2.00pm Conan Reid & Dawn Butchart / Lochlan Stewart & Jacki Stewart
2.07pm Stuart Duncan & Jackie Moran / James Soppit & Lorraine Wallace
2.15pm Archie Pattullo & Anne Baird / Keegan Fergusson & Iain Butchart
Good luck everyone and hopefully the weather forecast gets better for Saturday
Today was the start of a new chapter. Tarah and Keir were out with the others playing a card for handicap and Jack was making his debut in the last Summer League event. All 3 played very well. Keir was out with Archie and me and his ball striking was very consistent. He must have been worried about the pond but I told him it was only wet grass. He teed it up and sailed it by 100yds !! Highlights were 4 on 17th and his approach shot on 9 hitting the pin, he thought he’d holed it but the 8 inch putt was converted no problem. Tarah had a 4 on 4 and Dawn who played with her and Keegan said she is probably the quickest junior she has every played with. Definitely no slow play from Tarah. Jack who was out with Jackie, Blair and Stuart managed pars on 7, 10 and 15. All 3 were a delight to play with, their etiquette and behaviour is a credit to the section. Getting back to the scoring Keegan smashed it today, told Dawn he wanted to break 100 on the 3rd and boy did he do it. Shot 97 gross back in 45 only 10 over with a superb 5 on 12 with an up and down from the front bunker to a back right pin probably a 20yd bunker shot. 48 stableford points will lead to a big handicap cut. Stuart who took possession of a set of Ping G25 irons on Monday when he upgraded from graphite to steel shafts made them an instant success. His standard answer on how he got on is “fine” but today it was “great” and 38 points proved this. His score today secured the Rannaleroch Summer League Trophy due to his consistent scoring. Exciting times ahead and some more juniors are going to upgrade and maybe some parents joining as well.
Just received this message from Blair.
Hi Iain, Wanted to let you know that today Conan and I along with some others from our school played in the East District schools competition, We both played good, I shot a scratch 2 over 71, not bad for first full 18 since injury, and I won the overall individual scratch, along with the team from Monifieth we won the scratch team competition, we were both recognised as ” Iain Butchart’s young prodigies” when we mentioned we were members at Strathmore, the word of Strathmore is getting out there.
Ben who attended a taster session on Wednesday has become our 2nd 2022 new member and Keir has upgraded to Rannaleroch and will hopefully be out putting in cards soon.
Took part in a Focus Group Zoom call last night with Inverurie GC , Peterculter GC and Gavin Forrester from Scottish Golf to discuss what happened with Junior golf this year.
Busy night again. Jon picked up his new hire trolley from the scheme and Stuart upgraded his irons. Tarah is the first to upgrade her membership to include the Rannaleroch course and Dawn took her out tonight for a few holes and she acquitted herself very well. Angus was working on swings tonight and was great at explaining how to get hip turns to assist with the follow through. Made huge differences to James and Owen. Next Monday is the final Autumn session but there is nothing to stop the kids continuing to come along on a Monday night to play a few holes or for the Saturday participants to do likewise. Another very pleasant surprise tonight was Amy Mitchell bringing her sister Carly along to the range. Great to catch up and hear that she is intending to join again and get back playing and would like to assist at the coaching if needed. Might take her up on this offer. Alex Simpson finished 17th out of 68 today at Dornoch which is a decent result but I know he will be disappointed not to have finished higher, but onwards and upwards. It all starts at the coaching then playing and practicing regularly and progressing through the stages. Alex did it all and others can follow if they are dedicated enough.
Strathmore Golf Centre’s progressive approach to encouraging Junior membership today was rewarded with its first new member for 2022. Danny who joined today also took advantage of the club Hire Scheme and now also has a free pair of Nike golf shoes complete with new cleats. All good to go and takes our total membership up to 95. Dawn and I invited Bella and Lottie out for a few holes on Rannaleroch to assess their progress and were suitably impressed. Both hit some very good tee shots and once we gave them a couple of alignment tips were hitting them straight and very long. Lottie’s highlight was a 5 on the third and Bella hitting the 7th green in 3 shots. Both girls are going to take advantage of the upgrade and looks like mum may join as well. Alex Simpson sent me a message after his first round at Dornoch in the PGA young Professional’s event where he shot level par. He was very pleased with his round especially tee to green, a couple of good par saving putts after poor chips saved the day and hopefully tomorrow he can improve on his tied 10th position. Met Cormac Sharpe out again today practicing, great to see him playing so much on the course. Also confirmed Archie lost another shot off his handicap 👏👏👏
