Axe Cliff Ladies were busy last week with a friendly against Woodbury Park and five mixed teams enjoyed a Texas Scramble format.

This was followed by the Par Cup, which was won by in-form Stella Thompson with –1, followed by Captain Paula Heasman on –3, leaving third place to Jill Wellington with -4.

The Men's Haven Cup team competition was closely fought this year and all three places had the same score of 62 and hence decided on countback. The winners were A Anning and J Gait, leaving R Ballard and Ben Libby in second spot. Steve Anning and Paul Curtin were third.

In the Seniors, Chris Alexander is the new Lavarack Stick champion with a solid 39 points but we now know that he is over 70 as only over 70's can compete for this Old Hickory Walking Stick, which never leaves the Clubhouse. It was presented to the club in 1977 by Frederick Lavarack.

Dave Morgan was able to play his first attempt, having reached 70 in May, and nearly won it with 35 pts and so did Malcolm Glass with the same score. The younger guys had to be satisfied with just a monthly Stableford with Paul "Masher" Curtin winning Division 1 with 35 on countback from Colin Hales.

Last Friday, in perfect golfing weather, the Seniors started of their most difficult competition, The Masters. It is held over four Medal Rounds over a few weeks. In Round 1, Chris Alexander (surely his handicap needs a review) and Paul Curtin got off to a good start with below pars of 67 each. Three other good players also had solid net 73's, so it is going to be a close battle this year They are Stuart Mackie, Tony Strong and Terry Atkins.

I had my best Round of the year with a nett 77, as did Nigel Tarr, my playing partner and buggy driver. He made up for not having Geoff Hughes' multiple sandwiches to share by telling me how to make an Eggs Benedict breakfast, which he often treats his B & B clients to - lucky devils!