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.

A little chilly but sunny and dr for the November Medal after 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 Layburn came a shot behind 70 for 3rd place.
In the Second division there was again a tie with both David Grace and Tony Koczack 75. David won on back 9 countback. Ged Quinn came 3rd 76 and Gerard Ouattara 4th 77.
Well done to Greg Wright for his eagle 3 on 12th.

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.

A cold start for the 3 clubs plus putter Lissaman Cup.

Some great golf saw Tamas Ladacs win again with net 66 from Aidan Hurley 68; they shared front and back 9 honours. Duncan Taylor came 3rd on 70 while there were 5 71s from Michael Hayden, Richard Hanna, Rannesh Jansari, Rick Smith and best woman of day Nida Sozugecer.

For the men this was the 7th and final competition in the ‘Top Dog’ series and with the JH Taylor and 2 Courses KOs complete Aidan Hurley wins the senior division 38 from Michael Hayden 30; in junior division Abdullah Almasoud 21 wins from Michael Pham and Richard Hanna both 20. See attached report.

A fine pleasant day, at times quite warm even. However about a third of the field scored 30+ with one outstanding score of 47 points by Jeremy Prescot. 25 points on the front and 22 on the back. I’m sure WHS will suitably reward him. Kim Jabbour was 2nd 21 out and 18 back for his 39 points. Tamas Ladacs continued his good form with his 38 one point ahead of Justin Wildman with 37. Jonathan Evans just pipped Tom Simpkins on countback into 5th Place.

Women

The dire weather forecast not only put off some of our members but it was evident from the empty fairways on Prince’s that the public were also deterred. In the end it was just our last game that got a bit wet but nothing like what we were expecting.

Traditionally the women play a 4BBB but decided in view of the forecast, an American Greensomes would be faster especially with the men also playing greensomes.

Jayne & Joan played an incredibly steady round off 19 which was 6 less than anyone else today. Their only blips occurred within probably less than 2m from the pin & there weren’t many of them. With 43 points they were 3 points ahead of Niamh & Deb who were leaders in the clubhouse until our final game came in.

As it was our Autumn Meeting event prizes were also awarded for the best Front & Back 9. Jenny & Ali snuck the Front 9 on countback from Caroline (playing her first game post hip op – well done!) and Seshi and Laura & Sheena took the Back 9.

Cheryl also presented all the medal awards for the year along with the prizes for today and for the medal round that forms the other part of the Autumn Meeting. All present enjoyed the social gathering accompanied by pizza & chips.

Men

The predicted rain did eventually arrive but the impact on play was minimal.

Excellent scoring in the Burgess Cup (Greensomes); the pairing of Steve De Long and Maher Sharma ran away with it returning 48 points – 24 out and in. 2nd were Tamas Ladacs and Alex Fraser-Cannon on countback 42 points from Olav Bridie and Allan Boyd. Of the 3 next pairings with 40 points, Adrian Wells and Charles Haines had a stellar front 9 with 25 points but fell back on the last 9 with just 15.

With prizes for both the gross and net winners being awarded at the Annual Dinner the cards needed to be checked so it was only announced, as everyone tucked into their pizza, that the results had yet to be ratified. In a very unusual outcome, 2 pairs had incorrectly entered their scores at the Park with one having a major impact on the results.

Unfortunately for the clubhouse leaders, Rich & Doreen, this meant a downgrade to 2nd place in the net and a promotion to winners for Alex & Cheryl with a net 74. They had entered a 7 on the screen for their score on the 18th but both their marker’s and their own card showed a 4. They were the only pair to bookend their round with pars on both the 1st & 18th.

The gross winners (Paul & Sheena) remain unchanged but sadly the clubhouse pair in 2nd place had entered a score which did the opposite for the same values, resulting in a fall down the rankings and promoting Ray & Gina to runners-up.

Despite the speed of the greens seemingly catching most out, a look at last year’s results shows that today’s were better. Interestingly the 1st hole came out as second hardest today and seems most struggled to get a ball off the tee and into play on it judging from the scores.

Whilst the booking sheet for the public was full, those playing ahead of us were obviously going at a good pace as our rounds were only just over 4 hours, which while not good for an effective 2-ball were great for a Saturday morning.

A pleasant day for golf, overcast and not cold. Which suited most players. About half the field scored 30+ points with only 3 clubs and a putter.

Thomas Ladacs clearly chose his correct clubs with an amazing score of 41 points. 20 out and 21 back having only 2’s and 3’s pointers on his card.
He was 5 points ahead of Brett Colley and Peter Harrington on 36 points with Brett just edging 2nd place on countback.
Chris Rudkin just beat last years winner Peppe Monterosso also on countback into 4th place with his 34 points.

Women

A very different day by the time we finished from the one we started out with and a look back to the October medal in 2024 indicates it was considerably colder & already wet underfoot. It does seem the time of year when we get a good turnout, along with us the men’s sheet had few spaces.
It was lovely to have Katharina & Uli back with us for the day using clubs kindly lent by Gina who also played her first Sunday comp of the year.
Some good scoring today with Sheena taking the hours with a net 69 followed by Lia & Niamh both with 71s. A most impressive front 9 from Gina saw her drop only 2 shots to par, but sadly she couldn’t keep this going on the back 9.

The playoff for the Barton Bowl was played in conjunction with the medal and was also won by Sheena with 37 points next to Lia’s 35.

Men

A bright autumn day for round 8 of the Grand Medal.
A superb 63 from Joe Goncalves won the first division -Joe was level par on back 9 and had the lowest gross score of the day – 70. He was followed by Chris Mellish with a glorious 65 and Lee Frost 66.
In the second division Suhail Salim reigned supreme 64 from Charlie Whitemen 66 which could have been even better except for last 2 holes. Next were commendable 67s from Richard Young, Nigel Ward and James Deissler.
This was final round in the Grand Medal which sees Iker Lanzagorta confirmed as first division winner 339 a point from Richard Owen 340.In second division Charlie Whiteman wins 348 from Seymour Laird and Rannesh Jansari 350.

The weather was overcast but warm with a heavy air. The greens were a little slow but maybe that was just a reflection of my putting.
Playing off the Red pars and index was novel for the men off the white tees.
However, Dave Cato and Julian James dovetailed well with 21 points out and 24 back for their 45 points. Their scorecard had 9 x 3 pointers and 1 x 4 points for a birdie plus no 1 point scores,quite impressive!!
Runners up on countback were Shrila Amin and Pepe Monterosso with 42 points.

An enjoyable day was had by all.