North Devon and Cornwall May 2021

For most of us arriving at the well appointed Imperial Hotel in Barnstaple for our Devon Tour was our first stay outside of our homes since late last year.  I have to say you couldn’t find aq better hotel for our return with super staff and brilliant food.

Day one was sadly a bit of a wash out with only four of our group venturing out onto a rather rain and wind swept East course at Saunton.  Day two was at England’s oldest course, Royal North Devon and although we had to combat some rain early on we then only had to deal with what we reckoned was just a 3 club wind, which with varying degrees of success, we did! A pairs event was the order of the day and Arnold and Rosemary were first in the clubhouse with 36 points only to be trumped by Andrew and Liz with an excellent 38 points.  The Imperial’s four course dinner went down exceptionally well post golf and set us up for the challenges of Saunton’s West course on Tuesday.

Our first game to start in the dry and with a 9 hole comp and an 18 hole cumulative score, plenty to play for!  The 9 hole was a bit of a one horse race with the trio of Ruth, Richard and Keith rattling up 45 points in the best 2 out of 3 format.  The weather was a little kinder and although some of the group decided 9 was fine we had competitors left in the 18 hole comp.  Arnold, Helen and Andrew were pipped by just a couple of points by Vanessa, Lisbeth and Barney (to be fair they carried me!).  In for tea and the largest tea cakes in Devon although we still had room for another brilliant dinner at the Imperial.  A super trip with admittedly challenging weather, but certainly one to repeat.

Prior to booking in to Lanhydroch the DSG players (9 moving on from Devon) met up at the entertaining Perranporth for finally a sun drenched game!  We had perfect numbers for a mixed pairs event and there was some excellent golf all round.  Andrew and Rosemary showed their links credentials with an excellent 38 points.  Some super views make it an excellent day there.

Off to the magnificent Trevose for the next game.  A gentle breeze greeted us and the course was in first class condition and it will be interesting watching the Legends event there in a few weeks time, hosted by Ian Woosnam.  DSG had to make do with yours truly to host their event as apparently the former Masters Champion was out of our price bracket   Teams of four with two best scores to count on each hole and the 1st team out ended up placing 1st with Arnold, Andrew, Wanda and Liz all making good contributions to their excellent 80 point total.  A nice drink on their super verandah overlooking the links was a great way to finish an excellent day.

The brilliant St Enodoc was our venue for the 3rd leg of the tour.  Justifiably it is ranked in the Top 100 Courses in the World.  Today we had a Ladies v Men’s comp with teams of 3.  The format was 2 from 3 on the front 9 and then just 1 score to count on the back.   It was a close runt thing, however after the dust settled and scores counted the ladies won by 4 points!  Especially sweet as it was Rosemary’s birthday so a nice present there along with a spot of cake.

Our final game took place at Lanhydroch where we were staying and very pleasant it was too.  Certainly presented a different challenge to the links fest we had enjoyed.  With a 2 out of 3 team event to finish with Rosemary, Vanessa and Richard comfortably lapping the field.  We enjoyed our final dinner at the hotel which was again excellent.

Although our Devon and Cornwall trip had tough weather to begin with, the sun came through and it was a really enjoyable trip.  Being the first one back for most of us made it that bit more special.  Looking forward to our return in the not too distant future.

All the best
Barney

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