COURSE WORK TONIGHT

Huge thanks to Vice Captain Cammy for assisting Dawn and I at the Junior coaching tonight. With the sun shining we decided to go out on the course. Some tried for Certificates others played Texas Scramble whilst others played stroke play. Very impressed with everyone. Great to see the juniors having so much fun. 

ANOTHER GREAT COACHING SESSION

Nate has taken a growth spurt and had to have his hire set upgraded and what a difference. His ball striking was very impressive and he was hitting them far better and longer. Anna got a pair of brand new shoes from our free swap scheme and is ready to try for her first Certificate. Dawn was very impressed by Kieran’s putting as was Conan with Theo and Aston’s. A few double no shows tonight which is ok as it gives those who do attend more individual time with the pro. Ellie-Marie found a new friend tonight. 

SO CLOSE

The second leg of the Bell Salver semi final took place today at Strathmore. Taking a 3 v 1 lead we only needed 1.5 to get into the final. Cameron led the team out and lost 2&1. Archie had a great 5&4 win. Jack lost out 4&2 and we needed Stuart to get something from his match.1 down coming up the last he gave himself a great chance and had a putt to win the hole but it agonisingly just missed. That meant Crieff won 3 v 1 and the semi final result was 4 v 4. The teams then had to select a player for a play off. Cameron offered to take the responsibility and went up the first against Callum. Both hit decent drives but Cammy’s second shot found the green side bunker. Callum’s second found the fringe of the green just past pin high. Cammy played a great bunker shot and left himself with a 15 footer. Callum 2 putted from the edge leaving Cammy his putt to halve the hole but unfortunately it missed. Good luck to Crieff in the final, on the day they played the better golf and deserved to go through. Overall a great semi final and our team will learn a lot from today. 

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FIRST WEDNESDAY NIGHT COACHING

Brilliant fun tonight. Angus did the technical part and Dawn and I did the fun part, perfect match. Being able to get the basics right is the first step and adding the fun element is the second part and getting competitive which we managed tonight is the third part. Cracked it and the juniors loved it. 

FIRST MONDAY COACHING SESSION

Great to welcome 5 new members to tonight’s 3 coaching sessions. Theo and Aston were very impressive and look to be very good prospects. Anna, Laura and Hollie who all attended the Girls Hub have also been practicing and it showed with huge improvements. Jon and Ellie-Marie both had their Hire sets upgraded tonight. Conan asked if he could assist at the coaching and it was great to see him getting involved. It’s brilliant to see these youngsters wanting to give something back and also get the the benefit and experience of learning from our fully qualified Professional Coaches. The enthusiasm shown tonight was incredible and the potential is there for some of these youngsters if they continue to play and practice. 

THIS IS HOW TO FOLLOW YESTERDAYS SUCCESSES

Douglas achieves his 1st Certificate, Cooper achieves his 2nd Certificate and first Fun Handicap of 48 and Rosina gets her 2nd handicap cut. Turn up and Play is proving to be a major success already. North Inch was the venue for the final GolfSixes League fixture and our A and B teams did themselves proud finishing First and Second on the day and First and Second overall. Both teams were delighted to receive their Medals and A team the winners Trophy. Keir made a thank you speech and did a great job. We now have the regional final to look forward to at Milnathort on Sunday 25th September. James said he never missed a putt all day !!! Andrew picked up the player of the day Medal after being a late stand in.

WHAT A RESULT

Today started with 4 sessions of coaching. Attended the first 2 and fitted Cameron and Ross for their first set of hire clubs and upgraded Keegan’s set as he had outgrown his current one. He certainly put them to good use shooting 41 points and winning today’s Summer League. Meanwhile I headed to Crieff for the first leg of our Bell Salver semi final against the top seeds. Cameron led out the team and built up a lead, Stuart also built up a lead, Conan playing third also got his head in front. Archie who was giving 7 shots away found himself behind and his opponent was playing very steady and he couldn’t get back into it and lost his match. Cameron and Conan both lost their leads but Stuart stayed ahead and won his match. Conan managed to get himself back ahead as did Cameron and being one up going up the last closed out his match and we got back to the 16th green in time to see Conan also close out his match. I went to Crieff today hoping to take something back to give us a chance at home so with a 3 v 1 win our team excelled and everyone played their part and I am so proud of them all tonight. A fantastic team result but it’s only half time but I’m sure the confidence our team gained from today’s score will help next Sunday. But before that tomorrow it’s the GoldSixes League final event with our A and B teams battling it out for top spot with the North Inch. 

