TUESDAY’S DO GET BETTER

DRYSDALE/DALLAS TROPHIES - P&K GIRLS REPORT -
Congratulations to Kirsten Miller from Strathmore GC who won the scratch prize at today’s meeting at Muckhart
She holed out from the fairway on the last to pip Lauren Pirie.
Whilst she was doing this Cammy played in the Burntisland Junior Open shot a nett 62 won the Handicap section and picked up a £15 voucher.
I had another Taster session tonight and it looks like we could have another new girl member.
What a day !!!

MONDAYS DON’T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS

First up Karen one of the mums we took out last week joined making it 13 new parent members. Tonight we broke another record when 19 juniors and 9 adults took part in our growing popular Family Fun nights. Rosie, Kian, Karen and Dawn pipped Gemma, Daniel, James and I by the best back 6.
At the same time our Bell Trophy Team were hosting Auchterarder and Cameron and Stuart were having to play off 28 instead of 31 and 36 respectively. Our team did not disappoint and all 4 returned fantastic results. Kirsten won 3&2, Blair won 4&2, Cameron won 3&1 and Stuart won 4&3. Cammy made a really great speech courtesy of winning by the least. So proud of all our players and this sets it up for a fantastic weekend to come when the Bell Trophy Team host Milnathort on Saturday and our Golfsixes Team head for Montrose on Sunday. The excitement within the club is growing every day and we don’t know what to expect next.

WHAT AN AMAZING WEEKEND

Yesterday was President’s Day and Cameron won the Junior President’s Cup with a superb round of 35 points.

Next up today was a trip to Arbroath for our Golfsixes Team. Everyone arrived early and were busy practicing their putting then we went down to the driving range and I was so impressed with all of their swings. Fraser and Stuart were hitting it miles. Lochlan and Adrian were not far behind them and Keegan and Murray were working on their distance control. The improvements these youngsters have made are a testament to this format and they are having so much fun.

Zoe received her 1st Certificate and you don’t have to ask her to smile as she never stops smiling. 

The team then joined Kirriemuir on the 1st tee and off they went. All 3 pairings looked strong and when they came in it appeared they had all played well. I have just received today’s final result and am delighted and extremely proud as the team pulled off an amazing win by 3 points meaning it’s all to play for over the next 2 weekends with us only1 point behind Carnoustie. 

EMILY WINS HER FIRST TROPHY

Tonight we held another of our family fun nights but numbers were severely down. We teamed up Archie, Keegan, Ian and Anne and Emily was with the dad Scott and Dawn and I. Team Emily had a fantastic score of 24.

JUNIOR OPEN/GOLF SIXES OPEN 2019

Such a brilliant day. 8 players in the Pairs Texas Scramble 9 hole Open with Archie and Keegan winning by 1 shot from 2 other pairings. Conor Graham (Blairgowrie) won the Boys Scratch Open with a superb gross 74  and Rachel Mathieson from (Hazelhead) won the girls.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GOLFSIXES EXPLAINED

Junior convenor has his say on the subject, click on to play full interview.

HUGE 5 DAYS COMING UP

Thursday 25th - 2 Junior Opens at Strathmore
Friday 26th - Family Fun Night
Saturday 27th - Junior President’s Day
Sunday 28th - Golfsixes away at Arbroath
Monday 29th - Junior Bell Trophy Match v Auchterarder and Family Fun Night

ANOTHER BRILLIANT TASTER SESSION

Louise joined me tonight for her taster session and think we might have discovered another future Lady member. Being a hockey player she already has great hand, eye and ball co-ordination so chipping and full swings came very natural but like most Golf beginners putting will be the main improvement area but easily remedied with a bit of practice. She was a very good listener and picked up on any changes very quickly.
Strathmore Ladies Scratch League team represented by Amy and Kirsten along with Kirsty and Dawn had a tremendous 5v0 win away at Rosemount tonight.

CONGRATULATIONS MEGAN

 P&K Players in Scotland Squads!!!

