It turned out to be a pleasant day on Prince’s course which is slowly drying out and this led to a high standard of scoring. 25 players scored 30+ points.
Leaving everyone in his wake was Richard Norden with a splendid round of 42 points. 21 points out and back. His round had 5 pars 2 birdies and one triple boggy. Finishing 4 points ahead of the field. We await his WHS handicap adjustment!!
Richard Owen had a very steady round for 2nd place and Jeremy Prescot pipped Dave Cato on countback for 3rd place
Special mention goes to Leigh Drake who eagled the 17th Hole. (Hence the attachment of the eagle report for 2025.)
Also included is a birdie tree 2025 for those who have had birdies this year.

Women

Another scramble for the women, that ended up being unfair to the 2-ball at the back after a cancellation notice was missed from their 3rd player. It’s unlikely that this would have changed the outcome as the team of Jayne, Jenny, Sali & Susan came in with either 40 or 45 points depending on the handicap calculation used. Their prize is that warm glow of satisfaction of knowing they won!

Men

Think the best thing about today’s golf was that it didn’t rain and the course had dried out a fair bit with only 2 temps, it definitely wasn’t that cold wind which persisted most of the time despite the sun occasionally making an appearance.
For those concerned that an appearance at last night’s annual dinner would affect their golf, the evidence is there today to show it doesn’t, with John in Div 1 and Duncan in Div 2 taking the honours with 40 and 39 points respectively. 38 points was the score for 2nd place in both divisions.

The 10th hole played the hardest today followed by the 8th – the forward mat on the 7th probably helping to sort that one!

In the eclectic Duncan leads the way on 57.4 ahead of Umran and ChrisM on 59.1 and 59.9

Duncan also leads the way in Div 2 of the Winter Comp while Greg is just 1 shot clear of PaulK in Div1 on 111.

The course conditions were that we had several temp greens some of which were not circled which made the 2 put rule rather difficult to manage. Fortunately the weather remained dull but not too cold. Mud was ever present.
However, there were 4 birdies made and the overall winner showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of field winning by 6 clear points and 10 ahead on the gross scoring report. Very well done Julian James.
The rest of us were more closely packed with Dave Cato having a very steady front 9of 20 points with a blob. Scoring 35 points in total for the runners up spot just beating Peppe Monterosso on countback .

Both courses were closed due to a combination of frozen greens and the rain forecast which could cause long term damage if played on inevitably cancelling both events.

Unfortunately we had 5 Temp Greens so the competition was non qualifying unless players put in for General play and putted out on all the temp. greens
The winner in Div 1 was Richard Owen with the best Gross score which included one birdie of 75 net 63. A very consistent and steady round. He was 5 shots ahead of Julian James on net 68 in second place.

In Div 2 Tom Laybourn was top with his net 66 on countback from Mike Jones. Adrian Wells was 1 shot back on net 67 and Alex Braun a further shot back on 68.
I have added for your interest a couple of reports about Best Scring and a birdie tree cocunt for this year so far, just to show that these things are recorded as the year goes on.

Women

For the sake of completion – 5 women turned out to play on one of the lovelies Sundays of winter so far. With frost underfoot there was no mud until later in the round as things started to thaw and the blue sky and sun was a real treat. So much so, the women decided to have a friendly knock with 5 temps in play and the ball inevitably taking on a life of its own on the ice. At the finish they all agreed how much fun it was!

Men

A cold frosty start but sunny and it did become milder. Worms seemed to keep low in the ground re mud.

This was 3rd round of the Winter Competition – previous round 17 November.

Both divisions were won with 39 points.
In the senior division Paul Kamerling had a very consistent 20 out and 19 back which included birdie at 12th; Iker Lanzagorta had another good round 34 points shared with Peter Harrison.
In the junior division Duncan Taylor’s 39 comprised 16 going out and a magnificent 23 back with birdie at 17th. Sajid Kahn followed on 36 points with a best front 9 of 22. They were chased in trn by Tony Kopczak and Paul Fulham 35pts.
After 3 rounds of Winter Comp. Greg /wright leads senior division 109 from Paul Kamerling 107 and in the junior it’s Duncan Taylor from Tony Kopczak 103; after 2 rounds of Prince’s Eclectic Duncan 62.1 leads Paul 62.3.

Conditions deteriorated from midday with persistent rain and many walked in with incomplete rounds.
For those that finished there were some good scores in this hastily arranged sweep on Prince’s; the winner was Iker Lanzargote 36 points from Gerrard Quinn 35, Giovanni Caboni 34 and Sajid Khan 33. Iker had best back 9 with 17 points whilst front 9 shared between Gerrard and Adrian Wells (just 10 holes completed) with 21.

It was a cold, overcast and damp sort of day with clingy mud everywhere.
However many players found it to their liking for scoring.
Julian James played a consistent front 9 of 18 points with a zero points on the ninth hole. Then very steady on the back nine with 21 points to win the competition. His back nine had 2 birdies on hole 11 and 17.
In 2nd place was Peter Fisher who amassed 17 points on the front nine and 20 on the back nine with 3 no score holes!!
Next came James Deissler on countback who was leading the field after nine holes with 20 points with a birdy on hole 1. A steady back nine of 17 points and 37 total. Tamas Ladacs scored 15 on the front and 21 on the back for respectable 36 Total. Beating Richard Norden on countback who also had 36 points.

Women

Another scramble for the women with both teams receiving 14 shots, and scoring the same on the front 9. The back 9 was a different matter with the team of Deb, Reiko and Sheena falling short on pars, giving the team of Ali, Doreen and Caroline to win by 2 points with 37.

Men

Another cold and grey day but dry for the January Medal.

In the senior division Greg Wright teed off right on the first three tees – 3 birdies and was out in level par to win! His form continued to finish on a glorious 65 (and leads the Sunday birdie tree this year) .Michael Hayden and John Perkins chased with 69s – Michael sharing back 9 honours of 36 with Paul Green.
In the junior division Sajid Khan was the clear winner with an excellent 66, 4 ahead of Sean O’Sullivan, Jethro Pearton and Nigel Ward 70s.

Well done indeed to Mel Dunn and Iker Lanzargorta for recording first eagle 3s at the 9th this year.

The Princes course was rather muddy but not too bad given the conditions from previous days. The greens were slow and putting long distances was a real lottery. Only three players equalled or bettered par of net 68 so there maybe a WHS adjustment to be made overnight – but there wasn’t!