Farrington juniors rounded off a tremendously successful year by winning the overall Somerset 2010 play off finals. In a delayed final due to the poor weather at the end of 2010 Farrington played Windwhistle and Cannington at Wells Golf Club.

The team won the Northern area league then had to play against the winners of the Central and Southern area leagues to determine the overall best team in Somerset for the 2010 year. In very cold conditions Farrington in a 4BBB competition were able to hold their game together to score 162 points to win by twenty two (22) points from Windwhistle in second place and Cannington third. This is a tremendous achievement for the team as it is the fourth consecutive year they have won the overall Somerset best junior club prize.  Pictured from left to right are Alex Todd, George Abbott, Tom Maggs, Chris Coles, George Hobbs (Capt), Will Hobbs, Liam Copp, Josh Hilleard (injured mascot), Chris Shanks.'

St Enodoc are the new Cornwall Team Champions after defeating holders Trevose 7½ - 5¼ in an absorbing final at Newquay in March.

Trevose looked to be heading for a hat trick of wins in the competition when they seized the advantage in the morning foursomes. This meant that at the start of the afternoon singles Trevose required just 3½ points for victory while St Enodoc had to win 5 points out of the 8 available.

The first singles match saw St Enodoc’s talisman Steve Chapman beating Welsh international Ben Westgate. From then on it was St Enodoc forging through with wins by Mark Justice, Kristian Godfrey and Simon Welch. Our picture shows Nick Gammon (Trevose) driving on the 12th hole at Newquay (photograph courtesy of Grant Batty Photography).

Golfers at Thornbury Golf Centre welcomed in the new year by turning out in force to support their new captains as they drove in on New Year’s Day. The new captains are Clive Winward (club captain), ladies captain Suzy Unwin, junior skipper Simon Weeks and seniors captain Mike Bostic. Following the drive in there was a Texas Scramble competition won by Henry Campbell, Rose Campbell, Martin Clifford and John Howard with 42 stableford points.

The big winner on the day though was local charity Art in the Community Thornbury (ACT), the chosen charity of the Thornbury captains for 2011, as golfers raised a total of £594 for the not for profit organisation, which was set up to develop and build a new modern arts centre in the town.

Over 50 ladies gathered last week for the Annual Christmas Lunch in The Mendip Clubhouse. A delicious 3 course meal was provided before the formalities took place. Outgoing Lady Captain Nola Russell passed the honours to Chris Williams while Chris passed her Vice Captain's role to Elaine Kitchenham. A fantastic sum of £1825 was raised in Nola's year of captaincy which will be gratefully recieved by The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Our picture shows outgoing lady Captain Nola with Chris and Elaine.

The Ladies Presentation Evening was held on the 15th December at Farrington Golf Club and was hosted by Rosi Brown the outgoing Captain. It was a fantastic turn out with 75 ladies attending. The ladies section has done extremely well this year in County Competitions. Winning 8 trophies plus a prestigious win in the Bristol and District Alliance Scratch Foursomes which was won by Michaela Chivers and Lena Warren. Michaela continues to do us all proud by winning the Somerset Ladies and Girls Championship (gross) and Ladies Club Champion on both the 9 hole and 18 hole courses.  Victoria Watts also won the Somerset Girls Championship (Nett).

On Thursday 16th December the ladies had their Christmas Competition; again we had a fantastic turn out of 57 ladies battling in very strong wind and rain. They all managed to complete the round and gathered in the club house for the presentation. We also completed our annual Bring and Win which had been previously cancelled due to the course being closed and ensured all the ladies going home with something to show for their efforts.  The winners on the day were Jill Eade, Brenda Michael and one of our veterans Dorothy Jackman who was 81 earlier this year. This really does show what hardy ladies we have.

Photograph shows from left to right:Jackie Walker, Gail Proctor, Victoria Watts, Rosi Brown, Michaela Chivers, Lena Warren and Gill Russell.

