THURLESTONE Golf Club celebrated Burns Night in true fashion on Saturday January, reports Liz Line.

It was lovely to see many in traditional clothing and he evening started with a lone bagpiper piping 50 guests on arrival. Grace was carried out by Alastair Proctor, chef Scott was piped in whilst carrying the haggis with the address given by Chairman Graeme Fairley.

Chef Scott then stabbed the haggis with a following toast proposed by Graeme Fairley. The evening was rounded off by Alastair Proctor reciting some of Burns' work and life. Special mentions to Scott for cooking a wonderful traditional menu, Charlie for tirelessly helping in the kitchen with Bett, Claire and Emily dressing the tables with heather, thistles, roses and Dragon's Den tartan.

Special mention to Algernon Fooks on bagpipes, a great evening was had by all.

Ladies captain Pam Adams decided it would be fun to arrange a Bake Off in February. The plan is to bake a golf-themed showstopper which can be a cake or biscuit bake, made and decorated at home, to then bring in on the 15th by 11am.

Any final decorating can be done at the golf club and members will then be asked to come along to the club between 11am and 3pm and vote on their three favourites. The bakes will have a number beside them and remain anonymous until the results, plus the voting will be done on looks not taste!

Please let Pam know by Friday 7 if you wish to enter.

Finally, Pam has been given a very nice bottle of red wine to raffle for our Captains Charity- get involved in the draw at the bar.

The first open of the year took place last Saturday and it was a popular event, attracting an impressive field of 80 players from courses across Devon and beyond.

Chris Howard (-2) and Jonathan Cousins (9), the first pair out, recorded a score of 44 points and looked like worthy winners until the very last moment.

Daniel Hardy (13) & Callum Scott (12), the last pairing, came in with an outstanding 47 points to pip them. In third place were Richard Langford (10) & Neil Holbrook (3), also with 44pts.

A request from our Dartmoor League captain, Lewis Kendall, to advertise this four-ball better ball, matchplay league. The DML is played against five other South Devon golf clubs, home and away matches, and Lewis is looking for more members (men, ladies and juniors) to come forward and take part in this sociable but competitive golf format. Please sign up or contact Lewis for more details.

Pictured are the Thurlestone staff involved in organising the Burn’s night, from left to right: Emily Adams, chef Scott Glover, Algernon Fooks on bagpipes and head stewardess Claire Guard.

BIGBURY golfers have also been able to play many of their scheduled competitions thanks to some favourable breaks in the winter weather, writes Marlene Johnson.

On a Saturday in mid-January, the Integrated Stablefords took place and there were 61 golfers in action.

The ladies’ entry on the day meant two divisions were needed, but there were no birdie twos recorded.

Division One was very competitive and there were only two points separating the top- three. Taking first place with a score of 37 points was Jane Rickman (15). Only one point behind was Nikki Kidd (5), and with just one point less was Amanda Burchell (5).

Division Two was also very tight and countback was needed to decide the top two places with both Eve Naylor (41) and Angie Newman (28) recording 33 points. The computer showed it was Eve in first place with Angie second. Then, with only one point less and in third place, was Dot Kenneth (32).

The number of men entered in their competition on this Saturday also meant two divisions were needed, however, there were a plethora of birdie twos recorded and too many to list.

Gary Clasby (9) topped Division One with 37pts whilst countback separated David Graddon (8) and Peter Bird (11) next, both scoring 36pts.

The Division Two winner, who recorded 37pts as well, was David Whiting (16). David also bagged himself a pair of birdie twos so a really nice day for him!

In second place was Chris Treloar (16) with a score of 35, and in third place with 34pts was Paul Whiteman (16).

MOVING over to Dartmouth GC and with the amount of rain we’ve had recently, golfers would be forgiven for thinking about taking up scuba diving or canoeing, but we’re a hardy bunch and there was the usual good turnout for the Saturday Mixed Stableford, reports Chris Mushens.

For the men, there was a choice of red or white tees - based on past experience and the heavy ground conditions, more players than usual were heading towards the reds. With the WHS adjustments, the reds aren’t easier but they are shorter and with balls currently tending to stick rather than roll out, it wasn’t surprising that the majority of players opted for red.

Countback was needed to separate the top two in Division One, but the totals were achieved in different ways. Six pars and two birdies gave Paul Marels 21 points on the front nine but the birdies dried up on the back nine and there were only 16 points to add to his score.

Rob Haddy only managed to birdie the first but played solidly on both the front and back and with 19 points on the second nine, his 37 points knocked Paul into second place.

In Division Two, John Thompson was the only white tee player to be placed. Although his scorecard included some blobs, there were also pars and a consistent 17 points on both the front and back. He was pipped for first place by Bob Gibbs, whose 4-point par on the seventh gave him 18 points on the front nine and a total of 35 to win by a single point.

The only two of the day was Dave Nicholls on the eighteenth.

Finally, to Dartmouth seniors, courtesy of Gordon Holmes. The Dartmouth seniors’ competition on Monday, February 3 was a qualifying Stableford and the standard 95% course handicap allowance was in play for equity purposes.

A cold foggy morning greeted the early birds and although the sun did make some fleeting appearances, the wind on the back nine made it a typical winter’s day with no respite.

Without pick and place off the fairway, scores reflected a major challenge with only nine players passing the 30-point mark. Up for that test were Messrs Cooper, Ward & Oldrieve who finished one, two and three in that order, but there were just a few points between them and with a couple of additional putts dropping, positions could easily have been reversed.

Tim Cronin (33pts), Steve Tozer (32pts) and Michael Whitelaw (32pts) were the trio hot on their tails.

In summary, not the ideal day for a qualifier with necessary hollow tining underway on some of the greens but nevertheless, a fine examination of golf for all.

Birdie twos were scored by Nigel Osborne & Michael Whitelaw at the third and Andrew Dix on hole seven. Nigel Osborne downloaded the results. Many thanks as usual to him.