The Mendip Ladies held their annual running of the Courage Trophy, a greensomes medal event. In third place were Lulu Carolan and Anne Hopkins, with a net 79, in second place were the Ladies’ Captain, Patricia Rawlins, playing with Sandie Roper, with 75, but well clear of the field, with an excellent score of net 73.5, were Chris Olds and Joan Clark.
The Ladies’ Qualifying stableford event saw victory on the Silver Division go to Gill Brown, with 38 points, with Chris Olds second, with 35 and Elaine Kitchenham, third with 33. The Bronze Division was won by Margaret Hawker with a very fine 40 points but still only one shot ahead of Libby Bellew, with Joan Clark, retaining her recent good form, third with 36. The Copper Division went to Alison Letts, with 35 and she was followed by Elaine Richardson, with 32 and Carol Mosley with 30.
The Seniors kept up their recent run of victories with a fine home win over Yeovil, 5-1. Successful for Mendip were the pairings of Simon Atkinson/Nick Inskip, Keith Gadsden/John Cross, Henry Banks/Kevin Carmody, Nigel Hill/Jim Mallon and John Stembridge/Steve Creese. Next up were Bristol and Clifton, away and this time Mendip recorded a 3½-1½ win. Brian Lewis/Kevin Carmody halved their match and there were wins for Geoff Mosley/Colin Davies, Merlyn Saunders/Alan Evans-Jones and Adam Spragg/Les Lew. Finally, the third leg of this recent run saw victory over Knowle, 5-2. Remarkably, four matches were halved. Halves were achieved by Andy Frampton/Peter Rumming, Selwyn Rees/Norman Squire, Philip Moores/Kee Wah Low and John Padfield/Colin Clifton, with wins coming from Henry Banks/Les Lew, Daryl Livingstone/Byron Osborne and Terry Pavey/Nick Inskip.
The Mendip Mixed Team played Knowle and were victorious 5½-1½. Played on a very hot and sunny day, this was an excellent win. Points for Mendip came from Team Captain, Carol Curtis, playing with husband, Mike, Gill Brown/
Selwyn Rees, Anita and Phil Butcher, Julia and Mike Phillips and Pauline and Alan Williams, with Elaine and Rob Richardson halving their match.
On a beautiful September day, 147 senior golfers from around the West of England met to contest the Seniors’ Mendip Vase. The sun shone, the wind was light and the greens were fast and true. Handicaps ranged from 3 to 28, but for the most part the players struggled to come to terms with the course.
The trophy was won by Mendip’s Trevor Messenger, with 38 points off a fourteen-handicap. Division One winner was Burnham and Berrow’s Martin Stephens with 38 points. Placed were Kevan Hooper, Tracy Park, with 37 points and John Shakesby, Ian Perkins and Andy Carnohan, Kingsdown, all with 36 points.
In Division Two, Merlyn Saunders beat Jim Boyce on countback with 37 points, followed by Alan Evans-Jones, 36 points, Rowly Williams, 35 points, and William Marcham, Wells, with 34 points.
Peter Ramsay, Wells, won the Over-seventiess prize, Roger Wickett won the Over-Eighties trophy for the third time and the Best Visitor prize went to Don Glover of The Players Club.
The trueness of the greens was demonstrated by the number of twos recorded and it is surprising that several players who achieved a two, with one visitor gaining two of them, did not enter the twos competition!
When the accounting is finished, The Seniors will benefit by about £400 and the raffle in aid of Childline raised £320.
Tony Williams