Prior to the Christmas holiday, the seniors' group should have held a Texas Scramble, followed by a meal, to announce the half stage winners for their Eclectic competition. As with everyone else's plans, this had to be shelved and it was with great anticipation that the 42 who played this week awaited the announcement by seniors' captain, Stan Hudson - well some did!

Black Diamond balls awaited the top three in each of the two groups, so Stan announced to a hushed (as hushed as any group of seniors can be) group that the winners for the first half of the season were:

Gross score: 1. Martin Neilan 69 (handicap 13); 2. Allen Watts 70 (11); 3. Des Stone 71 (15).

Net scores: 1. Jim Martin 49 (handicap 25); 2. Tony Morgan 54 (21); 3. David Miller 55 (22).

Martin has been in the frame on most weeks in this competition and Allen Watts consistently scores over 30, but it comes as no surprise that the net winners fall in the over 18 handicap group.

This year there will be a new trophy presented to the winner of the lowest net score in the over 75 age group. It will take the form of a special wine goblet, accompanied by a quarter bottle of wine, and presented in memory of the late Colin Griffith. Colin loved his golf and the company he kept along with the odd bottle of wine and was one of the endearing characters in the senior membership.

His spirit and memory will live on with this presentation each year. At the halfway stage in its inaugural year, the current leader is Ken Gouldsbrough, who was delighted to receive a Black Diamond ball. Whether or not he remains in the lead remains to be seen as there is some stiff competition among the elite, experienced golfers.

Forty-two competitors were out in force for this week's competition and they were absolutely delighted that the weather remained benign, enabling them to complete a round of golf with no rain. Not all were in good humour - one member had been fed misinformation regarding time and arrived too late to take his seat alongside Des Stone in the buggy. As there were more buggies than usual required, one member had to walk the course at the end.

Roy Gundry was also a bit put out. When asked about his game, his curt reply was 'I played like a prat!' (or something similar). It appears that he had a spot of bother with his motor before leaving. It failed to start due to a flat battery, so he had to 'phone a friend' for a lift into the course. Starting a round in ill humour doesn't help and as the day progressed, so the round deteriorated. He did, however, manage to double his first nine score on the back nine and enhanced it with a two on the 17th in a round of 20.

Brian Morgan was glowering in the clubhouse after his round of 30. He paced up and down, crawled on hands and knees to look under chairs and searched his pockets - for his wallet! He had misplaced it while traversing the length of the lounge - after paying for his chips. Everyone was galvanised into searching for the missing millions (hoping for a reward, no doubt!). Ten minutes elapsed and then Tony Morris realised that he had been sitting on it all the time. It took Morgie the rest of the afternoon to recover.

Nigel Rimell wasn't in bad humour so much as poor health. Like many others he was suffering a recurrence of throaty cold virus and was concerned that it would have affected his game. It didn't - he and Paul Nixon slid into the lead with a very good 37 apiece. Could they hang on to it was the question? Not this season.

This appears to be the season of high scores and generally the winner has topped the 40 mark to be able to claim the prize. The glory boys on the eclectic leader board couldn't manage it this week. Martin Neilan blobbed on three holes, so reducing his score to a still creditable 31, two points behind Allen Watts with a so-so round of 33.

Graham Jenkins (32) found it difficult to cope with the cold wind intermittently changing from sleeveless top to bright orange coat. However, he and his partners, Peter Hart (27) and Roy Gallop (25), all came off the 17th with smiling faces, having surrounded the hole to each earn a three.

Brian Waters appeared with scarred arms, not from searching in the brambles, but from working at home. It didn't help his score which reached the dizzy heights of 22. But then he was playing alongside Robin Hagley, also 22, and Martin (three blobs) Neilan, who can be quite intimidating in good conditions.

Chris Sierwald was in the company of Brian Diment and elevated his game to an excellent 31 points. He would have fared better had he been able to escape the bunkers. Brian was also on 31, claiming he had not had time to reinforce the improvements gleaned from a lesson from the pro.

Tony Morris reckoned his round resembled an 'after the Lord Mayor's show' performance. Unable to match his 41 of last week, he still managed a creditable 34 to be the first leader in the clubhouse.

This week's top dog is no stranger to the prize money, although he has taken a couple of months to recover from the responsibilities of captainship. In a round accompanied by Richard Davies (33) and Stan Hudson (28), Bob Howse rose to the challenge to top this week's leader board with a well deserved 38.

Results: 1. Bob Howse 38 pts; 2. Nigel Rimell 37; 3. Paul Nixon 37.

Twos: Roy Gundry 17th; Dudley Williams 6th; Mike Fox 6th; Bob Creese 6th.

Stan urged all members to join him on this year's excursion to West Wales in March when Borth, Aberdovey and Harlech will be the courses setting the challenge.

Junior section

Now that the Christmas holidays are over, it's time for the juniors to return to their golf. The start of the season returns this Sunday at 10 am with a gentle introduction of a chapmans foursomes stableford event.

This is where all the players are split into high and low handicaps and a draw will be made for partners. Once the pairings have been made, then each player will drive on every hole, then play their partner's ball on the second shot, before deciding which of the balls they will play the hole out with.

The junior fixtures are now included in the pocket diaries available in the foyer of the club, and list all the Tenby fixtures for the year. The fixture list for the away events should hopefully be ready for printing by February half-term.

There will also be a junior committee meeting following this first event, hopefully to take place at about 3 pm.