LIVE NEWS FROM LANZAROTE

Well done Brad keeping his form going with a great one under par round. 

 

 

THE SJGT CLASS AT ELMWOOD

Scottish Junior Golf Tour

Here are the results from the Scottish Junior Golf Tour event at Elmwood yesterday. It was a level 4 and 5 event. 

Another perfect day for golf and the Elmwood course is still in great condition for this time of year with super greens. 

The best score on the day came from St Andrews student and longest serving member of the Junior Tour, George Burns, pictured, with a two-under-par 68. Brad Bannerman and Graeme Greer both shot one under 69s. 

 

LEADING SCORES

Under 18 years

68 George Burns (Williamwood)

69 Brad Bannerman (Strathmore)

71 Ellis Hart (Dullatur), Fraser Kane (Kirkhill),  Andrew McColl (Erskine) 

72 Andrew Gibson (Blairgowrie), Euan Gill (Inverness)

 

Under 16 years

69 Graeme Greer (Carluke)

71 Murray McCrone (Troon Welbeck)

75 Calum Elliott (Haggs Castle)

 

Under 15 years

70 David Rudd (Longniddry)

72 Aidan Husenne (Haggs Castle), Aidan Smith (Edzell), Jack Williams (Sandyhills)

73 Greg Dalziel (Airdrie), Ewan Wheat (Royal Montrose)

Your Junior convenors work is never done !!!

 

PERTH & KINROSS AGM

So proud tonight. Michael, Brad, Alex, Tod, Kirsty and Amy to see how far you all have progressed makes what I do such a pleasure. I know the hard work you put in and it is a privilege to have such talented juniors at Strathmore who are dedicated to the sport of golf. Tonight was a milestone where Michael took Strathmore juniors to a new level by being presented with the Gents major trophy and we won numerous others. I believe this is only the start and next year will see more amazing results !!

What a season for Michael and his trophy collection.

3 Man team trophy winners by 17 shots !!!!!!

Scratch league runners up team

Scratch league squad 2014

MIDLANDS ALLIANCE

Rory Tinker made an impressive start to his professional career with a 4th place finish at Balbirnie with a 2 under par 69. I came in with a 72 finishing =13th scratch and =4th nett. Both of us should be in the money and we both qualified for the Championship to be held at Lundin Links.

Balbirnie Park

The Midland Golfers' Alliance held this week's meeting at Balbirnie Park in Fife. Mike McKenzie AP, Edzell won his first Alliance of the year with a 5 under par score of 66. Their was a three way tie for the handicap prize with Jim Irwin Muckhart, 8, Jim Meddick Murrayshall, 12 and Douglad Fordyce Dun Ochil, 14 all scoring net 65.   Leading Scratch scores   66           M. MacKenzie   AP, Edzell 67           G. Brown             AP, Montrose 68           S. Craig                  P, S. Craig Golf 69           R. Tinker               AP, Piperdam                 G. Tough              Edzell, +2 70           J. Watt                  Edzell, 1                 W. Hutton           Pitlochry, 2                 F. Mann                P, Carnoustie 71           B. Stewart           Tulliallan, 1                 D. West                                Burntisland, 3                 S. McKendrick    Dunkeld, Scr                 M. Pirie                 P, Pitlochry   Leading Handicap Scores   65           J. Irwin                  Muckhart, 8                 J. Meddicks         Murrayshall, 12                 D. Fordyce           Dun Ochil, 14 67           A. McLeod           Alloa, 5                 J. Graham            Alloa, 6                 D. Redford          Murrayshall, 11                 I. Butchart           Strathmore, 5                 B. Crosbie            Blairgowrie, 5                 A. Mason             Thornton, 9   Qualifiers for the JTC Kitchens Championship in April at Lundin Links   R. Tinker              AP, Piperdam D. West                                Burntisland, 3 A. McLeod          Alloa, 5 C. Billows             AP, Gleneagles I. Butchart           Strathmore, 5 B. Crosbie            Blairgowrie, 5   Qualifiers for the McQueen Shield in April at Lundin Links   J. Irwin                                  Muckhart, 8 J. Meddicks        Murrayshall, 12 D. Fordyce          Dun Ochil, 14

