THERE were Stableford competitions on both courses this week for Dartmouth ladies and play seemed to reflect the rather subdued weather, with nobody managing to better par.

On the Championship course, Jan Cousins was in a clear lead after nine holes with 17 points but had a disappointing backnine to finish with 30 points.

Chris Mushens had had a very poor front nine with just 11 points but she and playing partner Jules Vincent (also on 11 points) decided that they would aim to get at least 19 points on the back to get to 30. Sadly, Jules managed only 15 but, starting with a 4-point par on the tenth, Chris did and finished with the 30-point target, beating Jan on count back.

On the Dartmouth course, Barbara Dally dominated from start to finish - 8 points from two consecutive holes giving a great boost to her score and leading her to finish 10 points ahead of Jan Thomas-Gourd in second place. Marion Bell is still taking it steadily after breaking her leg earlier in the year, but still managed third place on count back from Jan.

The scores were much better in the Wednesday Stableford. In Division Two, Bob Gibbs was in fine form, with a 21-point front nine contributing to his 39-point winning score.

David Thompson didn’t appear to be challenging, but a great birdie two on the 18th moved him into second place with 37 points. In Division One, Kevin Eighteen had five pars on both the front and back nine, and the resulting 37 points was 4 points ahead of John Garner in second place.

In Saturday’s Mixed Stableford, the winners of both Division One and Two had 38 points but achieved them in rather different ways.

In Division One, Brian Mushens could do no wrong on the front nine, evidenced by three birdies, three pars and 24 points.

It was perhaps a mistake to add up the score on the way to the back nine as hopes and expectations for a great score were high, but the long shots stopped finding the green and the putts refused to drop, so only 14 points, but still sufficient to win the division.

Mark Scrivener finished second with 36, and worth mentioning that this included fourteen pars. In Division Two, in spite of a handicap cut following Wednesday’s game, Bob Gibbs continued his high scoring. With 10 points after three holes, another high-scoring front nine looked possible but the tricky fourth hole put paid to that and he settled for a more balanced front and back nine for his 38 points. Second place went to Jules Vincent with 35 points.

Dave Nicholls and his Dartmoor League team enjoyed a tremendous 5-0 home win against Thurlestone. There’s still one match left to play, but promotion has already been secured, so congratulations to Dave and all the players.