THE Thurlestone Golf Club juniors had a lovely sunny day on Saturday and nine juniors entered the Stableford competition.

Captain William Hoskin (3) prevailed with 36 points, edging out George Inch (1) via countback. In was Aiden Mulligan (4) on 34 points. Both Will Robson and George scored a birdie two so congratulations to them.

The three-man team Waltz competition on Sunday was won by Trevor Greenwood (19), Robert Hyde (14) & Daniel Cunningham (2) with 75 points from Wilf Cunningham (13), Mike Yeoman (6) & Ashley Pigott (8) with 69 points.

In third place were Dan Wellard (6), Martin Oakes-Monger (15) & Scott Gates (7) with 68 points. Martin Oakes-Monger scored the only birdie two on the 17th hole so congratulations to him as it was a really windy day.

The ladies held a coffee morning followed by an open golf competition on Monday. The weather was very good so 36 ladies from golf clubs all over Devon and a few from Looe and China Fleet Club in Cornwall turned up to play.

It was the final of the ladies Winter foursomes knockout on Sunday between Sally Huntley and Irene Lowry who played new lady captain Heather Spencer and Jan Brooking.

It was a very close match all the way round with Heather and Jan just winning on the 18th hole by one up.

The men had a good field of 47 players on Sunday for the Stableford competition and the weather was great with light winds and sunshine.

Coming out on top was Mark Knight (11) with 39 points on countback from Duncan Miller (11) and Martin Oakes Monger (16) both also on 39 points.

Junior Will Robson came in fourth with 38 points. There were seven birdie twos so congratulations to Nick Buck, Daniel Crow, Ashley Cunningham, Chris Jones, Duncan Miller and Gary Raymond who got two of them.

Photo one- final of the winter foursomes knockout between Heather and Jan against Sally and Irene.

Photo two- Ladies captain Fiona Turner and Liz Stewart at the Coffee morning.

With the weather improving and the course having been well maintained by the greenkeeping team during the difficult winter months, it was time for Dartmouth ladies to have their first qualifier of the year.

Thankfully it was a Stableford rather than a Medal, which helped calm nerves for the first game with a serious card in hand.

Jules Vincent made a strong start with a number of pars; Katie Panton and Marilyn Lucas scored well on the fifth and Chris Mayer made a very good par on the fifteenth, but no player managed to break par.

Karen Oldrieve had the fewest blobs and therefore the strongest game, finishing in first place.

1st: Karen Oldrieve 32 pts

2nd: Chris Mayer 29 pts

3rd: Shelley Durrans 28 pts

Midweek, the men opted for a Bogey competition - a format which needs an acceptance from the outset that the course is an unforgiving opponent.

Only one player managed to get the better of the course, on a day when he managed to extricate himself from awkward lies and enjoyed putts rolling in from distance.

Step forward John Thompson who, after losing the first hole then proceeded to win or halve sixteen of the next seventeen holes. His excellent +4 was five points ahead of second place:

1st: John Thompson +4

2nd: John Grattan -1

3rd: Mario Aresti -4

The weekend Mixed Stableford was another qualifier and brought much better scores than had been seen during the week, including ten players scoring a two. After Tuesday’s Stableford, it was also good to see one of the ladies finding her form and finishing on top.

A new golfing term was introduced by Bobby Wotton following a somewhat feeble putt. “That was half-milky” is not a phrase that you get your head round easily but was apparently a reference back to his rugby playing days and the nickname of one of the players! Wherever it came from, it led to some interesting analysis of subsequent shots - semi-skimmed, gold top and many more.

Division One

1st: Stephen Blackie 38 pts

2nd: Jack Kirby 37 pts

Division Two

1st: Chris Mayer 38 pts on count back from

2nd: John Garner 38 pts

The seniors’ focus this week was a fun and thought-provoking 1-2-3 team competition played from the Championship Reds. Teams of three or four assembled to take on the variable Stableford format, where scoring demands changed throughout the round.

One score counted on holes 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 17; two scores counted on holes 6, 8, 9 and 16; while three scores were required on holes 3, 4, 5, 7, 14, 15 and 18. Standard individual handicap allowances were applied at 85%.

With eight teams in the mix, predicting a winning total proved difficult given the format’s unpredictability. A score in the mid-70s looked likely to be competitive—and so it proved.

Taking top honours with an excellent 76 points was the team led by Super Mario Aresti, alongside Andrew Dix, Michael Whitelaw and David Sparks.

Close behind in second place on 74 points came Colin Cooper, George Reeve, Geoffrey Jewell and Graham Burton. Third place, with 72 points, went to Tony Hall, Bernard Young, Steve Atkins and Gary Bonser.

All three leading teams showed solid consistency, particularly across the front nine. However, as is often the case, the more demanding back nine proved decisive, with several teams struggling to maintain momentum.

In fourth place were Philip Brooking, Robert Wotton, Nigel Osborne and Trevor Pretty on 70 points, followed by Robert Isaacs-Berry, David Morrall, Roy Baldwin and Philip Green in fifth on 69.

Sixth place went to Bernard Taylor, Mark Gannon, Ralph Clark and Mark Mitchell with 65 points.

There was also some excellent individual play, with birdie twos recorded by Bernard Young (third), Nigel Osborne (fifth), Philip Green and Graham Burton (seventh), and Mario Aresti finishing in style with a two on the 18th.

Thanks, as always, go to Nigel Osborne for his work in compiling and verifying the results.

An enjoyable and slightly different competition provided a real test of both strategy and teamwork—keeping everyone thinking right to the final putt.

Next week sees the seniors return with a pairs competition.