Dartmouth Golf Club

Seniors’ section

The second leg of the Tamar Cup against St Mellion took place on Tuesday, July 10. The Tamar Cup is a two-leg match between Dartmouth and St Mellion’s senior players. Dartmouth hold the cup at present and led 6.5-1.5 going into this away match.

The format is four-ball better ball match play with eight pairs each off full handicap. Additional shots for three of the golfers are taken from the lowest handicap golfer in each individual match.

A tremendous away leg ­performance by Dartmouth’s seniors saw a 5-3 win, making the overall score for the two legs 11.5-4.5. So the trophy remains in the Dartmouth cabinet for another year.

Results: Michael Whitelaw and Stephen Owen lost four and three; Mario Aresti and Freddie Porter won four and three; Andrew Dix and Martin Howlett won two and one; Brian Mushens and John Cousins lost four and three; Colin Cooper and Geoffrey Jewell won two and one; Gordon Kidd and David Thompson won three and two; Michael Griffiths and Trevor Pretty lost two and one; Alan Goldthorpe and Paul Stubbs won two and one.

The seniors’ stableford ­qualifier went ahead on Monday, July 16. The format is an individual stableford off the blue tees with full handicap in play on the championship course. Twenty seven golfers turned out on a slightly cooler day than those over the last week.

The back nine was relatively calm until the 17th and 18th, which played into a stiffish breeze that caught out a number of players. Nevertheless, it was a good day for golf with burnt fairways, so high scores could be expected.

The early groups out ­produced some decent returns, with Trevor ‘the cat’ Pretty moving to the top of the leaderboard with a grand 43 points. This was followed closely by George Reeve on 40 points and Stephen Owen on 39.

These early positions changed surprisingly little as the later groups made their way into the clubhouse, with Tony Hall on 40 points and David Sparks and Michael Whitelaw both on 39, edging their way into the top five.

But no one got near the early leader. A solid round by Trevor Pretty, who looked calm and composed throughout his round and whose swing is now beginning to straighten out, enabled him to produce some solid scoring from fairway positions.

His round included five pars and a tap-in birdie two at the par-three third. Very well played Trevor, we look forward to seeing you perform off your new lower handicap of 18.

The best completed round of the day without any no returns was from seniors skipper Michael Whitelaw, who shot a gross medal 80, equating to 39 points.

Result: 1. Trevor Pretty, 43 points; 2. Tony Hall, 40 on countback; 3. George Reeve, 40; 4. David Sparks, 39 on countback; 5. Michael Whitelaw, 39. Twos: Desmond ‘Tutu’ Graham, seventh; Christopher Musgrave, fifth; Stephen Owen, third; Freddie Porter, fifth; Trevor Pretty, third; David Rowsell, third and 18th.

The ever-dependable Michael Whitelaw was the officer on duty for the competition.

The Friday fun stableford non-qualifier took place on Friday, July 13, on the championship course, with the sun shining throughout.

There were a few new faces in the large field and the scores were higher than normal, given the huge run on the ball over the bone-dry fairways.

Fresh from his amazing 47-point midweek circus ­victory, man of the moment David Birss was at it again, carding what must be a record 49-point stableford score.

David, playing off a ­ridiculous handicap of 33, played solid, steady golf for his win, which included pars at the third, ninth and 14th holes, plus an impressive birdie at the last.

Seniors captain Michael Whitelaw has jokingly been invited to take note of this ­performance by the ‘Friday committee’, because David could easily have played off 20 and played to his handicap.

There were other good scores on the day that would normally have had a chance of scooping the kitty, including Colin Cooper’s 41 points and David Rowsell’s and Trevor Pretty’s 39 points.

A round of pure magic ­conjured up by David Birss that was astonishing alongside a very enjoyable morning on the golf course.

Result: 1. David Birss, 49 points; 2. Colin Cooper, 41; 3. Trevor Pretty, 39 on countback.

In the Blight Trophy Individual Knockout, Tony Hall beat Michael Whitelaw. A great win by Tony over one of the favourites, helped in the main by Michael playing the wrong ball going up 14.

Bad luck Michael – we’ve all done it.

Tony now moves forward into the semi-final, where he will play either Robert Wotton or Colin Cooper – although stop press tells the writer that Colin is injured and out for a number of weeks, so Tony Hall will play Robert Wotton in the semi.

In the Perring Cup Pairs Knockout, Brian Mushens and Roy Baldwin beat Gary Bonser and John Thompson to move into the semi-final, where they will play White and Cousins or Dix and Dunkerley.

In the senior of the year stakes, after 11 out of 23 ­qualifying events, the standings are: 1. Mario Aresti, 45 points; 2. Alistair Forbes, 41; 3. Graham White, 40.

With his individual ­stableford win on Monday, the ­current holder of the trophy, Trevor Pretty, moves into sixth position on 33 points, and with his current form he looks ideally positioned to mount a rearguard challenge.