English champion Hayley Davis scored a three shot victory in the girls’ event in the Abu Dhabi Junior Golf Championship. The 17-year-old from Ferndown, Dorset, led from start to finish and was four-under par for the 54-hole event. She said:

Hayley opened with two sub-par rounds of 70 and 68 to establish a four shot lead with a round to play. She sealed her win with a risk-free final round of 74. Her closest challengers were British champion Kelly Tidy of Royal Birkdale and Amy Boulden of Wales, who shared second place on one-under par. Amy pulled herself up the leaderboard with a final-round of six-under 66 while Kelly consolidated her score with par 72.

Cheshire’s Bronte Law (Bramhall) shared the first round lead with Hayley and was lying second with a round to play. Bronte, who at 15 was the youngest player in the field, eventually finished fourth and said: “I never got the round going. I played some solid golf to the greens and had lip-outs all over the place."

The championship, sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, attracted an initial entry of over 40,000 juniors hoping to qualify for the finals tournament at Abu Dhabi Golf Club. The boys’ event was won by Ben Taylor Walton Heath on 13-under par.

The international phenomenon that is the William Hunt Trilby Tour arrived at The Park (formally Tracy Park) near Bath recently for the Avon and South West Championship with a bang.
 
A concept that has gripped the imagination of golfers all over the country, it gives amateur players the chance to compete in the environment of the tour pro. Filmed and shown worldwide on Sky Sports, the players compete over 18 holes with the top four players facing three further holes to decide the eventual champion with “winner takes all”. The top 12 players at each of the nine regional championships all then qualify for the international final at The Buckinghamshire Club later in the year.
 
The Park even re-routed their two renowned courses, using the best holes from each, to create the Trilby Tour Course, an exciting concept created by P.G.A. Director of Golf, Stuart Leech told Golf NOW;

“The event gave us the chance to show off all our signature holes and we provided a stern test for all the competitors in beautiful surroundings, creating what is certainly one of the most challenging and picturesque layouts in the entire South West.”
 
The days golf proved very eventful and with the special course scoring was challenging. Eventually the line up was Daniel Smyth on 36 points, Stephen Creed on 35 points and then four players tied on 34 points for the remaining two places in the three hole playoff. The drama built as these four were asked to complete a one shot, nearest the pin challenge to decide who would go through. With some nervous shots played in front of the cameras, Gary Barton and Chris Dyson won through with two impressive shots and moved on to the playoff to find the champion.
 
The playoffs proved to be nail biting with Gary Barton producing a magical approach followed by a six foot birdie putt to clinch the win and be crowned Avon and South West Champion.

Nestling in idyllic surroundings, the Dorset Golf & Country Club is the county’s only five-star resort represents the perfect venue to take a short break. But don’t just take our word for it, take that of the British Tourist Board who have awarded the resort its 5-Star Gold Award - the highest accolade possible.

The Dorsetvenue received the award from Visit Britain in recognition of its luxury homes, food, attention to detail, customer service and surroundings and it’s easy to see why, once you have visited. Situated in Bere Regis near Poole, Dorset Golf & Country Club off ers 27 holes of the most challenging golf in Dorset and is recognised as one of the golfi ng gems in the south-west of England. With its 5-Star Gold status, wonderful championship golf courses and new indoor leisure centre, which includes a championship bowling arena and comes complete with gym and sauna, this is a true all-year round resort.
And the venue’s commitment to investment has continued with the unveiling of its new £500,000 ‘WoodlandCottage’. The four-bedroom house will have pride of place on the Woodland Golf Course amongst the stunning rhododendrons and will be built to the same specification as its award-winning
neighbours. Four luxury twin-bedrooms and immaculate facilities will be the icing on the Dorset resort’s already popular Scandinavian log homes. All rooms are en-suite, has its own sauna, log burning stove and cathedral lounge overlooking the Woodland Golf Course. Quite simply a wonderful place to be.

The Mullion junior team in Cornwall have won the Summer Junior Scratch Knockout after beating Tehidy Park 3-2 in a 36 hole final at West Cornwall Golf Club in October.

The victorious Mullion team are shown (left to right) Sam MacWilliam, Jack Irwin, Jordan Antrobus, Max Irwin and Tom Julier.

