Martin takes over at Worlebury

A CHANGE of guard at Worlebury Golf Club saw Martin Green appointed as captain for 2010.

A resident of Weston for some 20 years and currently the general manager of Weston's Brunel Ford dealership, Martin lined up for his official drive in on the first tee last week.

The single figure handicapper gave a fine account of himself, in front of a large crowd, hitting a respectable 211 yards onto the fairway on his inaugural drive.

Martin said at the club AGM, held this week, that he was extremely proud to have been elected to this prestigious position, and was looking forward to his tenure enormously.

In other club appointments, David Lloyd was elected chairman, John Saxby takes over as president, Jim Sutherland is the new vice-captain, Jim Stewart is the treasurer, and Pete Nuttall chairman of the match and handicap committee.

The club also elected two well deserved life memberships to outgoing president Brian Evans, and also to club stalwart Tom Hutchings for their invaluable contributions to all aspects of the club over many years.

Captains Drive in competition result: S Burgin & M Burland 42 pts; G Nute & K Knight 42; B Slade & A Hartree 41; S Taylor & M Philp 41; M Lyons & M Otterburn 41.

Over �200 was raised for the captain's charity, the Weston Hospital Scanner appeal.

BREAN Golf Club is getting back to normal after the lengthy disruption caused by the snow.

The first team silverware of the year was contested recently in the form of the Percy Underwood Trophy. This is a foursomes (alternate shot) competition, which is considered by many to be the toughest format in golf. A draw for partners was made with the lowest handicapper being drawn to play with the highest and so on.

Steve Mason and, the soon to be senior's captain, Dai Wood, combined well to claim top spot. The winning pair handed in a card showing 39 points and also included two twos, one of which was a crucial eagle at the 14th.

The chasing pack was led by two pairs on 38 and a count-back was required to determine the runners-up prize. Club captain Roger Vaughan and his partner Steve Moore just shaded it with a better back nine than Mike Carter and Dave Barthram.

It has also been a frustrating time for the Brean professionals lately, as David Haines and Andrew March have seen their last two Gloucester and Somerset PGA Medals fall to the snow. Hopefully they will have better luck at Minchinhampton near Stroud this week.

One venue that did survive the weather was Burnham Golf Range which was good news for the many golfers trying to get their fix. It managed to remain open throughout the period of wintry weather but the snow on the ground certainly made the task of picking up the white golf balls tricky.

OVER 50 members of Weston Golf Club's senior section took advantage of the first Monday after the snow had thawed to play in the medal.

Conditions were good with fine rounds of 65 nett by John Morgan and 73 gross by David Rowland, a great start to the new year by both players.

RESULTS: J Morgan 77 (12) 65; D Rowland 73 (6) 67; N Jillings 83 (14) 69; P Berry 84 (15) 69; R Preston 93 (23) 70; T Waite 80 (10) 70; T Holden 83 (13) 70; A Willis 88 (17) 71.

IT WAS back to business as usual this week at Isle of Wedmore Golf Club after the enforced snow break.

First out were the seniors who went in at the deep end with a full qualifying medal on Monday. Perhaps reflecting the lack of recent practice, the scores were not as exceptional as seen at the end of 2009. Best scores were in Division 1, which was won by Philip Springfield with a net 67, closely followed by Brian Crosby, Ellis Nearn and Paul Burkhill, all of whom scored 68 and were only divided by countback.

Division 2 was won by Phil Incledon with anet 69. Runner-up was again decided by countback with David Summers-Cooke finishing just ahead of Graham Jones, both scoring a level par 70.

On Wednesday, the senior ladies held a belated Christmas meal, with Maggs Willetts handing over the reins of office to Ann Adams. Perhaps as a result of this, the bowmaker on Thursday was reduced to nine holes. With one or two ladies missing the teams of three had to make up with a phantom player in two cases. This turned out to be good news for Claire Biggs, who not only finished third with her actual partners, Sue Tarry and Jan Jenkins, but took first place as phantom partner for Joan Peck and Margaret Rogers. Second place, edged out on countback , went to the team of Liz Hill, June Smith and Maggie Dommett.

The club Medal on Sunday completed the week. There were some very good scores in this, perhaps the most outstanding being Nick Parker's gross 71 (net 61) which won Division 1. This net score was matched by James Vowles who won Division 2. Steve Lockley(67) was runner up in Division One with Steve Heal (68) third.

Second place in Division 2 went to Dominic Chanon (66) followed by Andy Barrett (69). Division 3 was won by the ever-steady John Vowles (65) with John Cutter (66) second and Ian Mann (68) third.