THURLESTONE Golf Club ladies reduced their competition to nine holes again this week as buggies or trolleys were not allowed on the course. The 28 competitors had to carry their four clubs and a putter but everyone enjoyed themselves.

The winner was Liz Sharman (8) with 17 points from Gill Markham (13) with 16 points. In 3rd place was Helen Baker (18) with another 16 points and Jane Mason (9) and Tess Brownill (11) also had 16 points, so there were plenty of countbacks.

Unfortunately, no birdie twos were scored so the money will roll over to the next competition.

The men’s competition of American Greensomes on Sunday, March 1, had reasonably good weather and there were 28 entries.

The winners were David Eva & Steve Inch with 40 points from Ashley Pigott & Stan Pigott with 39 points.

Third were David and Jonathan Doyle with 36 points. There was only one birdie two on the fifth hole, congratulations to captain John Rogers and Ken Riley.

Special congratulations this week goes to our junior captain Will Hoskin who has topped off his junior captaincy year with his very first hole-in-one on the 6th hole last week.

Will, who plays off a handicap of three and represents Thurlestone in the Devon U18 County team, has been working hard on his game and has come close to holing out on a few occasions, and has finally achieved every golfer’s dream.

Will told pro Steve White that it was a well struck 9-iron which never left the flag and actually flew straight into the hole without bouncing. Well done Will, hopefully one of many!!

George Inch and William Hoskin (junior captain) represented Devon Juniors at Clevedon GC last year in the annual Four Counties Championship.

Devon won the stroke-play aggregate event where the top six scores from eight players counts, both of them contributed well to this part of the competition.

In the matchplay event Devon finished second to winners Dorset by 0.5pts despite being unbeaten with William scoring 2.5pts from three and George winning all three of his singles matches.

The boys gave a great account of themselves and represented Devon and Thurlestone in a manner to be proud of. They are pictured with the trophy.

Dartmouth ladies have been completely unaccustomed to good weather and so were delighted with another dry Tuesday.

Getting back into the swing of things, the opportunity was taken to have a practice Stableford over fifteen holes. Even though it was a non-qualifier it was taken very seriously, as was demonstrated by Katie Panton who rescued a point by backing into a very prickly hawthorn to take her shot rather than taking a drop.

Shelley Durrans was the star of the day, with her 37 points including a lovely birdie two on the fifth. The rest of the field struggled on the scoring front but playing in sunshine more than compensated for that.

1st: Shelley Durrans 37pts

2nd: Jodie Kenyon 31pts on countback from

3rd: Katie Panton 31pts

The Dartmouth course ladies were also playing a practice Stableford. It’s often the case that you play your best golf after a break and that certainly applied to Sharon Jones.

Her first nine holes were very average but obviously put her in a good position for the second nine where she scored 24 points! It was also a very welcome return for Kate Merriam

1st: Sharon Jones 39pts

2nd: Kate Merriam 26pts

To make it a slightly different challenge, the men’s midweek Stableford was played from alternate blue and red tees.

Three players tied in Division One - Roy Baldwin had seemed to be in prime position with 20 points on the front nine, but blobs on 12 and 14 left him with just 14 points on the back.

John Oldrieve and Gary Bonser had identical front and back nine scores but Gary was unfortunate in having his best holes at the beginning of the back, and although John failed to score on sixteen, he won by a single point on back six countback.

Division One:

1st: John Oldrieve 33pts on countback from

2nd: Gary Bonser 33pts

3rd: Roy Baldwin 33pts

Division Two: 1st: Barrie O’Shea 39pts

2nd: Nigel Osborne 35pts

There were good results in Saturday’s Mixed Stableford:

Division One:

1st: Andy Birss 39pts

2nd: John Oldrieve 35pts

Division Two:

1st: Andy Dykes 34pts

2nd: Dean Raspin 33pts

The seniors enjoyed a fun Stableford competition this week, played from alternate blue and red tees.

With 35 players in the field and standard handicap protocols in operation, the event was based on blue tee handicaps. Given the additional shots available, I anticipated winning scores to reach the high thirties — and they certainly did.

After some particularly poor weather of late, it was a fine, warmish day for golf, although the course remains wet in places and will need time to dry out fully. Despite the conditions, scoring was impressive.

The standout performer was Nigel Osborne, who produced an exceptional 40-point round (24 on the front nine, 16 on the back) to claim Division Two and overall victory. A superb effort from our competition secretary.

Tim Cronin finished second overall on 38 points, two shots back. Division One honours went to skipper David Sparks, who edged out John Garner on countback after both posted 33 points.

Only three players managed to score on every hole, highlighting the challenge on offer. Statistically, holes four, 11 and 14 proved the toughest, while three and nine were the most forgiving.

Overall Results:

1st – Nigel Osborne (30) – 40pts

2nd – Tim Cronin (22) – 38pts

3rd – Ralph Clark (39) – 38pts

4th – Colin Cooper (21) – 37pts

5th – Paul Stubbs (27) – 37pts

6th – Steve Atkins (23) – 36pts

Division 1 (Handicap up to 19):

1st – David Sparks – 33pts

2nd – John Garner – 33pts

Division 2 (Handicap 20+):

1st – Nigel Osborne

2nd – Tim Cronin

The only birdie two of the day came at the par-three 18th, courtesy of Tim Cronin.

As always, thanks to competition guru Nigel Osborne for overseeing the scoring and countback. Next week sees a Stableford qualifier.