Sidmouth Seniors suffered their first defeat of the season at home against a strong and determined Taunton & Pickeridge team, writes Chris Grubb.

The overall result was a 2-4 loss to an excellent Taunton & Pickeridge team.

First out was captain David Bromage, partnered by Colin Mitchell, who were the first pairing to taste the bitter pill of defeat.

Bromage and Mitchell held their opponents to just one down by the 12th hole, but then lost four consecutive holes, which they were unable to recover from, and lost 5 and 4.

Late substitute Ken Rothwell and Paul Blay retrieved the situation with some inspired play by Rothwell producing birdies on the fourth and sixth holes.

Blay added to the score by putting in off the green for a birdie on the 10th, which led to a 4 and 2 win for Sidmouth.

Hugh Dorliac and Bob Skelly lost narrowly with Skelly wrapping himself around a tree to get an impossible ball back into play.

Chris Grubb and Bob Winstone lost 3 and 2 with Grubb having visited parts of the course he had not seen for a long time! Defeat was sweetened by Winstone winning nearest the pin in two on the 10th.

Les Pratt and Glynn Hewitt were hopeful of stemming the flow, but were up against a 10 handicapper who scored a gross 35 shots on the front nine holes.

The Sidmouth pair hung on grimly to the end, eventually losing 2 and 1.

Finally Brian Cole and Coulston Herbert brought some respectability to the score line by running out 2 and 1 winners in their match.

l Les Pratt won the annual three clubs and a putter competition for senior section members on Monday, writes Chris Grubb.

A large field set off in overcast but dry conditions, although there was a heavy dew for the early starters.

Scores were generally quite low – stableford points-based – but the nature of the competition meant the improvisation of clubs selected by individual players was the biggest challenge. Pratt won with 34 points and received the new trophy which was an antique putter circa 1920, made by D Anderson & Sons of St Andrews, from seniors’ captain David Bromage.

In second place was Brian Cole with 33 points edging out Ed Bambrough on countback.

There was only one two on the 15th which was won by Bromage, who chipped in from 40 yards.