ON April 26 the first of the Junior Opens was held at Downes Crediton Golf Club.

It was very well attended with 52 young people aged between 9 years old and 18 years old, from all over the South West of England.

The weather was set fair with glorious sunshine and the course was looking resplendent.

This enabled some excellent golf to be played, and was backed up with some excellent scoring. The overall winner with 43 points was a local young man called Jake Shepherd.

There were three nearest the pin prizes, each winning a dozen proV1 golf balls.

On the 7th hole it was Isla Schofield nearest the pin. On the 15th, where the ball was seen to lip out of the hole, so close to a hole in one, the winner was Louis Andrews.

The third nearest the pin was on the 18th. A really difficult drive, with left to right cross wind, and it is believed that only two people ended up staying on the green. The honours went to Archer Johnson.

Junior Organiser Nigel Hoskins was very impressed and proud of all the juniors who took part. He said: “Their conduct and their skill level was very pleasing to see, the future looks bright at Downes.”

The regular competitions during the week included, the Wednesday stableford, which was won by Michael Hill, and the Thursday 9 hole stableford won by Alan Drysdale.

On Saturday another large field competed in the Bank Holiday Texas Scramble. The winning team was Chris Carter, Tommy Carter and David Cooper.

The Downes Ladies section played Ilfracombe in the Devon Ladies’ League on Friday, May 1.

After initial rain, the weather cleared and the teams enjoyed a dry round. It was a very close match with Downes Ladies eventually winning by 3½ to 2½.