THERE were a mix of competitions for Dartmouth ladies this week.

On the Championship course, two pairs played a matchplay format, with Karen Oldrieve and Jules Vincent beating Shelley Durrans and Chris Mayer. Another pair played a fun Stableford, marking a General Play score for Katie Panton.

The ladies were taking their golf more seriously on the Dartmouth course and played a qualifying Stableford.

Barbara Dally and Kate Merriam had quite a battle - Kate was well ahead after nine, with 22 points to Barbara’s 18, but it was all change on the back! It was Barbara’s turn to score the 22 points and with Kate only managing a further 17, overtook her to win by a single point.

The men’s Midweek Stableford was a story of pars and birdies, so more a case of steady rather than exciting golf.

Unusually, there were identical scores in both divisions - 39 points for first place and 36 for second. John Gratton and Mark Whitworth were the top two in Division One; Steve Atkins and John Merriam in Division Two.

In Saturday’s Stableford, Dave Sparks had no blobs and a very respectable 40 points, which was three points ahead of Mike Whitelaw, his closest competitor in Division One.

Countback was needed in Division Two to separate Barrie O’Shea and John Cousins. Both had scored 39 points overall and both had scored 22 on the front and 17 on the back; drilling down further, they also matched each other on the back six.

They were finally separated on the back three - although both parred the seventeenth for 4 points, Barrie had parred the sixteenth which gave him the one extra point needed to win. Close!

The third round of the Gold Grand Prix was played in front of the Stableford and there were some very good scores from the challenging gold tees.

The top six players all had scores in the thirties, which would normally guarantee being placed, but not this week. Rob Haddy’s 35 points and Matt Young’s 37 included a birdie; Richie Ogle had two birdies and 38 points but all missed out on the top three.

Keith Sexton had an amazing front nine, finishing with birdie, par, birdie, eagle and 23 points; he continued the back nine very steadily, but a blob on the sixteenth gave him a 16 point back nine.

His score of 39 was matched by Steve Blackie, but Steve had 17 points on the back which gave him second place.

By their standards, Jeremy Kenyon had an average front nine with “just” 18 points, but he had saved the best for last, scoring 22 points on the back and securing the win with 40 points.

With one more round to go, Rob Haddy has a five-point lead over Roger Mawson and Richie Ogle, so still all to play for.

The mixed friendly against Churston was rearranged from July because of the heatwave and at the time, it was unthinkable that it would still be continuing in August.

It was however, so just as hot as July and the course even bouncier. Only five teams played due to a late injury, with Dartmouth winning 3.5-1.5.

Lastly, the Dartmoor League team were in action against Exeter and gained two valuable away points in a 3-2 loss.