Last Thursday was a tough day on the Duchy golf course for the Farrington Park Ladies.

The thirty-four strong field were competing in a Stableford competition, which, fortunately, was a non-qualifier for handicap purposes.

Although the weather was dry and at times, sunny, the incessant 34mph gusty wind made playing conditions very difficult.

The greenkeepers had been doing work on the greens, which will be superb to play on in the Spring, but the pace of the putts caught out the ladies and many found it challenging to score well.

Five players scored thirty or more points and only one player, Corrina Bates, had a two-spot birdie at the par 3 10th, arguably the most difficult of the par 3 holes on the Duchy course. Although she didn’t play to her usual standard, Jenny Ahlberg deserves a special mention as she had a good reason for not doing so. Before she left home, her husband had helpfully put Jenny’s clubs into her car’s boot, but when Jenny got to Farrington, she found he had placed another set of clubs in her car by mistake: “I didn’t realise what a difference it makes, until I actually had to play with different clubs,” said Jenny afterwards.

The challenging conditions were mirrored by the low final scores. Denise Baker was the Division Three winner with 32 points, second place with 28 points was Jenny Howarth, Kay Clarke took third place with 26.

Division Two was won by Jackie Willcox with 33 points, three ahead of second placed Angela Hudd. Corrina Bates was third with 29.

For the second week running, Terri O’Shea topped Division One with a consistent round, scoring 35 points. She was four points clear of second placed Jane Ball, who birdied the par 5 18th for a valuable four points, with Rosi Brown taking third place with 29.

Jane Ball