change, brings to an end Cheryl’s reign as the organiser and many thanks go to her for all her hard work in making them go so well.
Women’s Spring Meeting 4BBB/Men’s Spring Stableford – Rd2 & Winter comp Rd 6 D2
Women
It is fair to say that a 4BBB generally results in scores somewhat higher than those of today. It was however good to note how much the course had dried out from 2 weeks ago, so much so that they’d managed to cut some of the grass, even if the fairways were somewhat narrow on many holes. Even though there was often much searching for balls even on the fairways (carry often far too much for us)
Thanks to Cheryl for all the prizes and organising our get together after the golf and of course congratulations to Angela and Elisabeth on their 31 point win today. Katharina & Silvia and Seema & Sheena both got 28 points with Katharina & Silvia taking 2nd place on the back 3.
Men
A lovely bright sunny Spring Day with wind dying down. Conditions have improved on the courses – even Duke’s with drying worm casts- always a sign of Spring. Maybe in 2 weeks time we’ll be back on full 18 holes instead of today on composite Duke’s with 6 holes being played twice.
This was second round of the spring Stableford comp and doubled as a 2nd round on Duke’s and 6th in total for the Winter Comp.
Tamas Ladacs again rose to the top to win senior division with 36 points – followed by Aidan Hurley 33 and 2 on 32 – Zach Holmes and Kerry Sargeant.
Mel Dunn was the convincing winner in junior division with 47 points 24 out and 23 back, 8 ahead of James Withers 39 then Paul Green and Nigel Ward 37. Congrats to Nigel for securing first Sunday Eagle at 14th (i.e. 2nd)..
The aggregate scores for the 2 rounds show in the senior division Tamas well ahead with a winning 80 points ; Kamerling put in a spirited performance for 67 and then came Kerry Sargeant 67. Mel Dunn won the junior with 86 points after stunning second round with Nigel 2nd 77 and Tom Simpkins 3rd 74.
In the winter Comp after 6 rounds the senior division is unchanged with Tamas leading 125 from Kerry 116 with 3 on 110 – Paul Kamerling, Ricard Smith and Peter Needham. Paul Green’s 37 today was enough to place him ahead in the junior division fromprevious leaders Tom Simpkins and Gunnar Sundberg 115.
MW Winter Comp R7/P4
Well, it was a rainy day! 🙂
And it was forecasted as such, so a good number of players chose to drop out / cancel their participation beforehand. Another handful of players, yours truly amongst them, decided mid-course that enough is enough …
Richard N came in first, with another stellar round: 42 points (23 on the first 9!). Very consistent play the last few weeks, congratulations!
Runner-up, with quite some points distance (38) was Ian B, followed by Richard M (36), who beat Mike Jones via countback of the last 9 holes.
The Sweep money got distributed like this:
1st place £13
2nd place £9
3rd place £4
Men’s Winter Comp P4/R7/Women’s Eclectic Rd4
The courses were closed today after the rain overnight left standing water on many of the fairways
Duke’s 18 hole composite course
With the course still closed to the public, Glendale again allowed the club to play on a restricted number of holes. This time to give us 18 we added a repeat of holes 4 & 5 to give 1-10, 7-10, 14, 4, 5, 18.
Hopefully the full course will be back in 2 weeks as there was a considerable hold up for everyone on the repeat loop and all rounds were extremely slow – but with no other players on the course can only blame ourselves!
Women – Texas Scramble
A repeat of the composite course allowed the women to vote for another team scramble between the 6 who played.
As ever a close result and had Jayne, Lia & Sheena not managed a birdie on the last would have been even closer. They scored a very balanced 18 points out and back whereas Cheryl, Elisabeth and Pat got 19 on the back 9 as unlike the other team they learned & played the second loop of 7-10 3 shots better. The others were 3 worse but in the end won by 2 points.
Men – Duke’s Stableford – 18 holes composite loop
There was some congestion causing delays for the playing twice loop holes 7=10 but there were 18 holes played this time with some good scoring.
In the senior division Peter Needham nipped Joe G on countback 38 points; another consistent round inc. 2 birdies from Richard S gave 3rd place with 36.
in the junior division there were 3 40s including again from new member James W , Tom S and Alan K; James having 25 on back 9, Alan 22 on front. O 37 came Gerard.
Divisional prizes were awarded.
Duke’s 16 hole Stableford
Although still officially closed Glendale kindly allowed the club to play on a restricted number of holes on Duke’s. The weather had not allowed for the fairways to be mown, but everyone was impressed with both the tees and the greens. The 16 holes comprised 1-10, a repeat of 7-10, 14 & 18. Possible because it was just a relatively small number of games, although congestion for the repeat holes did build at one stage.
