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.
We have had a very busy start to the season with the Scottish Universities Championships taking place last week followed by a busy weekend with the opening Greensomes competition and first Open Texas Scramble of the year.
The busy times have continued as Derek and I have had 28 children between 6-12 years old for our annual Easter junior camp this week. Derek is then away on Wednesday and Thursday to sit his final coaching and custom fitting PGA exams and then on Friday we are both attending a seminar "The art & science of pitching" through the PGA down at Eastwood Golf Club near Glasgow.
The first medal round of the year is on Saturday when the Spring Meeting plays over the Old Course with 132 players already booked in to play which is great to see.
Then we have a great end to the weekend as hopefully we can all sit back, relax and watch the drama unfold as the first major of the year, The Masters, comes to its climax on Sunday night! So who is your money on? I'm going to go against all the odds and say that Phil Mickelson will return to form when it counts!
We have a late license in the clubhouse on Sunday so it would be great to see some of you there to enjoy the golf and maybe a beer or two!
I will be there from 7pm as we are also holding a pool competition and an indoor putting event as pre Masters Entertainment with a couple of prizes available for the winners.
Masters Mania!
It's finally here! It's Masters Week and I'm sure you are all like me and can't wait to see the excitement unfold over the weekends play at Augusta.
Our Masters sweepstake is now sold out and the draw can be seen by clicking here.
Buzz - To Infinity & Beyond!
We now have some rather sad news! Julieann (Buzz to some of her friends) will be leaving the shop after 4 great years with us here. She will certainly be hugely missed by Derek and I and I'm not quite sure how we will cope without her!
However I'm sure that you will all wish her the very best in her new job working alongside her brother for Stew 'n' Drew's Ice Cream. I'm sure she said something about free ice cream for all the members!
Julieann Ready for takeoff!
Men's Greensomes
1st - S. Smith & R. Sommerville (8.0) - 66
2nd - R. G. MacPherson & S. Duncan (6.8), B. J. Suttar & S. MacDonald (8.0) - 68.2
3rd - C. W. Stewart & N. Sabiston (13.0) - 70.0
4th - L. Crawford & J. R. Souter (5.8), W. R. Duncan & N. Munro (8.8) - 70.2
5th - M. Atherton & D. A. Stewart (14.4) - 70.6
6th - R. Crane & J. Kennedy (10.2) - 70.8
7th - D. Johnston & W. B. Johnston (7.0) - 71
8th - D. MacKintosh & J. A. Watson (13.4) - 71.6
9th - M. Cowie & M. C. Page (6.2), C. J. Smith & R. Rattray (7.2) - 71.8
Spring Texas Scramble Open
Division 1
1st - P. H. Paton, I. Nicol (Alford), M. Rollo (Elgin), G. Laing (Elgin) (3.3) - 57.7
2nd - N. Bremner, D. J. Duguid, R. Lewis, K. Bennet (2.6) - 58.4
3rd - S. Herd, N. Stables. J. Scott, D. Morrison (Meldrum House) (0.4) - 58.6
Division 2
1st - S.Simpson,G.Brannan (Hopeman), R. Bremner (Elgin), S. Dey (Elgin) (4.5) - 57.5
2nd - P. Smith, A. A. Lees, B. Casburn, S. M. Crane (5.0) - 58.0
3rd - K. Rushton, N.Parsons, C.Young (Forres), S.N. McCormack (Bonnybridge 4.9) - 58.1
Ladies R.N.L.I. Charity Stableford (CSS 70)
1st - D. Bethune (21) - 39pts
2nd - A. Park (27), I. Wilson (17), S. Harding (33) - 35pts
3rd - A. Souter (20) 32pts; D. Crane (19) - 31pts
Scottish Universities
We had a successful Universities week with the students actually getting some fine weather for a change! We had lots of positive comments about the course for this early time in the season and there was some fine scoring with Stirling once again winning the team Championships.
In the individual championships Laird Shepherd from Stirling took the men's championship with rounds of 67, 66 (New) 73 and 68 (Old) for a -8 total of 274 to win by 6 shots. Gemma Batty (Stirling) made it a clean sweep with the women's title with rounds of 71,71,70,74 for a -6 total.
Shop Promotions
This month we have a couple of new promotions available for our customers.
Motocaddy Battery Trade-In
Buy a new Motocaddy Lithium Battery this month and I will give you £25 OFF when you trade in any old battery. Come in past for a chat and let us help you take care of your needs.
adidas Shoe Trade-In
This month we are also offering you the opportunity to trade-in your old shoes (no matter how smelly!) against a brand new pair of adidas shoes. Get £20 OFF when you buy a new pair of adidas Tour 360 Boost or £10 OFF when you trade in against our other models in stock.
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
Click here to order yours!
Graeme and Billy were back on the course playing a friendly. Billy told Graeme that after their previous game he had taken time to look over the proposed rules changes for 2019 and in particular he mentioned 'Moving or Touching Loose Impediments or Touching Sand in a Bunker'. At present we are not permitted to test the condition, or to touch the ground in the bunker with a hand or club or touch or move loose impediments in the bunker.
Proposed Rule. The player would be allowed to touch or move loose impediments in a bunker and would be generally allowed to touch the sand with a hand or club; but a limited prohibition continues so that a player must not:
a. Deliberately touch the sand in the bunker with a hand, club, rake or other object to test the condition of the sand to learn information for the stroke or
b. Touch the sand in a bunker with a club in making a practice swing, in grounding the club right in front of or behind the ball, or in making the backswing for a stroke. The reasons for the changes are: (1) the challenge of playing from a bunker is the need to play out of sand, not to play with leaves, stones or the many other and varied loose impediments Inc. bird feathers that we find in bunkers. (2) The current approach has created confusion by stating a total ban on touching the sand with a hand or club and then recognising the many exceptions which are in place. (3) The revised rule would simplify this.
Graeme said that he will come up with another proposed rule change for Billy and him to discuss in their next golf outing!
