Sam’s handicap trimmed twice in a week

A BRIGHT and calm day greeted 114 players for Weston Golf Club’s monthly Stableford competition.

Division one winner with 41 points was Sam Trego, whose handicap was reduced twice in a week. Second was Andrew Balcombe with 40, followed by Rob Brenchley (39) and Luke Bliss (38).

Division two winner was John Greaves on 40, while Stephen Smith was runner-up with 38, followed by Ian Pitt with (37) and Graham Somerville (37).

The Sunday Stableford winner was Kevin Jones with 37 points. Adam Jones scored 36, followed by George Worthington with 35. Andrew Balcombe achieved a hole-in-one on the 11th hole and came in with 34 points for fourth place.

A frosty start soon turned into a beautiful winter’s day for the 50 seniors competing for the Alan Holt qualifier. This is the third of four qualifiers for the Alan Holt Trophy knockout played in the summer. The winner, with a tremendous nett 61, was Dennis Chilcott. Second qualifier was David Reynolds with a 66.

A good field assembled for the ladies 666 Stableford. The winning team with 75 points was vice-captain Julie Ward, Tessa Pitt and Cath Preston. In second place with 72 was captain Tessa Williams, Beryl Robert and Reine O’Reilly.

Following the golf, the ladies enjoyed cream cakes to celebrate the lady captain’s birthday. Nigel Long and John Hurcombe entertained the ladies with a informative, but humorous rules evening and impressed 30 ladies with their knowledge of golf.

THE first competition of the New Year in the men’s section at Worlebury saw a good turnout on a pleasant January morning, with some very good scores recorded.

Top scorer was 17 handicapper, Jon Blackhurst in Division 2, his 41 points giving him a narrow win over Paul Marsh on 40 and Paul Lintern on 39.

The First Division saw Leighton Grant take the honours with 40 points, squeezing out James Marshall, whose 39 points pipped Keith Thomas and Andy Nicholls on countback.

Scoring was not quite so good in the Third Division, which was won by Stragglers captain, Martin Morgan, who beat Jamie Crandon on countback, both scoring 38 points. Ray Collick came third with 37.

For a brief period, the captain and ladies’ captains at the club are a husband and wife team.

Club captain, Paul Gardiner, is on the brink of completing his year of office, with his wife, Maxine, in the early stages of her tenure as ladies’ captain.

Maxine, who is a receptionist in the x-ray department at Weston Hospital, has been playing golf for only six years, but in that time has managed to get her handicap down to a creditable 16.

She first picked up a golf club when she and Paul were on honeymoon in St Lucia. She persuaded him to let her have a go on the first tee and promptly outdrove him.

Her success is not surprising as she has a distinguished sporting background, having been a keen hockey player when younger and a member of the Great Britain gymnastics squad.

She was also a PTI in the Navy for several years and the club can look forward to the ladies being put through their paces in the months ahead.

Maxine hopes her year will be fun-filled, inclusive and the profile of the ladies section will remain high within the club. Her chosen charity is Above and Beyond which raises money for the Bristol Hospitals.

Maxine’s wish is to raise money for the cardiac unit, preferring the money to be used for something tangible, rather than going into a bigger pot.

Maxine and Paul Gardiner.

CLOSE finishes were the order of the day at Wedmore Golf Club as countback was required to sort out many of the prizes.

In the seniors’ medal it was countback that determined Ellis Nearn had just beaten John Vowles after both recorded net 67 in Division 1, although both struggled over the last six holes. David Coggan led a group of players on 69 to take third place.

No countback in Division 2, won by Mike Peacock with a nett 63, four better than Philip Springfield, who did rely on countback to edge out Chis Donald.

No problems either in Division 3 with Mac Hargraves the clear winner with 66, three better than Phil Incledon, who in turn led third placed David Adams by three.

The ladies played a better-ball competition and for the second week running Sue Tarry led the way, in partnership with Rachel Lockley winning with 43 points. This was two better than runners-up Deidre Wheadon and Jenny Thomas.

These were followed by three pairs all scoring 40 points. Taking third spot on countback were Liz Sims and Gay McWhinney, with Ange Webber and Caroline Patterson in fourth place and Cathy Olive and Claire Biggs just missing out in fifth.

Claire had better luck in the club medal, scoring three birdie twos, but this still did not get her in the places.

First place went to Hannah Abraham with a nett 69, three shots better than Alison Dodkin, with Dawn Chadwick a shot back in third.

Bill Lander led the way in Division 1 for the men on 66, two better than a group of four players, Dom Smith taking second place on countback from Mike Snelgrove, with Tim Harris in fourth another player to score three birdie twos.

Mark Cornish had the best score of the day to win Division 2 on 64, five ahead of John Rowland and Michael Sartain. Jay James won Division 3 with a 66, two ahead of Peter Roberts, with Perry Snelgove a further two shots back in third.

WITH Brean Golf Club closed for the weekend due to the car rally, the members embarked on day one of their weekend on tour.

It was a short trip for them to the Channel Course at Burnham and Berrow, where just under 30 players tackled the nine-hole layout twice.

A stiff breeze hampered scoring along with the unforgiving narrow fairways and 32 points was good enough for top spot. Matt Haskins ended the day the winner as he beat former winner Stewart Garrett by one.

Four players shared third spot on 30 with Steve Eley have the best back nine to take third. Simon Baunton only just maintained bragging rights in his household as he beat his girlfriend Rhea Isom on countback to claim fourth spot ahead of her.

Thanks go to Val Bradley and Sheila Fairchild who provided the breakfasts for the players before they headed out and also to the Berrow Social Club and Dave and Eric Jones for their hospitality.

A pleasant winter’s day greeted the 26 Brean golfers who travelled to Cumberwell Park in Wiltshire for the Car Rally Trophy.

The winners of the blind pairs competition were club professional Andrew March and Jason Kidley as they totalled 70 points between them. March led the way with 37, while Kidley contributed 33 to their winning score, which was one better than club captain Paul Jones and Wayne Barrett.

Jones had a 35-point score, while Barrett had one less, but did score a two at the third hole to share the two’s pot with March. The third place duo was made up of Mo Sanders and Nigel Hodges.

Sanders certainly enjoyed his first visit to Cumberwell as he scored the best of the day 39, earning him the prize of a complimentary four-ball back at the venue, while Hodges contributed 29 points.

Fourth place needed a countback as two pairs had 67 point totals. Andy Thomas and Dave Bradley had the better back nine score to edge out Stuart Wills and Steve Jones.

In the only Brean-based result of the last week, Tony Roper stormed to a three-shot victory in the re-arranged seniors’ medal for January. His nett 66 beat the rest of the field by a clear margin.

His nearest challenger was George Stratford, who was the only other player to beat his handicap with a nett 69. Third place was decided after a countback, with Mike Allen edging out Roger Phillips after they both had 70s.