Octogenarian Alan Vincent rifles a superb hole-in-one on the par three seventh hole

Seaton beach with the Axe Cliff 16th fairway in the back ground. Picture: DAVE BRUCE (Image: Archant)

I write this report on Sunday having had a most enjoyable boat ride on ‘The Pride of Exmouth’, which left Seaton beach at 3.15 pm for a two-hour trip to Lyme and back, writes Dave Bruce.

The trip was done with social distancing observed and, while on the boat, I could not resist taking a picture of the beach at Seaton with our 16th fairway in the back ground.

Last Friday there were 50 Axe Cliff seniors that contested the Three Club Shield which was played out under a format of Stableford with all players limited to just three clubs, one of which had to be a putter.

Needless to say, given one usually plays with no fewer then 14 clubs to chose from, it made for some difficulty, but not so for Tony Snell who won the Shield with a very good score of 34 points. Post success, Tony was unwilling to reveal the clubs he chose - but after consideration I figured this is probably all part of a cunning plan to successfully defend his title in 12 months time!

With the clubs limited, I think you need to be a good player in such competitions and we had three taking part with Steve Gibson and Dave Morgan the other two, claiming the second and third slots with countback needed to separate them as they both carded scores of 32 points. However, aside of the achievements of the first three, my ‘Man of the Day’ award goes to 83-years-young Alan Vincent who got a magnificent hole-in-one on the difficult par three seventh hole.

That’s some feat for, not only do you have to hit 150 yards, you have to hit over the first green and the South West Coastal Path to a small green with quite a slope on it. Well, Alan did this with an amazing three-wood drive, one bounce and into the hole! Sid Pember, another who is 83-years-young, was playing with Alan and he got his first hole-in-one back in 2018 on the 11th and went on to be my ‘Player of the Year’ that year.

Back to A|an [Vincent] and apparently he now has two hole-in-ones after also firing one on the 11th a few years ago when he was given a trophy by the late Iain Bain, a real Scottish gentleman and a former secretary of our section. I think Alan gets his strength from being a retired tree surgeon and a career that meant many a scrap with a ‘mighty oak’! I also think that our captain, Rob Grove is a lucky man not having to shake Alan’s hand. Last time I did that it took my hand a week to recover as he certainly sports a ‘vice like’ grip! Anyway, well done, Alan, and don’t forget to claim your.

On the day, the only two was scored by the in-form John Purdy who is putting well these days.