Hello golfers,

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly newsletter. In this week's email, we examine the services and benefits we offer you, explore how often you hit the fairway compared to tour pros, and we also have a video from a European Tour favourite.

Enjoy the read.

So, what do you do on days like these!?

If you were to listen to some of the comments from the Members who popped into the Shop then you`d be lead to believe that it was the sum total of hee-haw! ‘You`ll not have much to do today!’, ‘quiet one for you then!?’, ‘you`ll be able to just shut up early won`t you!?’

As much as I`d love to do that, just stand around and chat, watch the replays of the weekend’s golf or practice my putting around the shop, it`s the quiet days that give me the much needed time to catch up on important jobs, administration and tasks that running my business requires.

I`ve emphasised ‘My Business’ because I do feel that is an element that many people forget, don`t realise or don`t fully understand about my role. Inside the 4 walls of the Professional Shop bubbles away a very strange organism, because behind the busiest door in the Golf Club none of the Staff are actually employed by the Club! But, especially during the busy summer months, our main priority on a day-to-day basis is to facilitate the Golfing Member`s needs.

The old saying of ‘Every day is a school day’ changes at Portlethen to ‘Every day is a Match & Handicap Day!’ as we are required to manage the extensive Fixture List that the Club has. If it`s not running the ‘On Day’ side of the Competition on Saturday (Gents, Ladies & Juniors), Sunday (Gents), Tuesday (Ladies), Wednesday (Gents) or Thursday (Seniors) then it is administering the results of these Competitions the following day, which as you will have worked out means we are running and trying to close down different events on the same day. As the Tee Sheet is therefore always pretty active it is difficult to escape from behind the confines of the counter to deal with other tasks. Tasks that my business benefits from.

When weather and days like last Monday and Tuesday come our way it does give us some much welcomed time to get stuck in to other things but unfortunately the only thing that doesn`t do much work is the till drawer, and it reminded me of another factor that`s about to hit us shortly! Winter is almost here when golf-less days are commonplace, when the till drawer develops lock-jaw and we have to survive those 5 to 6 months with little to no golf being played and even less trade being done.

And in the same week when I disappointingly was told by a Member that he was going to purchase clubs from a local Driving Range, despite him being expertly fitted here at the Golf Club and my Price being the same, I realised that this week`s events were exactly the type of things and reasons to support what you`ve got right on your golfing doorstep.

Now I don`t want to get all Bryan Adams on you...

but ‘Everything I do....I do it for you!’ and the first one is obvious, if you are reading this Newsletter then you already are benefitting from a personal service from me directly to you. We try and keep it fun, informative and educational and as far as I can see it is the only weekly communication you get, but it doesn`t write itself!

Next I had to do a Trolley Repair under warranty for a Member who was able to wheel it straight off the course into the shop, he had the option of borrowing a rental and he didn`t need to rake around for his ‘Proof of Purchase’. Similarly, I Tested a failing battery for another Member and was also able to quickly find that ‘Proof of Purchase’ on his Members Account.

That evening I then gave a FREE follow up lesson to a Member, who had bought new Custom Fitted Woods from me but ‘was taking a little while to get used to them’, because I didn`t want my Customer struggling with Clubs that should be helping them improve.

Giving something back

This is a theme that continued as I put the finishing touches to the Teams for the upcoming Cappro Cup Match. There was quite a lot of movement on the final Qualifying Event and on Monday, Captain Ian Cruickshank and I randomly picked our Team Line Ups which you can see in the Video of the ‘LIVE’ Draw.

Another investment I had made in the Membership came to bear fruit at the weekend which gave me a lot of pleasure. Pranav Maganti was awarded my Junior Scholarship for 2017 which meant he not only got kitted out with a new set of Wilson Clubs, Bag, Balls and gloves but he also received Instruction and Mentoring from myself.

On Sunday Pranav put all of those things to good use as he claimed the Junior Handicap Championship in a terrific final with the recently crowned Junior Club Champion, Finlay Wallace.

