GOLFSIXES TEAM AWAY TO AUCHTERARDER

James and Tarah, Adrian and Lewis and Louis and Keir played the first GolfSixes at Auchterarder today and everyone had a brilliant time. Crieff won the event with 119 points and we were pipped by Auchterarder by 1 point for second place. The kids loved it and will be more confident the next time. Congratulations to Crieff who ran out winners on the day. We held our last spring coaching session today and expect all our junior to get out there practicing and playing. 

EXCITEMENT BUILDING

Looking forward to the summer with huge optimism. The enthusiasm shown by the juniors to get out there and play is very encouraging and I have identified quite a few youngster who I believe can progress further and over the next 2 months will spend time taking them to the next level. Dawn and I started the process today and asked Lewis to join us out on the course. I recently upgraded his hire clubs and wow what a difference. His tee shots were tremendous and he has a nice low trajectory with a slight draw which adds great distance. Woods and iron play is also good and we are meeting up next week to work on the only improvement areas identified today which is chipping and pitching around the greens. His putting is good and we will also be working on a few routines to tighten this up but in saying that we definitely have another tremendously talented youngster who I suspect will improve rapidly as he also has the right attitude to work on his game and improve. So many cards coming in over the last 2 days for the Leitfie Summer League, more Certificates more Handicap cuts and more improvements. With Saturday being the last Spring coaching session I expect all of you will continue to come along and play. It’s the only way to get better and we look forward to receiving your score cards so we can evaluate who is improving and who may need assistance and can programme assistance appropriately. 

RESULT FROM SKILLS CHALLENGE

1st Blair Hockley, 2nd Conan Reid, 3rd Stuart Duncan, 4th Tarah Simpson, 5th Tom Stevenson, 6th Lochlan Stewart 

First Golden ticket goes to Blair but still all to play for in the Golden Ticket Medal. Special mention to Tarah and Tom neither of whom have Full Handicaps yet but both excelled at short game skills. Next up is the GolfSixes at Auchterarder on Saturday and the debuts of 5 players in the Strathmore team. 

SKILLS CHALLENGE

Day 1 of the skills challenge complete, great fun which everyone enjoyed. Big thanks to Dawn and Kirsten who assisted with the scoring. Looking forward to Day 2. Loads of certificates handed out today and more cards returned and Handicaps achieved. Cameron took the honours on Rannaleroch with 44 points reducing his handicap to 14. Great to see the consistancy in the other scores. 

NEW STOCK ARRIVED TODAY

After weeks of waiting, 5 out of the 12 sets arrived this afternoon, the other 7 should arrive tomorrow and the final 4 sets will hopefully be here in Autumn. We will have upgraded 28 sets this year and now have new sets for both right and left handed players from age 4 to 18 in our Hire Scheme. Looks like I’m going to have a busy time starting tonight. 

WELL DONE P&K LADIES

P&K Ladies retained the North Division Inter County Championship today at Monefieth. After wins against Aberdeenshire by 5&4 and Northern Counties 7&2 it all came down to today’s match against Angus. In the morning foresomes Angus ran out 2.5 to 0.5 meaning P&K had to win 4 of the 6 afternoon. Emily lost the first match but Jen won the second. With Megan and Katy already confirmed as winning their matches and Laura losing hers it came down to Kirsty who won 17 to go one up and had to get at least a half down the last, which she did to secure the win for the team. Congratulations to the team and great that 4 of the squad started at Strathmore Juniors. 

Over the weekend Kirsten reduced her handicap to 6.4 and finished 8th overall in the Stephen Gallagher Vase and when I get home I have loads of cards to update for the Leitfie Summer League. 

ANOTHER UNBELIEVABLE DAY

Where do I start. Dropped off Dawn and Jackie at Monifieth to watch 4 past Strathmore girls represent P&K Ladies defend their Jamboree title and they weren’t disappointed with a 5&4 win over Aberdeenshire. Arrived back at Strathmore for coaching and was amazed at all the donations that had been handed in. An electric trolley, a 3 wheel trolley, 6 pairs of shoes, a carry bag, Cobra driver and 3 wood, ladies waterproof set, 2 waterproof tops, various towels and a box of a dozen balls. Thanks to everyone for their generosity these items will be put to good use asap. Keegan brought along 3 cases of drinks to celebrate his hole in one. Accompanied Archie and James today and was impressed by both players, Conan took the honours today in the Summer League with 41 points. Cormac is lying in 2nd place in the Stephen Gallagher and Kirsten made the cut and both play tomorrow in the final round. Emily Aird is 

playing her last tournament as an amateur before becoming our 4th PGA professional and taking up an assistants position at Saffron Walden. Took Louis out for 18 holes the other night and was impressed with his play but unfortunately his score has hampered by too many bunkers and putts but he is definitely another bright prospect. 

