FANTASTIC SCORING

What a brilliant day. Today we gave Saoirse, Seamus, Charlie and James a try out on the Rannaleroch Course, all four enjoyed the experience and played very well. Saoirse is definitely ready to upgrade and her all round performance was excellent, long off the tee and consistent with all other shots and some great putting. Seamus is not far behind and they combined to tremendous effect on the 17th with a great birdie 2, Seamus’s tee shot to just off the green and big sister holing the putt. Charlie managed 13 holes before he tired and James did all 16 holes but concentration had gone so probably another year for them. Scoring was fantastic with two teams tied on 53. Charlie, Blair and Bruce won with a better back nine from Saoirse, Seamus, Dawn and Iain. Great fun was had by all. 

NORMAL SERVICE RESUMED

With the Rannaleroch course back open, with all but 2 holes in play, this weekend we managed 2 rounds. Saturday Keir and I took on Conan and Dawn, with us winning on the last after all other holes were halved. Today Cameron and Archie joined us for a very enjoyable Texas Scramble. On the Leitfie Course Archie Loudon played 4 rounds and had his best round ever with a gross 33. Reduced his handicap and I believe will be the next junior to upgrade to Rannaleroch. Archie Pattullo was presented with haul of trophies after a very successful 2022. Looks like 2023 could be great for both Archie’s 

CAPTAIN PRESENTATION

Blair Hockley was presented today with an engraved tankard to mark his time as Junior Captain. The section would like to thank him for his efforts and wish him all the best in the future. 

LEITFIE SUMMER LEAGUE

Archie who could not make the prize giving picked up the most hotly contested trophy of 2022 today. The Leitfie Summer League has been won in the past by Alex Simpson and Hannah Robb both now PGA professionals. After a chat it looks like he will be upgrading to Rannaleroch in 2023 so will be aiming to get a WHS handicap and join in with the others on a Saturday. Looks like it’s going to get busy with another couple of possible upgrades and new members. 

FIRST NEW MEMBERS FOR 2023

Brothers Alisdair and Andrew become Strathmore’s first two new junior members for 2023 taking advantage of the 14 month for price of 12 deal, perfect early Xmas present. Look forward to introducing them to the rest of the juniors and helping them progress and get the most from their memberships. 

TEXAS SCRAMBLE, AGM AND PRIZE GIVING

Stuart and Keir with the assistance of Marcus capped off a wonderful season by winning the team Texas Scramble by a shot from Seamus, Aine and Iain who claimed 2nd place courtesy of a better back 3 from Conan, Joe, Jessica and Dawn. Stuart also picked up the nearest the pin prize. The AGM and prize giving followed a wonderful buffet courtesy of the Centre and our thanks go to Peter and David whose support of the Junior section gives the youngsters a platform through the fully subsidised coaching to develop their skills and become accomplished players.

Junior Scratch Club Champion Stuart Duncan runner up Blair Hockley. Handicap Champion Jack Stevenson runner up Cameron Redden. Archie Puttullo won the Presidents Cup, Leroch Trophy, Hamish McTavish and April Medal. Keir Reid won the Leitfie Winter League, July, August and September Medals and along with Tarah Simson won the inaugural GolfSixes Championship. Stuart won the Rannaleroch Summer league with Archie Louden taking the Leitfie Summer League. Cameron Redden who takes over the Junior Captaincy 2022/23 won the May Medal and Conan Reid who will be his vice captain won the June Medal and along with Dawn won the the Russell Bailey Shield. Jack Stevenson won the Most Improved player. With teams and individuals competing in County and National competitions it’s been a fantastic year for Strathmore Junior Section who won Club of the Year 2021 at the P&K Sports Personality of the year awards. Set new membership records with 114 and Club Hire record with 82 sets hired out. Ellie-Marie Smart and James Thom became National Skills Champions in their age groups. Junior Captain Blair Hockley represented P&K at the Boys Area Team Championship. Conan Reid won the S4-S6 handicap section of the Alfred Dunhill Schools Challenge and was also part of the Monifieth team who won the East District Schools handicap Championship. We also won our GolfSixes League so a great year all round. 

SMALL WORLD

Thanks to an email David Norman copied me into inviting Jaki, Dave, Lochlan and Zoe to rejoin Strathmore we had the pleasure to met up with them all at Nelsons Bay Golf Club. We only realised we would be visiting Port Stephen, where they now live, when they replied to the email. Zoe was attending junior coaching accompanied by Dave so Lochlan and Jaki took us out to play on the course and Zoe and Dave met us on the 16th tee to walk the last few holes. As you can see from the photos we were also accompanied by numerous Kangaroos who live on the course. After golf we followed the Australian way of life by visiting Birubi Beach and seeing the outstanding sand dunes followed by an amazing BBQ cooked by Jaki, including Kangaroo sausages and enjoyed the rest of the evening having a few beers and a lot of laughs. Golf plays a huge part in their lives and their regular weekend activity is to play as a family in the Mixed Competitions at the club. They thanked Dawn and I for encouraging both kids to develop their  games and will be forever appreciative of that. Our family fun days at Strathmore has definitely been a great influence and it’s great that the whole family can all compete and play together in their clubs competitions. What a fantastic day.