When a seniors’ team from Dainton Park (near Ipplepen) visited Sidmouth earlier in the season, the local veterans beat them by six matches to nil, writes Charles Oram.

This was a dream start for the home side in their campaign against Dainton.

However, there was a rude awakening for Sidmouth when they travelled to Ipplepen for the second leg of the contest last week.

The Dainton Park terrain is very different from that in Sidmouth.

It is a tree-lined parkland course, which is almost half a mile longer than ours, and is well endowed with sand traps and water features.

There are some very tricky holes - notably the eighteenth, where the green is surrounded by bunkers.

Several of the Sidmouth pairs lost decisively. Even Paul Blay, unbeaten in his previous eight outings for Sidmouth, tasted defeat, as he and Bruce Harcourt went down by five-and-four.

John Billingsly and Les Pratt were unlucky to lose by one hole. Their match was decided by a fortuitous chip into the hole by one of their opponents.

The best Sidmouth performance came from Glyn Hewitt and Colston Herbert, who established a four-hole lead by the turn. They then struggled on the difficult back nine, but managed to cling on for a very creditable draw, with Herbert collecting the wine for nearest the pin.

The Sidmouth players, though losing the tie by five-and-a-half matches to a half, had the consolation of beating Dainton over the two legs - by a whisker!

It was an enjoyable day out on an attractive course, but as far as the golf is concerned, it was certainly no walk in the park!