Anxious to hit the ball further and straighter off the tee in the coming season, Brian Margison collected his brand new driver from Sidmouth Golf Club Professional Ben Thorn on Thursday ready for its debut in the Friday Stableford when 22 players braved the heavy showers, writes John Rockey.

However, his new pride and joy only lasted for about 20 minutes as he somehow managed to get his latest acquisition wedged in his front door when taking it home and the brand new carbon shaft snapped in two.

Resigned to using his old driver, he took to the course on Friday and amassed the best of the day 43 points, to win the competition by six shots and with it a handicap reduction from 21 to 18. Whilst his winnings will go some way to getting the new club repaired, Brian must be left wondering whether he actually needs a new driver.

Following the Ruffle domination in last Monday’s Stableford, the Friday competition was the turn of the Barbers to take over when Steve managed to get second place with 37 points edging out son George into third place on 36 points, with Chris Roberts losing on a countback coming in fourth.

In the overall race for the Friday League title, Lee Wenham and Chris Roberts are stretching away from the pack with Mark Thomas moving into third anxious to end his very long run of winless seasons.

?On Saturday, in very blustery and difficult conditions, the Charles Stanley Deane Medal was played at Sidmouth Golf Club, an event kindly sponsored by club member Paul Lewis on behalf of Charles Stanley Stockbrokers.

The round of the day belonged to Duncan Taylor who came in with a superb gross 67 (nett 64) to win Division 1 and with it a return for Duncan to a 2 handicap.

Neil Bunting, who reduced his handicap to five, recovered from a triple bogey seven on the third hole and just managed to hang on to second place with a nett 66 on a countback from Kevin Legg who got third place and also got a handicap reduction to 5.

In Division 2, Mike Flattley experienced the highs and lows of a round of golf, in getting a hole-in-one on the fourth hole, but then picking up an injury and failing to complete his round.

The division was won rather appropriately by the sponsor’s son Chris Lewis who has just returned to the club after an absence of a couple of years and came in with a nett 63, the best score of the day and with it a reduced handicap to 11. George Barber came in second with a nett 66 just ahead on a countback from third-placed David Sheldrick.

Division 3 was won by an incredible nine shots by Greg Wilmington with his nett 64 and got his handicap cut to 19 as a result. The results in this division reflected the difficulty for the higher handicappers in the stormy conditions and Paul Shoobridge must have been very surprised to find that his nett 73 gave him second place, just ahead of John Carroll with a nett 74.

?After last week’s rain-soaked match, Sidmouth Golf Club’s B Team enjoyed better weather this week in their home match against Dawlish Warren Golf Club.

In spite of having a bad back from carrying team captain Colin Macklin last week, Nick Bater magnanimously agreed to partner Macklin once again for this match and was immediately rewarded when they went one up at the very first hole. Their constant pressure on the opposition put them six up after 10 holes and, whilst the opposition came back at them over the next few holes, the pair eventually won four and three to give the B Team the best start possible. The team lead doubled when Michael Anderton and Dennis Fensom secured a very hard fought three and two win over the Warren’s lowest handicapped pair, but the two game lead soon halved when Hugh Dorliac and Wilf Hudson went down three and two to their opponents.

After his disastrous medal round the previous day, Moray Boscence was heard to declare that he was going to give the game up but, in a remarkably quick change of heart, he turned up to partner Roger Freer.

Roger’s steadying influence must have agreed with Boscence as the pair managed to win on the last hole despite being three down well into the back nine. In spite of Boscence driving the green on the last hole and hoping for a grandstand finish, it was his partner’s long putt which sealed the match and kept Boscence off the card.

New B Team members Carl Sheehan and Derek Platten got their inaugural win on their first outing with Sheehan getting into the twos sweep with his birdie on the fourth hole.

So, with the team result beyond doubt, it was left to the final pair of Brian Trott and Paul Shoobridge to put the icing on the cake with a resounding five and four win to give the home team a 5-1 win and the B Team’s second win in successive matches.

Can they keep the winning streak going?