Weston captains tee off

THE four new captains at Weston Golf Club, club captain Roy Schubert, Tessa Williams, seniors’ captain Brian Whiddett and junior captain Harry Turner, all teed off to start their year in office.

A ballot to guess their combined drive yardage was won by Mick McKee, whose estimate of 778 yards was only out by a few yards. Following the drive-in, over 60 members took to the course for a fourball betterball competition.

The winners were the team of Aussie Dennison, Graham Hickens, Andy Skinner and Dave Twigg, with an impressive 95 points. The runners-up were Scott McKechnie, John Morgan, Julie Ward and George Worthington with 88 and in third place were Eileen and Fred Donbavand and Joan and Trevor Jenkinson, also with 88.

The nearest the pin prize on the third was won by Schubert, who pipped outgoing captain Steve Corrick to the post by a few inches. Nearest the pin in two on the 10th was won by Jack Radcliffe.

WESTON B Avalon team entertained Wells at home in blustery conditions which suited the home side.

First out Darren Henderson and Chris Homer had a hard battle but won 3&2. Steve Corrick and Gary Homer lost one down with the last putt on the 18th. With a couple of losses, it was left to John Whitewood and Brian Edwards and Rob Filer and Bob Hurrell to cement the same result as the A team against a strong Wells team.

Weston played Stockwood Vale at Tall Pines in the Somerset Bowl hoping for a similar result to last year where they reached the semi-final. However, despite wins for Harry and Roy Turner and Tim Rees and Steve Thomas, the overall result meant a 3-2 loss.

The ladies had to battle against strong winds in their medal competition. Alysia Rees won with 79 points, followed by Jan Bishop and Zena Balcombe.

A full field of ladies were on the course for their medal competition. The fine weather brought in some excellent scores. In third place with 71 was Gay Long, second was Reine O’Reilly with a 69 and taking the top slot was Jade Cope with an impressive 68.

The clubhouse was packed following the match to celebrate the lady president’s birthday and to say farewell to outgoing captain Di Walker.

The ladies B team played their first match of the Bristol & District Alliance League season at home against Thornbury B on won 9-5.

WORLEBURY seniors have enjoyed a busy few days.

Inter-club matches started under the leadership of captain Brian Book, with a fixture at Shirehampton. This was a close-run affair ending in a narrow 3.5-2.5 defeat. On a positive note, the nearest the pin prize was won by Worlebury’s Colin Johnson on the 18th hole.

This was followed by a more successful home match against Bristol & Clifton, resulting in a 4-2 win, with the nearest the pin prize going to former seniors’ captain, Kevin Pendergast.

The highlight of the week however, was a resounding 3.5-1.5 win against Wheathill in the Somerset Bowl at the neutral venue of Burnham & Berrow. Conditions were tricky with the teams playing in high winds making it a tough game for both clubs.

The pairings of Frank Hopkinson and Tom Blackett, Jeff Banfield and Brian Eleanor, and Keri Allchurch and Gerry Miles all had comfortable wins in their respective matches, easing Worlebury into the next round.

SPRING finally arrived at Wedmore and brought with it a busy week of golf, especially for the ladies.

The seniors joined the ladies for a mixed greensomes in support of Childline. This event, ably organised by Sue Tarry, has become a regular fixture in the diary.

There was the usual big turn-out and usual big scores with Ann Search and David Bates leading the way with an impressive 44, just ahead of runners-up Sarah Mathews and John Hogan. Most importantly, the competition raised £800 for the charity.

The ladies were in action again for a three-person bowmaker. Sarah Mathews went one better this time winning the competition in partnership with Gina Falcon and Shirley Turner.

Their score of 69 points was matched by Ronnie Follenfant, Nan Watt and Jenny Thomas, who lost out on the back nine. Alison Dodkin, Claire Biggs and Linda Roberts were three points back in third place.

Another bowmaker event was the annual captain/professional challenge. This was played to an unusual format with one, two and then three scores out of the four players counting on successive holes. The captain, Brad Ruddick, had put together an impressive team of professional Nick Pope, assistant Roy Baker and club champion John Russell.

They had a respectable score of 75, but were beaten by three teams. Only four ladies took up the challenge, but two of them featured in the winning team. Saybria Sims and Dawn Chadwick teamed up with Nick Parker and Bob Jones to record 79 points.

This was one better than Dom Smith, Mike Conroy and Mark and Rob Cornish. Steve Lawrence, Mike Munns, David Bates and Trevor Marshall were two shots back in third.

No ladies were involved in the first round of the seniors’ Somerset Bowl which saw Wedmore get off to a winning start, beating Mendip Spring 3.5-1.5 at Worlebury.

THE annual Brean Golf Club presentation night was hosted by club president Richard House in Dickies at the Leisure Park.

The event was well attended by the members who collected their awards for their successes on the golf course during 2013. The occasion also marked the final duties of captaincy for Brian Read and his last task was to hand over a cheque to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, his nominated captain’s charity.

As always, the Brean members did exceptionally well and raised just over £4,000 for the cause. Special mention was made to bar manager Les Byrne, who boosted the fund with his half marathon exploits.

John Piper was on hand to receive the cheque and thanked the club for their efforts and said the money would be put to good use in the quest to beat breast cancer in Somerset.

Eamonn Wynne was left almost speechless when he was awarded the club person of the year award. He received it in recognition of his continued support of almost all of the events that the club runs. He also represents the club in the Avalon League and Somerset Bowl and in the past year has gained a reputation as a singles matchplay specialist as he won both the summer and winter knockout matchplay titles.

Paul McLanaghan’s top accolade was winning the Somerset Golf Union Category 3 Championship over his home course, along with the Car Rally Trophy, Brean Masters and Gordon Phippen Trophy.

He also managed to secure a couple of medals and Stablefords to that list making his the most prolific winner of 2013, while Tom Broom was named the most improved golfer.

Ron Vine was the winter league champion at Brean. John Cullinan was the winner of the Stableford, but did play enough qualifying rounds to contest the main final. The leading qualifier Richard Triscott eventually ended up fifth overall. Ahead of him were Graham Exton in fourth and the countback for second was shaded by Dave Bradley over Gordy Wheelaghan.

In a close and enjoyable game, the Brean mixed team just lost to their Taunton Vale counterparts. The result hinged on the final game left on the course which eventually went the way of the hosts.

The seniors had a comfortable win in their first round tie of the Somerset Bowl, also at Taunton Vale. A 4-1 victory over their Wincanton counterparts sees them move into the second round of the event.