THE LADIES at Thurlestone Golf Club played in the Yellow Ball Competition in teams of three, with two scores to count, on Wednesday, October 23.

Janet Richardson (22), Sue Ansley (16) and Sarah Loader (11) were the victors with 65 points, ahead of two teams on 64, Bernice Sweetman, Liz Lacon and Diane Baker & Sue Curry, Tsai Wharton and Kaz Phillips. Congratulations go to Pam St Leger and Tricia Swindell for their birdie twos.

Playing off a four handicap, David Eva played a steady front nine in the October Stableford but went up a gear on the back nine, playing it in three under gross. Craig Blunt (7) carded a very impressive 39 points to secure second place from third-placed Ben Matley (14), also on 39 points. There were five twos recorded so congratulations to David Eva, Peter Eva, Steve Gledhill, Nick Jenkins and Steve Puckett.

Thankfully, a change in the weather meant that the Junior Team could play their West Devon Junior League final match against Staddon Heights, rained off last weekend and in contrast, played on Sunday in beautiful warm sunshine.

Junior Captain George Inch played first against his Devon Elite Squad teammate. This was a close match but Staddon took the point on the 15th, 4&3.

Aiden Mulligan was next out and didn't start well, six down after six. Amazingly he pulled it back and found himself all square playing up the 18th but unfortunately lost 1-down.

Martha Massingham played the third singles match getting 16 shots on her opponent. She started well but lost momentum and Staddon took the lead. It was all over in the 16th when Martha lost 3&2.

Foursomes pair Ollie Chester and young Finn Robson were the stars of the day. They took the lead on hole four and stayed in control until the 18th, winning 2-up. Staddon wins the West Devon League again this year and a place in the Henry Truscot trophy on Monday at The Warren- good luck to them.

On the same day, 30 members took part in the Better Ball Stableford and the winner was Stan Pigott (8) with 41 points, from Ben Matley (12) with 36 points. Third was Graeme Fairley (9) with 35 points.

The beautiful Bovey Castle was the venue for this year's Tyler Trophy Match, where the Devon Girls' Under 18s team took on the Women's 2nd team. Thankfully the weather was kind and they played the matches in glorious sunshine.

Susie Carr (U18 girls captain) and Martha Massingham, in her Devon debut, were the first pairing. They played against Lorna Elliott (2nd Team Captain) and Rosie Jago, also making her debut for Devon.

The match was nip and tuck all the way, with the women 1 down playing the 18th, after losing out to a birdie from Susie on the 17th. Rosie fought back and sunk her put to win the hole and tie the match - a good result. The other three matches were won by the U18 girls resulting in a 3.5 -0.5 win for the girls and they retain the Tyler Trophy.

MEANWHILE, fun Stablefords were on the cards for Dartmouth GC ladies this week. 18 holes were planned on the Championship course but amendments were made as the round progressed. The fourth hole was omitted as it was very wet underfoot - we justified that by saying that we were being kind to the course but with everyone feeling tired it seemed the right thing to do.

The skies were so grey on the thirteenth green that the wise decision was taken to miss out the next two holes and go straight to the sixteenth. A good move as the rain began in earnest shortly afterwards and the clubhouse was calling loudly. The absence of much golfing detail reflects some rather average play, Chris Aresti beating the best of the group, followed by Shelley Durrans and Chris Mushens.

The Dartmouth course ladies wisely opted to play a nine-hole competition, thus avoiding the rain. Marion Bell was the winner and being a sociable group, the next three ladies - Roz Forde, Jan T-G and Barbara Dally - decided to forego count back and share equal second place!

Now to the Men’s Midweek Stableford and this saw the top three players all finish on 31 points. Roy Baldwin had had a very good front nine with 19 points and started the back nine with a par for a further 3 points, but his game began to unravel somewhat.

John Garner scored on all holes and was steady on both nines, but it was Nigel Osborne who took the honours. Saving his best for last, his 18-point back nine gave him the win on countback.

Saturday’s competition was a Mixed Bogey - always a challenging format. As one player put it - the problem is, the course never makes a mistake! Other words of wisdom came from Bobby Wotton who, having lost the first hole, halved the second and pointed out that it was now impossible to finish with a -18 score; two of his playing partners shared his relief.

While many players were in a similar position, in Division One, Malcolm Barrett was always ahead of the course. Starting with a win, he then won or halved every hole and finished on +5.

In second place, Keith Sexton finished level at the end of the front nine and then put together a great back nine, with five wins, to cancel out any losses and finishing on +3. In Division Two, Martin Collins played a great game on both the front and back nine to finish on +6, a considerable way ahead of Tim Cronin in second place on -2.

The Dartmouth seniors held a qualifying Stableford competition on Monday, October 28. The standard 95% allowance was in play for equity purposes and red tees were the start points.

30 seniors were in the mix but only around a quarter finished the full round. The weather literally went from bad to worse as the constant rain and driving wind forced many off the course around the halfway point. Those that did finish were drenched and were glad of the ultimate comfort of the clubhouse!

Intrepid live wire & Seniors’ Captain David Sparks was the best on the day with 33 points, which included two no scores (a trait of many). He was followed into the house by Messrs Whitworth & Mushens some four points adrift. In summary, a thoroughly unpleasant day for golf after a fairly inert forecast that turned out to be wholly inaccurate.

John Oldrieve was in fourth on 28 points, beating Robert Isaacs-Berry and Andrew Dix on countback. Whilst David took the Division One title, Robert was the standout in Division Two.

One birdie two was scored at the par three fifth by Brian Mushens. Nigel Osborne downloaded the results and so many thanks, as usual, go to him.

The senior's annual business meeting which followed the Monday competition appointed the following committee for 2024/25.

Captain- David Sparks

Competition Secretary & DMVGA Rep- Nigel Osborne

Secretary- Richard Bevan

Treasurer- Mario Aresti

Match Secretary- Michael Whitelaw

Press Officer- Gordon Holmes.