COACHING RESUMES AND TEAMS CONFIRMED

 Tomorrow sees the Autumn coaching starting with Gareth taking 4 sessions. It also sees our first “Turn up and Play” at 11am tomorrow and 12pm on Sunday. The Bell Salver team head to Crieff for a 2.15pm start in the first semi final and with a very strong team on form I expect we can cause an upset and get a result to set up for next weeks return leg. Cameron Redden, Stuart Duncan, Conan Reid and Archie Pattullo will do their best and non travelling reserve Jack Stevenson will be looking forward to next week when he will playing in the team replacing Conan who will be the reserve. Sunday we head to the North Inch where either our A or B team should win the GolfSixes Group but it’s still all to play for. Team A parings Keir Reid & Jessica Sievwright, Tom Stevenson & William Harbison and Olly Stevenson & Jed Campbell with Nate Meikle the non travelling reserve.Team B pairings Ellie-Marie Smart & Emily Harbison, James Thom & Andrew Watt and Tommy Banks & Rory Harrison with Jon Pennycook the non travelling reserve. Had another call yesterday for membership and have had 2 calls this week looking for advice from Golf Clubs one looking to set up a Junior Sections and the other on how to improve their numbers. Was pleased to help them and hopefully they are both successful. 

ANOTHER 4 NEW MEMBERS TODAY !!

Huge welcome to Cameron, Ross, Theo and Aston who took our new member total for 2022 to 47 and total membership to 114 with another 2 to confirm. Cameron and Ross will also join our Club Hire Scheme and be fitted for sets before they start their first coaching session on Saturday. That’s 9 new members since the 5th of August. 

We have the first leg of the Junior Bell Salver away to Crieff on Saturday afternoon followed by the final group stage of the GolfSixes at the North Inch on Sunday with a chance for one of our teams to win the league and qualify for the regional final at Milnathort.

The excitement within the section is rising every day and we now have 3 players, James, Archie and Jessica who have all completed the minimum 10 cards for the Leitfie Summer League and a few others who are close to getting theirs. Lots of cards coming in with some great handicap cuts. The 3 leaders can continue to improve their scores by knocking off their worst scores. 

ANOTHER BRILLIANT FAMILY FUN DAY

8 teams took part with Callum, Jamie and Emily making their debuts. All loved it and it’s great to see them involved as 2 of them only joined yesterday. The boys have had some coaching in the past and with what I saw today have potential. Archie, Sam and Ian ran out winners with 28, Owen, Kieran and Jackie came 2nd with a best back 3 over Tarah, Leighton and Gordon both teams scoring 29’s. Great fun and it’s brilliant to see the enthusiasm and hear the friendly banter between everyone. Ellie-Marie brought along the Trophy she won last week at the National Skills Challenge and wanted to have a photo with Dawn and me, so sweet. Another of our young players with huge potential. Blair and Cameron played their 3rd rounds in the Junior Tour at Newmacher and finished 35th and 39th overall. Can’t believe it just had another 2 enquiries for membership!!! Better deal with that now. 

GREAT SCORING AT STRATHMORE TODAY

Archie had his best back nine ever today and Keir his best round ever. Pocket money well spent by Keir and Conan on a putting mat !! Blair and Cameron were up at Newmacher for the Junior Tour Scotland and sit 32nd and 40th respectively after 2 rounds both will be looking to improve tomorrow. 

CALLUM AND JAMIE EXTEND OUR RECORD BREAKING MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS

Huge welcome to Callum and Jamie who joined today. They will join in the Family Fun Day tomorrow to get a feel for what we do for juniors in the club. They make 43 new members this year with a total of 110.

SO PLEASED TO SEE SO MANY PLAYERS OUT ON THE COURSES

Great to have so many cards being returned. Hunter has a first fun handicap of  34, Rhys knocks 5 shots off his handicap. Tarah and Keir were out for 9 holes on Rannaleroch and Emily picked up her Hire Trolley and got herself a pair of golf shoes from our free swap scheme. Spoke to the mum of 2 boys interested in joining as well. 

