ON SATURDAY, October 12, Thurlestone Golf Club played a Mixed Greensome Competition for The Foundation Trophy.

This trophy was first played for in 1997 to commemorate The Centenary of Thurlestone Golf Club. This is now played for annually, always a mixed competition but with occasional changes to the format. 14 pairs entered this year and playing conditions were ideal.

A dry day with some sunshine and a slight breeze, the winners with a great score of 42 points were Alec and Sue Esplin. In second were Nikki Smith and Matthew Dunne with 40 points and 3rd was Lesley and Simon Davey with 38 points. 4th on countback were Rob and Sarah Loader also with 38 points.

27 hardy members were undeterred from taking part in the Turton Hart Salver, on Sunday, the final major trophy of the year. As the participants ventured out, knowing what was to come, the skies were overcast and menacing. The early starters appeared to have the benefit of being ahead of the storm, at least in part, but that advantage didn’t last for long.

When the storm hit, it hit hard, with torrential rain, high winds and our course’s ability to cope with such a high volume of water was tested to the limit.

Some players decided that play in such circumstances was a puddle too far and headed for the clubhouse, warm and dry in the distant mist. Others plowed on through the tempestuous conditions and completed their rounds.

Despite the more favourable conditions in the early part of the round, the best scores came from the later competitors.

The top three scores were from the later starters and the winner was decided on count-back. 1st was Don Thomson(18) with 36 points from 2nd Dale Cunningham (12) and 3rd Jason Armstrong(15), beating both on countback.

The travelling Pedagogues GS were once again welcomed to Thurlestone, for what is now a regular annual club match. The particular attraction of this fixture is the foursomes format, which is not everyone's favourite, but which has a long tradition.

For instance, the club's very first home club match, a fixture against Wrangaton in 1899, incorporated foursomes matches in the 5-1 home team victory.

The weather was very kind to our visitors, who were very complimentary about the course. The home team recorded fairly comfortable wins for the pairings of David Smyth & John Mahood, Graeme Fairley & Nick Lipson, and Ken Riley with Jason Armstrong, The overall result a 3-1 victory.

Everyone looks forward to renewing the camaraderie and good competitive golf with the ex-teachers again next year. Report from John Mahood.

ONCE again, rain washed out the Dartmouth ladies’ competitions on Tuesday, 8, but the men’s Midweek Stableford was able to go ahead.

In Division One, Andy Birss was the clear winner with 37 points followed by Paul Brown on 34. In Division Two, Sam Churchill’s stronger back nine gave him the edge over Steve Fishburn, both finishing on 34 points.

It was the Captains’ Joint Charity Day on Saturday, raising funds for Hearts Together, a Plymouth-based charity that supports, patients, family and carers during challenging times.

Men’s Captain Rob Isaacs-Berry, Lady Captain Chris Mayer and Seniors’ Captain Dave Sparks ensured that the large field had plenty to play for. The individual men’s and ladies’ winners were:

1st Gary Widdicombe (41), Tina Scanlan (34).

2nd Gordon Kidd (40), Chris Mayer (33).

3rd Ian Black (39), Chris Aresti (33).

Dave Brooking and Gordon Kidd won the longest drive and nearest the pin for the men respectively with Jodie Kenyon and Chris Mayer doing so for the women.

Six players managed twos and eight players had their cards drawn out to win a Four Ball generously provided by other courses.

The efforts of the players and of Marion Bell and Jan Thomas-Gourd, who worked tirelessly on the raffle resulted in £2,275 raised for the charity. Huge thanks to all who played and helped.

Monday, October 14 saw the Dartmouth seniors play a 3-2-1 competition off of the blue tees on the Championship course.

This was a fun event within the new 24/25 season and saw a Stableford scoring format with 85% individual course handicap allowance.

Teams of three or four players assembled with three scores to count on hole one, two on hole two, one on hole three and so on. The last time this competition was held just a year ago, Team Oldrieve triumphed with 81 points underpinned by an ace at hole five by Rob Barrett. Neither were in today’s field.

A tally in the high 70s was the aim and seven teams were in the hunt for the title! Following heavy overnight rain and a soggy course with little run on the ball, it made meaningful scoring problematic.

No problems however for the team of high handicappers fronted by Mark Mitchell and his stalwarts who scored heavily at most holes giving them an above-average winning score of 79 points, which given the conditions, was mightily impressive.

Second were the team fronted by Radar Roy Baldwin who continues his rich vein of form ably supported by Messrs Green, Thompson & Brooking.

It was interesting to note that those teams that only had three players all finished in the bottom three which underpins the necessity for a 4-man team. In summary, a nice change from the recent plethora of qualifiers and one that put the emphasis on more relaxed golf.

One Birdie two was scored by Colin Cooper at the par three third. Competition guru Nigel Osborne counted them all back. Many thanks to him.

Next week sees a qualifying charity Stableford event, supporting prostate cancer. This has been organised by Richard Bevan our secretary. A full report will be in this column next week.