NEW RECORD SET FOR TEXAS SCRAMBLE

Alex, Kirsty and myself were joined by 10 year old Finlay McCoshim today and we decided to play a Texas Scramble. As Finlay has still to obtain a handicap we thought it was only fair to restrict the use of only 1 of his drives instead of 3 but increased ours from 3 to 4. Off we set from the winter tees to the summer greens. Alex found the green with his second shot and followed up by holing from 25ft for an opening eagle and perfect start. We missed a good birdie chance on 2 but made up for it on 3 when Finlay played a sublime greenside bunker shot to set up another birdie. Alex found the green on 4 and when his putt slipped past Finlay stepped up to convert from 10ft. Pars followed on the next 4 holes before I managed to hole a putt from just off the green on 9 to take us to the turn in 30. Our back 9 started birdie, birdie, eagle and when Finlay's tee shot finished just short of the green on 13 we secured our 4th 3. 3's followed on 14 and 15 where Kirsty's approach left a tap in. A par on 16 broke our run of 3's but Kirsty got us back on track by nearly following up on last weeks hole in one with another one, her tee shot just missed the hole and another tap in put us back on level 3's. A monster drive from Alex left us with 130 and my approach was pin high and Kirsty holed the putt for a back 9 of 27 and a round of 57 knocking 2 shots off our previous best. Can we go lower ? Time will tell.

This is how close Kirsty was on 17 

AMY TAKES THE HONOURS

Alex decided the format today and opted for the points game for the 3 of us. We were playing winter tees to summer greens and made the mistake of giving Amy 7 extra shots being the difference in par on the winter course so after 9 holes Amy had 23 points I had 16 and Alex 15 we decided to level things out a bit Amy agreed to take 3 shots less on the back 9 but still won 19 to my 18 and Alex's 17. Great fun and donkey is taking a lot longer now as Amy's putting has improved tremendously. I now have another convert who understands the importance of putting practice. We now have a couple of weeks break for coaching and look forward to our next session on the 6th of December. 

Looking forward to tomorrow and to see who turns up to play ?

CLUB AGM

So proud of our section tonight and the acknowledgements we received in the captains, Centre reports and the Gents Champions speech. It is amazing what we have achieved and cannot thank the Centre enough for their continued support. They share my belief that the future of the club lies with the juniors and our success is now not only recognised at County but also at National level. With our first ex junior turning Professional, 3 players capped at International level, one of only two clubs to have 3 players in the Scottish Golf Academy coaching programme, having both the top placed boy and girl at the Scottish under 14 Championship and McInnis Shaw cup winner at the Scottish Ladies Close Championship Strathmore are the most successful Junior Section in the country. 

At County level we have the Gents county stroke play champion, Junior match play champion, Junior Order of Merit winner and runner up, 3 times winner and holder of the under 14 coaching medal, 2 times winner and holder of under 14 championship, all 7 players who entered qualified to the final 24 places in the Race to Kingsbarns and took 3 of the top 4 places, Karyn Dallas Quaich winner, A&J Stephens trophy winner, runners up in the Junior Scratch League, semi finalists in the Junior Bell Trophy and so many other individual successes at County competitions, meetings and Opens. 

I believe there is more to be achieved with our juniors and look forward to 2015 and what our next success will be.

ANOTHER FUN DAY ON THE COURSE

Today it was the turn of the next generation to be tested on the big course. Finlay McCoshim was out for the 2nd week running and hit a lot of good shots and holed some good putts. Flora McGregor proved today she is definitely ready for the step up, her driving especially was very impressive and consistent and her iron play and putting was also controlled. Caitlin Sellen enjoyed her game and will no doubt make improvements next year when hopefully we can arrange an all girl coaching group. Dawn and I played a Texas scramble with them today and the score was impressive. A par start was followed by 2 birdies,par , bogey followed by 4 pars took us to the turn in 34 and 1 under. 3 straight birdies put us 4 under and a Finlay par on 13 kept us on track. As we had advised parents to return at 3pm or game was cut short but I am confident these players can further enhance Strathmore's future. I believe their commitment and enthusiasm will make sure they progress and I will enjoy watching their improvements.

