Sensibly most golf competitions are scheduled for the cummer months. Recently, with so many wet days, maybe January would have been a better time! However, in the last two months there have been many competitions to be completed.

Beginning with local weekly competitions. On August 4 the monthly GUW Medal, combined with the Jane Davies Hughes, was played. In the Silver division, Pam Cole won the trophy on nett 74, with Denise Edwards second on nett 75. The Bronze trophy winner was Pat Fox on nett 75, from Gill John on nett 79. The medal was won by Pam, with Pat runner-up.

The following week, Gillian Roberts was the leading entrant in the third Hill Lowe Bogey with an excellent 3 up. Denise Edwards and Heather Morgan returned 1 up and 1 down, respectively.

On August 18, the Charnwait Texas Scramble was played, the winning trio being Georgina Ormond, Liz Storey and Kasumi Tran with 63.2, from Sophie Lovatt, Barbara Williams and Pat Fox on 65 and Irene Gilman, Julie Tordoff and Bev Owen on 65.8.

Away from the weekly competitions, the postponed 36-hole competition from April was played recently and the excellent results were reported in last week’s Observer.

There are several long standing ladies’ trophies which rotate around the Welsh clubs and this year the National Playing Fields competition was played at Tenby on August 15. Holly Watkins has been a member of Tenby for nearly 30 years and recently, after a playing gap of six years, she returned to playing and recorded a handicap of six and she became the winner of the NPF with 36 points, from Lee-Anne Bramwell, of Abergele, on 33, and Gill John, of Tenby, on 28. Good to see you back, Holly.

On August 23, the Rhian Pearne Memorial Trophy was played at her home club of Neath and we are delighted that Denise Edwards recorded the really outstanding score of 76 gross, nett 68. Well done Denise on your success.

There are some final stages of national competitions coming up in the near future - Sue Griffiths and Bev Owen will be playing the semi-final of the Jubilee Foursomes at Machynys on September 14 and on October 2, Sue Griffiths and Linda Thomas will be playing the final of the Australian Spoons at Cradoc. We wish both pairs every success and hope the competitions are played in good weather.

Ladies’ Captain’s Day

Every captain always hopes the weather will be good for their Captain’s Day and this year, Irene Gilman, our captain, had really worked hard on the weather gods - it was dry, warm and there was no wind, which is almost unheard of here. Nearly 50 members took part and everyone enjoyed their round, even if they didn’t all play as well as they hoped.

Beside the main 18 hole stableford competition, there were a number of ancillary events which kept everyone’s interest alive.

After the day’s play, an excellent dinner was enjoyed by everyone and added to the all round good feeling generated during the day.

After the dinner, Irene thanked many members who had helped to ease the running of the day, the ground staff and, of course, Emma and Lee for their catering. All the entry fees, donations and raffle proceeds will be donated to the Paul Sartori Fund, with the raffle raising nearly £100.

After the presentation of the prizes, the overall winner, Georgina Ormond, thanked Irene, on everyone’s behalf, for an excellent Captain’s Day.

Results

Putting competition: Heather Morgan - 11 putts (on countback from Rebecca Naden and Bev Owen).

Nine-hole: 1. Mary Rowell; 2. Ann Marsden.

Eighteen-hole: Nearest pin on 6th - Diane Williams 135 inches; nearest line on 14th - Sophie Lovatt 1cm; best front nine Division One - Anna Hubbard 18 pts; best back nine Division One - Rhian Walters 21 pts; best front nine Division Two - Helen Morgan 19 pts; best back nine Division 2 - Bev Owen 16 pts.

Granny Salver: Sue Shooter 36 pts.

Veterans Trophy: Helen Morgan 31 pts.

Copper Belles: Iris Davies 29 pts

Division Two (28-36): 1. Nel Allen 34 pts, on countback; 2. Diane Williams 34.

Division One (up to 27): 1. Sue Shooter 36 pts; 2. Denise Edwards 35.

Overall winner: Georgina Ormond 36 pts.

B.M.S.

Seniors claim

a silver medal

in historic clash with ‘young’ rivals from Haverfordwest

Eighteen keen and enthusiastic Senior golfers from Haverfordwest descended on Tenby Golf Club on Tuesday, desperately keen to beat the Tenby mature mob on their home turf. They were welcomed and hosted by an equal number of Tenby players - equally determined to inflict a defeat on the team from the county town.

Tenby and Haverfordwest have an historic camaraderie, having played each other in the Summer League countless times. As Haverfordwest’s captain, Vernon Harries, remarked - it gives great pleasure to both teams to be able to play on the county’s top links course and the top parkland course in friendly competition.

Strangely, the nine pairs from Haverfordwest seemed somewhat younger than their Tenby opponents - perhaps a more apt description would be ‘less old’ - but it was an interesting topic of conversation nonetheless. I decided to conduct a non-scientific investigation of the age situation, using the fairly representative match number seven which comprised Haverfordwest’s Dai John and Dave Phipps and Tenby’s Derek Bath and Mike Fox. In this fourball, the away team’s combined age was 126 years, while the Tenby pair’s total was 163 years - so if this is extrapolated across the nine matches, it can be seen that the average Tenby senior is 22.7 per cent older than the average Haverfordwest player - just bear this in mind!

When all the competitors had completed their matches and returned to the clubhouse, drinks were drunk and we were treated to a very pleasant meal from Emma and Lee before the traditional raffle and captain’s address.

The result of the raffle, which is often an indicator of things to come, was a minor victory for the visitors, who won three of the five prizes - albeit the two Tenby winners received a bottle of wine each, while the three Haverfordwest lads had to make do with a golf ball each!

Honours for the joke telling portion of the captains’ duties were roughly even, Tenby captain Peter Williams being somewhat more succinct and abbreviated, while Vernon Harries erred on the side of extended verbosity.

And finally - the result! Tenby managed to gain second place, allowing Haverfordwest to claim a victory by the very narrow margin of 6.5 games to 2.5. Taking into account the age statistics that I outlined above, I’m sure you will agree, Dear Reader, that had the difference in age between the competitors been less, the result could easily have been reversed - as it was the older players possibly tended to tire over the last few holes, allowing the younger visitors to overtake them. So - it’s double Phyllosan pre-match from now on chaps!

M.F.