Forty-seven pairs took part in The Spring Pheasant Foursomes competition at East Devon on Saturday, writes Paul Willoughby.

For the non-golfers (NG’s) this may require some explaining. First, ‘Spring’ – well we all know what that is with the emergence of celandines, primroses and daffodils and a sense of well being as winter gets behind us. For those of you who like technicalities, it’s the period between the March equinox to the June solstice, so there. ‘Pheasant’ is not a problem either – it’s the emblem of the East Devon Golf club and a very pretty bird too. They roam round the golf course without a care in the world (heaven help anyone who pots one) but their off course mates have to look over their shoulders between October and January when they could find themselves in a casserole.

‘Foursomes’ is the difficult one, NG’s; do I bore the pants off you by explaining how it works? No, I don’t think so, nor will I explain the scoring system for which you would need a slide-rule (Do you remember them?) or a calculator.

Suffice it to say most of those who took part in the competition knew what they were doing and the pair who certainly did was Alan Forte and Rod Ford with an impressive score of 68.5. Well done to them.

The other leading scores were: 2, Cliff Lockwood and Andy Pelosi – 69 points; 3, Donald Peek and David Pagett – 71.5; 4 Bob Horton and Alan Dewhurst – 72 points; 5 Kelly Hughes and Terry Harris, also with 72 points.

There was a twos pot of £180 to be shared between six pairs; the winners Alan Forte and Rod Ford scored two of them (well, they would, wouldn’t they as they were clearly having one of those days!) as did Barry Devetta and Mike Brailey.

East Devon Golf Club welcomes new members to join them in their newly refurbished club house and wonderful course.