One of the unusual events at Thetford Golf Club is Mr G's Left-Handers Championship, which gives those players who stand on the other side of the ball a chance to take centre stage. This year there was an exciting finish as holder Dean Scott was pipped by 11-year-old Sullivan Goddard.
Both players came in with 35pts but 13-handicap Sullivan had a better back nine than four-handicap Dean.
A total of 16 players took part from nine different clubs around the region, but three Thetford players finished at the top of the standings - 18-handicap Ian Gosling was third with 34.
Steve Quick, a seven-handicapper from Eaton, lived up to his name with an express start with birdies at the 1st and 3rd holes, but after 21pts on the first nine he could only add another 12 on the remaining holes to finish fourth.
Sullivan Goddard holds the shield after winning Mr G's Left-Handers Championship on countback
Justine Twogood recorded a hole-in-one at the third hole at Thetford while playing in the Halloween Gruesome Greensomes on Saturday. Justine, who plays off a handicap of 21, is pictured alongside partner Heather Keeble holding the ball she used for her ace.
David Clarke is this year's Champion of Champions at Thetford Golf Club. David returned 75-4-71 to win the Bill Jennings Trophy, which is for all those who have won a trophy or a medal event over the past year. Birdies at the 10th, 12th and 14th helped him play the last nine holes in one under par to snatch victory.
Chris Robson, who plays off plus one, was runner-up with 72. He also had three birdies, at the 2nd, 10th and 12th, but rued a bogey five at the 18th as he finished one behind.
Full scores: 71 David Clarke (4); 72 Chris Robson (plus 1); 73 Pat Gould (13); 74 Ian Ramsay (4); 75 Matt Wabe (5); 76 Dan Traher (1), Paul Waters (9), Dean Scott (4) and Martin Jackson (13); 77 Jason Huggins (4).
The equivalent competition for the ladies is the Chisholm Trophy and Fiona White won with 88-11-77, beating Sian Miller (113-36-77) on countback. Other scores: 80 Sue Saunders (5) and Rosemary Bloom (18); 81 Kath Malvern (6); 82 Carolyn Beaumont (15) and Sheena Perry (22); 85 Maggie Reid (30); 86 Justine Twogood (23); 87 Judith Heffer (24) and Teresa Tarrant (15).
Thetford finished top of the Five Counties Scratch League in their first year in the competition. The competition involves five clubs in different counties but because of the Covid shutdown was reduced to playing each other club once, rather than twice. The top two teams were then set to contest the final, with Thetford set to face Peterborough Milton at Gog Magog near Cambridge. Now that final has been postponed.
The final league table showed Thetford top with seven points, Peterborough Milton with six, Luffenham Heath with four, Gog Magog with two and John O'Gaunt with one.
The last trophy competition of the year was the Hooper Cup, which is a medal for players aged over 60. Chris White won with 79-10-69, two better than Gary Roberts (80-9-71).
Other scores: 72 Graham Pitcher (11) and Ian Gosling (18); 73 Martin Jackson (13), Martin Eeles (9), Geoff Allan (20), Howard King (22) and Barry Brackenborough (10); 74 Reg Mayew (16), David Sutton (11) and Maurice Anderson (10); 75 John Barton (12).
Other results:
November Division One Medal: 69 Andy Cunningham (3); 70 Josh Dashwood (5), Neil Elers (10), Peter Croker (10) and Dean Scott (4); 71 Rafe Ashby (11); 72 Robert Bentley (12) and Bryan Muggeridge (9); 73 David Robinson (12), Ashley Forbes (9) and Stephen Duncan (10); 74 Gary Scott (10), Brian Youngs (11), Brian How (12), Matt Harben (6) and Mark Alford (8).
November Division Two Medal: 74 Mike Smith (15) on countback from Justin Ward (15) and George Winstone (13); 76 Mick Gooch (18), Stephan Wait (24), Robert Herkes (13) and Doug Bedford (21); 77 Tristan Adams (17), Bob Stevens (14), Paul Parsons (18), Jon Olpin (17) and Ian Harvey (19).
October Stableford Division One: 39pts David Clarke (5); 38 Terry Young (11) and Anthony Lee (7); 37 David Robinson (12), John Congdon (10), Peter Stelling (13), Mark Robson (10), David Hudson (8), Mike Horley (6) and Terry Blacktopp (7); 36 Andy Cunningham (3) and Peter Allott (9); 35 Nick Hill (10), Matt Harben (6), Phil Beer (9), Shaun Langham (7) and Jason Huggins (4). Division Two: 43 Shaun Burton (15); 41 Paul Parsons (19); 36 Bob Stevens (14); 35 Steve Forbes (23), Doug Bedford (21) and Dave Bennett (15); 34 Brian Martin (17); 33 Jim Sanford (18), Jon Olpin (17), Chris Foulds (19) and Brian Johnson (23); 32 Mike Reeve (14), Alan Hodgkinson (16), Mark Twogood (15), Ged Davey (15) and Steve Steeds (19).
Seniors Texas Scramble: 1 Mike Horley, Paul Huggins, Brian Maiden & Tony Fowler; 2 John Barton, Reg Mayhew, Barry Tredgett & Doug Atkins; 3 Alan Brown, Derek Barton, Richard Ellis & Howard King; 4 Phil Dive, Phil Halford, Chris Foulds & Frank Knight.
Due to the Government's Covid 19 restrictions Thetford Golf Club will be closed from Thursday November 5 until Wednesday December 3. This means a number of events have had to be cancelled, including the Festive Open which had attracted a full entry list from all over the region. The Poppy Day Stableford on Saturday November 7 had 102 entrants signed up and another popular annual event, the Turkey Trot, have also been cancelled.
We hope all members and visitors remain safe and look forward to welcoming them back again next month.