THERE were 24 entrants for the mixed greensomes stableford on Monday, May 4 at Thurlestone Golf Club.

On a brilliant sunny day, Lou & Stuart Read prevailed with 42 points, ahead of Nikki & Peter Smith (38pts) and Kaz & Martin Phillips (37pts).

There were two twos, from Peter Hartley & Tricia Swindell on 17 and Nick Crispin & Pam Adams on six.

Onto Wednesday and 30 ladies entered the 18-hole medal which was won by Sue Ansley with a nett 68. Close behind her were Anna McGrath (71) and Pam Adams (72).

Congratulations to Anna, Jennifer Roberts and the aforementioned Kaz for their twos.

The annual county inter club matches are now underway, the Sheelah Creasy team beating Libbaton before being defeated by a strong Saunton side.

The league team won their opener against Stover while the Academia team (formerly Mail on Sunday) were knocked out in the first round, also against Stover.

Okehampton and Staddon played host to the Devon Golf Medals Finals and County Prize with Thurlestone’s own Jan Brooking winning Division One and Nikki Smith coming eight in Division Two. Meanwhile, Liz Stewart and Sally Cahill finished in the middle of the pack.

Congratulations must also go Liz Lacon and Hayley Pepperell for finishing third in The Express & Echo Shield played on the newly vamped course at Exeter, whilst Kaz Phillips and Nikki Smith finished further down the field.

Thurlestone seniors were looking for revenge in their reverse fixture at Dartmouth and they got exactly that, winning 3.5-2.5. Bill Ogley and Gus Kemp starred with a 6&5 victory. That being said, Dartmouth still took the overall victory at 6.5-5.5.

Ian Squire scored 41 points to win the midweek stableford on Thursday, finishing narrowly ahead of Will Hoskin (40) and David Lovett (39). Ian and Will were two of the seven to get twos.

Lastly, the president’s team (pictured) went on the road to face Okehampton, led by captain Pam Adams.

It was a tough outing for the first match of the year as they failed to win any of their matches.

Kevin Matthews, who has only recently returned to the sport, won Dartmouth’s Bank Holiday mixed stableford with 41 points.

Behind him, countback was needed to separate husband and wife Brian & Chris Mushens, the pair scoring 36pts each and Brian just edging it.

Meanwhile, at Bowood Park in Cornwall, Karen Oldrieve was representing Dartmouth ladies in the regional qualifier for the national Race to Woodall Spa. She topped Division One with 34 points and so moves on whilst Pete Hannaford finished fifth for the men.

On Tuesday (May 5), the ladies were playing for the White and the Neasham Salvers, for Division One and Two players respectively.

Jules Vincent grasped Div1 and the White Salver and it was Katie Panton who prevailed in Div2 and claimed the Neasham Salver.

It was also a trophy day for the men with the Normandy Vase on the line.

This medal competition was commandingly won by Steve Blackie who carded a superb nett 64. He was joined by Robin Steer (69) and Alan Foot (72) on the podium.

The ladies welcomed players from as far afield as Bath to their Tee to Tea Open, a pairs Better Ball competition. With a first prize for the top home and the top visiting team, there was no need for countback to separate the top two.

Clare Crocker and Margaret Thompson of Bovey Tracey won with 42 points and Dartmouth’s victors, with the same score, were Chris Mushens and Jules Vincent.

Teams from Dainton Park and Staddon Heights were close behind, as were home duo Chris Mayer and Karen Oldrieve on 40pts.

The final competition of the week was the Weekend Mixed Stableford, which brought more good scores.

Andy Birss topped Division One on 38 points, just one shot ahead of Gary Bonser. The score of the day came from Division Two though, John Garner on 39 points, followed home by Karen Oldrieve (37pts).

Monday, May 11 saw the first round of the Seniors Cup played on the Championship Course.

This is one of five rounds with the best three nett rounds counting toward the overall aggregate score. There were also points up for grabs for the Senior of the Year.

David Sparks will be defending the title he won in 2025. 32 players were in the event for the initial part of this marathon.

With some fiendish pin positions and greens running high on the stint meter, it is not surprising that the scoring was challenging.

Top of the class today was relative newby Dean Raspin, who just edged Paul Harding for the top spot and Division Two prize. Both played to around their handicap, scoring 70 and 71 respectively, with excellent front nines.

Best gross round came from maestro Gary Bonser, who carded a fine 81 shots, nett 73 together with the Division One spoils. To make his day even better, Gary scored the only two on the par-three third.

Nigel Osborne kept a watchful eye on the cards and downloaded the data. Our thanks go to him.

In other news, Dartmouth seniors played their first home match of the season on Tuesday (May 5) against local rivals Thurlestone.

Having had a 4–2 win in the away leg in April, they were looking to consolidate their advantage overall.

With the course in great condition and fair weather, this local derby was hotly contested. Andy Dix & John Gratton and Mark Whitworth & Rob Isaacs-Berry won their matches convincingly.

Thurlestone won the match 3.5–2.5, but the overall score from both matches was a Dartmouth victory, 6.5–5.5. David Morrall won the nearest the pin for Dartmouth.

Next week sees a fun Stableford competition and the first away leg of the Emerton Court Trophy at Honiton.