A group of 38 children or grandchildren much enjoyed the complimentary kid’s Christmas party hosted by former club president Steve McGowan, Santa and his helpers at Castletown Golf Club last week.

The staff at the newly-named Salt and Swing Cafe and Bar played a giant part by supplying ‘scrumdiddlyumptious’ faire and fizzy pop.

Because of the wind and rain there was a somewhat depleted field for the Xmas Scramble on Saturday. Nevertheless, the scoring was good and only one point separated the top three teams.

Richard ‘Tic’ Connolly, Chris Till, and Simon Murray joined up with former member Neil Harris who has only rejoined after spending 11 years working in Switzerland.

They began with an eagle and ended with their fourth birdie ‘en route’ to a 66 which netted down to a winning 61.

The next two teams had to be separated by way of countback on nett 62. David Campbell, Mark Grace, Bryan McMahon and Alex Townsend birdied two of the first four holes then parred their way home for a two under total of 70/62.

With only a seven-shot handicap compared to Campbell and co’s eight, Angus Alexander, Dermot Hamill, Dave Litton and Anthony O’Mahony were the countback casualties on 69/62 after seven birdies and four bothersome bogeys.

There were no midweek stablefords or Sunday competitions to report on but this coming Saturday the much-awaited ‘Team 20/20’ takes place.

Each four-ball has to decide where to take their 20 stableford scores on each half. Choices can’t be retrospective so elements of chance and speculation will add spice to this competition.

Happy New Year.

MALCOLM LAMBERT