A crisp, sunny morning greeted players well-wrapped up for a chilly start to the day. A FourBall Better Ball was the format for the day, and scoring was exceptional.
With 44 points pretty well guaranteed to be in the money, sadly, on this occasion, it was not even good enough for the top six.
Farrington Park Seniors participate in over fifty Wednesday competitions every year, and a tied result is an extremely rare occurrence. However, this was the case, with two cards having identical scoring on every single hole and no ruling on splitting the two teams. A unique experience indeed.
In first place was the team of Steve Cope and Mike Henton with 49 points. Nearest the Pin winners were Steve Ball (5th), Chris Liberty (8th), George Tyrrell (14th) and Tony Thorp (15th).
Mixed
A huge thank you to the 36 Ladies and Seniors Men who took part in The Sherborne Shield on 30th October. A frosty morning ensured that the majority of winter clothing possessed was on display ,with four layers deemed as par!
With the Senior Men three ahead on overall wins since the inception of of the shield, the Ladies were in no mood for niceties or small talk and immediately got down to serious business.
Their strategy was bang-on course and they duly delivered, with a fine 7-2 win. The Men have been ordered in for extra training, the results of which can be seen at the bar later in the week! Congratulations to the Ladies on a well-deserved victory.
Ladies
The cold and windy weather conditions on Saturday, 27th October did not deter the Saturday Ladies from amassing some good scores in the Stableford competition. The 15th hole yielded two spot birdies for Gail Proctor and Margaret Seery.
Mandy Hobbs’ fine round, which included a two spot birdie at the 8th hole and birdie on the par-five 18th hole together with eight pars, gave her first place with 39 points. Mandy was two points ahead of Gail Proctor (37) and third placed Paula Chivers with 35 points.
Thursday was Pink Ball Bowmaker competition day. A field of 46 ladies played in teams of three off full-handicap. Each player had to alternate every three holes to play with a pink ball and the resulting score earned double points for the team score.
An extra two points was awarded if the pink ball was returned at the end of the round. In the event, only one team lost their pink ball, the others returned unscathed, despite being fished out of ponds and hazards on the way around, so determined were the teams not to lose them!
Two spot birdies were scored by Jane Ball and Lo Dallocco at the 5th hole; Pauline Young and Angela Hudd at the 15th hole, Terri O’Shea at the 10th and 15th.
The runaway winners were Pauline Brixey, Corrina Bates and Terri O’Shea with 119 points. Second place, with 110 points, was Jenny Ahlberg, Lena Warren and Evie Thatcher. Gail Proctor, Jackie Walker and Mandy Hobbs secured third place with 107 points, just one point ahead of 4th placed Maureen Charlton, Pauline Young and Jill Holland.
Men
In difficult conditions the final weekend’s golf of playing off the white tees, with all golfers looking forward to waterproofs and woolly hats. In Division One, it was tight at the top, with two players on 37 points, with Dan Raisbeck taking the honours on countback from Matt Horler, and Paul Broadway third on 35 points.
The round of the day from John Marquiss topped Division Two with a fantastic 44 points. A big cut in handicap is on its way. Second place went to Paul Brown on 39 points and Dale Killey third on 38 points.
With slightly better conditions on Sunday, Division One was topped by Ashley Swain on 38 points, followed by Steve Kingman on 35 points in second, beating Jon Coates on countback. Two players topped Division Two on 35 points, with Nick Russell in first place, beating Joe Cox on countback.