Hello golfers...Well another year begins!
Should all aquatics go be bought?
Whatever boat you find!
Should all aquatics go be bought,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' dryness yet,
For auld lang syne!
Happy New Year everyone! 2016 certainly arrivedwith a bang as a veritable tidal wave hit theNorth East (and many other parts of the UK) I`msure some homes didn`t expect their tall darkfirst foot to be Poseidon covering their newfluffy Crimbo baffies! Yes the transition into anew year wasn`t exactly plain sailing thanks toStorm Frank but it has meant many people haveeither escaped on a plane or have had to resortto sailing to safety! I think being named StormFrank is quite apt this time because it hit likea Frank Bruno haymaker, caused as much havoc andchaos as a Frank Spencer skit, made the 'News atTen' headlines like Frank Carson and forcedpeople into hiding like Ann Frank!
It`s safe to say that 'Dry for January' took ona whole new meaning as the torrential rain andstorm conditions saw the River Dee to get touncontrollable levels and cause heart breakingscenes of damage and destruction. From thedecimation of the Caravan site at Ballater tothe isolation of residents in Braemar, the chainreaction of carnage down the River Dee has leftmany places, from homes to businesses and evengolf courses, in a state of ruin!
As you can see from some of the photos the DavidLloyd Gymnasium got an unwanted extension to itspool facilities, the Paul Lawrie Centre wentfrom a Driving Range to a Sailing Lake. The golfcourses on that waterline unfortunately didn`tescape either! Peterculter would've been quitehappy to see Salmon trapped in their bunkersthis time because the floods were so severe thatthey don`t even have the bunkers left now andthey`ve had to put a new Local Rule in placewith immediate effect so the putting surfacesdon`t get damaged!
It reads "Row, Row, Row your boat gentlydown the Green!"
Further down the river, Golf Members werebeing equally as resilient because they do liketo be at Royal Deeside, but now it`s RoyalDeeside by the Sea! With water covering all thegreens, it`s quite horrific scenes, at RoyalDeeside…beside the Sea! Fortunately the ClubsAGM isn't too far away so with their newappointment at the helm I`m sure the Club are ingood hands. I`ve heard he`ll go by the name ofCaptain Nemo!
I`ve heard that many Celebrities and Sportsmen& Women are planning on coming to the areato help with the clear up. Ex-Tennis Champ, PatRafter is coming. As are Cricketers, Graeme Swanand Ian Boat`em! Hollywood Actor, Scuba GoodingJnr will be here! But I`ve been told thatAberdeen Footballer Willo Flood has been askedto stay well away, as has US Golfer StewartCink!
In all seriousness though the devastation causedby these floods to homes, towns, golf coursesand livelihoods really is heart breaking to see.I know by speaking to our Greenstaff and theClub that we will be doing all we can to helpthe affected Golf Courses as they try and cometo terms with the extent of the damage. Incomparison we have been extremely fortunate hereat Portlethen and while the Course has beenClosed (and remains so at the time of typing) weare only a good drying day away from play again.So essentially soggy semi-rough and waterloggedbunkers is all we have to worry about comparedto no bunkers and submerged greens!
To give you an indicationof where Portlethen ranks in the progress chartsthe Team were able to get out on Wednesday andhand mow the Greens!
I think Neil also took much satisfaction out ofthe effect and results that the drainageprojects that the Greenstaff undertook thiswinter have had. They certainly were well put tothe test, but the troublesome areas at 15 and 18have really coped well with heavy rainfallbrought by the storms. The Sleugh Gate alsoinstalled at the 15th Burn also helps manage thewater flow through that area of the course.
With virtually every image on TV right now beingof heavy flooding causing roads, bridges,caravans and vehicles to be swept away there wasa certain irony in the timing of golf`s latesthigh profile rule change being implemented - TheRemoval of ANCHORING!!
Yes,as the clocked chimed midnight and we wavedgoodbye to 2015 so too did we say farewell tothe Anchored Putting Stroke! But that doesn`tmean, as some people thought/think, that will bethe last we see of the long or mid lengthputters! In fact, much like the currentlandscape, I feel the waters are muddier thanever!
