Well our "Wurst" nightmares came true with Austria`s bearded lady winning Eurovision! But I`m still not sure whether it was the "try a new type of European experience" Georgios Samaras was leaving Celtic for or if it was just a Kenny Everett inspired Cupid Publicity Stunt!? Whatever it was I hear experts are suggesting the fuzzy faced foreigner could stand to pocket 25 Million pounds! But I guess it`s not the first time a facial hair afflicted female has made a fortune after singing just 1 song…….isn`t that right SuBo!?

Having an alter ego isn`t the worst thing though. Tom Neuwirth would still be just your Average Joe and "Neuwirth" very much if it wasn`t for his decision to don the beard, wig and dress for Eurovision and he wasn`t the only one this weekend that felt compelled take on a stupid persona in pursuit of victory!

Eastwood had it`s own invasion of fairly unbelievable alter ego`s! The likenesses were uncanny at times as the Club saw the Avengers Assemble on Govan City, although there was not much else to Marvel at after that! I`m of course talking about the annual "Young Un`s" v "Auld yin`s" Match for the bragging rights in the Generation Day Trophy!

It certainly was a battle of generations this year from the Captains perspectives as going head to head were Richard Smith against his Uncle, Andy Beaumont. As is tradition the Captain`s not only have to select their Team but they also have to come up with a theme for their troops for the customary Pre-Match intro`s. Richard (as you might have guest from my clues) went for the only guys capable of wrestling the Trophy back from the "Auld Yin`s", the Comic Book Superhero`s. Whilst the more pragmatic Andy decided to trust the more proven formula than his fanciful junior by enlisting the help of the worlds greatest Scientists!

          Avengers Assemble                                                                                                   2 Tribes Go To War

Match 1 saw The Caped Crusader (Richard Smith aka Batman) and his Boy Wonder (Glen Malcolm aka Robin) take on Uncle Andy, who definitely kept it relative as he was Albert Einstein. The saying goes that 2 Great minds are better than one so Albert enlisted the help of The Duke, Randy Pierls (Allan McGinness) to help him solve this equation. Unfortunately for the Young Un`s the Dark Knight couldn`t Rise to the occasion and a quick, BAAAAMMM, POWWW, WHHAAAAMM, and it was 1 point to the Auld Yin`s.

                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                                               
It was important to get back on track quickly and thankfully next years Young Un`s leader was on hand to show why he was next in line so you could say Steven Crumlish was our Vice-Captain America as he and Bruce Banner (David Mair) didn`t let our team go in as Hulk and quickly restored parity with a win in Match 2 which brought Sir Isaac Newton (Graham Adams) and Max "Woody" Planck (Jim Wright) back to earth with a big bang!

Match 3 saw the pendulum swing again as a direct result of Ironman`s (Gordon Cumming) form being a little rusty and Spiderman (Richie Ford) also struggling to blow away the early season cobwebs where they were no match for Joseph Lister (Brian Dennison playing in his 40th consecutive G-Day) and James Clerk Maxwell aka Dafty (Campbell Stewart playing in his 1st!!!) who freshened the breath of the Auld Yin`s attack. 

  Robin & Batman v Einstein & Pierls                                                        Newton, Captain America, Planck & Hulk

The Young Un`s now needed to look to the heavens for some divine intervention from above! Lose this Match and it was game over, and who better to provide it than the Norse God of Lightning himself, Thor (Andrew Hart) Ably helped by Bananaman (David Auld), who`s point in Match 4 (1 of the 5 that day) left it all down to the last game to split the decision as they put the Cat amongst the pigeons sent Lord Kelvin (Bill Black) and Erwin Schroedinger (Colin Gray) down the River.

                                                                                                                              Spidey & Ironman v Maxwell & Lister 

Match 5 was now pivotal and whoever won this game would steal the Trophy for their side. But Superman (Moi) isn`t called The Man Of Steel for nothing and despite being 1 down with 2 to play a quick "Whack, Bang" at 17 & 18 and in a Flash (Fraser McKinlay) the Match had turned in our favour and we Krypton over the line to narrowly pip our opponents. Despite the 2 pairings being Boson the fairway Peter Higgs (Drew Wright) left Stephen Hawking it up the fairway (Ken Wilson) before their wheels came off altogether in what ultimately was a great game. But when you go up against Superman you Generally come away with Zod all! 

