Cool Luke watches handicap go south

The May Medal at Sidmouth Golf Club, kindly sponsored by Stephen and Sarah French at The Radway Inn, was won by Luke Sheppard with a gross score of 71 (nett 64), writes John Rockey.

On a difficult but drying course, Luke played a steady round, which is one which he is not normally associated, to come in with a good score of three under par for the day and with it reduced his handicap to six.

Second in Division One was David Cowler, who covered the back nine in level par, with a gross 74 (nett 66) which just edged Neil Faulkner into third place on a countback, in spite of a birdie on the last hole.

This was Neil’s third consecutive third-placed finish making him a model of consistency for the minor places.

In Division Two, there was a new name on the prize list as David Jeffrey took first prize with a good nett 65 which could have been much better had he not had a pair of sevens on the third and 13th holes.

However, David’s score was just enough to beat returnee and recent winner Chris Lewis on a countback with Nick Bater third on a nett 66.

These three winners in the Division all managed to get a stroke taken off their handicaps which means that Chris and Nick go back into Division One for the next medal.

Barry Venn, who is not unknown in the Radway Inn, won Division Three with a nett 64, easily beating off the challenge of an improving Vernon Ruffle who had a nett 67 just ahead of Ray Gunston who managed third place on a countback.

It is not often that the winning score in a competition is above par as normally someone manages to rise above the blustery conditions and comes in with a good total, writes john Rockey.

However, in the Friday League at Sidmouth Golf Club, conditions were such that all 25 entrants found things more problematic than usual on a course where the standard scratch score was an unprecedented three shots above par.

as a result, the winning score by Marc Shoobridge of 35 points was good enough to take the top prize.

Second was last week’s winner, Andrew Thomson, with 34 points and third was competitions chairman Neil Faulkner with 33 points adding to his third place in last week’s County Golfer Challenge.

In the chase for the Friday League title, Lee Wenham’s lead is getting precarious following his newly-found work commitments and is being caught by currently third-placed Mark Thomas who doesn’t suffer from such unpleasant restrictions.

The Monday Stableford at Sidmouth Golf Club has Charles Stanley Stockbrokers as its new sponsor for the rest of the season and the club wishes to thank long-standing member Paul Lewis for this support, writes John Rockey.

With the wet course gradually drying out, playing conditions were slightly easier with the standard scratch for the day only one shot above par. In such conditions it was a very respectable 39 points by another new name in the winners’ circle Tim Wade which won the Monday Stableford. Tim’s score was just good enough to beat a regular on the podium Neil Bunting into second place with his 38 points. In third place, making light of the pressures of office, was club captain Paul Hitchcock with 37 points.