Saturday saw the Turkey Trot at Sidmouth Golf Club, writes John Barnard.

The annual pre-Christmas competition is a four-ball, better ball format with the prizes, meat vouchers to pay for the Christmas meal!

An almost full field played in windy conditions which affected the scoring but coming out top were Moray Bosence and Kym White with 42 stableford points. Playing at the end of the field probably had its advantages as the wind did die down during the day. Moray won the prize in 2015 for the most improved player and he showed it again on Saturday, coming in on thirteen holes.

In second place on countback were Merv Anthony and Mick Baden. Halfway round, it looked like they were the winners with 24 points in the bag. A more sedate back nine of eighteen points cost them the big prize.

In third place were Paul Renken and Will Hastie, one of five teams on 41 points. Fourth were Keith White and David Ash with fifth place being won by Steve Milton and Club Captain John Barnard. Steve is in a fine run of form at present which is just as well as John is recovering from illness and didn’t help much. Steve didn’t mind too much as his wife Andrea, playing with Susan Hackett, won the ladies first prize. They were three points ahead of Angela Coles and Maria Clapp in second place so achieving a convincing victory.

A special mention for club president Trevor Kerridge. His playing partner missed the date and playing on his own, Trevor scored 37 points off three quarter handicap. It was perhaps fortunate that the competitions committee had held their annual meeting to review player handicaps two days before!