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's been a big few weeks for TaylorMade as a brand. Last week I reported that John Rahm picked up his first PGA Tour Win using the new TaylorMade equipment and ball.
Last week then saw former world number 1, Tiger Woods have a disappointing return to the game after much hype surrounding his signing to TaylorMade. An opening 77 at the Dubai Desert Classic wasn't a good start by Woods who never made a single birdie in his round.
Further frustration came a day later as Woods was forced to withdraw from the event after having back spasms. Is Wood's brilliant career drawing to a premature close?
However on Sunday, Sergio Garcia claimed his 12th European Tour win on his 250th appearance with a fantastic display of golf on route to a -19 total to beat Henrik Stenson by 3 shots. This was his first win since the 2014 Qatar Masters.
Garcia was using the new TaylorMade M2 Driver, M1 Fairways, P750 Irons and the new TP5 Golf Ball. He finished the week 2nd in Driving Accuracy, 3rd in Driving Distance and 1st in Greens in Regulation....Not a bad weeks work!
If you fancy giving any of the new equipment from TaylorMade or Titleist and PING then come in for a chat and see how we might be able to help you.
Video Blogs
Derek and I are keen to do a few more video blogs for the newsletters and are looking for ideas that you would like us to cover.
It could be a product comparison test, a rules scenario or a coaching tip of your choice? If you have any suggestions then CLICK HERE and let us know.
Bobs At It Again!
Bob Adams added to his collection of Aces once again, this time at Spey Bay during the Alliance fixture. His 8th Ace came at the par 3 15th hole using an 8 iron. Bob was partnered by Bill Duncan and Neil Munro (Both Moray GC).
Winter Cup - Saturday
Last weekend saw both days winter cup take place over the Old Course. Saturday saw 39 players take to the course in some of the weekend's poorer weather.
Congratulations to Jamie McCulloch who took the honors in Division 1 with 39pts to beat Dicky Dowlt on a better inward half.
Sandy Bruce won division 2 with 40pts to pip Mark Atherton and Calvin Moors who both tied on 39pts.
Division 1
1st - Jamie Scott McCulloch - 39pts
2nd - Richard Bowlt - 39pts
3rd - Atholl M Campbell - 38pts
4th - Colin A Young - 38pts
5th - Brian Ross - 36pts
Division 2
1st - Sandy M Bruce - 40pts
2nd - Mark Atherton - 39pts
3rd - Calvin Moors - 39pts
4th - Neil J Smith - 37pts
5th - Alistair G Neish - 36pts
Magic 2's were worth £4.42 to the following players:
AM Campbell, CA Young, R Bowlt, C Annette, G Yeates, K Russell, K Rushton
Winter Cup - Sunday
Sunday's weather was better and produced a good scoring day with a few of those close to the top of the leaderboard opting to have another go at bettering their Saturday scores. David Thewliss returned 41pts to make his way up the aggregate leaderboard on route to posting the best score in Division 1.
In Division 2, Iain Cardwell scored 40 pts to beat Iain Kelman on a better last 9 holes.
Division 1
1st - David M Thewliss - 41pts
2nd - Gareth John Edwards - 40pts
3rd - John D Petrie - 38pts
4th - Darren M Gould - 36pts
5th - Neil McCulloch - 36pts
Division 2
1st - Iain Cardwell - 40pts
2nd - Iain Kelman - 40pts
3rd - Darren Gee - 39pts
4th - Anthony Blake - 38pts
5th - Gordon McDonald - 37pts
Magic 2's were worth £6.16 to the following players:
N Stewart, S Dunbar, C Annette, WB Johnston, B Robson, G Sutherland
Aggregate Leaderboard
It's starting to hot up at the top of the leaderboard after week 12 with Stephen Dunbar holding onto his lead by 3 points. However a lot of movers over the weekend mean there are now 14 players within 10 points of the top position meaning it's all to play for over the coming weeks!
Click here for the Aggregate Leaderboard
A full list of scores are available on the club and pro shop notice boards.
Senior Winter Cup - [Week 14] (CSS 69)
1st - J. K. Gable (14) - 44pts
2nd - J. A. Watson (14) - 42pts
3rd - W. A. Smith (16) - 40pts
4th - J. Dennis (13) - 39pts
5th - A. Cowie (10), R. G. MacPherson (8) - 38pts
6th - J. C. Macgregor (13), B. Casburn (19) - 37pts
7th - J. Dawson (8), M. R. Bradley (21) - 36pts
8th - R. Crane (10), A. Marsh (22) - 35pts
Vincent Gives M2 the O-Kay!
We have had a lot of people trying and testing out product on our GC2 launch monitor recently. Our last 3 iron fittings have all been in favour of the new TaylorMade M2 Irons launched on the 27th January.
We have seen a definite increase in ball speed and this has led to a pretty big gain in carry yardage over their current Irons.
This week we had former Ladies Club Champion, Kay Vincent out on the range with the PING G Series, Titleist AP1 and TaylorMade M2 irons.
Kay has been using her Callaway X16 irons for a number of years and wanted to know if modern technology made any difference. Kay is a very straight hitter and so was looking to see if we could possibly gain her a few extra yards over her current equipment.
After trying each of the brands, all of the offerings were giving Kay an improvement in distance, but it was TaylorMade's M2 irons which came out on top giving her an extra 17 yards extra over her current Irons!
| Model | Ball Speed | Launch Angle | Carry Distance |
| Own Club (Callaway X16) | 85 | 26.1 | 110 |
| PING G Series | 90 | 23.6 | 120 |
| Titleist AP1 | 92 | 22.1 | 126 |
| TaylorMade M2 | 92 | 23.6 | 127 |
Check out Kay's thoughts on the fitting and the results she gained:
"Before the fitting John hadn't seen my swing so after a brief chat he took on board what I wanted out of any new clubs and brought along a few heads/shafts that he thought would help me achieve my requirements. It meant the fitting was precise, swift and therefore made it very easy for me to make a decision. I am looking forward to them arriving, although the big difference in yardage will take some adjustment on the course. The fitting also made me think more about the grips on my existing clubs, so 3 have already been re gripped by John" 
Our next Night Golf Event is now fully booked! We will hosting our next NIGHT GOLF event on
Friday, 17 February. The cost will be
£15 per person which includes prizes and soup and oatcakes after your round.
We will have a 6 hole course with holes ranging between 120-200 yards and you are allowed a maximum of 3 clubs. We will also have a nearest the pin on the 18th green up for grabs.
The first tee time is a 6.30pm shotgun start (without the shotgun!) and the 2nd tee time is 7.45pm with an expected prize giving at 9pm. We expect the 6 holes to take around 1 hour to complete.
If everyone playing could be down at the Pro Shop 30 mins before your tee time to allow time to go through the rules, hand out the golf balls and give you time for a pre-golf complimentary drink in the shop.
At the 12th Old, in a Saturday Morning Competition, Alistair sliced his drive and it ended up in the rough between the 11th & 12thfairways. Alastair, with his club in hand, addressed a ball thinking that it was his, made a stroke at it but unfortunately missed the ball. Looking down at the ball he calls out to Roy
"It was just as well I missed the ball as it was a wrong ball and therefore there would be no penalty." What did Roy bring to his attention?
Since Alistair had made a stroke with a wrong ball he incurred a 2 stroke penalty (loss of hole in Match Play). The Definition of a stroke is the forward movement of the club made with the intention of striking and moving the ball but if the player checks his downswing voluntary before the clubhead reaches the ball he has not made a stroke. In Alistair's case he had completed his stroke and therefore he could not avoid the penalty.