Absolutely incredible news "hot off the press". See report below from P&K County Golf
Scottish Golf have announced their squads for this year's Home Internationals.
In the Girls event, Strathmore's Megan Ashley and our new Scottish Amateur Girls Champion Katy Alexander from Blairgowrie are included in the squad that will play at Downfield between 7th & 9th August.
In the Boys event, Blairgowrie duo of Gregor Graham and Cormac Sharpe are joined in the sqaud by Muckhart's Andrew Thornton.  They will play at Ashburnham in Wales between 6th & 8th August.
For our "small" county to have 5 players selected to play is just incredible.
So much effort has gone into developing our Junior Set Up with coaching and events that enhance what has been happening at club level.  The vision and changes adopted at County Level a number of years ago that mirror Scottish Golf's Development & Performance Acadamies is now delivering the success we see today.
There are too many people to thank for helping make this happen, but most notably it was the change of direction put in place by the late Barrie Douglas, supported by the P&K Exec, then followed up at Club & County level by Stuart Graham, Iain Butchart, Rodney Neil and others.
This is now continuing at Milnathort with Gillian and Alastair Wallace and their team, at Muckhart with Rosemary Turlik and all her team, Strathmore continue to buck all national trends with Iain, Dawn, Jackie, Frankie and all their helpers.  We have some re-surgence in the North of the County with all the efforts of Susi Lumsden at Taymouth, Pitlochry are now laying the foundations again, as are Kinross, Crieff, Auchterarder and Murrayshall.  The introduction of the "Golf 6's" programme will really boost these Clubs next year. 
A special mention must go to all the parents who spend their lives as taxi drivers taking our players to all points of the compass locally, nationally and even internationally - your assistance and support is really appreciated.
We may be one of the smallest "Counties" in terms of numbers - but our framework and structure is in place and having 5 players selected to represent their country is just simply INCREDIBLE!  Well Done Everyone in P&K.

Brilliant for Megan, and both Katy and Cormac started off at Strathmore, so testament indeed to our coaching set up.

WHAT A TURNOUT

14 Juniors and 9 Adults took part tonight in our latest Family Fun Event, biggest turnout yet. Looks like we have at least 2 of the Ladies who came to the sessions last week joining so that would take us up to 14 new Adult Leitfie members this year. It was so much fun and everyone really enjoyed playing. Chloe, Lochlan and I ran out winners with a level par round courtesy to Lochlan holing a long birdie putt from off the green on the 7th. Can’t wait to see how many turn up on Friday and Monday nights. Let’s see if we can break another record. Keegan also brought back his signed top from the Scottish Open.

FIRST JUNIOR BELL TROPHY MATCH

Crieff away was always going to be a tricky match and with Cammy and Stuart having to play off a maximum of 28 it was going to be difficult but the team nearly pulled it off losing 2.5 to 1.5. Cammy despite having to play off 28 won 3&1, James halved his match, Blair lost 4&3 and Stuart lost 2 down. Close and hopefully will give these lads the experience they need in match play situations.

SEMI FINAL DEFEAT FOR KIRSTEN

Just had a message from Kirsten and although she is disappointed at losing out this morning she praised her 7 handicap opponent who was level par through 14. The positive thing is she played well and can now look forward to the Scottish Girls u16 with renewed confidence. Great performance over the last 3 days.

KIRSTEN MAKES HER MARK IN SCOTTISH GIRLS AMATEUR

What a superb result for Kirsten this afternoon winning 6&4 in the quarter finals. Roll on the semi finals tomorrow. Spoke to Kirsten and she said she had played really well and is definitely up for it tomorrow.

SURPRISING SATURDAY

Horrendous rain this morning so didn’t think anyone would turn up but they did. Blair got fitted for a new set of irons, new member Emily picked up a brand new set of clubs on the hire scheme and also fell heir to a pair of size 2 golf shoes. In total 5 teams went out for our Saturday Golfsixes Family Fun Event and myself and Chloe just sneaked it by 1 shot with a 1 over par 28 from Ian and Murray and Blair and Archie both with 29’s. At Blairgowrie Kirsten won her last 16 match 3&2 and will be full of confidence going into her quarter final match this afternoon. Blair and Cammy are out this afternoon in the Junior Competition so it’s all go again.

