IT WAS the final medal round of the year for Dartmouth Golf Club ladies this week, much to the relief of many of the players, reports Chris Mushens.

In spite of the computer reducing any very high numbers for handicap purposes, it’s often the thought of a potential high score that can, and often does, cause problems.

The fourteenth played its usual tricks on some but all players managed to navigate the final hurdle of the eighteenth without incident. The final scores reflected the damp and cold conditions, with Chris Aresti shooting the best score with a nett 78, followed by Jules Vincent (83) and Chris Mushens (84).

The men’s midweek competition was a Pairs Scramble - with just two shots to choose from, there was always the possibility of having to play the next one from a less than favourable position, which was certainly the case for one pair.

Following a discussion about avoiding the left green side bunker, both promptly ended up in the one on the right - they don’t figure in the results.

Andy Birss and Paul Brown prevailed on 63, ahead of Rob Barrett & Paul Marels (64) and Steve Atkins & Gary Bonser (66).

Players only had themselves to blame for errant shots in Saturday’s mixed Bogey competition and, judging by the scores, there were plenty of errant shots.

Bobby Wotton is such a gentleman that he won’t swear if he is in a mixed team and so chooses another word to vent his frustration. Saturday’s word was nincompoop - not a word that you normally hear but it was well used that day.

To be fair to Bobby, the majority of the field could have made good use of nincompoop as there were only two players who managed to get the better of the course.

One was Nigel Osborne, who had what must be the shot of the day, with a pitch in on the fifteenth - it was played unseen from one of the hollows well below the hole, so it took a while before the ball was found in the hole.

He topped Division Two at +4, followed by Tim Enticknap at level, whilst Rob Haddy won Division One on +3, ahead of Alan Foot (-1).

Our lovely Pro, Matt Handley, has quickly become a popular member of the Dartmouth team, so there was no shortage of participants for his Pro’s Charity Day in aid of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal - a charity which his family have long supported.

It was therefore unsurprising that mum Emily and sister Alice were very much in evidence to help, with dad Mick doing his bit by playing.

92 players took to the course for a shotgun start - such was the popularity that the par five holes had two groups on them (beautifully handled with an early start for one of the groups) and a putting competition between the ninth and tenth holes. The putting competition was a lot of fun - each player was given three balls and had to putt through a maze of tees to try to hit one of the water bottles or drink cans and won any of the drinks that they hit.

The format was a four-person Texas Scramble and with some low-handicap players in the field, there was always an expectation of a low winning score, but perhaps not the staggering 19 under par, nett 53 card of the winning team. Well played to them!

They are pictured left to right: Darren Washbrook, Paul Edwards, Matt the pro, Josh Washbrook and Neil Redshaw.

There were also prizes for the nearest the pins - Pete Blackler, Richard Twose, Richie Ogle and Clive Legg and for the longest drive - Joe Nicholls.

Thanks to the generosity of the club, making the course available to the charity for free, this was a great opportunity for fundraising - with an auction for a Four Ball voucher raising £450 and bringing the total at the end of the day to £3042. Well done Matt.

Moving over to the Dartmouth seniors now and the season-ending Love Cup took place on Monday, October 20, played within an individual Stableford competition.

Only those seniors who had won a qualifying event during the golfing year were eligible to win the Cup — awarded to the highest-scoring qualifier — although the Stableford itself was open to all. In effect, two competitions ran in parallel: an all-winners event and the regular Stableford.

A total of 32 seniors competed off the blue tees on the Championship Course, with course handicap applied and the standard 95% equity allowance in place. This was also the final event offering points toward the coveted Senior of the Year title.

Defending Love Cup holder “Radar” Roy Baldwin was among the starters, hoping to retain his title, but on this occasion, he was unsuccessful. Instead, it was George Reeve who took the accolade, winning on countback in the Stableford and therefore claiming the Love Cup.

By finishing sixth, Andrew Dix secured the Senior of the Year title with an impressive 86 points. Congratulations to both players on fine performances throughout the season.

George was close behind on 80 and closing out the podium, with 76, is Gary Bonser.

No birdie twos were recorded. Thanks go to Nigel Osborne, who, in his inimitable style, tallied the scores and managed the data download.

We now look forward to the forthcoming 2025/26 golfing season and will keep readers updated through this column.

In other news, Ian Metchette defeated Gary Bonser in a thrilling Blight Trophy (individual knockout) final. Gary was 2-up with three to play, but Ian fought back to win holes 16 and 18 before sealing victory on the 19th playoff hole. Many congratulations to Ian, who has now won this event three years in a row — an outstanding achievement.

Next week will be an individual Stableford and the final leg of the Mayflower Cup match at home to Staddon Heights.