The length of putter permissible has not beenchanged, nor has how you are able to grip/holdit. It is the way the arms are positioned inrelationship to the body. But if the Guidelinesshown below are anything to go by then I`d say,especially here in Scotland, regardless of whichstyle of putter or stroke you use, you arebasically one Smoke Sausage Supper or an extrawoolly jersey away from a disqualification!
"Sorry, I`ll need to pull out of today`sCompetition!......I had a big Curry last nightand the amputation clinic isn`t open on aSaturday morning so there is a good chancetoday my left forearm will unavoidably bepressed against my belly!"
The terminology they have used to distinguish"PERMITTED" and "PROHIBITED" methods certainlyin my opinion doesn`t help clear things up. Youare allowed to HAVE "Forearms HELD against thebody" but you are NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE an "AnchorPoint created by a Forearm" Matt Kuchar`s styleof putting is allowed where his right handCLAMPS the grip against his left Forearm.
Clickhere or on the image to see a largerimage.
Personally with the Anchor Ban I can`t believeit`s not better! But what`s your thoughts? Hasthis help raise awareness or has it just sunk tonew depths?
Do you think this will be easy to police at ClubLevel? Would you be comfortable pulling someoneup if you thought they were intentionallyanchoring? - Leaveyour comments by clicking here.
Unfortunately it wasn`t just a Putting stylethat the game of golf had to say goodbye to thisweek! The sad news that the great Irish RyderCup Legend Christy O`Connor Jnr passed away atonly 67 years of age was announced on Wednesday.In 1989 I was only 13 years old and still reallyjust starting to fall in love with golf. BBC wasstill THEE only place to see golf coverage andmy whole summer that year was spent eitherplaying as many holes as daylight would allow,or if the weather was poor, watching the videotaped coverage of Nick Faldo`s sudden deathplayoff victory over Ray Floyd in the US Masterswhen he holed that monstrous putt in the Augustagloom, or Mark Calcavecchia`s 4 hole playoffvictory in The Open Championship where he sawoff both Wayne Grady and Greg Norman to winhelped in no small measure by an outrageous'Slam Dunked' chip in during his final round.
Those Betamax Tapes were watched, rewound,paused, and re-played so many times thateventually they got so chewed up they jammed thevideo player!! But it was in the Autumn of thatyear that the Ryder Cup returned to Britishshores and to the Belfry for the second time. Ihad seen the coverage of the 1983 match fromPalm Beach where Europe ran the Americans closefor the first time on their own patch, I hadwatched the momentum changing victory in 1985 atthe Belfry, I had even seen the history makingfirst win on American soil in 1987 at MuirfieldVillage…..but these were all watched again onchewed up Betamax!! The 1989 match was the firsttime I sat and watched the coverage "Live"!Europe had done well over the first 2 days andheld a 2 point lead going into the singles, andthere are a few images that will never leave mefrom those Singles matches that Sundayafternoon.
The first is Europes Talisman, Seve, (who hadpartnered Jose Maria Olazabal to an undefeated 3½ point from 4 over the first two days) flat outtopping his second shot to the 18th into thewater! The next image was a similarly soggystory however this time it was Payne Stewarttrying to (and failing) play his ball out of theWater Hazard at the 18th against theaforementioned Olazabal. But the last and mostsignificant of memories was of Christy O`ConnorJnr`s majestic 2-Iron over water to within 3feet of the pin to win his match against FredCouples (who incidentally had driven it so fardown the last hole he was only hitting a wedge!So good was Christy`s shot that Fred halfshanked his under the pressure!)
But, it wasn`t just where the Irishmans shot hadfinished that made that shot memorable for me.It was more the fact that after he hit it, heheld is follow through so poised, his head, inhis trade mark white flat cap, then tilted toone side almost suggesting that his shot was soaccurate that he couldn`t see the flag becausehis ball was in the way, the ball pitched on thelower tier, grabbed on the second bounce andslowly settled just about pin high to the flag.
