Difficult conditions at Forrest Little last Sunday were reflected in a winning score of 27 points for a men's 12-hole fourball. So, there was clearly merit in 28 points for a women's competition, writes Dermot Gilleece.

Men stood open-mouthed, however, on learning that it had been done over nine holes. And they were positively flattened to be informed it was also a singles competition. Indeed the only predictable aspect of the performance was that Joan Maher from Swords, playing off 37, won the back-nine event by no fewer than 12 points.

With two strokes per hole, points tend to pile up fairly quickly when a player starts par, eagle. In fact that eagle was a hole-in-one at the short 11th where Maher found the target with a three-wood tee-shot. So, after those two holes alone, she had 10 points in the bag.

After a break of several years, the revived Mid West Alliance held its first outing of the season at Adare on Sunday. The Robert Trent Jones-designed course was in great condition for the 44 competitors.

Newly-qualified Limerick professional Lee Harrington took the top gross prize with a three-under-par 69 for 39 points. Lee Harrington, a son of former Irish Close champion Jackie Harrington, included an eagle and two birdies in his round. Dave Finn (Mallow) pipped Arthur Pierce (Tipperary) on countback for second prize after both carded level par 72s. The nett honours went to four-handicapper John Morrison (Cahir Park), who was also around in level for an excellent 40 points.

Four more outings to Adare are planned over the winter with the next one on January 9th. Enquiries to 061 605 260.

Foxrock assistant Leslie Walker is in a rich vein of form at present, having won in each of his last four appearances. The most recent was in last week's Links outing at Seapoint where the big hitter took top prize to add to victories in the Moran Cup, the Curragh Winter Series event and the Sean Skehan Pro-Am in Portugal.

Santa Claus will visit Killarney golf club on Saturday week, but Christmas arrived early for two players last Sunday when Stephen O'Connor won the hamper competition over the Killeen course with 41 points and Pat L Courtney took the honours at Mahony's Point with 39.

Power was the winning ingredient at West Waterford over the weekend where 18-handicapper Tony Power took the club singles competition with a superb return of 41 points for 16 holes. The only player to come within eight points of the winning score was the winner's brother Joe Power who totalled 39. Powerless in the face of such scoring was third-placed Michael French with 33.