Churston recently hosted its annual Pro Am tournament which was as popular as ever with a full field of Professionals from all over Devon and the West Region.

Conditions on the day were very testing with a strong breeze blowing. However, as always the course was presented in excellent condition with the greens in particular running fast and true.

The winner of both the individual Pro competition and the team competition was Barry Austin from Crediton, with scores of 67 (-3) and 127 (-13) respectively. Two great scores from the leading Pro in the county.

Stover’s Jason Hampton (pictured) teamed up with Exminster pro John Langmead to play in the October
Trevose International Pairs Tournament along with 59 other pairs including fellow Stover member Andy Beazley and professional James Langmead.

The tournament attracted more than twenty professionals from all over the UK including former Ryder Cup player Peter Baker. The fi rst day of the four day competition was a fourball better ball medal which was won by Beazley and Langmead with a net 66. Next day was a Rye Greensomes medal which was
won by Hampton and Langmead with a net 67 putting them well up the leader- board overall, reports Will Hendry.

Foursomes medal was the third days format and although they did not win Hampton and Langmead were overall one shot clear of the fi eld going into the final day singles with both scores counting. John Langmead was his usual consistent self while Jason managed to get up and down from difficult situations on several occasions. When all the shots were counted up Jason and John were triumphant over the rest of the field by just half a shot.

Carlyon Bay have won the 2010 Maxam Cup for the first time in their club history. The Maxam Cup was played in Sept at Launceston Golf Club and is the county’s team foursomes championship with 2 out 3 medal scores counting over the 2 rounds played.

Our picture shows the winning team of Ben Armstrong, Gavin Rowett, George Linaker, Freddie Gould, Jeff Hammett and Conor Warne with their proud Club Captain Kevin Rowett holding the cup. They recorded a winning total of 286 (4 round score) for a winning margin of 5 shots from second place Perranporth.

A record 650 players played in the Farrington Open Week. The largest entry was the Mens Team Bowmaker with over 150 players taking part. 300 plus visitors all had praise for the condition of the course and friendly atmosphere of the club.

Visitors made their mark all week but winning the outright prize for the last three competitions was testament to the standard of visitors’ golf. Sally Anderson from The Bristol Golf Club had the highest points score on Friday in the Individual Stableford with 44 points, the Men’s Team Bowmaker was won with 95 points by Mike Wallace, Keith Wallace, Tony Arthurs and Bob Watling from Dewstow and Forest Hills Golf Clubs in South Wales and the Mixed open was won by Shanni and Neil Whisler and Jo and Ally Wyatt from Taunton Vale with 89 points to win by 9 from Farrington team Gail Proctor, George Hobbs, Jackie Walker and Martin Walker.

Pictured are Mixed Open winners (left to right) Neil Whisler, Ali Wyatt, Shanni Whisler, Jo Wyatt with Ladies captain Rosi Brown (centre)

Mendip Junior Golfer James Godwin had the time of his life last week when he won a trip to Woburn to compete in The Poulter Junior Golf Day. The day which was made possible by The Pro Shop Team as stockists of The Poulter Clothing Range consisted of a private clinic with Tour Professional Ian Poulter and then 18 holes on the stunning Duchess Course. James then received a Goody Bag and a personal photo with the man himself. Our picture shows James with Ian Poulter at Woburn Golf Club

Club news from Mendip where the Bill Freeman Trophy was played for by the seniors in late July. The tees of the day were back near the medal tees and that must have contributed to the ordinary scores returned by competitors. Even though the greens and fairways were in perfect order, only one player beat par and only three managed a 2-spot. Standard Scratch rose by two strokes. Regular prize winner, Martin Lambert, showed the way home and birdied the par three 8th hole. 1st Martin Lambert 37pts 2nd Martin Hirst 36pts 3rd Harry Thompson 35pts 4th Colin Davies 35pts. The Senior's have been flying the flag away from home when Roger Wickett had an outstanding round at Ross - On - Wye's Seniors Open where he recorded 70 points and won the ' over 70's ' prize.