Aston Villa are apparently happy to pay out nearly 4 million quid in wages to sign John Terry for a Year!? Who`s doing these deals...Theresa May!?

Yes, forget all the problems in the World right now. Forget the political turmoil, forget the Brexit induced uncertainty, forget the war on Terror and the worldwide conflict, forget the Grenfell disaster and the Manchester attacks, forget anything connected to sensible civilisation because ‘it`s nearly the fitba season again and the Transfer Window is open!’

A time when educated and successful business men and women squander obscene amounts of money on these Prima-rk-donnas we know as Professional Footballers!

And when I say ‘Professional Footballers’, yes, I do also mean the players at Rangers! Who despite getting beaten in midweek by Luxembourgs representatives in the Europa League (who Qualified for that courtesy of their 2nd runner up finish in the Countries Blow-Football Tournament!) have been given a financial lifeline in the shape of a glamour Pre-Season Tournament with Jossy`s Giants, Melchester Rovers and ‘The Dirty Yellows’ of Bednobs & Broomsticks fame!

Fortunately we`ve got 2 weeks of ‘Murray Mania’.....well, the usual hope-filled 10 Days towards the Quarterfinals anyway, as Wimbledon is back to fill the BBC`s quota of ‘LIVE Sport’ for the year. At least by the end of the fortnight long Grand Slam you know the Champion has earned whatever Prize Money is coming their way.

The same can be said of the Open Championship which is also just around the corner. So with all this talk of performance related pay and the trip to Birkdale a matter of days away it got me thinking about how the Open Championship has evolved as a ‘place of employment.’

Back in 1954 Birkdale hosted the Open for the first time and it saw Peter Thomson win the first of his 5 Championship titles. He would go on to win again at Birkdale some 11 years later too, but it was his first victory that pricked my interest. Back then the Champion received £750. Whilst searching for that information I came across another Stat from that year that surprised me even more. According to the records, the Course length in 1954 measured 6837 Yards which is nearly 200 Yards longer than Portlethen from the Black Tees! Fast forward 22 years to the year of my birth and the 1976 Open at Birkdale, and whilst that year`s winner (Johnny Miller – it was also the Year that a certain Seve Ballesteros burst onto our screens) pocketed a cheque that had swollen to ten times as much at £7500, the course measurement had only stretched to 7001 Yards.

Skip another few decades to 1998, the scene of Mark O`Meara`s Playoff win over the unheard of and equally as quick disappearance of Brian Watts. Perhaps Birkdale is something of a petri dish for blossoming talent as it was that year that a fresh faced, 16 year old, Justin ‘Rose to fame’ the piggy bank that year had been stuffed to the tune of £300,000 for the Champion! While the Course, in 22 Years of technological advancement, had only grown by 17 yards to 7018! Basically 1 YARD PER HOLE!!

10 Years later in 2008 and Padraig Harrington was enjoying getting his hands on a cool quarter of a million pounds for lifting the 2nd of his Claret Jugs! Interestingly, although the Course Yardage had grown again that year to 7173, it is the same as this year`s course length!

I think the only thing harder than predicting who will get their hands on the Top Prize at Birkdale is predicting who will get their hands on my top prize from Birkdale as I launch my Open Championship Sweepstake.

This is along the same format as my US Open Sweepstake last month.

£5 Per Square - Pick A Number

Your Number will relate to a player in the 1st Round Draw.

There will be pay-outs for the following:

1st: £100
2nd: £80
3rd: £60
4th: £40
5th: £20

Best & Worst Score Each Day: £20

Top Amateur: £20
Top Senior: £20
Best Weekend Total: £20

Lucky Dip: Dozen Titleist Pro V1`s x 5 (All ‘Unlucky’ Names will go into a Raffle with 5 lucky Tickets pulled)

SQUARES ARE ON SALE NOW!

In conjunction with the Open Championship I will be running a week`s worth of in-store Promotions. These will cover a wide Range of Products with GREAT SAVINGS to be had.

I will be drip feeding you more info in the coming weeks but the thing you need to keep your eye out for is the ‘Claret Jug Clearance’ Price Tickets that will highlight what items are included in the Offer.

It may not have been the Claret Jug but Silverware of equally as significant value, to the holders, was handed out here at Portlethen last weekend as we Crowned our Club (Scratch) & Handicap Champions. In both cases the winners were reacquainted with Trophies they`ve had their hands on before.

