An excellent achievement to report from Mendip Golf Club this week is the victory by the pairing of Ben Cox and Tom Small in the prestigious South West Winter Foursomes Plate held at Burnham and Berrow Golf Club.

Mendip Ladies held their first main qualifying competition in wet and windy conditions which kept the scoring very low. Winning with 29 points, after countback, was Anita Butcher with Jan Fukuyama in second place and Chris Down, third with 28 points. For those ladies not fancying a qualifier this early in the season, there was a Team Competition that was eventually won by Patricia Rawlins, Elaine Kitchenham and Ladies Captain, Hilary Rowdon, with 58 points, with May Curtis, Eileen Masters and Caroline Laws in second position with 51 points and Carol Mosley, Libby Bellew and Carol Curtis third with 49 points.

The team of Aimee Sawyer, Jan Fukuyama, Jenny Merrett, Jo Espley and Linda Brobson played away at Farrington in the second round of the Ladies Mail on Sunday event. In very testing conditions, the Mendip Ladies, despite battling hard, found the muddy conditions did not suit their game and eventually went down to a 3½ – 1½ defeat.

Hailstones on Wednesday and snow on Friday, but Thursday brought a dry and sunny day for David Pilbeam, the Seniors Captain and his Drive-In event. Supported by a full start sheet, the Team Competition was won by Bryan Lewis, Dick Ransley, Merlyn Saunders and Simon Atkinson, with 104 points. In second position was the Team of Mike Gardiner, Phil Bendall, Dave Collins and Alan Williams with 100 points and in third place, Nigel Hill, Jim Scott, Tony Taylor and Eric Jordan with 97 points.

The following week, the Seniors held their March Bowmaker Competition, which attracted a full start sheet of 75 players. After a slight early frost, the players enjoyed the sunny spring conditions. The course was looking really good and the greens, despite having had further winter preparation work carried out, looked and played very well. All credit to the Greens Staff for their continuing efforts.

After a close-run affair, the team of Julian Pallister, Merlyn Saunders and John Brooksbank came fourth with 76 points. In third place, Terry Carter, Tom Ryan and Martin Wilkins, with 79. In second place, losing out on countback, were Richard Froggatt, John Treeby and John Jarvis with eighty points, but winning were the Team of Alan Williams, David Collins (a regular in the frame these days!) and Phil Bendall.

Tony Williams