Dartmouth Golf Club
Men’s section
Seventeen played in the first competition of the year and, with yet another weather warning issued on the morning news of Wednesday, March 14, it was surprising anyone turned up for the competition.
Driving rain and gale-force winds were forecast for the afternoon, so they took their chances and teed off. Brave or foolish? Who knows. But the end result was that the midweek stableford was played to a conclusion and, as fate would have it, it was not that bad after all.
The nickname Sombrero Steve is now becoming synonymous with his success. Steve Atkins chalked up another win with 35 points to add to the many circus wins he’s had of late; if he keeps his present standard up, his handicap should come tumbling down this summer.
Lew Easter backed up his recent good form by coming second to Steve on countback with 35, and hot on their heels in third, with 34 points, was John Oldrieve, who is playing better than his handicap suggests.
Ed Mitchell also played well off nine to score 32 points, and in fifth place was David Thomson with 30.
All in all, not a bad day. The greens have been hollow-tined again – a necessary evil that doesn’t bode well for the first medal of the season on Saturday.
On Friday, Vaughan Wood and John Oldrieve took on John Garner and Bob Wotton in their fourth and final round of the Winter League qualifiers. They chose the best day of the week to play, and what a day it turned out to be for Vaughan ‘Tiger’ Wood.
As mentioned before Vaughan is comparatively new to the game and has been wayward both in direction and with the mental side of golf, but on Friday all that was put asunder. He is being used as a guinea pig for Rhiannon Thomas, who under the guidance of Rob Glazier is trying to qualify as a PGA golf coach, and the results are starting to impress: his swing is now more compact and he is showing signs of being as long as his brother John, highlighted by his second shot on the eighth.
He was 20 yards in front of the bunker on the right after a good drive into the east wind; he then took out his five wood and smacked it way past the 150 marker and then placed his third shot 15 feet from the pin. Keep it up Vaughan and you won’t be a 27 handicap for long. They put Bob and John to the sword, winning 3-2.
And then it was upon us – yep, the first medal of the year, and played on what must have been one of the coldest days of the year.
With snow forecast for the afternoon, it was amazing that 24 players turned out – and almost all of them wished they hadn’t. Needless to say, no one came close to playing to their handicap, the closest being Mark Lord, who shot a gross 89. The winner of the Baker Salver was Ian Jenkins, gross 98, net 79; second was Graham White, gross 108, net 83; third Kevin Eighteen, gross 96, net 84; fourth Sam Knight, gross 95, net 84; and fifth Mark Lord, gross 89, net 85.
Let’s hope the weather bucks up soon and we can all start to enjoy playing golf.
Seniors’ section
A pleasant golfing day saw a small field take advantage of the conditions, with some good scores in for a change in the Seniors Fun Stableford on Friday, March 16.
A heavy shower occurred during play on the 10th and 11th holes, but thereafter the weather improved. All things considered, it was one of the better golfing days of 2018.
Senior of 2017 Trevor Pretty, who had managed only 21 competitive points in total for 18 holes from the same tee positions two days earlier, managed that score on the first nine holes alone.
This was a remarkable score given his unusually poor performance in the men’s Wednesday competition.
Thereafter a reasonable 15 points on the back nine, including a rare bogey on the 18th from the back blue tee seeing him home and dry. The extra shot on the fourth hole and his early-morning cocoa had obviously paid dividends.
The top three were Trevor Pretty on 36 points, second was Gordon Holmes on 34 points and third David Ward on 30 points.
The Dartmouth team for the DVGA President’s Salver at Exeter Golf and Country Club on Thursday, April 26, will be Bernard Taylor (handicap seven), John Cousins (24) and Graham White (25).
In the Devon Veteran Golf Association Winter Series, comprising three-man teams, Dartmouth currently lie 24th out of 29.
The team selected for the third round at Thurlestone Golf Club on Tuesday, March 27, comprises Mario Aresti (handicap eight), Michael Griffiths (13) and Martin Howlett (18).
The final round will take place at Honiton Golf Club on Thursday, April 5.
The seniors’ individual stableford, which was due to take place on Monday, March 19, was cancelled. The Beast from the East returned with a vengeance and the course was closed due to snow.
While a thaw is under way, the course is unlikely to be playable until the end of
the week.