Saunton Mixed Pairs

Saunton Golf Club is located on the edge of Bideford Bay and the River Taw Estuary in Devon and possesses two of the finest links courses in the country. The area is unique and of international importance being the first site in the UK to become a biosphere reserve.

Day 1 West Course

Slightly shorter that its older sister the East, the West Course at Saunton still represents a fine test requiring accuracy from the tee. A number of narrow streams come into play and many of the holes feature doglegs. The course plays over pleasant undulating links land and the dunes are less imposing than the East.

It was a clear bright morning as the group commenced play and with little wind there was the prospect of some good scores to post. Leading out the group and on their home course, Mel & Sandra Davies would set the pace scoring a very respectable 37pts. The ever dependable team of David Beaney & Alison White (Gerrard Cross) again produced the goods shooting a fantastic 39pts.

But atop of the leaderboard at the end of play were two couples. Neil & Rosemarie Blatch (Willingdon) on their first ever Fairways event, had produced a wonderful debut playing beautifully together and carding a brilliant 40pts. Matching this score and now seemingly always near the top of the leaderboard, Kevin & Val Walsh (Harpenden) which included a wonderful birdie 2 for Val at the delightful par 3 16th hole.

When the dust settled, there was 6 couples within 4 shots of the lead going into tomorrows round. We retired to the wonderful art-deco Saunton Sands hotel for a sumptuous group meal with talk late into the night and looking forward to taking on the East.

Day 2 East Course

Our final morning of our Summer UK Swing 2023 and the weather could not have been better. For all 8 events this year we have managed to dodge all the predicted downpours and amazingly never once was an umbrella required.

The East Course, laid out in 1897 runs through a small part of this amazing expanse of sand dunes. Herbert Fowler added a bit of redesign magic in 1919 taking full advantage of the natural terrain, routing the holes with skill and creating perhaps his finest seaside creation.

First pairing out was John & Barbara Taylor (Leigh). After a disappointing first day’s score of 33pts they had something to prove. With a steady start they built momentum on their first 9 to reach the turn with 21pts. Their fine play continued on the back with each player equally contributing and when they walked off the 18th green signed for a wonderful 42pts. This gave them an aggregate score of 75pts and a long wait to see if it was going to be good enough.

David & Alison finished their campaign with 35pts to come up just 1 point shy of the Taylor’s total. Kevin & Val, one of the overnight leaders, shot 34pts to match David & Alison’s total. Then Richard & Debbie Nichols returned and after shooting 36pts on day one went even better to record 38pts around the East course and join the ever increasing list of couples on a 74pt total.

Now it was just left to Neil & Rosemarie to possibly take the title. After their first round score of 40pts, a score of 36pts was now needed on the East to finish top. Agonisingly, after scoring 1pt on the final they signed for a total of 35pts. This tied them with John & Barbara but because of their better second round score the Taylor’s would claim the spoils on countback.

A record breaking event to finish our UK tour. Not only did 5 couples finish within 1 shot of the lead, it was also a remarkable comeback from John & Barbara being 7 shots behind overnight.