Captain defies unwritten rules

SIXTY golfers from Wedmore headed off to Carlyon Bay in Cornwall for the annual captain’s away weekend.

They were greeted by some typical Cornish weather with blustery sunshine turning to blustery rain, which did nothing to dampen the spirits for the first event, an individual Stableford.

Club captain Ian Robson defied all the unwritten rules by winning this with an excellent 39 points. The ladies’ prize went to Jenny Brown, who produced an excellent score of 37 points.

Play resumed on Saturday with the rain relenting for most of the day for a four-ball betterball competition. Due to an unequal number of players, Alison Dodkin not only played in her own right, but also as a secret partner for an ‘odd’ man.

This led to the unusual situation of her finishing both first and second in the same competition, winning with her actual partner on the day, Jim Vearncombe, and second with her hidden partner, Phil Incledon.

The final event was a Bowmaker and was won by the all-male team of Jim Dobbs, Alan Chambers, Phil Incledon and Tony Biggs. The putting competition was completed outdoors with Jane Hewitt and Tony Phelps just beating Caroline Patterson and Brian Warner at the first extra hole to claim the prestigious trophy, which unfortunately had been left back at Wedmore.

Winners of the weekend bowmaker, Tony Biggs, Alan Chambers and Jim Dobbs with captains Cathy Olive and Ian Robson.

THE traditional Easter mixed foursomes took place at Burnham & Berrow on Easter Sunday.

The winners were Mark Taylor and Gilly Jarvis, of Tavistock Golf Club, with a score of 81. In second place, on countback, were David Scammell and Lesley Diamond, of Sandy Lodge, on 83, followed by Bill Thompson, of Kings Norton, and Jackie Thompson, of Beaconsfield. In fourth place, again on countback, were the Burnham pairing of Robin Griffiths and Kate Charles with 84.

The attached photo shows the Challenge Cup being presented to Mark Taylor (left) and Gilly Jarvis by club captain Geoff Robinson.

WESTON Golf Club Kelly Cup winner: Luke Penberthy 45 pts; Ollie Bailey 45; Ben Magor 44; Tommy Holyday 42. Best gross: Sam Fernley 70.

SCOTT Thompson, head coaching professional of the Platinum Golf Academy (Bleadon Hill Golf Club) took part in Somerset’s third annual golf week.

The event was organised by the Somerset Golf Partnership to give people the opportunity to try their hand at golf. The event was well supported by all clubs in Somerset and local professionals Scott Thompson (Bleadon Hill), Mike La Band (Weston) and Sarah Burnell (Worlebury) gave many free taster sessions to over 50 pupils.

Unfortunately, the gods didn’t bless the week with the best of weather, but many pupils braved the inclement weather to enjoy some free professional advice.

Bleadon Hill Golf Course is committed to its goal of developing an academy with a vision of introducing newcomers to the game.

Scott Thompson and Sarah Burnell will be organising sessions for all types of players including juniors and ladies at Bleadon. For more information, please contact Scott Thompson on 01934 811777 or e-mail scott@platinumgolf.co.uk

THE Pro Trophy second qualifier at Worlebury Golf Club saw 32 players beat professional Gary Marks’ score of 74.

The winner on the day was Matt Blackman with a net 67, with Gary Freeman and Frank Hopkinson carding 68 each in second and third respectively. The final is scheduled for August 19.

Worlebury’s new first team captain, Chris Davidson, despite carding an albatross two on the 508 yard 15th hole, only matched Gary’s score and did not qualify.

A good field entered a two-ball Texas Scramble, which saw

Paul Simmonds and Ryan Carlier win with 62.8; second were Martin Green and Keri Allchurch (64), followed by Kelvin Betts and Paul Hibbard (64.8) and Chris and Jonathan Mannings Hill (65.2).

The junior section held two medal competitions in early April. Jack Partridge continued his good form by posting a 79 (net 68) to win the first event from Dario Flood 85 (72) in second and Mike Nicholls 116 (66) in third

The result of the second medal was Andrew Wade 116 (63) in first place with Partridge placed second 76 (65), along with Mike Nicholls in third on 96 (68).

Worlebury seniors, led by this year’s seniors captain Kevin Pendergast, beat Bristol & Clifton 6-1.

WORLEBURY ladies section hosted its lady captain ‘s charity day, with Weston Hospicecare as the charity chosen by all the captains.

The day started with a four-ball betterball competition, which was won by Jill Phillips and Janice Hartree with 42 points, closely followed by runners-up Janet Jamison and Wendy Larner.

The day raised �150, which will be added to the final amount raised by the club which will be presented at the end of the year.

The Daily Mail Foursomes competition was played last week and won by Amanda Cook and Maxine Gardiner with a nett score of 75.

Lady Captain charity day winners (left to right): Sylvia Cook (lady captain), Janice Hartree, Jill Phillips and Sue Sweet (Weston Hospicecare).

THREE of the up-and-coming golfers at Brean claimed a win each over the weekend in the monthly Stablefords and medals for April.

John Doughty posted the best score of the day in the Stableford as he took Division 2 with 38 points. The following day, Phil Hodgson won Division 2 with a nett 67, while Dave Bidgood carried off his second win in seven days with a comprehensive seven stroke margin in landing the Division 3 award.

Other winners in the Stableford were Jason Kidley in a small top flight with 34 points, while a player at the other end of the age spectrum in senior Wally Pape took the honours in Division 3 after carding 36 points.

The windy conditions on Sunday saw many people struggle to beat their handicap and only one player bar the winning young guns of Bidgood and Hodgson managed to do it. Mike Parfitt had to be content with second spot, three shots behind Hodgson in the second flight after his nett 70.

Mike Hurman was victorious in Division 1 after a nett 75, edging out Chris Fairchild on a countback.

The club team opened their defence of the Somerset Bowl with a tight victory over Wells at Worlebury on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday afternoon.

With the tie evenly balanced at two games each, Brean were staring down the barrel of a first round exit as the final game sat at three up to the opposition with just three holes to play.

Eamonn Wynne and Steve Bateman produced some stunning golf to win the last three holes to take the game into extra time and completed the dramatic fightback by winning their game at the 19th hole to send Brean through to the next round.

Back at Brean, the Avalon team could only manage a 2.5 each draw in their game against Long Sutton, which although slightly disappointing, did maintain their unbeaten home run this season.

The seniors also have an unbeaten record at home, but they have only played the one inter-club match to date. This came Thursday when Taunton Vale were the visitors to the Somerset coast.

The visitors were soundly beaten by their hosts by 4.5 games to 1.5 and some superb golf was played throughout the match by both teams.

Captain Tony Roper was well under his handicap in his game, but it was still only good enough for a half as their opponents matched them shot for shot all the way.