DAINTON Park Golf Club’s 2023 season got off to a flying start with all three captains completing a successful ‘Drive-In’, raising a total of £600 across their chosen charities in the first fundraiser of the season, writes Julie Winsor.

First was Seniors’ Captain Patrick Hastings, driving off on January 19. Patrick hit his ball 188 yards, watched by several members cheering him on. Tony Clements guessed the correct yardage, winning chocolates and wine. Patrick raised £81 for his local charities which include No Limits Café and Forde Park Café in Newton Abbot, both linked in some ways to helping those in society who find learning difficult.

Second was Lady Captain Jo Fisher, who drove off to start her season on Tuesday, January 24, in cold conditions, driving 163 yards down the middle of the fairway and watched by other lady members after playing their morning competition. Sally Pegler won the prize for the correct guess and £210 was raised for Jo’s local charities; Adventure Therapy South Devon and The Computer Club Devon.

Adventure Therapy is a focused group for children/young people with an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), and their siblings/best friends in South Devon. It is an outdoor activity group aimed at promoting cognitive, physical, communication and social interaction skills lost or altered since their injury. Activities such as sailing and abseiling promote strength, stamina, independence and memory skills as relevant to each young person’s needs. They also run an ABI parent/grandparent group once a month.

The Computer Club, for children with physical difficulties, is run in the school summer holidays and provides access to switch-adapted toys/computers, speech devices, eye-gaze and specialist software for the children and their siblings.

On Saturday, January 28, the club had their annual Captains’ Drive-In competition which saw 136 golfers competing in an individual stableford competition.

Division 1 was won by Steve Spicer with 42 points, Division 2 was won by Tracy Crooks on 40 points and Division 3 was won by David Webb with 11 twos recorded on the day.

New Club Captain Rod Gorman held his ‘Drive-In’ once all the golfers had finished their round. Using a wooden-headed driver, he still managed to hit the ball 171 yards down the first tee. Paul Tucker guessed the correct yardage, winning the prize.

But the real winner on the day is the charity Jay’s Aim as £300 funds were raised by members trying to guess how far Roddy would drive the ball. Jay’s Aim was established with the target of reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death among young people here in South-West England.