He may now be gone but with that moment (below)he will most certainly never be forgotten!
Video - https://youtu.be/cHlaZW9hXd4
This week certainly will create anothermemorable moment for me. On Friday 8th Januaryit will officially be 1 Year since I took up myposition as Head Professional here Portlethen!They say a week is a long time in politics but Ican assure you a year as Golf Pro goes in aflash!!
If every year from now on in is as fun andenjoyable as this last one then I`ll be a happyman - I just hope they don`t keep disappearingas fast as that one did!! I`d like to take thisopportunity to thank everyone at Portlethen GC,from the people who took the leap of faith andappointed me, the Committee, all the Staff andwithout question all the Members here at PGC,thank you for your support and making thetransition to the Club and the North East aneasy and enjoyable one.
I hope you`ve enjoyed and appreciated whatmyself and my staff have tried to bring to thetable. Whether that be the product ranges,events, promotions or professional services wehave provided. But it has always been myphilosophy that anything and everything canimprove, and that is my intention and goal forthis season ahead. I have lots of ideas andinitiatives (those who know me better might sayI`ve got an overactive imagination) but anyonewho wants to talk to me I`m happy to share theseideas. Some can be easily implemented, howeverothers are only achievable with investment, sowhile all the good will and moral support isvery humbling all we ask as a business is achance and, in certain cases, respect.
We really do care about our Members.
Certainly no Results to bring you but in lightof the recent weather, the playable courseconditions now teetering from day to day and thereality that most people (and their Clubs) arein hibernation at the moment I have taken thedecision to delay the "Night Golf" Event and runit at the other end of the season when we aregoing into Winter rather than try one when weare coming out of it. So for now "It`s a goodnight from me, and a good night from it!"
Well after a few days off between Christmas andNew Year thanks to Stuart it's back to reality!I can say that I've ate and drank far too muchbut after all isn't that the whole point ofholidays?!
This week I'm back to the normal working hoursbut with this continuous bad weather, the coursehas yet to be open in 2016! I suppose it couldbe worse, as Stuart has mention, my previouswork - The Paul Lawrie golf centre got it reallybad. This actually the 3rd time it`s beenflooded but this is by far the worst. From whatI've heard from my friends that still workthere, the water was nearly up on the secondfloor and into the Shop. Having spoken to Paulthe other day, it looks like the range will haveto be built almost from scratch due to thedamage. Hope it's ups and running soon enough aseveryone from the staff to golfers to coachesare suffering.
For me it's back to studying and cracking onwith my coaching assignment which is due in acouple of weeks. The alliance this week iscancelled and to be honest I am glad as theweathers meant to be like this all week!
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and bestwishes for 2016.
To mark my 1st year at the Club rather than yourusual January Sale I wanted to mark the occasionmore so I thought I`d Celebrate it with a BigBlowout Weekend.
The good news for you guys is that the Blowoutwill be on my Birthday Bargains!
This FRIDAY, SATURDAY &SUNDAY will see me have…
…UP TO 70% OFF ALL SALE ITEMS!
- ALL Bags HALFPRICE
- ALL Shoes 40%OFF
- Further HUGESavings On ALL Sale Clubs
- Galvin Green & Under Armour Clothing -
"Buy 1 Get 1 FREE!"
(Full Ticket Price - Cheapest Item FREE)
- Galvin Green Waterproof Jackets ONLY£200 plus
20%OFF any Future Galvin GreenPurchase (Voucher)
- Galvin Green, Under Armour & ProQuipInsula/Fleece NOW40% OFF
- Golfbuddy BB5 GPS Watch HALFPRICE
- 70% OFFHat & Scarf or Sock Gift Sets
- ALL Luggage 40%OFF!
Many other Items are Reduced with ClearanceBargains on GPS, Balls, Putters & Wedges!
We look forward to seeing you regardless of theweather!! So even if the Course is CLOSED ourdoors will be OPEN!