ANOTHER BIG DAY

5 into 4 doesn’t go so one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we have taken into account all relevant information and performance details and after a lot of deliberation we have decided on the following 2 teams for each semi-final. 

1^st semi-final away at Crieff on Saturday 20^th August 2.15pm first tee time  

Cameron Redden

Stuart Duncan

Conan Reid

Archie Puttullo

Reserve

Jack Stevenson

2^nd semi-final home at Strathmore on Sunday 28^th August 3pm first tee time

Cameron Redden

Stuart Duncan

Archie Pattullo

Jack Stevenson

Reserve

Conan Reid

Hopefully we make the final and the boys give us the toughest decision ever. 

Today Scarlett was fitted for her hire clubs and also took a trolley. Dawn and I took Archie Loudon out for a few holes on Rannaleroch to assess his progress and were very impressed. He had a six on the 2nd off his 2nd drive and a superb 4 on the 4th after getting up and down from the back of the green to a front flag. His putting was very good which makes such such a difference. Don’t think it will be long before he upgrades. After 4 new members joined over the weekend we have now had another 4 enquiries !! We have our family funday this Sunday and the free coaching starts on the 20th when our Bell Salver team goes to Crieff and on the 21st our A and B teams battle it out at North Inch to see who qualifies for the National Final. This year is turning out to be exceptional. 

WHAT A DAY

Just off the phone to both our National Skills Challenge Champions, they are both buzzing. Great to hear James saying he thought he could have done his chipping better, as a 6 year old he has analysed his performance and identified an improvement area, wouldn’t be surprised to see him practicing tomorrow. Ellie-Marie said much the same and felt she putted really well. This proves that the free professional coaching the Centre provides within membership pays huge dividends. The other 4 Strathmore qualifiers had a great time and I’m sure will be keen to try to qualify again next year. Next up was taking out one of our new members Joe, very impressed, he is also a member at Scotscraig but wants to play with his pals Keir and Olly. His driving, fairway woods and iron play was very consistent and his putting distance control was also very good, another great prospect. Keir pipped his brother Conan for the August Medal by 1 shot. Ross became out 40th new member of 2022 and total membership of 107 and got a message tonight that Scarlet is going to join as well. It’s unbelievable and I’ve just received another enquiry!!! 

SUCCESSFUL MORNING

Laura returned from holiday to take part in her second individual Coaching session. Was very impressed with her swing, very committed and with a lot of power. Dawn also did putting and chipping with her before she went out to play a couple of holes. She was refitted for a full set of clubs and took advantage of our trolley hire scheme. We also invited Emily and Scarlet to a taster session and both did very well. Emily joined the Club this afternoon and becomes our 39th new member for 2022 and takes total junior membership numbers to a mind boggling 106. Just waiting to hear back from Scarlet who seemed very keen and also mentioned 2 of her cousins are interested as well. 

RECORD MEMBERSHIP NUMBER JUST INCREASED AGAIN

Joseph just became our 38th new member for 2022 taking our total junior member number to 105 !! And Emily’s mum is going to give me a call this afternoon as she wants to join as well !!

THIS IS WHAT GOLF SHOULD BE ALL ABOUT

You could hear the roars from the first green as Ellie-Marie holed her putt for a 2 after James had just missed chipping in by a couple of inches. The fun the 16 participants had tonight was infectious and the scoring was exceptional when you consider only 2 players in the field have WHS Handicaps. Anna was playing her first Competition ever and with Jon who again has only played in fun events their score was amazing. The funniest thing was when they both missed the 2nd green and were discussing who’s shot they should play. Anna decided the easiest way was to measure and started by counting using baby steps, we all fell about laughing. The Juniors all enjoyed the experience and I think the parents who acted as markers had as much fun and got involved. Third place went to Mia and Andrew with 35, second place went to Ellie-Marie and James (our youngest player) with a very impressive 34 and the winners were Tarah and Keir who became the inaugural winners of the Strathmore GolfSixes Championship. Kirsten Miller who heads off to the USA on a Scholarship on Saturday came across for a chat and we were delighted when she expressed her gratitude to Dawn and I for making her dream a reality. Some days golf just gives you so many highs.