DARTMOUTH Ladies took to the course this week with a spot in the Ping Better-ball competition at Lincolnshire’s Thonock Park on the line. Beccy Barrett and Jules Vincent were a new pairing and their games dovetailed well, with Jules responding particularly well to Beccy’s instructions! They were disappointed to leave a few shots out there but still finished as winners with 39 points. Long-standing duo Jan Cousins and Alison White were second with 36.

Alison is captain of the President’s team and was on the course on Friday motivating her team in their match against Churston, the strong spirit shining through in a 5 ½ - 1 ½ home win.

Onto the men at the club and Saturday’s Mixed Stableford saw high scoring in both divisions. In Division One, Brian Mushens finished the front nine with eight pars and 24 points but couldn’t sustain that level of play on the back nine, leaving Dave Brooking and Matt Young to battle it out. The former just edged out the latter with a single point separating them at the close of play.

In Division Two, Bobby Wotton and John Cousins were going back and forth, each scoring 23 points on the front nine. Again, just one point was the difference after the turn.

After last week's washout, Monday 20 May saw the seniors play a Stableford qualifier. 28 starters were in the field on the day and it was George Reeves who prevailed. He was quick out of the blocks and then managed to overcome Robert Wotton on countback, after they finished level on 39 points.

In the South Devon League, the first leg of five was held at Dawlish Warren on Monday 29 April. The league is split into three divisions of five and the best 5/6 scores count for each club. The winners of each division then play off in a sixth and final jamboree event. All clear?

In the initial leg, Dartmouth scored 148 Stableford points and currently lie in fifth place, some 32 points behind the leaders. The next round is at Staddon Heights on 21 May.

Elsewhere, after narrowly losing out away at Thurlestone in a seniors’ fixture last month, Dartmouth enjoyed a whitewash back on home soil. There were 6&4 wins for Gary Bonser/Steve Atkins and Gordon Kidd/Nigel Osborne, a 5&4 win for Dave Sparks/Mario Aresti, but the outstanding score was a whopping 8&6 victory for Andy Dykes/John Cousins. Dartmouth won 8.5-3.5 overall.

Moving on and in the opening leg of the first round of the Emerton Court trophy, Darts suffered a heavy home loss vs Saunton Sands on 9 May. The result was 1 - 4 with only Messrs Aresti & Sparks and Dix & Barrett securing halves. The return, away leg is on 24 May.