In the main event, the Club Championship, Defending Champion Clark Brechin was gunning for his 8th Title! The man in his way this time was Stephen Cook who was appearing in his 2nd Final some 14 years after his last appearance. When Sunday morning broke we were blessed with blue skies, however a stiff breeze meant the Players had more than just their opponent to overcome.

After a couple of early hole halves Clark stamped his authority on the match, winning 4 of the next 5 to move to 4 Up through 7. At that point it looked like he might run a mock in the 36 Holes scheduled that day, but Stephen dug deep and soon had Clark on the ropes! A win at 9 got it back to 3, great saving putts at 10, 11 & 12 were required by Clark to keep is 3 hole advantage in tacked. Boxing fan Clark seemed to have performed his own ‘Rope-A-Dope’ as he pounced to take the 13th and restore the 4 Up lead he had built earlier in the round. But perhaps Stephen had been watching the Balboa Box Set as he came back swinging, winning 3 of the last 5 holes to go into lunch only 1 hole down. When he won the 1st hole of the afternoon session to Square the match it seemed Clarks ‘Rocky’ patch was going to continue, but like in the morning round Clark stepped it up like a true Champion and backed Stephen very much back into the corner. An eagle at 2 started his march to the title, and he had again built up a 3 hole cushion after the 9th. There was to be no back 9 come back from Stephen this time as Clark kept him at arms-length, eventually closing out the Match on the 15th Hole - 5&3.

In the Handicap Final it was less ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ and more ‘David V Goliath’ as Charlie Watson took on Scott Livingstone. Charlie had been the red hot favourite throughout the whole tournament having romped the Qualifying and eased through the previous Knockout Rounds, standing in his way was Scott Livingstone. Unfortunately for Scott Charlie`s catapult was red hot and as soon as he got his nose in front on the 2nd hole he never looked back. 1 quickly became 3, which quickly turned into 5. Scott had no answer to Charlie’s consistency and by lunch the lead was 7!

The afternoon was a similar story and by the 28th hole of the day it was all over and Charlie had won his second Handicap Championship.

Well done to all the Finalists for the great achievement of getting to the showpiece and Congratulations to our new 2017 Champions.

I`m looking to Crown my own Champion soon as well. Last week I mentioned details of an Event I am hoping to run if there is enough of a demand.

As part of a series of Friday ‘Fun’ Events throughout July I am going to be running a Short game Championship on Friday, 14 July @ 6pm. This will be a FREE Event for members to come along and enjoy.

There will be lots of different Short game Skills challenges on the go and I will be handing out prizes on the night to see who can lay claim to be the:

‘Best Putter In The Club’ & ‘Best Pitcher In The Club’

Just to get a handle on if this is something you`d like to take part in and numbers – Sign Up Here and Quote ‘Short game Championship’ (All ages & abilities welcome!)

The next ‘Fun’ event will be Friday, 23 July and will be in the form of what I`m calling my:

6 Stick Scramble!
Teams of 3
Max 6 Clubs Per Player
6 Holes
Texas Scramble
Minimum Drives 1, Maximum Drives 3 Per Player

If you would like to enter a Team for that then – Click Here and Quote ‘6 Stick Scramble’

The final ‘Friday Fun Night’ will take place on Friday, 28 July – details to be confirmed so stay tuned for that.

In amongst all the Championship Matchplay we have had our usual weekly Strokeplay events too.

The main event was Saturdays July Medal which saw a host of good scores returned on a challenging day from the Black Tees.

Division 1
1 Hugh Murdoch 76(7) - 69
2 Graham Murray 76(7) - 69
3 Thomas Boyle 80(10) - 70

Division 2
1 Scott Brown 80(12) - 68
2 Simon Jolly 84(15) - 69
3 Graham Rennie 82(13) - 69

Division 3
1 Jack Ritchie 87(20) - 67
2 George Fenton 86(17) - 69
3 Bruce Fraser 87(18) - 69

Wednesday and Sunday were just Walk on Competitions.

Wednesday - Stableford
Division 1
1 Donald Smith 42 Points
2 Martin Shand 41 Points
3 Mark McCusker 39 Points

Division 2
1 Alexander Barrack 37 Points
2 Brian McMillan 36 Points
3 Ken McCombie 36 Points

Division 3
1 Sean Haggerty 42 Points
2 James Edwards 40 Points
3 Norman McBain 38 Points

Sunday - Medal

Division 1
1 Keith Allan 70(5) - 65
2 Keith Horne 68(1) - 67
3 William Craig 77(9) - 68

Division 2
1 Ryan Sheikh 78(11) - 67
2 James Harper 79(11) - 68
3 Jake Legge 83(14) - 69

Division 3
1 Mark Brake 84(16) - 68
2 Alistair Bell 87(19) - 68
3 Brian Ward 91(23) - 68

The July Medal was the 5th Cappro Cup Qualifier and again there was some significant movement. For a start both Stephen Cook & Clark Brechin, courtesy of their Club Championship exploits, have secured their places so this opens up more Automatic Qualifying spots.

