FOR THE second week running, the ladies’ competitions were rained off at Dartmouth Golf Club, so it was left to the men to play midweek golf, reports Chris Mushens.

Ringing in the changes, it was a red, white and blue tee competition. The white tee is the Medal tee, causing some holes to be met with varying degrees of trepidation.

The first real challenge was the fifth, where the tee shot from the whites is akin to firing down a tree-lined alley with water waiting for any wayward shots. The long carry over water on the fourteenth also caused a blob on a fair few cards, though John Garner made light work of it with a par.

Roy Baldwin fell foul of the fifth but still managed a 20-point front nine; a further 16 points on the back giving him the narrowest of victories over Rob Isaacs-Berry, whose 35 points beat John Garner on count back.

Thunderstorms were forecast for the weekend, causing some consternation for the playing of the Club Championships.

Fortunately, although the lightning klaxon was ready, the storms passed to the north and play went ahead in damp but safe weather.

It is said that you can’t win on day one of a competition but that you can lose, so everyone was trying to avoid a big number but not everyone succeeded.

With scratch and handicap trophies to play for, it was Lee Marels with gross 72 and Brian Mushens on Nett 71 who were leading the way for the men and Beccy Barrett and Chris Mushens for the ladies.

Malcolm Barrett could probably have finished lower than his nett 75 but for an animal incident on the eighth - “look at that squirrel, what’s he eating, is it a sandwich?… it’s not a sandwich it’s my pain au chocolat!”

Day two saw sunnier weather but a stiff wind was making for tricky play so the need to keep the big numbers off score cards was more critical than ever.

With the wind behind, the par five sixteenth was a good opportunity to compensate for any big scores and it saw a good number of birdies (well done Sam) and an eagle for Jeremy Kenyon.

The leaders simply kept it steady throughout, with some close scores at the finish. The results:

Men-

Chairman’s Cup for the lowest scratch score and Club Champion: Lee Marels (147)

Runners Up: Richie Ogle and Jack Kirby (162)

Member’s Cup for the lowest handicap score: Brian Mushens (141)

Runners Up: Richie Ogle and Jack Kirby (146)

Ladies-

Gardner Cup for the lowest scratch score and Ladies’ Club Champion: Beccy Barrett (189)

Runner up: Jules Vincent (208)

Doble Cup for the lowest handicap score: Chris Mushens (159)

Runner up: Beccy Barrett (163)

Many congratulations to the winners and to all who took part.

Pictured, from left to right, is women’s gross winner Beccy Barrett, men’s gross win Lee Marels, women’s nett winner and yours truly Chris Mushens and men’s nett winner Brian Mushens.