Last week 57 senior golfers competed in a stableford competition for the annual Charity Trophy at Sidmouth, writes Charles Oram.

The weather was more typical of mad March than mellow September, with heavy showers and squally winds. It was a day for accuracy rather than power.

Perhaps that is why Paul Blay carried off the trophy. He plots his way around the course with precision, making good use of his rangefinder. He scored 39 points - no mean achievement, bearing in mind the weather conditions.

Blay won by a short head from Brian LeMasurier, who also achieved 39 points but was edged into second place on a count-back. These two scores came from Division Two, for golfers with handicaps over 18.Third in that division was Barry Venn on 37 points. Division One was won by Ken Rothwell on 36 points, on a count-back from Hugh Dorliac, with Les Pratt in third place on 35 points. Nearest the pin prizes were won by Bob Winston and Geoffrey Rogers.

A raffle organised by Nigel Sharp raised £174 for the Captain’s charity. The money will go towards equipment for the GP surgery in Sidmouth.

The next time you see a man on the golf course staring intently at the landscape through a gizmo held to his eye, it will not be a surveyor planning the route of the Pinn Barton bypass across the 18th fairway - it will probably be Paul Blay with his rangefinder, calculating the distance to the next flag.