Greetings from John Murray 
Moray Golf Club - PGA Golf Professional

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.


 

I've had a busy few days beginning with my first game of golf in 2017. Derek and I played at Nairn Dunbar Golf Club alongside my nephew Ben who many of you may remember from working in the shop a couple of seasons ago. It was a glorious day and not a breath of wind and it was great to get back out hitting some shots. As expected, my game was a little rusty but I still managed to hit enough good ones to encourage me to kick start my own golf game for the year.

Nairn Dunbar was looking well although I did notice that we seem to have a course length more comparable to summer. They had a lot of winter tees set up on fairways and with Kevin and the team here having worked hard on creating separate winter tees for the courses (16 in total on the Old Course by the end of this winter) it just goes to show what a good job they do here at Moray GC.

I was off on my travels on Sunday to meet my son Jack for his 15th birthday. I know what you're thinking.....I don't look old enough! It's amazing how time flies and I can't believe he's now 15 (going on 25) and is actually taller than me now!


 

I stayed down the road on Sunday night and travelled to Kingsfield Golf Range in Linlithgow on Monday for a TaylorMade training seminar which covered the topic of custom fitting and then went through the new product lines for the 2017 season including the new M Series Woods and Irons, New TP Putters, Milled Wedges and a new 5 layer golf ball.

The new M1 and M2 family of woods and irons are available at retail from this Friday although we have them already for you to try on the course. Come in for a trial!

We have also taken delivery of our new fitting irons from PING. The new i200 iron sits in between the iBlade and the G Series irons and is ideal for the players who prefers a clean looking players iron but likes some added forgiveness too.

I took the new i200 7 iron down to the range for a few shots alongside the new TaylorMade M2 7 iron. Now this was never really going to be a like for like comparison but I thought it would be interesting to see the difference between the two.

The M2 iron is designed to be easy to hit, forgiving and long. As you can see from the launch monitor numbers above the M2 gave me an extra 8mph of ball speed, launched on average 2.2 degrees higher and carried an average of 180 yards! (12 yards longer than the PING) It is a much bigger looking club but very easy to hit.

The new PING i200 is a much thinner looking iron with some added forgiveness for the player who prefers feel and control over distance and forgiveness.

The PING certainly launched the ball lower than the TaylorMade, reduced my sidespin (less draw spin) on the ball and tightened my dispersion a little. So there are benefits to both clubs, it just depends what's important to you!


 

Winter Cup

Unfortunately last weekend's winter cup was abandoned due to some heavy overnight frosts. This meant that all 18 holes were on temporary greens on both days making the winter cup a non-event. It was still good to see the place busy despite the full course in operation. Here's hoping that third week lucky, we shall get some play again in the winter cup.

The current leaderboard looks like this:




 

January SALE

We will be running our January Sale in the shop officially starting this Saturday with a minimum 30% OFF All Winter Clothing including remaining stock of Under Armour and Galvin Green. We will also have a Clearance rail in the shop with items at 1/2 PRICE so you can grab a bargain.


Moray BB Golf

We currently have a draw running in the shop for a set of three new Cleveland RTX 2.0 Wedges (£99 each). There are 59 numbers available, although we are donating a number in each draw to the local LadyBird Group.

Each number costs £5 each and once all numbers have sold, the winner will be the person who's number is drawn as the bonus ball in the next Lotto draw.

Congratulations to new member David Harvey who won 2 x personalised Vokey Wedges in our last draw.


 

Night Golf

We will hosting our next NIGHT GOLF event on Friday, 17 February. The cost will be £15 per person which covers the cost of the equipment to set up the course.

We will have a 6 hole course with holes ranging between 120-200 yards and you are allowed a maximum of 3 clubs and teams of 4 players.

Our previous events have been a great laugh and we will have two possible tee times. The first tee time is 6.30pm with a shotgun start and the second tee time is 7.45pm with an expected prize giving at 9pm.


Sunday Carvery

There will be a Carvery at the Golf Club this Sunday between 12.30-4.30pm. 

There is a choice of 1 course for £11.95, 2 courses for £14.95 and 3 courses for £16.95.


 

Steve and Douglas were playing the 3rd in a friendly game last week. Douglas's drive finished short of the elbow of the fairway down the right side. He turns to Steve and asks "If I cut the corner and play for the green how far do you reckon it is?" Steve produced his smart phone from his bag and using the app tells Douglas his distance. He was suitably impressed then enquires "what else does your phone do?" What did Steve bring to Douglas's attention!

Firstly, Distance Measuring Devices (DMDs) are contrary to the Rules of Golf under Rule 14-3. However since Jan 2006 a Committee can permit in their Competitions their use via a Local Rule. There are important rules that govern the use of GPS, Smart Phone & Lasers.


Do's - You may use a device to:

1. Measure straight line distance between two points 
2. Access a club yardage chart based off historical information 
3. Enter your hole scores 
4. Enter shot information - for later analysis eg. club used or location 
5. Access a local weather forecast.


Don'ts - You may not use a device to: 
1. Gauge or measure slope 
2. Gauge or measure other conditions that might affect play eg. wind speed or direction 
3. Access recommendations that might assist the player in making a stroke or in his play eg. club selection, type of shot to be played, green reading or other advice related matters 
4. Calculate effective distance based on elevation changes or other conditions affecting shot distance.

Douglas was grateful to Steve and concluding that he may get one of these smart phones!