STRATHMORE NOW LEAD THE WAY IN GROWING GOLF

A few weeks ago I was approached by St Michael’s Golf Club regarding hiring golf clubs for 2 months during the summer. I told them that’s not what we did but asked why they wanted them. Turned out it was to run sessions for the children of Army personnel at the local base at Leuchars so I discussed this with SSE and they agreed that for a contribution I could donate our old sets to enable another club to replicate our scheme. George was delighted to hear this as it was saving them £750 from buying new and a win win position for everyone involved. If they have the success we have had then perhaps we can reverse the trend of falling numbers. I have another set being hired our tomorrow bringing our total this year to 48. To top this off we have another Lady looking for a Taster Session and the possibility of a Monifieth youngster looking to join. Add to that another entry for our Golfsixes Open on Thursday and I think we have the perfect setup. The hard work continues to promote Strathmore Golf Club.

BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS

Scottish Girls Amateur Championship.
Unfortunately Megan had to withdraw due to a back injury, suspected ligament problem. Met up with her today and she is gutted. Misses this event and possibly could miss out on playing next week in the Pro-am at Gleneagles. But as I said to her she has should wait until she is fit to play as her long return  fitness is more important than taking a chance and perhaps making things worse. It was left to Kirsten to fly the Strathmore flag and she didn’t let Strathmore down by qualifying for the Handicap match play knockout’s and with her confidence up I believe she can be very hard to beat, she has the ability and the game to match.

ANOTHER BUSY COUPLE OF DAYS

2 Ladies Taster Session with 2 attending each one. I am very hopeful we may have attracted another 4 members. Was very impressed by all  their swings, very natural and all 4 can certainly hit a ball. More exciting news tonight when past Strathmore Junior member Hazel McGarvie’s Mum got in touch to say Hazel would like to donate clubs and bags to our Hire Scheme and she will bring them up when she represents Scotland at Downfield in the Home Internationals on the 7th to 9th August. Tomorrow Megan and Kirsten tee it up the the Scottish Girls Amateur Championship at Blairgowrie and our best wishes go with them.

ONLY AWAY FOR 3 FULL DAYS BUT SO MUCH HAPPENING

Where do I start. 2 new Junior members and father has joined Leitfie as well. We now have 73 junior members up from 67 last year. We lost 16 last year, some due to age which we have no control over and others who had tried Golf but had decided that other commitments had taken precedence. We have introduced 12 new Adult Leitfie Members already this year, 8 mums, a grandmother and 3 dad’s along with 22 new Juniors. 34 new Strathmore members. We now have 23 Girls in the section which may be the biggest in Scotland, I stand to be corrected. Benjamin swapped his clubs for new ones tonight and Ruby will be next very soon. We currently have 46 sets hired out but Emily needs to join my Hire Scheme extending our record breaking season. 3 more mums approached me tonight looking for Taster Sessions for themselves so we now have 7 wanting to have a go. With our biggest turnout tonight 10 youngsters taking part along with 4 adults this is growing into something special and I believe we have found another winning formula. Parents and youngsters out playing and having fun. This Saturday at 10am we have another fun event which will be followed by another on Monday night at 5.30pm and all juniors and any family members who are members of the Golf Centre can also take part. Let’s make Strathmore the Family Club and get more people involved.
We have a huge week ahead with the Scottish Girls at Blairgowrie with Kirsten and Megan playing. Our first Junior Bell Trophy Match takes place on Sunday at Crieff and I have every confidence in the team we have this year to go there and get a result.
Megan sent me a message tonight - Hi Iain, I received a phone call today inviting me to play in a pro-am at gleneagles next week! They wanted an all girls team because of the Solheim Cup and I will be playing with Hannah McCook. It's a 3 day event and we play a round a day wed, thurs and fri with a welcome dinner on tuesday night and a closing dinner on friday!  Unfortunately this means I won't be able to play in the junior open at strathmore. I'm really sorry but I hope you understand this is a great opportunity. Of course I said yes and what an opportunity!!
Strathmore Juniors just keep raising that barrier a little higher each time.

