THURLESTONE Golf Club members were greeted by good weather on Sunday, 12, for the men’s club foursome and Daily Mail qualifier competition.

Garth Gregory and Ian Squire came out on top with a score of 36 points, finishing two points ahead of Dale Cunningham and Ben Smith.

Next came Andrew Reed and Malcolm Squire & Tony Adams and Craig Blount, both pairs notching 33 points. No birdie twos were scored on the day.

There were only 20 entries on Tuesday for the midweek Stableford as the weather was not very warm. The winner in Division one was Stewart Barnes (7) with 34 points, from Craig Blount (6) with 32 points.

In Division two Mike Day (30) took top spot with 37 points from Ken Riley (21) with 34 points on count back from Martin Oakes-Monger (17) also with 34 points.

Craig Blount scored two of the three birdie twos, on holes six and 17, with Alistair Whaley contributing the other on 17.

The juniors were out in force again on Saturday afternoon for one of their Winter Saturday competitions for some great prize money.

All of their Saturday scores are recorded and the best cards are added up at the end of the winter season to find the best three juniors over the winter months. This has proved a popular way of keeping their interest in the cold winter weeks and we must thank a dedicated group of parents for organising and running this competition.

The competition ends in April when juniors club nights take over each Friday afternoon at 5pm, again run by parents and professional Steve White and the other professionals Tracy Loveys and Jamie Knight in the Pro Shop. The Saturday morning Juniors Academy has also begun lessons by the Professionals each Saturday morning to bring on more juniors into the club. Everyone is lucky to have such enthusiastic parents and professionals at Thurlestone.

ELSEWHERE, severe weather put paid to the midweek competitions at Dartmouth GC, so Saturday’s Mixed Monthly Stableford was keenly anticipated by players.

With both white and red tees available for the qualifying competition, the men had a decision to make before play. The red tees are shorter but any perceived advantage for that is more than cancelled out by the consequent course handicap reduction.

Rob Isaacs-Berry chose the white tees and was rewarded with a 38-point Division Two win. Alan Foot, also playing from the whites, was second with 34.

In Division One, John Thompson chose red tees and finished first with 36 points; Rob Penfold (white) was second with 35.

In the senior section, Andrew Dix was able to ward off the competition with an exquisite round.

Monday, January 13 saw the intrepid seniors tackle their first competition of the new year - a fun Stableford from alternate red and blue tees.

This involved long tee shots over water on even holes fourteen & eighteen, something they are not used to in winter weather. The standard 95% equity was applied to the blue tee course handicap. Some 28 players were in today’s mix.

A fine round of just 77 shots, equating to 44 points (split 22/22), saw Andrew Dix produce one of his finest rounds for many a moon to win the competition with relative ease.

His round included nine pars and two birdies in what were chilly but fine conditions. He was followed into the house by near nonagenarian David Ward who played his best golf since he joined Dartmouth GC ten years ago.

Gordon Holmes spoke of it being a pleasure to accompany the latter on the round, watching the former low handicapper put it all together again- well done sir.

Good rounds too from Cooperman, Sparksy & Ossie who were all just pipped for second place. No doubt about today’s winner though. Well played Andrew Dix!

Competition result:

1st Andrew Dix, 44 points

2nd David Ward, 42

3rd Colin Cooper, 40

4th David Sparks, 39

5th Nigel Osborne, 39

6th George Reeve, 36

Birdie twos were scored at the par threes by Steve Atkins on the third and David Sparks, on the fifth and seventh holes.

Thanks go to competition guru Nigel Osborne for assembling the results as always, and for next week, there will be a four-ball team Stableford event with two scores counting at each hole.