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 busy few weeks at the shop as stock has been arriving thick and fast and we have been trying as usual to create some space for it all!
I was down at Gleneagles last week for our Foremost Golf Spring Workshop. This is a day's seminar full of ideas to help us improve the service and products we offer our customers. I have plenty to keep me busy for the rest of the year! Unfortunately it was all work and no play and so the closest I got to the course was through the car window as I left!
This weekend will see the annual Whitbread Shield match against Elgin GC and the kick off to the season ahead. Good Luck to everyone playing and let's change the recent year's results and come away with a victory.
Derek is replacing me on Saturday to play alongside Stevie Grant against Elgin and I hope they can repeat our victory point from last year!
I am making one final trip away before the season starts. I have been invited to play in the TaylorMade adidas Ambassador Cup which takes place at PGA Catalunya near Barcelona. I'm honoured to have been chosen as one of only 5 Professionals in Scotland alongside the Head Professionals from Gleneagles, Turnberry, Gullane and Cawder Golf Clubs.
It's been a big week in the world of golf with Muirfield finally voting 80% in favour of having lady golf members at the club. It's long overdue in today's day and age but has still been met with some criticism. This will now clear the way for them to continue to be on the Open rota although Rory McIlroy claimed he "won't have a great taste in my mouth" when he returns to the Scottish course. What's your view on the matter?
On the subject of Ladies Golf, We are looking at starting up a "Get into Golf" Initiative to help boost our falling ladies membership. With Ladies only making up around 10% of golfers in the UK, we are keen to embrace the challenge to bring more ladies to the game and membership at Moray Golf Club. Watch out for further details to follow in the next couple of weeks and if you know of any budding golfers then please come and speak to us in the shop.
Wedges Galore
We have a huge selection of wedges instore this year from Titleist, Cleveland, TaylorMade, Mizuno and PING.
However this year Cleveland Golf have launched their new Wedge Analyzer to help us fit you for the perfect wedge. We have a huge selection of demo wedges to try and when used alongside the wedge analyser, this allows us to get the right fit for your game.
The Wedge Analyzer, powered by Swingbyte, captures the motion of the wedge throughout the entire swing, including the delivery into the ball just before impact.
Using the golfer's swing data and typical turf conditions, the Wedge Analyzer recommends the proper bounce and sole grind to optimise scoring.
Also included is a database of pitching wedge lofts to help determine the correct wedge lofts for consistent distance gaps. Check out the website for further information and videos by clicking here.
Hole in 1 Club
Congratulations to Stephen Herd on his recent hole in one at the 6th hole of the Old Course. He was partnered by Blair Moir and Neil Stables.
Stephen used an 8 Iron for his first ace at Moray Golf Club and his 2nd in total. Well Done!
Winter Cup Final
Congratulations to Stephen Dunbar on winning the Winter Cup Final event on Saturday with a fantastic 44pts to win by 5 shots from Terry Scholefield and Willie Adams on 39pts.
Ritchie Baker returned a great 43pts to win division 2, ahead of David Lampkin (40pts) in 2nd and Scott Macdonald (38pts) in 3rd place.
Division 1
1st - Stephen Dunbar - 44pts
2nd - Terence Peter Scholefield - 39pts
3rd - Willie Adams - 39pts
4th - Darren Dry - 37pts
5th - Richard Bowlt - 36pts
Division 2
1st - Ritchie M Baker - 43pts
2nd - David Lampkin - 40pts
3rd - Scott MacDonald - 38pts
4th - Jim S Rae - 37pts
5th - Calvin Moors - 36pts
Magic 2's are worth £3.90 to the following players:
John Petrie, Ross Duncan, David Thewliss, John Dawson, Stephen Dunbar, Darren Dry, Richard Bowlt, Shona Reid and JC Macgregor.
Sunday Scores
1st - Paul Grant - 36pts
2nd - Stephen Dunbar - 35pts
3rd - John Davidson - 34pts
4th - Ivor Rollo - 33pts
5th - Raymond Mackie - 31pts
Magic 2's are worth £10 to the following players:
George Sutherland & Archie Jackson.
Winter Cup Aggregate Trophy
Stephens's huge 44 pts on the final Saturday allowed him to take the overall Winter Cup Aggregate Trophy by 5 shots with a total of 239. Iain Kelman was 2nd on 234 and Gordon McDonald and Nigel Parsons finished tied 3rd on 231pts.
Well Done Stephen! We will be paying out some shop vouchers into member's accounts for the top 10 places and ties as highlighted in red in the table seen by clicking here.
Thanks to everyone who played this year. If you have any feedback on the event to help make it better for next year then please click here.
Masters Mania!
Apologies to those of you who came into the shop looking for our Masters Sweepstake last weekend. We had problems with our computer followed by our printer giving up on us! We are however sorted and you can buy your envelopes for the upcoming event.
Can you believe it, the US Masters is now only 2 weeks away! Who will be wearing the famous green jacket come the Sunday Night? Will Tiger Woods ever make another Masters or has injury taken its toll? Who will win the Pro Shop US Masters Sweepstake?
We will be running a Masters Sweepstake at £5 per ticket with the winner picking up an Ltd Edition TaylorMade Season Opener Tour Bag worth £349. We will also have a new TaylorMade Milled Grind Wedge for 2nd place and a dozen of the new TaylorMade TP5 Golf Balls as used by Dustin Johnson for 3rd place.
Each player will be sealed in an envelope. You will select an envelope at random and write your name on the outside. We will then reveal the draw of players names once all envelopes have been sold prior to the 1st round on Thursday.
Grip Promotion
We are running a special promotion this month which gives you the chance to get your 7 iron regripped completely free of charge!
This allows you to basically try out a new grip of your choice (stock only).
If the grip is to your satisfaction then we can do the rest of your set. If you don't feel the difference then you keep the grip for FREE.
Time to Trade in that Old Bag!
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!
Loyalty Rewarded! Titleist 4 for 3 with Free Personalisation
Get your golf balls sorted for the season! Buy 3 dozen and get a 4th dozen FREE of charge.
These balls need to have some sort of personalisation to qualify for the free dozen.
Standard or Special Play numbers
Red or Black Ink
Only 1 deal per person
Free Personalisation
Last Order date 24th April
Can take up to 4 weeks for delivery