Can a really short short be too short to be a short!?

There was to be no ‘Miracle of Medinah’-esque comeback for the European girls, instead their efforts on Sunday, where they managed to squeak a 6-6 scoreline, was more a Demolition In Des Moines! But I guess it wasn`t too surprising given the Americans had an Angel on their side! A ‘Big Yin’ some might say, but definitely a ‘Guid Yin’ that`s for sure! The European`s certainly didn`t have anything bringing them good luck. Firstly, their Talisman (….Is that even PC to say in this vacuum of Equality!?) Their Talis-person(!?)….Suzann Pettersen had to pull out last minute with a Back Injury, then probably their second most important player, Charlie Hull suffered the same Wrist injury that her Great Uncle Rod suffered when Michael Parkinson tried to wring Emu`s neck backstage!! Throw in Anna Norqvist`s Glandular Fever and it was like the Walking Wounded! The Europeans had that tough dilemma whether to try and play half fit Top players or trust fully fit standby`s, but Catriona Matthew did a terrific job winning 3 Points when brought in to replace Pettersen.

The biggest dilemma of the week however landed on the conscience of another Scot. Not one that was playing but HE was definitely involved in the biggest battle of the match! Kevin McAlpine was put in every guys worst moral dilemma – ‘Which side do I take when my Boss & my Girlfriend have a square game!?’ Kevin caddies for the American Lexi Thomson who happened to be drawn to play Kevin`s Girlfriend, Anna Norqvist, in the Sunday Singles Match! I think he was a relieved man when Anna birdied the 18th for a Half Match, although I think the Swede was kicking herself for letting a 4Up lead slip in a match that the Europeans desperately needed to win.

But the moment that truly defined that it wasn`t going to be the Europeans week was when Captain Annika Sorenstam lost the ‘Dance Off’ against Julie Inkster on the 1st Tee…and they were playing ABBA for crivens sake! Thankfully there was no rules controversy this time, as I`m guessing both Captains stressed to their players to make it abundantly clear if a short putt was a ‘GIMME, GIMME, GIMME’. Although the Americans holed that many Putts they didn`t need many, but ‘WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE’… ‘THAT`S THE NAME OF THE GAME!’, and so ‘THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL!’

It was a case of ‘SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS’ (ABBA: The Visitors Album 1981…don`t ask!) in the Paul Lawrie Saltire Matchplay Championship Final on Sunday. Local German favourite, Marcel ‘Siem`d’ to have the Title all sewn up when he raced to a 3Up lead through 9 Holes. You`d think at that point his opponent, the fresh faced Spaniard Adrian should ‘Otaegui-up’! But he battled back, and although the German regained a 2 Hole lead at the 13th by then he had morphed into Marcel Marceau and had no answer to Otaegui`s 4 hole salvo of 3,3,3,2 to seal, or steal, the Title by 2&1.

Over in the US Henrik Stenson claimed his first win since the 2016 Open Championship when he beat Ollie Schniedo….Schnaedur….Schnoopdoggy, Schnieder-qwertyuiopconsanantvowel-jans at the Wyndam Championship. Although Stenson`s 22 Under Par total was impressive enough to win the title on his own, he actually only got it because the Tour administered a very subtle shot penalty to Schniederjans at the behest of the engraver who was unsure if he wouldn`t have enough space on the trophy that he was left scratching his head!!

Subtle Shot Penalties brings me nicely to this week`s Lesson from ‘Rule School’

An area that I see Players constantly getting wrong, and it`s one of the most regularly required (but not used often enough!) – The Provisional Ball.

Thanks once again to Resident Ref. Dave Fleming for supplying the detailed guide to the Do`s & Don`ts in this situation. Click Here to read that.

But in the meantime here are some of the key Bullet Points:

• You have to state your intention is to play a ‘Provisional Ball’ – If you simply ‘Hit another one just in case’ that is now your Ball in play regardless.
• You can only play a Provisional Ball before leaving the Teeing Ground, or position of the last shot struck, if you believe your ball may be lost or Out Of Bounds.
• You CAN NOT play a Provisional Ball if you think your Ball is in a Water Hazard (Yellow or Red)
• You CAN continue to play strokes with your Provisional Ball until it is beyond the approximate location of where you believe your Original Ball landed.

Those who played were treated to a morning Betterball & Yellowball Competition, while in the afternoon the format switched to Texas Scramble. All day we ran 2 refreshment Stations (1st & 12th), Beat The Pro (12th: Sean AM & Kamran PM) and there were 11 On Course Hole Challenges.

We had Prizes galore with a total of 12 Team Prizes and 22 Individual Prizes.

Here are the Results:

Morning – Betterball
1st: Alex Legge/Dave Small /Ron Fraser/Andrew Catley - 126
2nd: Dave Farmery/Richard Lornie/Craig Baxter/Dave Ferguson -130
3rd: Gordon Gibb/Steve Cassie/Derek McCann/Gavin Kirton - 133
4th: Tom Boyle/Ray Cowan/Fiona Rae/Alan Simpson - 137
Yellow Ball: Alan Fulton/Aidan Fulton/Evan Fulton/Jack Ritchie - 72 ACB

Afternoon – Scramble
1st: Tom Boyle/Ray Cowan/Ron Fulton/Pete Wadsworth - 55.8
2nd: Rob Innes/Brian Mitchell/Graham Murray/Scot Sutherland - 56.5
3rd: Tracey Ingram/Mark Ingram/Peter McLeod/Don Keith - 56.8
4th: Graham Smith/Steve Wallace/Lee Cameron - 57.4
5th: Bruce Harrold/Craig Henderson/Grant Munro/Bruce Larkins - 58

By the end of my 14 Hour Day and on the last task of ‘Operation Tidy Up’ I discovered the Gazeebo to be very symbolic of the way I felt! Fortunately help was on hand to save the day……….

Although there was no Medal on Saturday we did manage to have a Trial Run of our first ‘Any Tee Medal’

This was to encourage any Gent, Lady or Junior Members to come and play a Competition Round from whatever Tee they wanted (Red, Yellow or White). We had 54 turn up and the Results were as follows.

Mixed Division 1
1 Robert Innes (Y)76 14(14) - 62
2 Steven Wallace (W)70 3(6) - 64
3 Andrew Catley (Y)76 11(11) - 65

The Summer Sale continues In Store with some great Bargains still to be had.

• ALL Clothing Reduced* - Save On Individual Items or 3FOR2!
• ALL Shoes Reduced - Up To HALF PRICE!
• ALL Bags Reduced - Save Up To £30!
• Galvin Green Waterproof Jackets - NOW HALF PRICE
• FREE Golf Bag - With Selected Power Trollies
• Up To £50 OFF Selected Putters!
• Selected Balls At BARGAIN PRICES!
• ALL Luggage HALF PRICE!
• New & Ex-Trial Clubs At Rock Bottom Prices!
• And Many More In Store Bargains!

Obviously we still have various In-Store Promotions running alongside the Summer Sale. Like the TaylorMade M-Series Promotion I mentioned last week.

Here is a reminder of the details:

You may have seen in last week`s Newsletter that together with the Foremost affiliated Team at Your Golf Travel I have created some potential Winter Coaching Trips.

Click Here for all the details.

If you and a group of Friends are interested in any of these and would like more details get in touch for a no obligation enquiry by clicking here.