The Sidmouth seniors drove down to sunny Dartmouth for the eagerly awaited fixture on a championship course, writes Chris Grubb.

Buggies awaited those members who had difficulty coping with the long undulating course and long distance between some of the greens and tees.

In the case of the visiting party this applied only to the captain and Peter Emery!

Seniors captain Nigel Sharp and Peter Emery played against the Dartmouth captain with a handicap of 11 who managed to gross 36 net 30 on the front nine holes and were unfortunately five down after the first nine.

The pair managed to hold their own on the back nine losing five-and-three by the finish.

Next out were Chris Grubb and Colin Padden and they won by a single hole, helped by the fact they were only playing against a single low handicapper whose partner was unable to play at the last minute due to illness.

Third out were John Hicks and Barry Jones and they played exceptionally well to win three-and-two.

Next out were the duo of Dieter Ritz and Paul Blay who lost six-and-five and they were followed onto the course by Bob Winstone and Tony Crow who went down two-and-one with the pair being four down after just six holes!

However, they staged a superb recovery to be all square after 14, but unfortunately were edged out by the narrowest of margins.

The last pair out were Les Pratt and David Roberts who lost four and three and there was great excitement in this contest!

This came when David’s golf trolley catapulted itself into the bunker on the 17th probably looking for a new owner!

The overall result saw Dartmouth win 4-2 and the return is set to be played at Sidmouth on October 14.