Women
The 5 women who played had their own competition with Susan taking the honours on 34 points, 5 ahead of Jayne and swelling her purse with the mega win. Pat made her first return to golf with her new knee and although scoring wasn’t to her usual high standard after 8 months off, she was inspired to renew her Glendale card.
Men
A dry day after wrecking rains of the past few weeks; the sun came out around midday. Winter rules were extended to a club length’s relief anywhere on the course.
An exceptional round from Brendan clinched victory with 45 overall and for the junior division; a somewhat distant 12 points away was Gunnar on 33 points and Tony K 31 on countback 31 from Julian.
The senior division was won by Kerry with a fine 34 [blob on 4th] on countback from Robert C, Peter A and Paul K.
Unsurprisingly with his 45, Brendan took first 9 honours (25) and back 7 (20).
Women’s Duke’s Eclectic Rd1/Men’s Winter Comp Rd2/D2
General consensus was that the course should either have had 18 temps or be closed. On the first green footprints went several inches below the surface leaving it in an appalling condition which is likely to render it out of action for some months.
Women
Hmmm what to say! Last week Joan made it look easy. She still managed to come out on top today but it wasn’t quite the master class of last week. In fact it was her 17 points on the back 9 that made the difference, started with her birdie on the 10th.
Susan was just one point behind but she kept alternating great shots with ones she’d rather forget.
Our second game today are all currently shown as NRs in the eclectic as they all recorded rahter a number of blobs.
As with last week, handicapping affects the order in the eclectic with Susan & Joan swapping places but it’s only the first round.
Men
Tamas shot a consistent 41 points [inc. 2 birdie ‘Twos’ at 7 and 16 ] to lead Senior division for the day ahead of Kerry 38; Kerry’s round showed scope for improvement with a couple of ‘blobs’ but had a fine birdie at 12th. Paul Kammerling’s 35 showed much promise. In the cumulative Winter comp Tamas leads after 2 rounds 73 from Paul’s 71 and Kerry’s 70.
The stats show Kerry had most holes under par [so birdies since no eagles today] – 3.
The Junior division for the day was headed by Robin T with a fine 40 points [21 on back 9] 3 ahead of Gerard O’s 37 [which was 21 out but with 3 ‘blobs’ on back 9]. Suhail led the rest of challenge on with 36 on countback from Rannesh and Tony K. Sean ties the cumulative Winter comp after 2 rounds with Onursal both 75 points.
Friday Sweep
It was a cold and thankfully dry start becoming increasingly warm (relatively !) as the sun shone down. The course was very wet and muddy, so no run on the ball. Three temporary greens (3rd, 11th and 12th) which didn’t seem to have seen a mower for quite a few days. The 1st hole should also have had a temporary green and was in a dreadful state.
Nothing seemed to stop today’s winner Richard Norden though. His impressive 42 points included 6 pars and a birdie on the final hole. Clear 2nd place (38 points) went to Rannesh, who had one of those rounds with his putter producing 3 birdies on the 7th, 10th and 18th (two of which were putted from distance off the greens). This raises Rannesh to 3rd in the 2023 Friday Birdie Tree (attached). 3rd and 4th places in the competition (36 points) were decided on countback, with Pat Dalton squeezing out Charlie Haines. Pat’s score could have been even better if he hadn’t blobbed 2 holes because his ball was “lost in the sun”. Sweep payout to top two (£11, £6).
Read more: Friday SweepBurgess Cup/Women’s Scramble
Looks like we struck lucky as the golf at Wentworth had a rain delay of an hour. Presumably there was a lightning threat.
Women
Not the Autumn meeting that we expected but a Texas scramble is always a fun format – ignoring the stress of having to take a set number of tee shots. and the lack of players overall no doubt contributed to our sub 4 hour rounds.
The greens were certainly trickier than usual with all the criss-crossing and work on them. Am sure both games had putts bouncing there way across the greens, but Reiko (having run up the path to make the tee in time) knocked in a long putt on the 1st for an opening birdie for our team, so perhaps they helped here. Good birdie 2 on the 11th for the team of 3 – not sure anyone in the other team made a green on any of the par 3s.
The team of 4 played the step-aside version, meaning that whoever’s shot was taken, although playing a ball for the next one, could not have the outcome used when deciding on the following shot until the green was reached, finished with a nett 63, playing the back 9 to par to beat the other team by 3.
A token prize will be awarded in due course!
Men
Yet another competition on Prince’s and some exceedingly good scores.
The winners of the greensomes format Burgess Cup are Giovanni & Alex J with 49 points – 26 points on the back! They obviously gelled well together in Alex’s first comp with the club; a late challenge came from Gunnar & Charlie with 46 points [25 on back 9]. An excellent 43 came 3rd from the team of Gregory & treasurer Peter.