GOLDEN TICKETS

We have set dates for our Skills Test and Golden Ticket Medal. We are going to run the skills test along with our coaching sessions on Saturday 18th June - 10-11, 11-12, 12-1 and 2-3pm and Monday 21st June - 5-6, 6-7 and 7-8pm. Our Golden Ticket Medal will be played on Saturday 10th July first tee off time 12pm. Another reason to step up the practicing. Winners must be under 16. 

HANDICAP UPDATE

Last nights result has brought some great handicap cuts. Blair 9.4 joins Kirsten 7.1 and becomes our latest single figure handicapper after a 4 shot reduction. Cameron and Stuart also had 2 shot reductions and now play off 16.3 and 16.6 respectively. Lewis and Adrian have had their first Handicaps confirmed as 34.1 and 40.7 and a few others will be joining them soon. Combined with 38 cuts to Fun Handicaps since the start of the season this year improvements are impressive. With emphasis being put on short game coaching hopefully others will soon be reducing their Handicaps. 

ANOTHER INTERESTING NIGHT

Final Club Championship qualifier took place tonight with some excellent scoring. Blair led the way with an outstanding gross 76 nett 63, coming home in 34 with birdies at 10 and 13. He is the top Scratch qualifier and will play 2nd qualifier Kirsten in the final. Cameron had a nett 67 and Stuart a nett 68. The handicap final will be between Cameron and Lochlan. Whilst all this was going on Dawn and I had the pleasure to accompany Callum out to assess his readiness for the Rannaleroch Course. Before we started I decided to upgrade his Hire Clubs so this was the first time he was going to play with them. We were going to play 18 but after 9 it looked like rain was setting in so we decided to stop but by that time we had seen all we needed to. We both believe we have found a youngster that has so much potential that we have recommended he upgrades his membership immediately and we look forward to working with him over the summer. 

GOLFSIXES GEAR ARRIVES

 Ready and raring to go

ANOTHER PROSPECT

Invited Jack out for his first handicap card and he did very well and after he practices his putting a bit more his score will improve dramatically and he is definitely going to be another bright prospect. Callum knocked 4 shots off his Fun Handicap whilst Tom knocked 2 off his. Dawn and Cameron assisted Angus at the coaching where a number of certificates were presented. 

ANOTHER BRILLIANT DAY

Loads of juniors and parent members out playing today. Upgrades of memberships and cards being submitted for Certificates, Leitfie Summer League and a qualifier for the Junior Club Championship also taking place. I went out with Cameron this afternoon and Dawn was with Conan. Cameron played fantastically well and shot a nett 69 including 6 penalty shots so could have been a 63 and with improvements in uphill putting that could have been even better. What a talent and so much more to come. Whilst we were out playing a very excited Keegan came running across from the 8th green on Leitfie  to the 7th green on Rannaleroch to let me know he had just had a hole in one on the 5th. His dad Lee said that he thought it hadn’t went in and was behind the Flag but Keegan was convinced and ran down to the green and when Lee seen him take off his shirt and do a football celebration he knew he was wrong and Keegan had his first ace. Olly reduced his fun handicap by 4, both Rhys and Luke attained their 1st, 2nd Certificates and Fun Handicaps of 54 and 46 respectively. I believe the group of youngster we have just now are spurring each other on and my enthusiasm which is always at the top end is being equalled. Each day brings more surprises and successes and over the Summer we will be inviting players who have shown commitment to take part in either personal or group sessions on the course working on Course management and other improvement areas. We want to give the most committed players the best opportunity’s to succeed. 

SUPER SATURDAY

Bella and Lottie prove their new hire clubs are an instant success. Both achieved their 1st and 2nd Certificates and Fun Handicaps of 42 & 32 respectively. Ben, Fraser and Lochy also attained Fun Handicaps of 54 whilst Frederick achieved a 50. Ben got a 1st Certificate whilst Frederick his 2nd. 10 cards returned for Leitfie Summer League. Adrian and Lewis played their final cards for Full Congu Handicaps. And on Rannaleroch Blair won the June Medal by one shot from Conan and he also received confirmation that he had won the Archie Foundation Open and will receive a custom fit driver as a prize. At Gullane Kirsten reduced her handicap by 1.5 to 7.1 whilst playing in the Scottish Ladies Amateur and finished 58th. Only Hazel qualified for the top 16 matchplay finishing 4 under par 11th but lost in the first round of Knockouts. Megan at 1 under and Katy at level par qualified for the Clark Rosebowl consolation Trophy and play their semi finals on Sunday morning. 

