Sidmouth Golf Club played their first home friendly match of the new season against local rivals Honiton and it turned out to be more than worth the long winter wait.

Captain Brian Rice and his partner Steve Horn got off to a great start, winning the first four holes with some dominant golf. Honiton clawed their way back into the match to be only 1 down at the turn, but Brian and Steve really pushed on and won four of the next five holes on the back 9 to take the match 5 and 4.

Hugh Dorliac and David Atkinson had a much tighter match, fluctuating both ways until they went 2 up on the 17th to win 2 and 1. The third pair of Les Pratt and Bernie Millward also had a very similarly tight match and were 1 up after 16, but unfortunately lost the last 2 holes to lose 1 down.

Mike Davis and Alan Billinghurst came up against a very good in-form pair from Honiton and lost 4 and 3.

David Cowler and Paul Blay played superbly right from the start and they never looked in any danger. Eventually winning by a ‘dog licence’ 7 and 6.

The final pair of David Hall and Chris Grubb had a steady front 9, which they finished at 2 up. They sealed the job by winning the next four holes to complete a 5 and 4 victory on the 14th.

This gave Sidmouth a 4-2 victory and an important advantage to take to the return match at Honiton next month.

Saturday saw the Famous Easter brooks team competition take place, when the best two from three scores counted towards the total. Winning fairly comfortably with 82 points were Jamie Souttar, Tim Chapman and Arron Taylor. Second spot went to Marc Jenkins, Andrew Thompson and Tom Butler with 77 whilst Lewis White, David Pepperell and Howard Cushing took third with 76.

Division 1 winners of Monday's Upper Crust stableford were Andrew Thompson on 43, with Nick Gingell, 42 and John Spiller-Jones, 41 taking the minor places. In Division 2, James Scrimshaw won with 40 from Graham Lanceley, 39 and Bernie Millward posting 38.

All we need now is for the sun to keep shining.