  Kelvin & Schroedinger v Thor & Bananaman                                          Superman & Flash v Higgs & Hawking

When all the dust had settled this meant the Young Un`s had restored peace and balance to the Universe once again and our Caped Captain was DC-Lighted with the outcome. For the Auld Yin`s it`s back to the drawing board to work again on their formula for success.

I think Thor had been a busy boy on Sunday because not only was he (literally) at work over head at Eastwood but he was also clearly saving the world somewhere over near TPC Sawgrass as the finale to the Players Championships was disrupted because of the thunder & lightening over there! I was really pleased to see Germany`s Martin Kaymer back to winning ways again. He really has kicked on since that winning putt in the Ryder Cup 2 years ago and maybe this is him starting his push to make this years Team.

It was one of Europe`s potential opponents that caught my eye towards the end of that tournament. But not necessarily for the right reasons! After the 2012 Ryder Cup match I`ll be honest I thought that would be the last time that match saw the likes of Steve Stricker (which I think is a great alter ego name for a Super hero!) and Jim Furyk. Stricker cut his playing schedule right back to enjoy his life and family more and why not! Sawgrass was only his 5th start this year! Furyk on the other hand is (as he does) quietly proving all his doubters wrong by moving stealthy up to 5th in the US Rankings. But it was his absurd and unnecessarily long procrastinations to line up his putts (especially on the 17th and more significantly on the 18th) that got me going!

I get that there is now a lot of money at stake, and that winning titles is so important, and making the Ryder Cup Team, etc, etc, yadda, yadda! But his antics to try and line up a line that he`s put on his ball to help lining up the ball that will ultimately help lining up his putter so he feels he is properly lined up to the line of the putt took so long that I`d say he was bang outta line!!! Surely if the lengths you`ve gone to make lining up easier are taking that long then they`ve not made it easier in the slightest!? Not only did he fidget with the line on the ball several times, he addressed it with his putter the same amount AND he had his caddy help him! He did something equally as deliberate on the 18th to the point that because he took so long to line it up when he eventually set up to hit the putt the hooter to suspend play IMMEDIATELY went off and he had to mark his ball and wait out the delay before he could finish his round! No wonder Pace of Play is getting out of hand! 

 
  
On and around the greens are certainly the biggest factors for pace of play during the competitions here at Eastwood where getting down in 2 strokes is certainly very tricky regardless of where you are. That`s why trying to get a handle on your Shortgame is one of the most worthwhile things you can do to improve your game. Building a more reliable technique is the first step on the ladder. From there the other aspects are easier to influence. For instance, in Chipping if you can learn and develop a technique that repeats good contact first then it is much easier to start to see similar out put. From there it is then easier to see the influence that longer & stronger swings make on the way the ball flies and rolls. Then add to that varying your club choice and you then start to see even more variations of shots. From those variations you can start building a memory bank of creativity and imagination so regardless of what chip shot you are faced with you can picture where you need the ball to land, how high you want it to fly to that point, and how you need it to react and roll when it lands then access your vault of previous shots. That is "FEEL"! Feel needs to be based on something you`ve felt before.

A similar blueprint can be applied to Putting. I`m a big believer in there being 3 areas of Putting. You need to be good at all 3 to hole putts, but you certainly need to break your putting down into these 3 areas for you to identify why you are perhaps not as good a putter as you would like. Part 1: "Hitting The Line" - If you can`t hit the line you want then you`re on a hiding to nothing! Start by building a reliable and repeatable stroke. Part 2: "Seeing The Line" - Hitting the wrong line means it`s still going to miss! This is the area that needs the most practice and the biggest instigator of doubt and lack of confidence to hole the putt. Part 3: "Judging The Speed" - The right line quickly becomes the wrong line when the speed is out! Parts 2 and 3 can work hand in hand, the more you improve your speed control sometimes the lines become more obvious!

I would highly recommend that you consider my Scoring Zone Lesson. It`s something you can do on your own or with a small group of friends so you can learn and feed off each other.

