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 sneaked away for a couple days golf in Spain last week. I went away with 2 other PGA Professionals and a good friend who made up our 4 ball for the week. As well as a quick few days away before the season kicks off, we were also looking at the possibility of arranging some winter members golf trips early next year and so used this to check out some courses, accommodation and obviously made sure there were one of two nice restaurants and bars (all in the name of market research of course!)
We stayed at a nice resort called the Dona Lola resort (Macdonald's owned) about 20mins from Malaga airport and surrounded by a huge selection of golf courses.
We arrived late Monday, played the next 3 days and then flew back on Friday but it was great just to get away for a few days and thankfully the weather was great with sunshine and temperatures in the low 20's, perfect for golf.
We played a local course called Santana first which was in great condition with beautiful views and ideal holidays golf (not much rough!)
Our second course was a place called La Zagaletta which is set high into the hills and overlooks Gibraltar in the distance. This was an amazing private members club which only had around 10-20 rounds on average per day and as a result the course was in magnificent condition. The greens were running at around 11 in speed which resulted in some lengthy second putts until we got used to the pace of them.
Our final day's golf was at the well-known San Roque Golf Club which is renowned as one of Spain's finest courses. This was an early alarm clock, and it showed as we all found the going tough early on. Thankfully as the weather improved so did the golf and we ended the week with some decent golf to finish.
Modernising Golf's Rules
Last week the R&A proposed some key changes to the Rules of Golf from 2019. Their Rules Modernisation initiative has been underway for a few years now and this is the next stage in that process. The aim is to not only make the Rules easier to understand, but also to address some of the game's current problems, such as speed of play, and ensure they fit the needs of today's game.
Please spare a couple of minutes to complete our survey, which gives you the chance to have your say on the proposed changes.
We've picked out some of the most significant Rules changes for you to digest in this survey, before giving you the chance to say whether you agree or disagree with each of them. It'll be great to know your thoughts.
Have your say here.
New Stock
Since being back we have had a lot of cardboard boxes arrive in the shop and so on Tuesday, Derek, Julieann and I stayed late to try and find somewhere to put all the new stock! We now have out our new collection of FootJoy and Galvin Green Clothing on display as well as some new Moray GC accessories available for members and visitors alike.
Bag Trade-In
This month we have 2 main promotions running in the shop. We have our bag trade in offer on TaylorMade and Motocaddy Bags. Trade in any old bag (not a carrier bag!) and we will give you £20 OFF one of the new season's bags which have just arrived!
Grip Promotion
The second promotion allows you to basically try out a new grip of your choice (stock only) completely FREE of charge as we will re-grip your 7 iron for you.
If the grip is to your satisfaction and you notice a big difference then we can do the rest of your set (at a charge of course). If you don't feel the difference or need to do the rest of your set then that's fine and you can keep the grip for FREE.
Please don't ask us to re-grip individual clubs like your driver, wedge or hybrid as your request will politely be declined.
Competitions - Winter Cup Week 16
We had some horrible weather on Saturday but it didn't stop some of our hardened members going to battle in the winter cup! Despite nonstop rain and some sorry sights after 18 holes, 14 players battled round the Old Course and 33pts was a great effort. Stuart Duncan took the honors on a better inward nine holes.
Sunday was much improved and a better turnout of 36 golfers took part. Congratulations to Steve Beveridge who piped Bryan Suttar, both on 39pts, to 1st place in division 1. It was a similar story in division 2 with Dave Lampkin on 37pts narrowly piping Stephen Murray into 1st place on a count back.
Saturday - Old Course - CSS 73
Division 1 Only
1st - Stuart Duncan - 33pts
2nd - David Provan - 33pts
3rd - Robert Macpherson - 33pts
4th - Willie Adams - 33pts
Sunday - Old Course - CSS 72/79
Division 1
1st - Steven Beveridge - 39pts
2nd - Bryan John Suttar - 39pts
3rd - William B Johnston - 38pts
4th - Brian Ross - 37pts
5th - James Miller - 37pts
Division 2
1st - David Lampkin - 37pts
2nd - Stephen Murray - 37pts
3rd - James A G Spence - 36pts
4th - George R Stewart - 36pts
5th - Mark Croft - 35pts
Magic 2's were worth £10 to the following players:
Iain Kelman, John Petrie & Bryan Suttar.
Aggregate Leaderboard
There are only 2 weeks remaining!
This weekend will be the last weekend to better your New Course totals before the following Saturday's final day event. The Winter Cup Final will take place on Saturday with an Individual Stableford on this day. Scores from this day will also count towards the final aggregate scores.
Those unable to play on Saturday will be allowed to play a final round on Sunday to count towards the aggregate score before we crown this year's Winter Cup Champion!
A full list of scores are available on the club and pro shop notice boards.
Senior Winter Cup [Week 18] (CSS 69)
Jim Docherty stole the show this week with 45 points, 5 points behind with 40 were Mark Cross, Jim Dennis and Jim Spence.
1st - J. G. Doherty (18) - 45pts
2nd - M. M. Cross (12), J. Dennis (12), J. A. G. Spence (14); R. G. Macpherson (9) - 40pts
3rd - W. Stewart (6) - 39pts
4th - W. R. Duncan (7), R. Crane (10) - 37pts
5th - A. A. Lees (10), J. Dawson (7) - 36pts
6th - A. Marsh (22), J. A. Watson (12), J. S. Rae (15), A. W. Miller (12) - 35pts
Junior Easter Camp
We're now taking entries for our first junior camps of the year. There will be two camps in the Easter holidays.
Week One will run Monday, 3 and Tuesday, 4 April. Under 10's week 1 will be from 10am-12pm, Over 10's 12.30pm-2.30pm.
Week Two will run Wednesday, 12 to Friday, 14 April. Week 2 Under 10's will be 10am-11.30am and over 10's 12pm-1.30pm.
Enter by calling the shop on 813330, cost for the camps will be £25.
Jimmy and Joe were playing in the Hon John and finishing the 16th hole the match was all square. They parked their trolleys at the side of the ladies Tee and walked back to drive from the White tee. Joe didn't have a good drive and unfortunately his ball hit Jimmy's trolley and then struck his own trolley. Not knowing what to do He asked Jimmy if he could advise him on how to proceed on this situation.
In Match play because Joe's ball first struck his opponent's (Jimmy's) equipment Joe may replay the stroke without penalty regardless of what happens thereafter to his ball (Rule 19-3). Joe may also play his ball as it lies, but would do so under penalty of one stroke because after striking his opponent's equipment, his ball struck his own equipment (Rule 19-2)
In Stroke play, although joe's ball first struck a fellow competitors equipment, Joe incurs a penalty of one stroke and must play the ball as it lies.( Rules 19-1, 19-2 19-3)
Next week we will take a look at some of the new rule changes to come into effect for 2019 in a bid to help speed up play
