Ryder Cup Round Up

What a fantastic week of golf we have had! The Ryder Cup was a huge success on so many levels, most notably with another European victory, making it 8 wins in the last 10 events!!

However this Ryder Cup I believe was one of the most successful ever and will have been a wonderful advert for Golf and Scotland as a whole. I was lucky enough to be there from Thursday to Saturday and the atmosphere was really fantastic. Gleneagles and Ryder Cup organisers did a fantastic job of the layout of everything which makes a successful event.

The Kings 1st hole was used as the practice area and the 18th greens of the Kings and Queens courses used as the short game practice facilities. I spent a little time here watching the players warm up and although there are many individual swings which differ greatly, they all posed great rhythm and tempo to their swings.

I was also lucky to make it onto the 1st tee stand on Friday morning to see the opening tee shots. This was a great experience and you could really feel the excitement build. I could only imagine how nervous they all felt standing over the opening tee shots.....well except maybe Bubba Watson who hit his tee shot while the crowds were still chanting and cheering!!

There were a huge number of grandstands out on the course and some great vantage points all over, which is where the course design really suits big spectator events like this. The tented village and multiple corporate hospitality tents were incredible and unlike anything I've ever seen on a golf course. Thankfully I didn't have to pay £450+ for any hospitality but instead stuck to the tented village for my refreshments.

McKenzie Consulting 3 Man Team

Another hugely successful open for the club, which saw players come from all over Scotland and there was some fantastic scoring. The winning score came from Nathan Whyte, Kevin West and Alex Watt all from Inverallochy with a phenomenal 56, Second place was claimed by Alistair Russell (Glasgow Gailes) Mark Robertson and Andrew Russell (Lundin Links) with another cracking score of 58.

A further 2 shots back were two teams firstly Colin MacIver (Alness) Donnie Mckay (Alness) and Dave Clark (Tain) and secondly Peter Ireland (Hopeman), Gavin Mackie (Wanderes GC) and Fraser Mackie (Hazlehead). Well done to everyone who played, the next open is the Texas Scramble on the 19th October and is already nearly full so get your names in asap.