Scoring Zone: "The Ultimate Shortgame Session" (2 Hour Session) - £75* (2 People = £37.50 Each, 3 People = £25 Each, 4 People = £20 Each)
The ideal way to make significant and lasting improvements to the one area of the game that guarantees lower scores! This session contains a detailed assessment of your Shortgame "Strengths & Weaknesses", a skills test, Computerized Putter & Stroke Analysis, Green Reading & Pace Control as well as an overview of Pitching & Bunker technique, Chipping method and shot choices. 

Group Tuition 
2 People (1 Hour) - £30PP 
3 People (1 Hour) - £20PP 
4 People (1 Hour) - £15PP  

To book a lesson or fitting, click here

Something else to consider in your quest to improve, especially in that Scoring Zone Area, is we have not only great Practice facilities for that sort of thing but also excellent "Fitting Facilities" for that sort of thing too!

My Tomi Putting Analyser gives an amazing insight into what you actually do when stroking the putter and it`s that info. that allows me to recommend improvements to your technique or alterations to your Technology. In other words a different Spec. or Style of Putter to suit your stroke characteristics better. 

PUTTER FITTING 

Specification Fitting & Set Up Only (Make & Model already established) FREE 
*Includes Tomi Putting Analyser Fitting - 30 Minutes 
Full Fitting Experience (Requirements Unknown) - £30 
*Includes Tomi Putting Analyser Fitting, Analyse current Putter, Trial New Putter options, custom fit to players Spec. - 60 Minutes (£15 Comes off purchase price - £15 given back as Shop Voucher for future/additional purchase)  
 

There must`ve been some excellent short game prowess shown in the Competitions last week as the scoring was as low as it`s been all year. Starting with Saturday`s Medal Finals. In the Sweep section of the Competition it was very tight in Division 1 with all of the top 3 tying on Nett 70 however courtesy of the countback these players were split in the following way. Martin Glancey 75(5) - 70 took 1st, David Sibbald 71(1) - 1 sneaked 2nd which left Austen McDowall 72(2) - 70 in 3rd.

Division 2 was where we saw the scoring catch fire! None more so than the low score of the day George McCallum with an excellent 75(13) - 62, his 5 shot win may not have been as comfortable if Brett Fawbert 83(16) - 67 hadn`t run up a 10 on the 6th hole!! Andy Dalzeill 79(11) - 68 had to settle for 3rd.

The great scoring continued in Division 3 when John Masson 82(18) - 64 lead the way. I chuckled when I saw John`s score because he had just been saying to me that he`d have to come and see me for a lesson as his game was toiling! I guess I won`t be seeing him anytime soon now!! Well done! Paul Wharton 85(20) - 65 ran John a close 2nd and Tom McGuire 89(22) - 67 took a creditable 3rd. 

   

 David Sibbald                                            Austen McDowall                                                  George McCallum 

 
                       John Masson                                Tom McGuire                                                              Brett Fawbert

The Thursday Medal also saw some cracking scoring despite the odd horrendous shower that fell that day. David Cuffe 78(12) - 66 posted the low score of the day and took Division 1 with it. John Marszols 73(6) - 67 was good enough for 2nd and Ryan Gavigan 80(11) - 69 came in 3rd.

In Division 2 Gerry McGeachy 87(20) - 67 was good enough on the countback to pip Stephen Scott 84(17) - 67 into 2nd place. Mike Robinson 85(16) - 69 had to settle for 3rd. 

   
                          John Marszol                                Ryan Gavigan                   Gerry McGeachy                Mike Robinson

Spend your money wisely!

Certainly plenty of great Promotions on the go just now to give you guys the best value for money around. It`s the last few days of my Lithium Battery Trade In Promotion!

Simply give us your old Trolley Battery and you will get £25 OFF the cost of a new light weight, extended warranty* Lithium Battery (+ Charger) *5 Year Sliding Scale

Warranty: 2 Years = Full Warranty, 3rd Year = 75% Warranty, 4th Tear = 50% Warranty, 5th Year = 25% Warranty.

