Report by Dave Bruce

On Wednesday of last week Axe Cliff Ladies enjoyed their first Medal Round in a long while and even started with the first round of he putting competition for the Freddie Newberry Cup.

Once again some good results were seen with top spot going to Karin Cox with a solid net 74 and consistent Jo Hopgood taking second place with a net 76 and also leading in the Freddie Newberry. Jill Wellington continues her good form by coming third with a net 7.

On a beautiful sunny day with white horses seen crashing onto Seaton beach, the Seniors split into teams of three and battled it out in our Annual Yellow Ball Competition.

This competition is not for the faint hearted as the yellow ball passes each hole to a different team player and whoever has it then his stableford score is doubled so the pressure is on him not only to score but more importantly not to, lose it as the team also loses the opportunity to score double thereafter. The best two scores count on each hole.

Talking of pressure, the Dave Weston, Brian Thompson and Tony Strong team were trying to retain the trophy they have held for the past three years I believe.

They got on the podium with a very credible 93 points but only managed third spot and were well beaten by the new champions - Andy Hopgood Simon Wellington and Kyle Phillpots.

Andy, with putting tips from his wife Jo, thinks they scored an amazing 111 points but Captain John Hanna only gave them 106.

Either way, they still won as second place went to the strong combination of David Evans, Adrian Bishop and Richard Orsman with 101 points, a brilliant winning score of over s points on average per hole due to their yellow ball counting on every hole bar one and scoring nine points per hole three times.

I am surprised as they are all long-hitters but not necessarily always in the right direction.

The team of Dave Bruce, Mark Wisby and former top civil servant in the Home Office, Bob Cook, were a little careless after scoring 61 points on the first nine and even managed 11 points on one hole with a net eagle and net birdie.

We wish our Emerton Court team every success for this week's home round match against Mortehoe and I have high hopes for them.