 

MEMBER 78 JOINS UP

Luke, Jake’s brother today became new member 33 increasing the all time record of new members he also joined the Hire Scheme and was fitted for a set of clubs and also wanted a trolley. Tomorrow he will get a pair of Adidas Golf shoes from our Free Scheme and he was so desperate to try out the clubs I spent some time giving him a short session. He hit some nice iron shots and we tried the driver which he proceeded to hit 130yds straight down the middle. I think there will be a bit friendly rivalry between the 2 brothers and with Jake attaining his 2nd Certificate and Fun Handicap last night it’s going to be fun watching them on the course. We now have 55 sets, 23 trolleys and 3 range finders hired out and 15 youngsters using the free golf shoe scheme.

JUMPING FOR JOY

 This is what it feels like to achieve your 2nd Certificate, well done Jake. 

ANOTHER BUSY DAY

I took out Lewis tonight and Dawn took out Adrian for their second handicap cards, both boys did very well and were a pleasure to accompany round the course. Highlights were Adrian’s birdie 2 on the 4th and Lewis’s back to back pars on 16 & 17. Both are out on Saturday and will then have their 3 cards in. Looks like we could have another new member as well which will take our total memberships up to 78 one short of our record. This season just gets better and better. Another 5 putters have been added to our swap scheme from one of our gents members and our shipment has docked in Glasgow with our upgraded hire clubs and I am looking forward to receiving them around the middle of the month and am looking forward to getting them into use. I’ve arranged to take Jack Stevenson out on Monday for his first card and have another two who I think may be ready and hopefully I can get them out on the course in the near future as well. 

THE SEASON GETS GOING

This weekend junior Captain Kirsten Miller heads to Gullane to play in the Scottish Woman’s Amateur Championship and she will be joined by 4 past Strathmore Girls - Emily Aird, Hazel MacGarvie, Megan Ashley and Katy Alexander. Tonight Dawn and I are taking Lewis and Adrian out for cards for handicap and both will soon be joining our growing band of Full Congu Handicap players. Last weeks coaching where we concentrated on using different clubs around the greens for pitching and chipping is certainly paying dividends with Jack Stevenson telling me it helped him to a magnificent 37 round Leitfie after starting with 6,5 he then went 4,4,3,3,4,4,4. Tremendous scoring and another 4 stroke handicap reduction and another player who has been invited out for a card for handicap on Rannaleroch. Another youngster who has made dramatic progress over the last couple of weeks is Saoirse, her swing speed and the power generated has made such a difference. She attained her first Certificate easily by being able to nearly drive the first green and with not the best tee shot on 9 making the green in 2 with a great 2nd shot. It’s so exciting to see the progress these youngsters are making and the smiles and the happy dances certainly shows that they are loving it. 

GOLDEN TICKET AWAITS 2 LUCKY STRATHMORE JUNIORS

We have been selected as one of fifty Scottish Golf Clubs to participate in this inaugural event to send 2 Juniors along to the AIG Woman’s Open receiving a personal masterclass and meeting some of the Worlds top lady golfers. We are busy organising a skill challenge and a Golden Ticket Medal where both winners will qualify. In the event of the same player winning both then the 2nd player in the skills challenge will qualify.

Golden Ticket Giveaway

In celebration of 100 days to go until the AIG Women’s Open tees off at Carnoustie this summer, the R&A launched a Golden Ticket campaign offering 100 junior golfers across Scotland a golden ticket to the Championship. 

With their golden ticket in hand, junior golfers will be treated to a special masterclass on Monday 16^th August when they will receive top tips from some of the world’s best players as well as enjoy an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Championship. 

As a participating Golf Club, you will receive 2 golden tickets to award junior golfers who, in their own play, exhibit the values of the AIG Women’s Open including inclusivity, inspire others to enjoy the sport and actively engage with golf on and off the course. 

Below is our suggested criteria on what qualities a Golden Ticket winner should have, but as I mentioned Clubs are free to determine how they pick their 2 winners: 

• Is a junior player (boys and girls) 
• Is under 16 years of age
• Inspires and engages those around them on and off the course
• Is actively involved in their club
• Challenges perceptions and speaks up for what’s right
• Is inclusive by nature and eagerly participates in club activities
• Wants to help shape the future of golf