Cameron Galloway scored an impressive nett 72 in extremely difficult conditions today. Very windy with a cool North Wind. Special mention for Conan Reid who played with the Gents in the morning and shot a gross 72.
Today I had another enquiry for junior membership and another about buying our ex club hire sets to help their scheme.
Absolutely fantastic to be able to help Dullatur Golf Club get their own Club Hire Scheme up and running. I was originally contacted by Kirsty Hamilton who had seen a post on the Scottish Golf Noticeboard. Today Club Captain Frankie Bannachan and Junior Convenor Paul Orr came along to pick up 5 of our ex hire sets we had sold them for £100. If they rent them out for £25 per annum they will recoup their outlay and the £25 profit can be reinvested into their scheme, giving them a head start.
Strathmore Golf Centre gave them courtesy to play and we had a great chat during our round. Both were impressed by everything we have at Strathmore, the course, which they couldn’t stop complimenting on, the practice facilities, the catering and most importantly the junior section and what we have in place. Dawn and I have been invited down on the 6th of June and can’t wait to see how many of our ideas they have implemented.
Making golf affordable and playing with appropriate equipment is what the Club Hire Scheme allows and our template can be replicated at any Club.
What an amazing success, the juniors loved it. Special mentions to Mia, Willow and Ollie who excelled. Hugo also had his first 2.
Dawn and I would like to thank Robin Duncan on behalf of Strathmore Golf Club Junior Section for his generous donation of £500. He is the Captain of Royal Perth Golfing Society, who play many of their events at Strathmore, and had heard about the work we do. The money will be used to purchase Range Finders to be added to our Hire Scheme and the income generated will be reinvested, enhancing the sustainability ad infinitum. Tomorrow we have another huge announcement to make so watch this space.
Route 36 arrives at Strathmore. This was something Kathryn told me about which was huge in America. I watched the video she sent that featured Rory McIlroy explaining the concept and he admitted that both him and his father agreed that his children would follow this, as it made so much sense. Start with the short game then work back. You begin by playing 9 holes from 25yds and completing this in 36 holes or less. Once completed you move to 50yds then 75yds and finally the full tees. After agreeing this with the Centre and head green keeper Ben Anderson, Dawn and I marked out the course. We decided to use the old tee system so 25yds are Red, 50yds are Yellow and 75yds are White. We intend introducing this on Thursday to our third session of new member coaching to see what happens. I believe this could be something very special.
Great turnout for our first Trophy of the season with 9 juniors playing. Louis Purdie had a fantastic gross 82 nett 68 and will reach his first goal of being a single figure player very soon. Archie Puttullo finished 2nd beating Jessica Sievwright into 3rd place with a better back 9. Keegan Fergusson was only a couple of shots back in 4th.
Great to see these youngsters making so much progress and witnessing their camaraderie and friendships grow. Jessica has joined us for the last two weeks and her confidence has grown immensely. Her ball striking is so pure. On the 7th she was on the back of the green in 2.
Jessica Sievwright who has been attending P&K girls coaching during the winter and practicing joined us on the course today and what potential. She hit 4 shots to the side of the first green but unfortunately 3 putted. She then hit a huge drive down the second and followed it up with a decent second shot, her chip onto the green was followed by 4 putts and Dawn and I both thought oh no, what a shame, such a good long game but no short game. But oh how she proved us wrong. She had a 5 on three and a great up and down from the bunker on the fifth. A par on six. Unbelievably she was neatly pin high on nine in 2 which is a par 5. She chipped to five foot and just missed her birdie putt. Out in 53 was acceptable but then everything changed. A back nine of 45 was a joy to watch and could have been better. A five on 10 should have been a four with a short putt missed. A six on 12 was excellent, but that was surpassed by a fantastic birdie on 14, her first on Rannaleroch. She followed that up with a great par on 15 where she blocked her tee shot behind the trees but played the sensible shot short of the green and got up and down. Her putting stats were superb. A poor start was followed by by some great putting resulting in a front nine of 21 putts but that was surpassed by an amazing 16 on the back nine. Most people would settle for 37 putts a round but someone playing off a handicap of 27.9 should be so proud of this achievement. With 41 points she won today from Keegan who followed up his success of last week with 38 points. Archie Pattullo was disappointed with his back nine after shooting 37 on the front nine, and so proud of Cammy Galloway who called a penalty shot on himself when incorrectly marking a ball.
Conan Reid finished 2nd in the Gents White handicap Medal.
At the Helen Holm past juniors Katy Alexander and Megan Ashley are tied 13th and 18th respectively.
