TWO trophies were on the line recently for the Thurlestone GC ladies section, in the form of the Veterans’ Trophy and the Venerable Veterans’ Trophy, reports Liz Line.

Both ran in conjunction with a Stableford competition and the former was for the best score from a lady aged 60 to 69, whilst the latter was for the best score from a lady 70+.

Claire Guard was the overall winner with 43 points but it was Nikki Smith (38 points) and Jan Brooking (41pts) who won the respective titles.

Nikki finished ahead of Trish Gledhill and Sarah Loader, both on 36 and Jane Mahood (39pts) and Sally Huntley (38pts) were Jan’s closest challengers.

An optimistic senior men’s team set off to St Mellion hoping to secure an overall victory after their 4-2 win at home. Despite match captain Bill Hutchison and Paul Turner winning their match, a Thurlestone victory was not to be.

A strong performance by St Mellion resulted in a 5-1 loss and an overall victory to them of 7- 5 across the two legs. Nearest the pin for Thurlestone was John Mahood.

Talking of the seniors and Downes Crediton proved a tricky venue for the SDSL outing on July 15. The relaxed better-ball, stableford format took some pressure off at least.

Ken Riley and Mike Croft led the way with a strong 37 points whereas the rest of the team found the conditions and reduced handicaps more challenging. They all put in their best efforts but unfortunately finished sixth out of six, earning two league points.

The ladies’ Devon League team had a good win at home against Great Torrington, coming out on top in four of the six matches.

Sunday brought about the Graham Cup competition, a medal played by 32 men from the white tees. The weather was not kind in the morning with heavy rain.

Chris Watt got his hands on the trophy with a nett 65, ahead of Jonathan Axten (66) and Nick Armstrong (69).

Finally, to the juniors, who had their West Devon League finals day on home soil. 29 juniors entered and it was Isaac Donald of Staddon Heights, with a whopping 48 points, who came first.

Yelverton were the overall league winners with Boringdon in second and Staddon in third. The strong Thurlestone team had seven juniors playing, Aiden Mulligan and Abbi Robinson both scoring 37 points plus Martha Massingham had 32 points. Well done to everyone who took part and kept going in some nasty rainstorms.

Pictured is the junior team, from left to right: Jake Brooker, William Hoskin, Martha Massingham, Aiden Mulligan, Harry Robinson, Oliver Chester, Abbie Robinson.

THE glorious spell of weather has suddenly been interrupted, but Bigbury continues to yield to players with exceptional scoring and tumbling handicaps, writes Marlene Johnson.

Sandy Lyon was the convincing winner, by four shots, of the ladies’ Balkwill Trophy- she earns a three-shot handicap reduction as a result. Second-placed Janet Burton and third-placed Sally Belsham were then separated by countback.

Amanda Burchell and Nikki Elliott (nee Kidd) scored the birdie twos, on holes five and 10 respectively. Talking of Nikki and she is pictured receiving her club champion prize from captain Mary Wilcox.

Another high-scoring and handicap-reducing competition took place on July 12 was the ladies Stableford and winning Division One, with a good score of 39, was Kim Flook. In second place was Amanda Sinclair (36pts), ahead of Sarah West and Cathy Harrington, for whom countback was required once again.

Division Two was led by Lorette Logie (41 points), Rose Corbett (40) and Sue Winzer (38). There were no birdie twos.

Bigbury was again lucky with the weather for its Mixed Open Competition on Sunday, July 6and there was some good scoring.

The winning pair with 45 points were visitors Brian and Helen Calcutt, who play at Shifnall Golf Club in rural Shropshire. It was a long way for Brian and Helen but most worthwhile with their win.

Bigbury member Eric Harris, playing alongside Claire Guard of Thurlestone, came second with 43 points. It was a very good day for visitors who bagged the only three birdie twos of the competition.

A STABLEFORD multiplier beckoned the Dartmouth seniors on the championship blue course on Monday, July 21, reports Gordon Holmes.

This is a new competition to an ever-expanding portfolio of events whereby players play in two-man teams and the scores for each player on each hole are multiplied together, ie 2 x 2 = 4 or 3 x 0 = 0. The aim therefore is to keep those ‘nil points’ off the card.

One would expect a highish score of 60 to be the initial target but no doubt scores could be above the expectation. 85% course handicap translated into playing handicap for equity purposes was the requirement for this experimental outing. 15 teams were in the mix.

A challenging day interspersed with rain and wind meant many teams were littered with nil points across their cards. In fact, no team managed to score at every hole.

Paul Marels and Malcolm Barrett were the well-deserved winners, putting together a strong 62 points. It was a pleasure to accompany these two around as Paul hit most greens in regulation with his superb iron shots. Ably supported by Malcolm Barrett who was there or thereabouts on most holes with some splendid shots.

They were followed into the house by Mario Aresti and Mark Whitworth, who were a close second having just failed to secure any points on the eighteenth! In summary, perhaps not the most popular of the events but one which concentrated the mind.

Gordon Holmes and David Ward (60pts), Graham Burton and Richard Bevan (51pts), Brian Mushens and Roy Baldwin (50pts) and Mark Mitchell and Paul Harding (48pts) came next.

No birdie twos were scored at the par threes. Nigel Osborne was the ringmaster in charge of the tally- many thanks as usual to his ever-watchful eye.

Next week sees the fourth round of the seniors’ cup and the fourth leg of the South Devon Seniors League at Stover. A full report will be in this column.