AS Downes Golf Club moves forward to the New Year, it seems appropriate to look back on the year gone by. It was a very busy year for the club, so much to report we can only touch on some of the highlights in this article.

As well as golf, the winter activities included the Winter Quiz League.

On the last Saturday in March club members gathered for the annual Captain’s Drive-in. Club Captain Stewart Cowling, and Seniors Captain Peter Blinkhorn, handed over their responsibilities to Andrew Rogers and David Cousins, incoming Club and Seniors captains respectively. The new captains proceeded use the old wooden driver to ceremoniously drive down the first fairway.

The Club hosted the final Dartmoor Ladies event of the winter season.

April saw the club hosting a qualifying round of the Faldo Series Golf. This is a competitive tournament with three levels of events for young people, from the age of 7 up to 25.

In May the Seniors played the first of the Emerton Court Knockout matches. Organised by the Devon Mens Veteran Golfers Association, the event has a long history dating back to 1975.

Downes can take pride in being the trophy winners in 2022. Sadly the team did not progress beyond the initial rounds this year, but are already determined to get stuck in to the 2026 competition.

June is the month of the Club Championships. Seniors, Ladies and Mens events, all played over two rounds.

The Seniors Club Champion (gross score) was Martín Garnsey and the net/handicap, winner was Gerry Hodder. The Ladies Championship golfer this year is Ying Wong, in second place was Lyn Parry.

The winner of the Scratch/gross competition, and the Downes Club Champion was Dan Brown with a score of 142. The winner of the Net competition was Tommy Carter, with a handicap score of 138.

The Mens Palairet team had a really great year, finishing with them competing in the Palairet semi finals and finals day at Stover Golf Club. They eventually lost out in a close match 2-3 to Dawlish Warren in the semi-final.

July saw the annual Devonians vs The Rest of The World match. A keenly contested event where, once again, the Devotions demolished the Rest of the World. Predictably this seems to be an annual result!

Festival Week at Downes took place in August with all the usual competitions, including many other events that involved members from other clubs, and the wider community.

In September the Seniors Open saw a full field and glorious weather. This was followed by the Ladies Open. There was also the East Devon Golf league, with Downes finishing top of their league table.

We must also individually congratulate two of our members. Tracey Chandler on her success in the SW Inter Counties Final, and Lyn Parry for her extraordinary three holes in one in a calendar month!

The above list of activities affords a brief overview of a very busy year. There have also been many friendly matches with other clubs, a good number of Sponsors days and Charity events. We have been pleased to welcome many visitors, who have chosen to visit and play our super course.

We look forward to 2026 as it is a special year for Downes Golf Club.