FUN, FUN, FUN AND WHAT A SCORE

Today I invited Strathmore's 3 Scottish Golf Academy players to join me to have some fun on the course and I decided we should set a record for a Texas scramble. Full greens on and most full tees in use, sun shining and it's November. Amy arrived first and we managed to have a quick game of Donkey. Then Kirsty and Alex joined us and off we went. Amy got us off to a flier with a perfect drive up the first and after a par we birdied 2,3 & 4 and parred 5. All of the first 3 tee shots found the green on 6     and when Kirsty struck her tee shot it looked great in the air and landed 4ft short before hitting the pin and dropping into the hole for her first HOLE IN ONE a lot of high 5's and cheers followed before Kirsty picked her ball out of the hole and off we went 5 under after 6 holes. Birdies at 7 & 9 gave us a front 9 of 28 - 7 under !!!! Back 9 started with a par but a birdie on 11 was followed by an Alex eagle on 12 - 2nd shot to 10ft and a great putt - high 5's again. Par on 13 then after Alex's drive left us 128yds to the pin his 2nd shot came in off the right and finished pin high and I did remark that was a good line and when I hit mine Alex did say or just go straight at it and with one bounce it hit the pin and dropped. Our 3rd eagle. Still having to use 2 tee shots we parred the next 3 before disappointingly bogeying the last for a 31 - 4 under back 9 for a scratch 59 !!! What an amazing day with 3 tremendous talents. I keep saying our juniors are unbelievable in what they achieve but today just enhanced that. All 3 are up for it and maybe a sub 59 could be achieved as we did leave a couple of shots out there !*!

COURIER HEADLINERS

Some of our 2014 prize winners pictured in Wednesday's Perth and Perthshire edition of the Courier

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME

Lexi Thompson 

What are the two best tips you have been given?

“Number one is definitely to have fun on the golf course no matter how you play, there is always something worse you could be doing! I was always told that you should keep your head up no matter what, don’t get too hard on yourself and always remember that golf is fun. If I had a bad tournament it was just onto the next one, no dwelling on the bad stuff. Positive attitude.

“Number two is making your practice productive. There’s no point just going to the range pounding balls without a structure to what you’re doing. All that will happen is, sure you will loosen up a bit, but you’re probably just reinforcing the mistakes you already have in your game. You have to practice in a productive way, get something specific out of it so you walk away from the practice area thinking ‘I got something out of that’

JOHN ELLIOT Jr.

It's rare to see an adult who uses the practice green as much as the practice range. This chronic neglect of chipping and putting is a mistake you don't want to make with a young child. The rule is this: Never walk past the practice green with a child. Walk on it, then use it. Heighten the child's curiosity about this vital part of the game, and then let the child pursue it. This is the place to introduce kids to competition. They love chipping and putting contests. 

These are 3 tips to remember and ones we have used for years. Have fun, make practice productive and it's the short game that will lower your scores. Donkey has made better putters out of all the players I have helped - guaranteed.

WHAT A YEAR.

I make no apologies for becoming emotional whilst making this years AGM speech as it means so much to me to see what our juniors have achieved. I know how much hard work they put in and they deserve every credit for the results they achieve. Year on year they raise the bar and the exciting thing is I can still see progress being made and now these kids are inspiring the younger ones and so it continues. Over the winter I have some ideas I want to introduce and am already looking forward to next season.

 

Michael Brodie turns 18 in December and becomes an adult member and I would publicly like to thank him for the support he has given me and the section. It has been a pleasure to have watched his progress and by winning the P&K junior stroke play and match play and going one better by winning the Gents P&K stroke play his success at county level has been unrivalled. His other achievements have been becoming the 1st ever home player to have a plus handicap and also winning the Nick Faldo qualifier at Panmure. It has been a pleasure to have Michael as my doubles partner and having won the gents 4 ball and gents foursomes we have had a lot of fun and success. Hopefully if he doesn't go to University in America too early we will have the chance to defend our title and represent the club in the Daily Mail foursomes. Best wishes and good luck for the future and I hope you realise all your dreams. You are a credit to your parents and Strathmore and should be proud all you have achieved and if you ever need a reference just send them to me.