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 much busier week on and off the golf course this week. The sun has been shining again and we had a generally dry and mild week with less wind to contend with for a change. Some of you may have seen a strange sight out on the course this week....Yes it was your golf professional!! I managed to get my first game of 2015 on Wednesday and then enjoyed it that much that I had my 2nd game on Friday!! This is my new year's resolution...to play more golf, so I will hopefully see you out on the course more often this year.
The courses were in great shape for this time of year and the greenstaff have been working hard as always putting in a new bunker at the 11th of the Old Course and finishing off the new tees at the 12th Old & New which look great!
We also had a Hole in 1 to report from our ex-Captain John Ellwood. John had his hole in 1 at the 4th hole on the Old Course going down the shaft on his trusty 3 wood. Its amazing how your golf suddenly improves after your 2 year captaincy finishes!!
Out with Moray GC, Tiger Woods is again at the centre of the headlines after he announced he was taking a break from golf until he was tournament ready. However with rumours spreading that Woods could be out for a protracted spell, his website has quashed these rumours. Seemingly his back injury which forced him to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open was not connected to his recent spinal injury where he underwent surgery last year.
He said "I am committed to getting back to the pinnacle of the game" and that he did "expect to be playing again very soon" Watch this space!! Do you think Tiger will get back to his best?
Click here to get in touch to let us know your thoughts, or have a chat with us in the pro shop.
This week will also see the appointment of the new Ryder Cup Captain to lead the defence at Hazeltine in 18 month's time. Either Darren Clark or Miguel Angel Jimenez will be chosen from a 5 man panel which includes Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley, Jose Maria Olazabel, George O'Grady and David Howell. Current odds on favourite appears to be Darren Clarke. Both men would appear to be up for the challenge and good choices for the role. All will be revealed on Wednesday and probably by the time you read this week's newsletter!!
This week I will be away Thursday/Friday travelling down to see Liverpool FC take on Besikitas in the Europa League at Anfield. I've been a fan of Liverpool since I was a young boy (a young glory hunter) and I've always supported them since. However, I've never been to watch them play and so this was an early Birthday gift to myself!! I'll be back to work on Saturday for Winter Cup Week 15 and hopefully another good weekend's golfing weather!
We now have a full schedule of company demo days coming up shortly
Wilson - Wednesday, 4 March - 3-7pm
TaylorMade - Friday, 13 March - 3-7pm
PING - Thursday, 19 March - 12-5pm
Callaway - Friday, 20 March - 2-6pm
Call the shop on 813330 or click here to get in touch to book your FREE no obligation appointment.
If any of our demo/fitting events don't suit you for any reason, then just come and see us in the shop and we can arrange an alternative date for us to help fit you out with that new driver or set of irons. We have a large selection of fitting equipment in the shop and have trial sets available from PING, Wilson, TaylorMade and Titleist for our members and customers to benefit from.
Click here to visit my website to find out more about our great selection of products, or click here to get in touch to request your fitting session.
Night Golf
We are going to hold our very first NIGHT GOLF event at the club on Saturday, 28 February. This is sure to be a great laugh and I'm sure something that many of you won't have tried before!!!
Our first night golf event will take place over 4 shortened holes.....1st Old, 1st New, 18th New and 18th Old and we are going to make it a 3 club only event......you can choose which clubs to use!
The cost will be £15 per person which basically covers the cost of the course set up and golf balls for each player.
After the golf we will have a short prize giving with prizes for the best team (4 players) better ball score and the leading Individual.
We only have around 12 spaces left so be sure to reserve your place ASAP.
If you don't have a team, don't worry we can pair you up with some others. If anyone wishes to reserve a place or team, you must prepay your entry to the shop with all names participating.
After the prize giving, there will also be an Envelope draw with the chance to pick up ££££'s. Tickets are £5 for the draw and can be bought on the night. We will aim to start the golf at 6.30pm and hopefully have a group going out every 12 minutes (I'm sure it may take longer than normal!!!) so we shall make a draw closer to the time so nobody's standing about waiting for too long. Last tee time will be at 8.30pm so this only gives us enough time for 40 golfers.
Click here to check out what it looks like on the course!!
Winter Cup
We had another good turnout for the winter cup last weekend with 76 players taking part. Kay Vincent continued her fine form and once again took the honours in division 1 with 39 points, beating Jim Dennis into 2nd spot for the 2nd week running. Never mind Jim, there is always this weekend...3rd time lucky!!
Iain Cardwell took the top spot in division 2 with a great score of 41 points edging Kim Steggall and Darren Dry in to 2nd and 3rd places on 40 points. Iain obviously put his golf lesson last week and his new set of custom fit irons to good use on the course and they are already starting to repay his investment!!
2's Worth £11.33
6th - J Cryle, K Scott, J Martin
15th - K Scott, G Mcdonald, N Simpson
Handicap Reductions
K Vincent - 8 To 6 (Incl. Pending Weeks 13 & 14)
J Dennis - 10 To 9 (Still Pending Week 13)
I Cardwell - 14 To 13
K Steggall - 13 To 12
D Dry - 15 To 14
S Harding - 17 To 16
Pending:- D Dry, I Cardwell, K Steggall, S Harding, A R Tweedie, J Murphy, K Scott.
Overall Points Standings
Ball Deals
We have some great early season Golf Balls offers from both TaylorMade and Srixon which allow you to stock up for the season ahead, or get some personalised balls for your business.
TaylorMade TP Balls - FREE Ball personalisation - Buy 3 Dozen, Get 1 Dozen FREE
Srixon - Soft Feel, AD333, AD333 Tour and Z Star - FREE Personalisation - Buy 3 Dozen, Get a 4th FREE
Graeme's ball was stopped by a rake left in the front of the bunker at the 6th Old. He correctly marked the position of his ball and duly removed the rake. His ball did not move. However as he was removing his marker his ball moved. Unsure of the correct procedure he asks Craig. What was the outcome of Graeme's situation?
Craig informed Graeme that his marker is itself a movable obstruction. Accordingly, under Rule 24-1, he incurs no penalty and he must replace the ball.
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