The Mixed Section held its Christmas competition on Sunday, 9th December. This was a Pairs’ Greensomes Stableford off a combined handicap, with the added twist of two ‘Surprise Bonus’ holes.

The score on these holes was doubled; there was also a Nearest the Pin competition on the 8th hole for the Men and 15th hole for the Ladies.

Sixteen pairs competed over the reduced Duchy course of thirteen holes, and the scoring was very creditable indeed.

After the golf competition, the players donned fancy dress to enjoy a carvery meal, and more fun was added to the mix with a Christmas Quiz compiled by Steve ‘Paxman’ Symonds. The winning team was Jon Coates, Bobby Appleby, Paul and Liz Thomas.

The fancy dress competition was independently judged by Farrington Park’s bar staff, who chose Lin Papadopoullos and Rob ‘Christmas Pudding’ Thain as the winners.

After coffee and mince pies, the golf competition results were revealed. The Nearest the Pin winners were Mandy Hobbs and Steve Park. Third place went to Steve Park and Margaret Seery with 37 points, and second place went to Martin and Jackie Walker with 37 points on countback.

In first place were Dave and Sue Forshaw, who secured a fine victory of forty points, including a net albatross on their first bonus hole, the par-five 7th hole, when Sue sank a 35-foot putt for an unassailable ten points.

Seniors

The penultimate seniors competition of the year enjoyed an excellent entry of some seventy golfers. On a bright, sunny morning, the course was in good condition following several days of torrential rains.

A Four Ball Better Ball format was the order of the day, with some fine scoring by the top six pairings in the prizes. However, top of the pile were the ageless, octogenarian pairing of Mike Bradbury and Gerald Shearn, turning back the years with an outstanding 47 points, three clear of their nearest challengers.

The last competition of the year, on 19th December, was the playing of the Ray Dando Trophy, involving just three clubs and a putter. This was followed by the Senior’s Section Christmas Dinner, with over 100 in attendance. An event not to be missed, it’s never a quiet affair!

The results are as follows: First place – Mike Bradbury and Gerald Shearn with 47 points; second place – Bill Sims and Steve Gay with 44 points; third place – Dave Harvey and Geoff Clare with 44 points.

Ladies

Thursday, 6th December saw the ‘Elves’ challenge the ‘Santas’ to a Christmas competition of match-play over twelve holes on the Duchy course. After all the wind and rain of the past week, it was amazing that the golf course was even playable.

Chief Elf, June Symonds, marshalled her team and sent them off to do battle against the Santas of Ladies’ Captain, Pat Roscow. Each team was easily distinguishable, the Elves wearing green clothing and the Santas, of course, wore red.

The Santas won the first four matches before the Elves replied with three wins. Nail-biting stuff for the Captains! The next match was drawn, before the remaining matches were evenly split won/lost between the teams.

The final score was a 6.5-to-5.5 win in favour of the Santas; but this being Christmas time, everyone had chocolate as a prize and went home happy!

The Ladies had a choice of courses to play on Thursday. The previous week’s wet weather had reduced the Duchy course to thirteen holes, and the players arrived expecting to play the shortened course. However, the previous day’s dry weather had helped the course to dry out sufficiently to return it to eighteen holes, albeit some were reduced to par-threes to preserve the course.

Some Ladies opted to play the ‘Blind Date’ Stableford competition over thirteen holes, but the majority decided to play eighteen. Each player recorded her Stableford score, but at the end of the competition, everyone was paired with a partner whose name had been drawn at random. The scores of each were added together to produce the winners.

Two two-spot birdies were made by Lena Warren (12th hole) and Jackie Hobbs (16th hole). Sue Forshaw and Sylvia Hudnott won the thirteen-hole competition with 38 points.

In the eighteen-hole competition, fourth place went to Trish Rouse and Corrina Bates, with 61 points. Third place was taken by Heather Woodland and Jackie Hobbs with 63 points.

Countback had to be employed to separate the two top teams, who were seven points clear of the field with seventy points each. Fiona Hassard and Julie Toogood took first place, just edging Jane Ball and Lally Gibson into second.

With 2018 drawing to a close, we wish a happy Christmas and prosperous 2019 to all at Farrington Park.