The first competition of the Farrington Park Ladies’ new golfing season is the Tree Trophy, a qualifying Stableford held in memory of Chris Symes, a former member who loved trees.

The lovely ‘Indian Summer’ weather of early October had given way to more seasonable autumn weather temperatures but thankfully, the previous night’s heavy rain had blown through and the sun shone. The sudden change to winter golf conditions caught the thirty-nine strong field by surprise and most struggled to record a decent score. Three birdies were scored at the par 3 holes by Nadine Spong (8th) and Pat Roscow and Sharman Bradshaw (15th).

Fiona Hassard scored 34 points to secure third place and the long time clubhouse leader was Marilyn Cass with 37 points. However, at the end of the field was Lally Gibson, who scored very steadily throughout her round and won the Tree Trophy with 40 points, a great score considering the conditions and earned herself a handicap cut.

The Champagne Multiplier was a more relaxed affair after the trials and tribulations of the Tree Trophy. The teams of three had to multiply their best two scores together and then add the third score. It was a test of golf and mathematics on a cold, blustery day but three teams got their sums right and secured top of the class scores. Kay Clarke, Jane Richardson and Lesley Stone scored 87 points for third place. Jenny Ahlberg had birdies at the 8th and 10th holes, which helped her and playing partners, Rosi Brown and Lena Warren to a total of 97 points and second place but the winners were almost out of sight, Pauline Young, Maureen Charlton and Lesley Mannion scored an amazing 111 points to take top spot.

Jane Ball