The Sidmouth Golf Club team in the East Devon League got back to winning ways by defeating Exminster at Honiton last Saturday by five matches to nil and now go back to the top of the table., writes John Rockey.

Whilst the overall score looks a very comfortable victory, all the matches were very tight with all pairs going at least to the 17th hole before sealing victory.

First off were Nathan Brace and Stuart Coles who won 2 and 1 which was a popular score as Duncan Taylor and Luke Sheppard as well as team captain Lewis Perry and Michael Knight all claimed victory by the same margin.

Club Champion Jonathan Lee and his partner David Pepperell had to fight all the way for their 1 up win on the last hole whilst Club vice-captain Paul Hitchcock and Trevor Kerridge ended their match on the 17th hole with a 2 up victory.

With only one round to go until the end of the league season, Sidmouth have to travel to Padbrook Park on September 25, to play Axe Cliff, when victory by at least 2 matches will ensure that the league title will once again be retained by Sidmouth.

Sidmouth Golf Club B Team travelled to Axe Cliff Golf Club to compete in the annual match for the East Devon Trophy.

This event, which was established in 1975, is played between the four East Devon golf clubs of Sidmouth, Honiton, East Devon and Axe Cliff, with each club hosting the event in turn.

The competition is an individual stableford off three quarters handicap with the best six scores from each team of ten counting towards each club’s overall score.

The strong windy conditions made scoring quite difficult, and many good scores were ruined on those holes along the cliff top where the wind was at its fiercest.

Not surprisingly therefore, scoring was low with Malcolm Willoughly getting the best for Sidmouth of 32 points which included a birdie 2 on the extremely difficult seventh hole.

However, the one player who seemed to relish the windier conditions was Colin Macklin who could only manage 10 points on the calmer front nine, but roared back with 19 points on his second nine when most others perished.

Other Sidmouth players who battled through the conditions to contribute to the overall team score were team captain Keith Newton, Bob Welsman, Don Cooper and Hugh Dorliac, whilst the other 4 scores were discarded.

Once again home advantage was crucial in a tight finish and Axe Cliff won the Trophy with an overall score of 175 points with Sidmouth coming in joint second with Honiton on 171 points and East Devon in fourth place.