The captain's drive in was held at Dartmouth on New Year's Day and at long last the weather was fine and dry, allowing everyone to enjoy the occasion.  

The outgoing captain Geoff Penhale welcomed in the new mens captain David Thompson who looked a tad nervous at the prospect of driving from the 9th to the 18th in front of all those people.

David welcomed in his new committee, lady captain Mary Thompson, senior captain George Reeve and junior captain Lorna Elliott with a colourful and comprehensive speech.

Pumped full of adrenaline, David hit his tee shot over the green and plugged in the bank, but the star of the show was his wife and lady captain Mary,.

She took out her driver and landed the ball 27ft 10 inches from the pin, much to the delight of Bob Wotton, who guessed the distance of 27ft seven inches and collected a very nice bottle of Australian Shiraz.

The nominated charities this year are Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Myasthenia Gravis.

Dartmouth Golf Club has a very good track record for charity fundraising, with last year Geoff Penhale and his team raising £5,800, so the precedent is set.

The Wednesday circus was played in good conditions and Rod Hawke made the most of it and won the front nine with 22. Mark Lord and Lee Marels shared the back nine with 20; well played Lee, who scored that off  +1. The winner overall was John Wood with 38 points, who has recently rejoined the club and is now enjoying his golf again.

The Saturday circus was well attended and the day brought two highlights; one was Ian Metchette's drive on the 12th. 'Where did that go' everyone said. Nowhere to be seen, it was finally found three inches into the ground in front of him.

The other highlight was Lee Marels scoring 39 points off scratch in dull, damp, difficult conditions, much to the annoyance of David Brooking, who also played well to score 38.

Rob Knight won the front nine with 20 and lastly there were two twos, from Rob Penfold and Brian Mushins.