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 another great week's weather here at Moray Golf Club and the forecast shows no signs of changing anytime soon which is great for the course and all you golfers!!

The greens on the New Course have been hollow cored and top dressed this week so may be a little slow and bumpy for a couple of weeks. However this fine mild weather should help their recovery and you can already notice a big difference on the Old Course greens which were cored at the start of the month.


 

This weekend we have the Autumn Stableford played over the Old Course which is the last individual competition this year before we start the winter cup from Saturday, 7 November. We are just finalising this year's fixtures and rules before these will be posted on the relevant notice boards in the club next week.


The final open of the year will also take place this Sunday, with the ever popular Texas Scramble taking place over the Old Course and another full field ready to take on the course.


North Scottish Golfers Alliance

Last Saturday saw the North Scottish Golfers Alliance come to the New Course for their 2nd fixture of the winter season. Jeff Wright continued his fine form from this season to shoot a fantastic 6 under par 64 to win by 2 shots from Kyle Godsman (Moray) on 66.

Bob Macpherson (Moray) won handicap division 1 with a fine 73 (67). 

Full Results are as follows: 

Leading Scratch scores: 
64 - J Wright (Forres) 
66 - K Godsman (Moray) 
69 - J S D Campbell (Grantown on Spey), G H Hay (Grantown on Spey), G A Hay (Pro)(Nairn Dunbar); 
71 - K Thomson (Moray) 
72 - S Mullen (Elgin), B J Thomson (Torvean) 
73 - D Hector (Elgin), R G Macpherson (Moray), S Dingwall (Grantown on Spey), R Copland (Moray), D Ramsay (pro)(Moray); 
74 - A Henry (Inverness), T Dingwall (Pro)(Kinloss)

Handicap section One (7 and under) 
67 - R G Macpherson (Moray)(6); 
68 - A Henry (Inverness)(6), S Mullen (Elgin)(4); 
70 - I Murray (Boat of Garten)(5), S Duncan (Moray)(6), A Hutchison (Inverness)(7), R Copland (Moray)(3), B J Thomson (Spey Bay)(5); 

Handicap section Two (8 to 18) 
67 - B Coupar (Boat of Garten)(11); 
68 - S Taylor (Boat of Garten)(13); 
69 - M Lyall (Torvean)(11); 
70 - A Boxx (Boat of Garten)(14), W B Johnston (Moray)(10), A Casey (Moray)(10), L Huitchison (Inverness)(12); D Macleod (Fortrose & Rosemarkie)(13)


 

I've been very busy the last couple of weeks meeting with reps and doing the shop's buying for next year. Last week I made the long haul down to Harrogate for the Golf Trade Show.

It's certainly a long way to go for it but I always think it's a worthwhile week as I get the chance to look at lots of different product ranges, network with other golf industry professionals and also expand my own mind by attending various educational seminars.

       

         

My favourites were "Power Development" by Dr Greg Rose who is the co-founder of the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI). He talked to us about how to develop power in the golf swing and showed us drills which he works on with Jason Zuback (5 times World Long Drive Champion). Many of the exercises focus on explosive jumping movements. If you watch all the long hitters, they all tend to squat slightly in the downswing before driving off their legs through impact. 

Click here to watch a video of Jason Zuback in slow motion and watch his hips rise as he hits through impact!

I now know what I need to work on in the gym over the winter!! Should add at least 60 yards to my drives!! 

Click here to watch Dr Greg Rose and Jason Zuback run through some of his workout. Im certainly not expecting you all to copy this but its certainly interesting!!

The 2nd seminar which I found really interesting was "The Yips in Golf". A couple of things I discovered was that the yips in putting is always caused by the dominant hand (if you have them try to put with each hand on their own and you should notice this). This however isn't the case in chipping yips and through research, most chipping yips occur when both hands are on the club and tends to be improved when chipping with only one hand! Unfortunately I never found that special magic ingredient to completely cure the yips, but hopefully have a few more tools to help some of you improve in these areas.

If you want to try and take advantage of my new tips and tricks, why not book in for a lesson. Click here to get in touch if you are interested.


 

Spence wins big for very little!! 

Congratulations go to Mark Spence who won a TaylorMade M1 Driver in our Lotto Bonus Ball Raffle. Mark paid £7 for his number 8 ticket and when this was drawn out as the bonus ball in last Saturdays main Lottery draw, Mark won the new M1 Driver selling at £399....not bad for £7 investment!!

While things are slowing down here in the shop, we are going to run some more bonus ball draws throughout October/November so look out for the next chance to win some other great prizes for a fraction of the cost.

We will sell tickets for numbers 1-59 and once all tickets are sold, the person with the drawn bonus ball on the Saturday night Lottery draw will win the prize. You can buy as many tickets as you like. If you win the draw, we will allow you to exchange the prize for something else but prizes won cannot be credited onto accounts for use at a later date.

Our next one is a PING Hoofer Stand Bag (RRP £149) as shown below. Tickets for the bag cost £2.50 or 5 for £10. Come in and buy a number in the shop or you can also do this through our Facebook page, Moray Golf Club & Pro Shop. Payments for squares can be done through the shop or by paypal to j.murray255@btinternet.com quoting bonus ball draw and the number you would like.


 

Hole in 1 Club 

Congratulations to Iain Meggatt on making a hole in 1 on the 6th of the Old Course. Iain was using a 9 iron and was partnered by Mike Mulloy. 

This was Iain's 2nd hole in one this year and his 5th in total.



Sportsman's Dinner 

The Sportsman's Dinner was a great success on Saturday night and I'm pleased to say I was back in time to make this event. Guest speakers Campbell Elliot (Haggs Castle Professional) and Sandy Strang were both highly entertaining and had the room in tears of laughter for much of the night.



It's always great to see the club busy with fun events especially over the winter months. If anyone has any suggestions for any events we should run over the winter I'd be happy to hear from you.


Ladybird Quiz Night 

There was a good turnout for the Ladybird Quiz night last Friday night. Unfortunately I missed the evening as I was down in Harrogate all week at the Golf Show. However I'm pleased to hear that they raised over £300 on the night which is great. Thanks to all the members for their support. 

I have a 4 ball available for Ladybank Golf Club up until the end of October. Ladybank is an Open qualifying course and always in great condition. 

If anyone wants to play this fantastic course in Fife, I am asking only for a donation which will go to the Ladybird Group in Lossiemouth. 

Click here if you're interested and would like to make an offer. The highest bidder wins the 4 ball and gets to support a great cause at the same time. 

Why not make a great trip out of it by taking advantage of our FREE reciprocal offer with Blairgowrie at the same time!


Date for your Diary

Talking of events, pencil this one into your diaries. We are planning a 2nd Night Golf Event on Friday, 13 (November) of all nights!!! This event went down fantastically well earlier this year and we shall be revamping the course and rules slightly. Hopefully we can confirm this date in next weeks newsletter.