Well done to those of you who spotted the spelling mistake last week......obviously this was a deliberate mistake to see if you were still reading!!!

The Ryder Cup is finally upon us, and as this newsletter reaches you, I will hopefully be sitting in the grandstand behind the 1st tee cheering on the European team. I will have a full roundup of the Ryder Cup in next week's newsletter.

The course at Gleneagles certainly looks fantastic and it's amazing how different the course looks with all the hospitality tents and grandstands around it. The 1st tee in particular looks far tighter than I ever remember it with the grandstand wrapped around it, making the fairway look much smaller. I read an interesting article in the P&J Ryder Cup section from Paul Lawrie. He spoke about his Ryder Cup experiences and in particular hitting the opening tee shot at the 1999 Ryder Cup at Brookline.

"I was playing well going into Brookline but I got on to the 1st tee and feelings of negativity going through your mind were just hellish......I was thinking don't whiff it, don't hit behind it, and I would never have those swing thoughts. I get nervous on every first tee but that was 100 times worse"

I'm sure hearing this from a former Open Champion and Ryder Cup player will make you all feel slightly better about your own first tee nerves!!

Ryder Cup 26 to 28 September, 2014

Come and watch it in the Club and celebrate its return to Scotland after 41 years.

A raffle will be held for a bottle of limited edition Johnny Walker Blue label specially bottled for the Ryder Cup. RSP £225.

This weekend sees the Mackenzie Consulting 3 Man Team Open played over the Old Course. We are sadly almost at the end of the golf season with only a few events left. However those of you that are keen to play over the winter can join our Winter Cup which will start in November and run through until the middle of March. Details of this will be available in the next few weeks.

I will be heading down to Harrogate in the next couple of weeks to the Golf Trade Show. This week has a number of golf specific educational seminars on the go as well as the chance to look at all the top golf suppliers and finalise my buying decisions for next year. If anyone has any special requests for the shop in the shoe, clothing or equipment categories, then click here to get in touch and I will take a look at their products and bear this in mind when making my buying choices.

I am also currently running a short Equipment Survey which again will help in my decision making for the shop for next year. If you haven't already, I would greatly appreciate it if you could take 3-4 minutes to complete it as it really does benefit both you and I.

Click here to enter the short survey.

Mal Sharp Invitational

The annual Mal Sharp Invitational was played over the New Course on Saturday. A top class field was present to rival that of the Ryder Cup and all honoured invited guests seemed to have good fun as always. I also hear that the bar takings on Saturday were considerably up!!

Monthly Medal 6 - Old Course CSS 73

There was a good turnout on Saturday for the last monthly medal of the year. Graeme Peat had a fantastic 72 (66) to win division 1, 2 shots clear of 3 other players which included Kyle Godsman who shot the lowest gross with a 5 under 66.

In Division 2, Charles Stewart returned to good form with a fine 83 (70) to pip Michael Caton 84 (70) into 1st place. Darren Hamilton 92 (71) took top place in division 3, winning on a countack from Sandy Bruce 87 (71)

Mid Week Medal - Old Course CSS 73

Graham Murray returned a fantastic 2 under par 69 to win the Mid Week Medal over the Old Course on Thursday ahead of three players tied on 71.

Ryder Cup Ticket Draw

We still have a few tickets available for the Ryder Cup draw available at £5 per ticket.

Each ticket will be randomly drawn by the individual and will either have a Ryder Cup player's name, winning score or captain's name written on it. These can be bought right up to the final matches on Sunday.

We will pay out for the following:

• £100 shop credit for the correct score prediction
• £50 shop credit for the leading European Point scorer
• £50 shop credit for the leading USA point scorer
• £30 shop credit for the Winning Captain

*Prize values subject to all tickets being sold

Billy's tee shot at the 4th Old was right of the green and maybe lost. He plays a provisional ball which comes to rest in same area. He finds a ball which he believes to be his original, plays it and then discovers that the ball he played was his provisional ball. David who was marking his card asked him "well what happens now"?

Billy replied that if a player reaches the place where his original ball is likely to be and plays another stroke with a provisional ball the provisional ball is in play and the original ball is lost (Rule 27-2b).