I don’t know of anything that makes senior golfers quake more at the knees than the words ‘It’s a medal round’, writes Rob Grove.

Players who usually cope with all kinds of problems suddenly find that they can’t drive, chip or putt when normally these aspects of their game come quite easily.

What’s more, a Halloween medal round gave everyone a fright at Axe Cliff last Friday.

Consequently the scores were not great and most of the players experienced some kind of horror during their game. You couldn’t blame your bad play on the weather or the condition of the course which were both exceptional for this time of year - it just had to be you and that medal card that made life difficult. The winner, Nick Povey, with a net 71 was obviously immune to any difficulties and was rewarded with a cut in handicap.

Second and third places had to be decided on countback with Mike Jamieson (again) just beating Rob Heard. There were only two twos from Tony Strong and Dave Bruce, but all the rest could only moan about medal cards and missed chances. The good news is that they can all look forward to another medal round in a fortnight’s time.

By that time all the spooks, ghosts and gremlins will have disappeared for another year so they will have to devise some other excuses. It’s tough being a golfer!

The Ladies contested the Lorraine Cup with victory going to Glenda Board, Lesley Crawford was second and Helen Kenworthy took third spot.