The Ladies had planned to have a qualifying Stableford competition on Thursday, 7th March. However, the weather intervened and a non-qualifier was held instead, much to everyone’s relief!

It had rained for most of the week, so the Duchy course was reduced to thirteen holes. Thursday’s weather was dry at times, but the wind was gusting at over 40mph, according to the Met Office website.

A few Ladies took the sensible option and decided to stay in the Clubhouse for several rounds of coffee and waved cheerily from the windows as their playing companions trudged by.

Twenty Ladies decided to play and got buffeted by the wind for the entire round – nowhere was sheltered from the relentless blast! It was akin to playing links golf by the seaside in Scotland on a dour day.

Unsurprisingly, no two spot birdies were made; Evie Thatcher scored the only birdie of the day on the par-five 18th hole. No-one played to par, although Denise Baker was closest in Division Two with 24 points, six points clear of second and third-placed Jill Holland and Bridget Rylance.

Scoring was closer in Division One, where Jane Ball scored 21 points to take first place, one ahead of Gail Proctor, with Jackie Walker securing third place with nineteen points.

Jane Ball