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.
It was great to see the winter cup back in action on both days after a couple of frosty weekends. We were lucky as just along the road in Aberdeen they were closed with another downfall of snow.
I did receive a couple of emails after the weekends play mentioning how good the course was for the time of year. However they also mentioned that there were a huge number of pitch marks on the greens that hadn't been repaired.
We are very lucky to have two such high quality golf courses, which on the whole, gives us yearlong golf. In the summer (if we get one) the greens can become firm and sometimes it's difficult to pick out your pitchmarks on the greens. However at this time of year they are much softer and make much larger marks which can negatively affect the surface for everyone playing.
Next time you are on the course, try to repair your own pitchmark and one or two others around you at the same time. If we all did that then we would have great smooth surfaces all year round and no excuses when we miss that short putt.
Derek Ramsay organised a 12 Hole Stableford where 8 juniors gathered. These were Kyle Thomson, Jack Ure, Cameron Lennon, Ryan Sherwood, Callum Dawson, Billy Devine, Caiol Provan and Raegan Main.
The Captain, Roy Crane, met all the juniors and emphasised how lucky they were, to enjoy the game, acted as Starter and was very impressed by the drives off of the first on the New. Many thanks for the sleeve of golf balls for the winner, Mr Captain.
Spring has come to Moray: snowdrops are out in my garden, crocuses are beginning to appear and on Thursday I went to try to improve my chipping (miracles might happen) and two juniors came to the 18th tee of the New having played three holes out and three in after school. Great to see!
Ryan Sherwood was the winner on the October Tour to Aboyne, St Andrews and Blairgowrie and he won again today. You are a bandit on that handicap, Ryan.
Stableford with adults - Sunday, 5 February (Tee 12.30pm)
Thanks, Graham Broad (Junior Convenor)
New TaylorMade TP5 - The Most Complete Tour Ball?
Last week I was lucky enough to get a few of TaylorMade's new Prototype TP5 golf balls to put to the test. The new 5 layer ball will be available from March and TaylorMade are saying this is the most complete tour ball on the market, offering length off the tee as well as lots of green side control.
Check out my ball review by clicking here and see if you can spot my deliberate mistake! (Haha)
Here's some of my data from testing:
I mentioned how one of TaylorMade's newer signings, John Rahm has recently changed to the ball after playing the ProV1 since he was a youngster. Since making the video, he has now gone on to win his first PGA event using the new ball amongst some of the other new TaylorMade equipment including the M1 Driver, P750 Irons and milled wedges.
Click here to check out the video with him putting the ball to the test for the first time.
Winter Cup - Saturday
Division 1
1st -Terence Peter Scholefield - 40pts
2nd - Colin G Ironside - 39pts
3rd - Steven Beveridge - 37pts
4th - Colin A Young - 37pts
5th - Robert G MacPherson - 37pts
Division 2
1st - Mark Atherton - 40pts
2nd - Keith Rushton - 39pts
3rd - Steve D Harding - 39pts
4th - Alistair G Neish - 38pts
5th - Alexander R Tweedie - 38pts
Magic 2's were worth £3.28 to the following players:
C Annette, S Houston, N Stewart, RG Macpherson, C Ironside, A Kennedy, T Scholefield, B Ross, AM Bruce, J Macdonald, K Rushton, AW Miller, D Lamkin and AR Tweedie.
Winter Cup - Sunday
Division 1
1st - Steven Beveridge - 38pts
2nd - David Hayden - 36pts
3rd - Gavin Fisher - 35pts
4th - Mark McDonald - 35pts
5th - Darren M Gould - 33Pts
Division 2
1st - Alan J McWilliam - 38pts
2nd - Shona Reid - 33pts
3rd - Hugh Houston - 33pts
4th - Iain Kelman - 33pts
5th - Barry Richards - 33pts
Magic 2's were worth £6.50 to the following players:
G Yeates, D Gould, S Houston and S Reid.
Senior Winter Cup - Week 12 (CSS 69)
1st - J. G. Doherty (19), M. I. Boaler (19) - 40pts
2nd - G. Lennox (18), I. J. Strong (17), P. Smith (8) - 38pts
3rd - J. S. Rae (14), W. A. Smith (15), A. W. Miller (12), W. R. Duncan (6) - 37pts
4th - S. M. Crane (16), A. Cowie (10), A. G. Neish (11), J. C. Macgregor (13), R. Crane (10) - 36pts
5th - A. A. Lees (10), R. R. Adams (9), B. Casburn (18) - 35pts
Senior Winter Cup - Week 13 (CSS 69)
1st - A. W. Miller (12) - 38pts
2nd - J. S. Rae (14) - 36pts
3rd - A. R. Souter (15) - 34pts
4th - J. C. Macgregor (13), M. I. Boaler (18), R. R. Adams (9), P. Smith (7) - 33pts
5th - C. Murray (21), S. M. Crane (16), R. G. MacPherson (8) - 32pts
Comp Scoring
We have had some issues with the shops internet this last month which is why the scores have been a little late in being processed through the shop. Thanks fully and we now have this problem resolved and so expect the scores to be available the following day after the competition. We are currently working through the aggregate scores and an updated list will be in the pro shop and clubhouse before the weekend's competition. Thanks for your patience during this time.
Moray BB Golf
After a long January we have a big draw on the go. We are running a 7/7 which costs £20 per ticket and all 6 numbers on the lotto draw plus the bonus ball will all receive prizes coming to over £1000, with prizes including a choice of Driver, Fairway, Golf Bag, FootJoy Shoes, Cleveland Wedges and New Titleist Balls. We now have 25 numbers left from the 59 available. We are also donating a number in each draw to the local LadyBird Group.
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 (which isn't cheap) and some prizes. There will be some hot soup included with your entry after the golf and coffee, tea or an alcoholic beverage available from the shop before you start.
We have 7 teams signed up so far so there are still spaces for another 5 teams of 4. If you don't have a team, let us know and we will do our best to pair you up.
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 2nd tee time is 7.45pm with an expected prize giving at 9pm.
Pete's drive at the 11th Old took a bad bounce on landing and was heading for the gorse on the left side. He had a line on his ball and walked in that direction and found his ball in a tricky lie just off the fairway in the gorse. When Malcolm caught up with him he was deliberating what action to take when Malcolm said "That is really tough luck you don't seem to have a shot at all. If I were you, I would declare the ball unplayable."
Was Malcolm giving advice contrary to Rule 8-1 (Advice)?
Yes! Malcolm's suggestion could have influenced Pete in determining how he would proceed in his play, thus it constituted advice. Penalty for breach of Rule 8-1 2 strokes / loss of hole. It did not constitute 'information on the Rules' which is not advice.
