THE recent rain has softened Dartmouth Golf Club’s fairways but there is still plenty of roll and the bounces remain somewhat unpredictable. It was a Stableford for the ladies this week.

There was quite a range of scores on the Championship course with Katie Panton the only player managing a birdie but sadly that wasn’t enough to get her score into the prizes.

Chris Mayer led the field with a string of pars compensating for the bogey holes and finished in first place with 37 points.

Karen Oldrieve on 35 points was next, followed by Anne Woodward on 34. Anne had had a fairly unexciting round but a chip in for four points on the 17th gave her a much-appreciated boost.

Kate Merriam was the star on the Dartmouth course and was a clear winner with 38 points - scoring 22 points on the back nine despite a blob! The rest of the field was some way behind, with Barbara Dally the closest contender on 31 points.

The drier weather in the afternoon favoured the late starters in the men’s midweek Stableford.

Playing together, father and son Bruce and Steve Blackie had their own battle as part of the competition. Bruce was firmly in control and leading by 19 points to 15 after the first nine, but Steve wasn’t giving in without a fight!

His 20-point back nine was a good challenge but Bruce managed a further 18 points to win with 37. Barrie O’Shea took third place with 34.

Saturday was busy with a Mixed Stableford and the final round of the Sandbanks Trophy.

First out on the course was the Sandbanks - a two round Medal competition played for both a scratch and a handicap trophy.

Clive Meredith had led the handicap comp after round one and played a very solid front nine in round two, only to suffer a number of bogeys on the back to drop out of contention. The second round results were agonisingly close.

Edd Mitchell had the best nett score of the day with 70 followed by Steve Blackie and Dave Brooking with 71.

Critically, this was a reversal of the fortunes of round one where Dave had beaten Edd by a single shot.

The overall result saw both finish with nett 146, with Edd winning on count back. Keith Sexton was just one point behind with 147. The scratch results saw the same top three as for the handicap but with Edd the clear winner on 155, Dave on 166 and Keith on 171. Congratulations and commiserations all round.

The mixed Stableford had clear winners in both divisions with count back needed to separate the next places.

In Division One, Jeremy Enticknap was well ahead of the field with a blob and 20 points on both the front and back nine to win with 40 points.

There was quite a bottle neck behind with three players on 37 points. John Oldrieve had had the best front nine with 20 points and Steve Maris the “worst” with 18, but it’s the back nine and Steve came out on top, followed by Joel Jordan and then John, all with 37.

The ladies took the honour in Division Two, with Shelley Durrans edging out Chris Mayer, 35 points to 34, Chris having beaten Gary Widdicombe on countback.