DOUBLE DELIGHT

SCRATCH LEAGUE TEAM

 

 



This was definitely my proudest day as convenor of Strathmore Junior Section. I went down to the Club to meet our British Red Cross team and Alex Simpson was already on the range practising an hour and a half before their tee time.

RED CROSS TEAM

Callum Ewan, Kirsty Brodie and Tod Bannerman joined us and we discussed the format of the competition and how to play as a team. I accompanied them on the first 2 holes where Alex took the Red Cross "yellow ball" and just missed birdie but had a steady par. Kirsty also had a par 5 (net 4) for 3 Stableford points and the team were off and running. On the second hole Kirsty took the "yellow ball" and with all 4 players finding the green in 2 I explained that it was best for Kirsty to play out the "yellow ball " first as the boys all had shots and after Kirsty made sure of a 4. Alex made a 4 (net 3) which left Tod a free putt at a 3 (net 2) but just missed. 6 points secured and 2 pars with the "yellow ball"'- a great start. All 4 hit good drives down 3, I wished them well and headed back to meet Michael who was practising his putting, in his words "just to make sure yesterday's putting display wasn't a fluke !!"
I arrived at Gleneagles and Callum Sinclair, Rory Dyce and Hannah Robb were already there. After the warm up we made our way to the putting green and then had to kick our heels for 20 minutes due to a fog delay in the morning. This may have helped us, as we spent the time usefully with the strokesavers and I had a Eureka moment and came up with a master plan using the tick formula. Our players had to read the pro tip follow it and if they succeeded they had to tick it off. This seemed to relax our team and Auchterarder looked more apprehensive as each player was announced onto the tee. I watched them all tee off and Michael who led us out looked like he had won the 1st so our team had made the perfect start. Rory Dyce last out won his first hole and I made my way through the course to catch up what was going on ahead. Callum lost the first 2 but responded with a great birdie and par to square his match. Brad had followed the pro's tip to the letter and with pin at the front played to the back of the 5th green but still secured a half. I caught up with Hannah to see her hole a 20 foot birdie and win the hole to peg her opponent back. At the Dormie House 10th I received the news from Strathmore that our team had successfully defended and won their 4th successive British Red Cross junior trophy. I relayed this to our team and kept them abreast of how each other were doing. Hannah was behind Rory was up and the other 3 games were nip and tuck. Trying to follow 3 games which are all heading back towards the club house is difficult and I knew Michael had gone 1 up but saw him tee off  2nd on 18, Brad won 16 to go 1 up and Callum was dormie 2 down . Brad won 17 to put Strathmore 2v1 and I was trying to see what had happened ahead when I went to the back of the green where our team was and was told Michael had won 2 up. It took a second to sink in but Michael who had ran back up from the 18th green and had put on his white wind cheater was standing there and I hadn't noticed. When I  had seen him tee off 2nd on 18 it was a provisional ball and he had not lost the 17th. With Rory, Brad and Michael all winning we were Perth and Kinross Champions for the first time and after only 4 years of trying . The experience of being runners up last helped our team and if you refer back to my previous blogs I have always installed into our juniors you first have to learn how to lose before you win , as winning is never easy. Today Strathmore Juniors have come of age , made their mark and rubber stamped their place as the most successful Junior Section in P&K and proved me right as I never doubted their ability.

I have built up friendships which will last a lifetime and seen juniors grow into adults and have so much pride in seeing them reach their own personal goals I will remember this day forever.

Travelling down today I remembered of our first away match at Aucherarder 01/07/2008 and after playing golf at Strathnmore we went to Downfield to watch Carly Booth represent P&K in Dawns team and stopped off at MacDonalds at Perth for a burger and Alan Easton showed his farm yard identification skills were thankfully less than his golfing ones, Megan,Emily and Matthew laughed so much and with Grant it set us up for a brilliant halved match wearing our team colours for the first time

 Last year Allan became County Stroke Play Champion.

4 years later we are County Scratch League Team Champions and Bell Trophy Team Champions runner ups , with the talent coming through and the fight for places hotting up we can be the strongest Junior section in P&K for years to come.