Click here to see how things stand at the halfway mark.

TROLLEY TRADE IN FACILITY – I can now get you a Quote for your old Trolley (Frame Only – And Doesn`t need to be in fully working order, although that will affect the Valuation) and that amount will be deducted from the total price. I`m please to say I have had 2 Customers take advantage of this Service already. And REMEMBER Any Powered Trolley bought from me comes with my 'Roll to the Tee' Guarantee! The Trolley will be Checked, Charged & Assembled ready to use straight after purchase. Your 'Proof of Purchase' will be stored on a Shop Account for easy reference in the event of a Warranty Claim, and in the event of a Fault or Repair we will keep you mobile with the use of a Courtesy Cart until your Trolley is back running again. BEST VALUE GUARANTEED!

Motocaddy S1 Trolley with Lithium Battery - £449 PLUS ½ PRICE Lite Series Bag! (That`s a £50 Saving!) The Trollies come in Black or White Frames whilst the Bags can be Blk/Red, Blk/Blue or Blk/Pink and this Offer also applies to Orders.

And you may also remember that I mentioned a Price Drop on both PING G Series & Callaway XR Woods. Well, following a rush on these I only have 2 new pieces left in Stock.
So now I am in a position where I will be able to Sell Off my Fitting Clubs. These have obviously been used for Trial & Fitting but have been well protected throughout the entire process so are in extremely good condition for ‘Used’ Clubs.

They are all available now at the following Prices.

Ex-Fitting Clubs:

Callaway XR16 Series
Driver: Was £249 NOW ONLY £149
Fairway: Was £179 NOW ONLY £99

PING G Series
Driver: Was £299 NOW ONLY £199
Fairway: Was £199 NOW ONLY £129
Hybrid: Was £179 NOW ONLY £99

*Stock items only – While Stocks Last (Trade In`s Welcome – No Account Credit – FREE Trial – Fitting Available @ £30)

Last week I was away playing the Scottish Young Pro's which was held at West Lothian GC. All I can say was that I made the cut! Well and also that I think I've learnt how to play in the rain as I've been doing it a lot this season. I managed to shoot a 70 (-1) in the first round in the rain which was just 2 shots back from the leaders but my chipping and putting for the next 3 rounds was pretty poor to say the least! Yes it was windy and wet but I managed the first round so the weather didn't affect me and I won't use it as an excuse. On the positive side, I made the cut and made some money and almost broke even after finishing T29.

This week I am away to Livingston to play in the Deer Park Masters qualifier and then straight over to Irvine to get ready for the Scottish Open Qualifier this weekend at Kilmarnock Barassie. Both I and Sean Lawrie will be trying our luck!

Competition Results

July Monthly Medal
1st: Ritchie Smart - 85(18) - 67
2nd: Brandon Simpson - 79(8) - 71

Junior Off The Tee Trophy

There was more junior golf on Sunday as Portlethen hosted the Regional Junior off the Tee Trophy. In this competition the 4 best players from each club are picked to play in matchplay in pairs against another club.

There were two semi-finals in the morning; Portlethen v Royal Aberdeen and Murcar v Hazlehead. Portlethen, represented by Lewis Sinclair & William Lloyd and Brandon Simpson & Finlay Wallace managed to come out on top after going down the first again for a playoff! In the afternoon we were up against Murcar in the final. The first pair lost 2 down which meant the 2nd pair had to win 3 up to go through and they went one better and won 4 up! This means we are through our region and will wait for the other regions to see who we have to play next! Good times for Junior Golf at Portlethen!

Junior Summer Camp Update

We will be running a clubgolf summer camp again this year beginning Monday, 24 July.

The summer camp will include coaching, golf related games & activities, course management and a team tournament at the end of the week. The camp will run Monday - Friday from 10am - 2pm starting the 24th of July.

Cost - £50

Maximum of 16 places are available. Anyone interested in getting their kid signed up to this please email me at kamranzeno1992@yahoo.co.uk or see me in the pro shop.