WITH the bad weather at the beginning of the week deteriorating into Storm Bert by the end of the week, no competitions were possible this week at Dartmouth Golf Club for the men and women, reports Chris Mushens.

So, with Christmas and fun competitions on the horizon, it’s time for some diary planning! The ladies are reminded of the three fun competitions during December and of the need to sign up by the Saturday evening beforehand to allow time for the teams and prizes to be sorted - very important when the shopping is for biscuits and booze and chocolate and fizz.

At the weekend, there’s the rearranged team comp, the Santa Special Texas Scramble and the Mixed Solheim and Ryder Cup. The latter pits those born in Devon against those born in the Rest of the World and is always fiercely contested. Honours went to Devon in 2023, so the “foreigners” will be out for revenge!

Hosted by the current captains, Rob Isaacs-Berry and Chris Mayer, there was a dinner on Friday evening for all past captains. Lew Easter, who was men’s captain in 1995, gave the vote of thanks at the end of the meal and toasted the continued success of the club. Many thanks to the staff for producing and serving such a lovely meal.

The Dartmouth seniors did battle the conditions to hold a non-qualifying competition on Monday 25 November, reports Gordon Holmes.

Course handicap was as usual the yardstick for handicap purposes on the Championship Course with an individual Stableford competition featuring a free choice of tee shots from six white, blue & red tees. The standard 95% allowance was in play for equity purposes. 26 intrepid seniors were in the mix on Monday.

A similar event with a full complement was last played last June when Geoffrey Jewell stormed round with 43 points. That was summer - this is winter golf so expect scores to be much lower. And after a very wet weekend, they were!

Who was up to the task? Come in the caped crusader aka Colin Cooper who notched up an impressive 35 points, split 17/18, with I suspect a predominance of reds on the inward nine. Paul Stubbs was second and George Reeve was third. A thoroughly squelchy day to play golf but given the conditions there were a surprising array of fine scores carded with only hole fourteen retaining its integrity with a bogey best.

For the overall competitions results, Alistair Forbes and Paul Stubbs were fourth and fifth respectively, finishing on the same score of 33pts as George Reeve. Next came Robert Penfold with 32pts whilst the two birdies twos came courtesy of Peter Hannaford on the third and Bernard Taylor at hole five.

Competition guru Nigel Osborne downloaded the results. Many thanks as usual to him.

Thurlestone GC was also able to host some golf despite the conditions and last Sunday’s competition was won by Hayley and Steve Pepperrell with 45 points, from Jane Mason and Martin Phillips with 42 points, writes Liz Line.

In third place were Steve and Trish Gledhill with 40 points and they got the only birdie two of the competition so congratulations to them.

On Wednesday last week, 24 ladies played a Stableford competition and the winner was Helen Baker with 36 points on countback from Jane Walker, also with 36 points. In third place was Jane Mason with 32 points. There was only one birdie two, courtesy of Sally Nelson Roberts.

So to the Christmas Draw 2024. We are going to change things a little this year. Prizes will still be plentiful, ranging and exciting but with a few changes - time for a change from a TV and Hoover.

Each Friday in the lead-up to Christmas, a 'Bonus Bauble' will be drawn from the tickets sold allowing for one lucky person to receive an early Santa treat. The Bonus Bauble draws will take place on the mornings of November 30, December 6 & 13 with the main draw taking place on 11am on Friday, December 20, when we hope we can welcome members to join us for coffee, mince pies and our iconic draw bingo

Tickets go on sale from the clubhouse bar on Friday, November 22. The more tickets sold the more prizes Santa will provide.

On Sunday there were 28 entries for the Rye Greensome men’s competition. The winners were Jason Armstrong & Steve Gledhill with 45 points from Jason Armstrong & Steve Gledhill with 42 points.

In third place were Derek Harwood & Alan Welch also with 42 points and Mark Drew & Chris Jones were fourth with 40 points. Congratulations to Jason Armstrong and Steve Gledhill for their birdie two on the 17th, and also Mark Chapman and Martin Oakes-Monger on the 3rd and the 13th holes.

The ladies were exceptionally fortunate to play their 1,2 3, Waltz competition last Wednesday in cold but sunny conditions. A field of nine teams of three enjoyed their golf with the first hole now back in action. The winning team with 70 points were Linda Cant, Jan Brooking & Heather Spencer. In second were Liz Stewart, Liz Sharman & Jane Smyth and third went to Lesley Davey, Sarah Loader & Sheila Fairley.

Pictured is Kim Flook, the ladies winner at the Bigbury Golf Club Turkey Trot competition.