RESULTS FROM THE SCOTTISH OPEN

Keegan finishes 2nd in 6-8 age group and Archie 4th in 9-10. Well done boys

STRATHMORE BOYS PLAY AT THE SCOTTISH OPEN

Ok it was the Drive, chip and putt event before the Hero’s Challenge but they loved it !!! Archie and Keegan had a great time met some of the Pro’s and Vernon Kay. We loaned the boys Strathmore Junior Team Shirts to promote the Section however Keegan couldn’t resist getting his hero’s autographs all over his shirt and he might not want to give it back !!! We might even frame it. Unfortunately the boys were in different age group categories and only Keegan’s dad took photos.

Earlier in the day Sam picked up his new Clubs and is delighted with them.

ANOTHER COUPLE OF RECORDS GO AGAIN

Tonight Strathmore Juniors created another record by becoming the first all Girl P&K Scratch League team to win a match. Playing Muckhart at Strathmore it was a close run thing. Megan won 2&1, Kirsten lost 2&1 and Amy was 1 up coming up the last. 2 terrific shots left her just off the green and a pitch to 4ft left her with 2 putts to secure victory but in typical Amy style she holed it for a birdie and a 2 up win. I am so proud that we have an all Girls team as I was instrumental in getting the first girls ever to play in P&K Junior Scratch League. Megan and Emily Aird were the first followed by Hannah Robb then Kirsty Brodie and now we have an all Girl Team. More good news on the Girl front Megan and Amy have asked Kirsten to be their vice captain and she has accepted and will be Junior Captain 2020, and I for one could not think of someone so worthy of this honour.
Next up we upgraded Taylor and Jett’s hired sets and then another record went when Cameron became our 47 junior this year to use our scheme and he went straight to the range to try them out and is delighted with them.
Then it was our usual Monday night Golfsixes Fun Event. Archie drew the cards and ended up with me. We used 5 of his tee shots, he played 2 holes completely on his own and chipped over the hump on the 9th to 18 inches then holed out. His putting was superb holing from 18 inches, 3, 6, 8 and 10ft. Archie assisted by me shot a level par 27. 2 bogeys, 2 birdies and 5 pars.

ANOTHER TROPHY FOR MEGAN

P&K Junior Handicap Champion 2019 to be added to her already successful season. Great result and great score.

WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED IS BEING RECOGNISED

With 20 New Junior members (including 8 girls), 8 Mums, 2 Dads and a Grandmother already joined up this year and another 2 youngsters and a Dad about to join next week we are producing results the envy of most Clubs. This is done through the hard work of the Junior Committee and how we organise and run the Section. Our emphasis is on providing a fun and safe environment for youngsters to participate in a sport which will teach them life skills, make friends, improve their health and give them future employment opportunities. Our unique Club Hire Scheme has assisted us in achieving this and SSE have already recognised this and have recently given us a Grant of £6,000 to replace all our existing hire sets. The Club recently applied to the Solheim Community Fund 2019 and have been awarded a Grant of £2,500 towards the cost of a Administration and Storage facility which will be sited beside the driving range.
With 4 more Mums still to attend a Taster session we have already surpassed all our membership expectations but am sure there is more to follow.
Last year we had 38 sets of clubs hired out and with 8 being returned we started this year with 30 on hire. This has grown to 46 and with 3 more sets going out next week could we make 50 by the end of the year ?
We have some more amazing news in the pipeline but it will need to wait until it happens before it becomes public.

FINALS DAY

Congratulations to Amy for winning the Scratch against last years Champion Kirsten. Good match but Amy’s length off the tee made it difficult for Kirsten. Cammy won the Handicap event as his opponent could not make the final, but well deserved as he had played so well in the qualifiers. Next year it’s the Ladies for Amy, leaving Kirsten to take on one of the boys. Hopefully we will have enough players coming through that not only will we have both finals but maybe get back to semi finals as well.
Dawn lost in the Ladies final on the 36th hole, congratulations to Judy.