THURLESTONE Golf Club seniors took on Dartmouth in brutal weather with winds gusting at 60mph, reports Liz Line.

Driving and putting were both equally as precarious and it made for a tense finish with Dartmouth leading 3-2, until Steve Gallagher and Owen Rees came in with a hard-fought win to level the scores at 3-3. The two nearest the pin recipients on the 17th hole were Stewart Barnes for Thurlestone and Dartmouth’s Tony King.

Both teams are looking forward to the return match which will take place on May 6 at Dartmouth GC.

The 19 ladies braved the wind on Wednesday for their Medal competition and the best score came from Tess Brownill, with Nett 78 from Judith Lungmuss (81), Sue Ansley (82) and Pam Adams (82).

Toby White from Thurlestone reached a 'breakthrough moment', for him, in his amateur playing career in the USA, by winning his first Individual Collegiate Tournament at The Patriot Invite stroke play event at Crooked Creek GC - London - Kentucky.

Toby finished tied first after 54 holes with a score of even par (70-74-72) and with three holes to play, an eagle at the 16th gave him a 3-shot lead only for an opponent to eagle the penultimate hole and force a playoff.

Both players parred the first before Toby then birdied the next to secure the win- he was obviously, extremely happy with his first win and he told us that the wind and heavy rain on the first two rounds was like being back at home.

This victory earns him a World Amateur Golf Ranking and he is also progressing with his US National ranking, which is now 47 in the NAIA. What this means is- the better the rankings- the more opportunities open up to him in playing in higher ranked amateur events, both home and abroad.

Toby is now in his second year at Lindsey Wilson College in Columbia, Kentucky. He heads down to Georgia next week for his next tournament. Toby and Steve White would like to thank everyone for their support and kind messages on social media.

On a sunny and breezy Sunday, a mixed team from Thurlestone entertained a team from Tavistock to their annual inter-club match. All matches were highly competitive, with four of the five going to the 18th. Thurlestone prevailed 4.5-0.5, familiarity with the windy conditions making the difference on the day.

A RECENT bumper fundraiser at Bigbury GC raised the stunning amount of £800 for the three charities being supported by the ladies and gents’ club captains, Mary Wilcox and Mick McNulty, writes Marlene Johnson.

Their chosen charities are Dementia UK, British Heart Foundation and Motor Neurone Disease, who will share equally the money raised.

The Bigbury Golf Soup & Puds Lunch (pictured) is a very popular event and a super opportunity for many people no longer playing golf to meet and catch up. It also gives the Bigbury ladies the chance to display their rather good culinary skills in providing the soup and puddings. Mary Wilcox gives thanks to all who contributed across the board.

In March, a Thursday Mixed Stableford saw the ladies and gents on the course playing in the same competition.

Dot Kenneth prevailed with a score of 37, ahead of Des Wilmott (36pts) and Colin Trevethick (35). Unusually for recent competitions at Bigbury, no birdie twos were made, so it was a roll-over week.

Coming up Monday, April 28 is the ladies’ coffee morning and this is not only for golfers. Everyone is welcome and there will be many stalls including homemade preserves and cakes, as well as plants. You can, of course, simply come along to enjoy the view and treat yourself to a coffee and one of Mags’ special cakes. It will open at 9.30am.

FOR some reason- perhaps because it was the first day of April- none of the Dartmouth ladies playing on the Championship course could remember the format they were playing, reports Chris Mushens.

When all else fails, play a Stableford, so that was what happened. Everyone seemed to be playing well on the front nine, with 16 points the lowest score yet 32 points was the winning score come the end, courtesy of Shelley Durrans.

Chris Aresti (31pts) and Jan Brooking (30pts) were close behind whilst Katie Panton notched 31pts to win the nine-hole Irish Stableford.

Midweek, the men played a bogey competition, which some enjoy and others loathe. Philip Green was the first to rise to the challenge with a creditable +4 finish and he beat Bobby Wotton on countback. Brian Mushens had to settle for third place with -1.

With playing conditions much improved, Saturday’s Mixed Stableford was a qualifier, so everyone was looking for their A-game, though not everyone found it!

Division One players certainly found their game though and countback was needed once again, Richard Bucknall taking second behind John Oldrieve, the pair on 39pts apiece.

Scores in Division Two were lower, John Cousins continuing his winning streak with a 33-point win over Jeremy Enticknap on 32.

In the semi-finals of this year's Winter League, Edd Mitchell & Matt Young beat Alan Foot & Ian Metchette 2&1 and Mark Scrivener & Keith Sexton beat Rob Haddy & Pete Hannaford by the same margin. Edd & Matt and Mark & Keith now play in the final - good luck to both pairs.

Finally, to the Dartmouth seniors, who tackled another Stableford qualifier on Monday, April 7, writes Gordon Holmes.

Star of the day was Colin Cooper who put together an excellent round of 86 shots, equating to 38 Stableford points. His only blemish (like many others) was a no-score on hole four where it is becoming extremely difficult to hold the ball in play because of slope and run. Nevertheless, a fine overall effort.

Octogenarian David Ward produced one of his more consistent rounds to finish a well-deserved second but rued at least four three-putts on tricky greens.

The quartet of Robert Wotton, Geoffrey Jewell, Mark Gannon and Keith Moffitt all came through next with 36ts.

Birdie twos were scored at the par threes by Tony Hall, Paul Marels & Mark Whitworth (hole three), Tony King at five and David Sparks on the seventh. Competition guru Nigel Osborne was in charge of the cards. Many thanks to him.

After 10 qualifying events, John Oldrieve (37) leads the senior of the year standings ahead of Andrew Dix and George Reeve on 35.

The aforementioned match away to Thurlestone was the first friendly match of the season and many of the players commented that this was the windiest they had ever played golf in! With golf balls landing on the beach and being blown off greens, it was a battle against the weather all-round. The result was a hard-fought draw and a score of 3-3 felt like a victory. Well done to all the team.