The Battery Trade In is a great reminder to me about Powered Trolleys! Specifically Motocaddy Trolleys. You probably all got a separate Special Mail from me last week highlighting the many versions of the Motocaddy Trolley range that I can provide, but what I want to reiterate to you all is that with every Trolley you buy from me you get so much more than just a Trolley. You get a unique and unrivalled service that buying from any other retailer can`t provide, and it`s a service that many of my Members can testify too.

Lets take Motocaddy as and example, if you buy your Trolley from me you firstly don`t have to worry about being in for a home delivery, or fitting the big clumsy box in your car, or discarding of the box either. We set the trolley up, have the battery checked and charged ready for you to wheel straight out onto the 1st Tee, you don`t need to hold on to any proof of purchase as the sale is on account. But say something did happen to your trolley! Well all you simply have to do is walk straight off your course and wheel it back to my door. No re-building of boxes, fishing out of proof of purchases, no faceless phone calls or e-mail tennis, no waiting around for home pick ups. Plus if your Trolley is off the road I keep you mobile and moving with one of my Rental fleet until you are happily reunited with your Trolley. And all of this comes FOR FREE! When you add into the mix the fact that you simply CAN`T buy Motocaddy Cheaper anywhere else then you must be "off your Trolley" to consider buying anywhere else!

Someone IS going to be the lucky and proud owner of a new Motocaddy S3 Digital Trolley. You may know or remember that I am running a Prize Draw as detailed below, well after this Saturdays May Medal I will be drawing the Lucky Ticket out. So if you don`t have a ticket or would like to get 1 or 2 more then you have until Sunday 18th May to get some.

PENNY PRIZE DRAW!

This is how it works!

• Tickets are numbered 001 to 500
• How much you pay per ticket (in pence) depends on the number you draw. For instance Ticket number 032 will cost you a whopping 32p!! 001 is obviously 1p and ticket 500 is 500p so the most you will pay for a ticket is £5!
• Top Prize will be a Motocaddy S3 Power Trolley worth £399! Surely that's worth buying at least one ticket for!
• If all 500 Tickets are sold then there will be 10 Great Prizes up for grabs from the Trolley, Callaway Drivers, Wedges, Shoes, Bags & Putters.* (*This is a Prize Draw so all items won can not be exchanged for other goods or credited to account)

*Numbers 1 and 500 have still to be picked out incidentally!

To view the latest deals in store then please watch this video! 

 

Some of the Teams were in action again last week and unfortunately it was mixed results! The Gents Brand Putter Team didn`t fair much better in their 2nd outing than they did in the first going down 7-1 away to Cathkin Braes but their younger counterparts gave us something to cheer about with a hugely significant 3 ½ - 2 ½ win over Haggs Castle which sees the boys sit top of the League and with the destiny of the Title now in their own hands!

The FIT League Over 50`s match was cancelled as Eastwood had to Close the course on Wednesday so that will be re-scheduled.

There may be some of that team interested in this next piece of news. The Eastwood Seniors Open for all gents Over 55 is being held on Thursday 3rd July this year and there are spaces available. It is a £10 Entry which includes a Whiskey Miniature and an Eastwood Ball. The Prize Money is great which is split over many different Age categories. Entries can be made with Jackie in the Office. (eastwood02@btconnect.com)

On the topic of Open`s the Ladies Open Tri-Am is another that is looming quickly. They are holding that competition on Tuesday 5th August an the aforementioned Tri-Am format. Team entry is £30 and entries for that can be made to Carol Anderson (carol.f.anderson@btinternet.com - 07733 112818)

Another upcoming date for your diary is Sat 7th June when the Club are holding a "Big Band Night" in the Clubhouse - Tickets cost Only £5 and can be booked behind the Bar.

Remember you can keep up to speed with all Shop, Course and Club news by following me on either Facebook or Twitter. Simply follow the links below.

Members Birthdays This Week 

17th - Kyle Young and Douglas Gourlay

18th - Eleanor Jones, Brian Miller and Brian McLaren

19th - Neil Munroe, James Quinn and Gordon MacKay

20th - Yacine Titi and Bryan Donnan

21st - James Duncan, Stewart H Scott and Dr. David Cromie

22nd - Cathy Morton, Joseph Shaw, Derek Hamilton, Roddy Fawbert and Calvin Lightbody

23rd - Campbell Purves