THE Thurlestone GC ladies bravely battled heavy showers to play their Wednesday Stableford competition.

Sarah Loader won with 36 points, ahead of new member Anna McGrath and Jane Mason, both of whom had 32. Sarah also scored the only birdie two.

Boringdon Park was the destination for the President’s Team to play their semi-final match against last year’s winners Tiverton.

Team captain Pam Adams would like to say a huge thank you to the squad (most of whom are pictured) who have all played an important role in this year’s success.

On Saturday, the 325 Celebrations Cup was held at Thurlestone. The inaugural event was in 2022 as part of their 125 Years Celebrations.

The competition was then held at Bigbury in 2023 and Teignmouth in 2024 as part of their respective Centenaries. The home club has secured the victory on each occasion.

It is like no other event in the golfing calendar, involving all sectors of the clubs, young and old, high and low handicappers, with 27 participants from each club.

Whilst the event is competitive, it brings members from local coastal clubs together for a friendly and enjoyable day. This year was no different with a great atmosphere between the players on and off the course.

A member from each club tees off in groups of three, playing individual Stableford. The cup is awarded to the club with most points, after dropping the three lowest scores.

Thurlestone, with home advantage and used to playing in the windy conditions on the clifftop course came out winners with 795 points, followed by Teignmouth with 755 points and Bigbury with 683 points.

In spite of the conditions, there were some impressive individual scores.

Thurlestone players in the prizes were: best gent Jim Stewart (38 points), best lady Claire Guard (38 points), Roger Kendall in winning men’s group, Claire Guard in winning ladies’ group and Jane Smith.

Club captain John Rogers and chairman Roger Kendall thanked the visitors and all of those who helped make the day a great success, followed by awarding the prizes.

There were also lovely speeches from Mary Wilcox (Bigbury ladies captain) and Anne Steele-Arnott (Teignmouth ladies VC), enthusing about how enjoyable the event had been. Everyone is already looking forward to next year’s event at Bigbury.

Whilst some unpredictable weather is disrupting the final competitions of the 2025 season, it is not impacting on the continuing reductions in handicaps.

The men’s Medal and Bigbury Cup was re-run on Sunday 7 and with the competitions being played off the long white tees, the scoring was very good. 45 took to the course.

Sean Massingham won by a single shot in a very tight field, getting his hands on the prestigious Bigbury Cup. He had a few players hot on his coattails, the closest being Nick Buck.

Division One was also won by Sean and it was Nick in second place on countback from both Jed Spedding and Ian Harris.

The winner of Division Two with a very good score of 68 was Aneesh Parmar. In second place was Luke Vinecombe (71), then in third, Tim Chatfield (73).

There were five birdie twos on the day and these were bagged by Terry Pearce on the third, Tony Pitcher on the fifth, Stuart Hanny and David Shields on the 15th, and Roger Edwards on the 17th.

The end of August mixed Thursday Stableford had 33 players enter and yet again, there would have been handicap reductions with some of the scores recorded.

The Division One winner with a score of 39 points was Gary Wilson. Peter Newman was in second place with a score of 35 points and third with just one point less was Roy Mitchell.

Winning Division Two, with a good score of 40 points was Brian Main. Only one point behind in second place was Steve Woodcock and third, with a score of 38 points, was Steve Winzer.

There was only one birdie two in the competition and this was bagged by Amanda Burchell and was by way of a rare eagle on the par 4 sixth hole so many congratulations to her.

This week’s Dartmouth seniors competition was a Stableford qualifier played off the blue tees with the standard 95% course handicap allowance.

A field of 22 players took part, but conditions were brutal: 30–40 mph winds swept across the exposed course, making scoring a serious challenge. Around a quarter of the field failed to complete their rounds, and no scores were common on the tougher holes.

Amid the chaos, the day belonged to the Flying Scot, Alistair Forbes, who edged Robert Isaacs-Berry on a back nine countback. Not the ideal day for competitive golf, but as one player said, “it certainly blew the cobwebs away!”

The leading duo scored 31 points apiece with Andrew Dix (30), Keith Moffitt (30), Ian Black (29) and Mark Gannon (29) all in pursuit.

As well as coming at the top end of the field, Ian Black scored the only birdie two, notching his on hole 18.

Thanks to Nigel Osborne for running the event and handling the countbacks with his usual care.

Meanwhile, the Dartmouth Seniors hosted South Devon Seniors League Round Five at home and delivered a magnificent performance to finish first, collecting the maximum 10 points on the sliding scale.

It was a superb result in very testing conditions, with notable contributions from: Paul Marels & Andy Dix (44pts), Mark Whitworth & Malcolm Toone (44pts) and John Gratton & Graham Burton (41pts).

The team posted a total of 200 points, securing the win on the day. Well done boys!

Despite this fine home victory, Dartmouth ultimately finished at the bottom of the five-club league table. But nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable second league season.

Many congratulations go to Stover GC, who topped the standings after five consistent performances across the season. All at Dartmouth wish them well at finals day alongside Tiverton & Staddon.

A special thanks to Mario Aresti, Nigel Osborne and Malcolm Toone for their invaluable help in ensuring the day ran smoothly.

Next week sees a fun reds and blues competition.