RNLI Shield victory for Mark

THE RNLI Shield is a Worlebury Golf Club competition steeped in history. It was inaugurated in the 1960s when the club wanted to make an annual charity donation to the cause.

When this was stopped by the RNLI in the 1970s, club member, John Devoto, stepped in and donated a shield. A family member had been one of the courageous crew on the historic 1899 Lynmouth to Porlock rescue and the RNLI was close to their hearts.

The players were given pleasant spring-like conditions which attracted a big field of 120, allowing a sizeable donation to be made to the RNLI.

Despite the good conditions and the course being set up beautifully, 39 points was the top score with countback required to decide the final placings. Mark Lyons edged out his golfing mate, Stan Henderson and James Marshall to take the shield.

The following day saw 90 players take to the field for the March Stableford. A strong wind made scoring difficult, with the late starters also having to contend with driving rain.

Top scorer was Ross Price with an excellent 41 points, which saw him win Division 2 at a canter. Leigh White came second on countback from Clive Smith, both players scoring 37.

As it was St David’s Day, it was fitting that proud Welshman and centenary captain, Steve Rowlands, won Division 1, with a commendable 38 points. Countback saw two handicapper Alex Winn, pipping Jim Skinner for second place, both scoring 37.

Adie Marshman’s 36 points was suffice to win Division 3, followed by Jeff Snook on 35 and Paul Jenkins with 34.

The seniors also faced a strong wind when a field of 75 contested their March Stableford. Top scorer was former captain John Taylor, who won Division 2 with an excellent 42 points. Colin Goddard was second with 38 and Patrick Balchin third with 37.

Mike Amesbury had a fine round and took Division 1 with 39 points, two better than Stuart Lock, who beat Alan Hartee on countback.

ONE HUNDRED and two Weston players were greeted by warm spring sunshine for the monthly Stableford competition.

The winner in Division 1 was Lee Walsh with 39 points, followed closely by Gordon Mitchell also on 39. Ian Freeman took third place with 38 points. Division 2 winner was Steve Edwards with 41 points. Derek Cook also on 41 (countback) took second place, while Philip Acton came in third with 39.

The ladies’ March Stableford was won by Melanie Rossi with 36 points. Wendy Homer followed in second place with 31 and Sue Andow, third with 29. The weekend medal winner was Zena Balcombe with 71 nett, while the winter eclectic winner was Alysia Rees with Sally Brosnan as the runner-up.

A gusty wind greeted the 11 teams contesting the Weston seniors’ Texas scramble. Early starters had to contend with a heavy hailstorm that blanketed the greens for a short while.

The winning team were Terry Holden, Ron Kelley, Maurice Miller and Brian Whiddett with a creditable score of 58.9. Second with 60.5 was the three-man team of Tony Barry, Stephen Burrough and Jim Ness, who narrowly beat Ray Chambers, Fred Donbavand, Nigel Jillings and John Rowsell on countback. Jillings carded an eagle three on the par five eighth.

AFTER the disappointment of losing the final of The West of England Winter Foursomes, Troy Crandon bounced back to win the Stableford at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club with 41 points.

Playing in more favourable conditions than the previous week, a level par front nine which included one birdie and one bogey collected 21 points. An equally steady back nine included one birdie and two bogeys for 20 points, giving him a two-point margin of victory over this years’ club captain Adrian Deakins, who succeeded in fulfilling a lifetime ambition in achieving a scratch handicap after returning a gross score of 69 for 39 points.

Adrian birdied both par fives on the front nine with a solitary bogey at the par three fifth hole to turn in one under a par. A birdie at the 10th followed by eight pars for a one under back nine gave him a two under par total of 69 and reduced his handicap to scratch for the first time.

Division 2 also saw a return to form for Roger Brafield, whose 37 points gave him a one-point victory over Richard Lane and Stuart Norton-Collins, who scored 36 points to finish second and third respectively.

Dave Pearce took the honours in Division 1 of this weeks’ Stableford with 38 points, two ahead of Mat Houghton, Tim Blood and Phil Coggins, who all scored 36.

Division 2 was won by Bryan Gunning with 37. Highlight of the day went to Clive Collins, who scored his first-ever hole-in-one at the 158 yard ninth hole.

Jackie Richards scored 39 points to win the ladies’ Stableford from up and coming junior Maddie Richardson with 38. A strong finish for Jackie, who birdied the last two holes, gave a her one-point margin of victory and at the same time reduce her handicap down to eight over 12-year-old Maddie Richardson, who is a pupil at Hugh Sexey’s Middle School in Blackford.

THE start of the season seemed to draw a touch closer at Wedmore with the annual match between the A team, the B team and a captains’ select team for the Sanderson Trophy.

The captains’ select managed just one win and a half out of the 10 points on offer. This left a hard fought match between the two league teams, with the A team finally claiming victory with 7.5 points to the B teams’ 6.5.

The match was played in beautiful conditions in contrast to the seniors’ competition which, for the second week running, was called off due to waterlogged greens.

The ladies were able to go ahead with their competition which was the unusual format of an American greensomes. This involves players taking their partners tee-shots before deciding the ball to play out the hole with.

It produced some good scores and a close result. First place went to Beryl Richards and Pauline Warner with 39 points. This was two better than runners-up Jenny Cornwell and Carol Pinks, who held off the challenge of Eunice Bond and Jenny Thomas on countback.

The Wedmore pairing of Geoff Fisher and Graham Sugg, having won their way through the club’s qualifying round of the Daily Mail Foursomes, took on a pair from Long Sutton in the first round of the national competition.

A chip in from Fisher for a birdie on the first hole set the home side off on the right note and they progressed comfortably to the next round with a 6&5 win.

AFTER a quiet 2014 by his standards, Steve Jones has had an excellent start to this year as he made his second entry into the winners enclosure since the turn of the year.

This time, the Charles Cooke March Hare Stableford went his way after a 42-point score which also saw another shot deducted from his handicap. He won by a single point from Steve Eley, who was the only other player to break the 40-point barrier on a glorious spring day.

Third place was taken by Pete Dunn on 39, with Phil Hodgson securing fourth on countback on 38, ahead of Tony Richards.

The following day, the Loxton Trophy was contested where the entrants drawn into random pairs to compete. The winning duo were no strangers to tasting success together as Ian Adams and Murray Parsons are regular and successful partners in summer and winter knockouts at the club.

They struck gold again with a betterball score of 61 to win by two shots from Brian Read and Nigel Hodges. Matt Haskins and Richard Triscott and Andy Thomas and Pete Barton shared third spot on 65.

The only seniors’ action of the week saw Colin Roberts win a countback from captain Bob Hurrell to collect the March seniors Stableford. Both players had returned 35 point cards, but Roberts prevailed on the back nine score. Mike Allen was third on 34, as he too held off Tony Roper via a countback.

FORMER Worlebury Golf Club star Neil Holman has been voted the West Region PGA coach of the year.

He received his award at the region’s annual meeting at Woodbury Park, Devon, from Andrew March (Brean), the captain of the PGA of England and Wales (South West).

Holman’s passion for developing the short game, as he did as a youngster in Somerset, led him to both design and build a short game facility at his driving range with his own hands.

He now owns Torbay Golf Centre in Torquay and regional secretary Glenn Ross said: “Neil is one of many county academy coaches who help young people progress in the game and reach higher levels.”

March presented a number of other awards recommended by the regional committee to recognise the skills and abilities of PGA professionals in the West.