I hope you've all had a fantastic week on and off the golf course and welcome to another exciting edition of the Moray Pro Shop weekly newsletter, bringing you up to date with all the latest news and gossip from within the walls of MGC.

 

We are slowly recovering from our busiest week of the year....The Moray Open. Once again it was a great success with a full field of 336 golfers taking to the course during the week.

It's also great to see so many friendly familiar faces coming back every year as visitor entries, and with so many of the other 4/5 day opens struggling for numbers, it's great to see us still managing to fill the entries every year. We had great feedback on the condition of the courses. Kevin and his team should be very proud on their work this year to have the courses, and in particular the greens, in pristine condition.

I locked myself in a room on Wednesday to work out the birdie prizes, and we are gradually working though these to credit member's accounts with their winnings. Please bear with us as we do this as it takes some time to go through every birdie made during the week.

We ran a few Moray Open Raffles during the week and congratulations to the following prize winners: 

Choice of Drivers - Doug Dey (Visitor) 
Scotty Cameron Putter - Graham Murray 
Choice of Shoes - Andy Reid (visitor) 
Titleist Bundle - Steve Crane


 

Now on to the golf... Despite some very mixed weather, play managed to go ahead as planned and even a 2 hour delay on Wednesday didn't manage to disrupt the weeks play. We went from the best day of the year on Tuesday to the very worst day of the year, all within 24 hours.

   

We had real torrential rain on Wednesday and I had to get on my waterproofs to help Kevin and the team clear the puddles in order to get the course open again to complete play.

We had some great matches during the week and come Friday afternoon it was great to see some local presence in the finals.

In the scratch section, congratulations go to Jeff Wright who beat Gordon Munro (Fraserburgh) 3&2 to win the event for the 1st time.

In Division 1, James Booth (Cruden Bay) beat Matthew Robertson 2&1 to win the trophy for the 2nd time in 3 years.

Finally in Division 2, Gavin Steel who is a country member and often makes the trip to Moray to play, managed to beat Moray's Greg Sheils 2&1 in another closely fought match.

A big thanks go to everyone for supporting the event and especially all the helpers during the week, from Starters to Admin staff in the caravan, and all the juniors involved for running the scoring from the course. These extra helpers really help make the tournament the success that it is.

However, we are always trying to improve and make next year a better event. If anyone has any comments or suggestions on this year's event or how we can make Moray Open 2017, bigger and better please click here to give us your feedback.


 

Monthly Medal 4 - Old - CSS 73 

1st - Ian Garioch - 74 - 8c = 66, 2nd = Michael J Dean - 72 - 4c = 68, 2nd = Darren Dry - 77 - 9c = 68, 4th - Jordan Edwards - 73 - 2c = 71, 5th - Mark Quilter - 77 - 5c = 72 

1st - Gary Williamson - 85 - 14c = 71, 2nd = Gary Woods - 83 - 11c = 72, 2nd = Mark Bedson 86 - 14c = 72, 4th = Ritchie M Baker - 86 - 13c = 73, 4th = Hamish Flett - 85 - 12c = 73


2's were worth £10.55 accredited to following accounts; 

Darren Dry, Ivan McKenzie, Mike Mann, Willie McInnes, Stephen Houston, Brian Smith, Kenny Russell, Richard Denning & Hamish Flett


Ball Raffle 
9 Balls - C W Stewart, 8 Balls - G Woods, 7 Balls - Dave Thewliss, 6 Balls - J Petrie, 5 Balls - K Russell


 

Duffus Inn Ladies Open 

Division 1 
1st - Gail Christie - 41pts, 2nd = Ann Smart - 36pts, 2nd = Jenny Selbie 36pts, 2nd = Sarah Ritchie - 36pts, 5th- - Janet Thompson - 35pts 

Division 2 
1st - Margaret Kennedy - 43pts, 2nd - Maureen Cowper - 40pts, 3rd = Carol More - 34pts, 4th = Edwina Keown - 34pts, 5th - Jean Montgomerie - 33pts




USPGA Open 

This week sees the fourth and final major of the golfing season, as the best players in the world take on Baltusrol. This is the venue where a young faced Sergio Garcia broke onto the scene 17 years ago to run Tiger close, but narrowly missing out on his first major. You wouldn't think after that performance 17 years later he would still be searching for his first major. Is it Sergio's time to live up to his ability? 

Competition is going to be tougher than ever with players such as McIlroy, Spieth and Day who will be gunning to add another major to the collection. I don't think our newly crowned Open Champion will be very far away either come Sunday. Who's your money on?

Click here to let us know your thoughts.


 

Talent ID Day 

Scottish Golf North District are holding a Talent ID Day at Nairn Dunbar on Monday, 8 August from 9.30am to 1.00pm 

All ages and all boys with a CONGU handicap are invited to attend. Do not be shy juniors, the North District have an Under 12 squad, and if you are in the process of getting your three 18 hole scorecards or your six 9 holes scorecards in to get your first handicap you should consider attending. 

You will enjoy the morning and have three & half hours with three PGA Professionals spending their time with you.


 

Junior Coaching 

We have our August Junior Camp next week, Monday to Wednesday with 3 age groups to cater for juniors. 

Under 10's - 9.30am - 11am
Over 10's - 11.30am - 1pm 
Over 14's - 2.30pm- 3.30pm

The cost is £30 for the 3 days with some 9 hole competitions scheduled for those who are capable and with handicaps from 3.30pm. 

We are limited with the numbers we can take so it will be first come first serve.

Click here to get in touch if you have a junior who would like to get involved.  


 

This week we are offering some special July only prices on PING G Series and TaylorMade M1/M2 woods. We are offering £20 pounds discount off Drivers, Fairways and Hybrids until the end of the month on current stock only. (This does not apply to custom order products). 

I also have a couple of cracking deals on PING GMax and Mizuno JPX EZ Irons. These are shop stock only and I have only 1 set of each available at this price. Unfortunately these can't be custom fitted.

PING GMax 5-SW Regular Steel - RRP £650, Our Price £400 - SAVE £250 

We are also clearing our Mizuno woods, irons and wedges which we have in stock with these going at Cost Price...

Mizuno JPX 850/EZ Driver - £209, SAVE £140 
Mizuno JPX 850/EZ Fairway - £129, SAVE £90 
Mizuno JPX 850/EZ Hybrid - £109, SAVE £70 
Mizuno JPX EZ Irons 4-PW Steel - £495, SAVE £150 
Mizuno SM5 Wedges - £80, SAVE £30

Click here to find out more about our great product ranges.