But the final instance from this week that I want to share with you which I hope illustrates best what we provide here at Portlethen that you won`t find anywhere else, especially not an Online Shop, is a conversation with a Member during which he asked for a recommendation for a Club (Face-To-Face Expert PGA Advice) that he could hit from the Tee that would go further than his 4-Iron, as he just didn`t like playing Woods or Hybrids:

“I`ve got a 3 Wood....hate it! Can`t hit it for toffee!”

I recommended he try the new G400 Crossover Iron (On Course, Green Grass Trial) – He did, and 18 Holes later he was back.

“This thing is unbelievable! I`m having it!”

So I recommended he part-exchange his 3 Wood that he hated! (Trade In Facility) On inspection of his 3 Wood my trained eye spotted that the Clubface had cracked and was concaved. Something that he had never noticed before. Now, at that point most Stores would`ve said ‘We can`t take that’ or ‘your Club’s worthless’, but I not only said that it shouldn`t have happened but offered to contact the manufacturer (Customer Service) to see if they would replace the Club, which they did with the latest model!

Now my Member had a Club much more valuable to Trade In and the upshot was his Trade-in Value was more than he originally paid for the Club! (Amazing Value).

So long story short, we want to give great service to you, we want to give great value to you, we want to provide a desirable shop for you, we want to put on enjoyable events for you, we want to create entertaining communication for you, but ultimately I`m here trying to make a living and provide a living for 3 people in a short and Club-duties-dominated season.

So for all these aspects to be realised I need your ‘Profitable Support’. Everyone loves a bargain, but Clearance Product only helps 2 people – The Buyer and the Supplier and they both need the middle guy!

So the next time you`re going to spend on golf, please think about 2 things. Firstly, will any of this money be reinvested back into my Club? And secondly, think of me!

It's back by popular demand!

My Friday Night Fun Series is another example of what I`m trying to put into the Members Experience of being part of this Club.

Next up is an event that I know everyone who came last year thoroughly enjoyed so we brought it back by popular demand.

NIGHT GOLF: Halloween Special
‘Freaky’ Friday 27th October
6pm – 8pm

Strokeplay and Handicap Championships

It was a bit of a Horror Show to the finale of the Strokeplay Championship on Sunday. As fate would have it the Top 3 players in the scratch event were playing one group in front of another in the 4th & final round. A poor front 9 from Malcolm Thomson took himself out the running which left Keith Horne trying to chase down Robbie Murdoch`s considerable lead.

With 2 to play the margin stood at 5 shots, but it`s never over until the fat lady sings and Motzerat Caballe had clearly had laryngitis that weekend. Keith must`ve thought it was Christmas whereas Robbie just thought it was winter because after he ran up a snowman (8) at the 17th against Keith`s Par 4 the gap was down to one. We might need to start calling him Robbie Winters because his frosty encounter on 17 saw him catch a cold down 18 and his bogey was all that was needed to give Keith a sniff of the title. Both players tied on a 302 total but Keith took the title courtesy of the best last round!

In the Handicap Championship it was a much more cut and dry affair with Michael Edwards the clear winner on 291, but again Robbie`s poor finish meant he also had to settle for Runner Up in that event too.

In the individual Competitions that were running on Saturday & Sunday Alex Handsley and Peter Clark had good weekends, finishing in the Prizes both days in their respective Divisions.

The other scoring looked like this:

Spare a thought for this guy...

The end of the season is nigh and you can already see a shift in the Course conditions. The Autumn is definitely in full effect with the trees shedding their leaves which undoubtedly creates problems when looking for your ball, but spare a thought for poor Matthew Southgate, and English Tour Player, who was gunning for his PGA Tour Card in an event over in the States when a ludicrous altercation with an airborne leaf cost him a 4 stroke penalty!

Check out the incident here.

This is where the Rules of Golf annoy me. They are meant to be there to protect the player and the ethics of the game. But I feel this is another instance of an unnecessary and unjust penalty. Nature has deflected the ball offline, Through The Green this is classed as ‘Rub Of The Green’ and the player has to play the ball as it lies.

On the Putting Green it incurs Penalty Strokes if the shot isn`t re-taken from its original position! So essentially, if you putt from off the green and the ball is deflected by a leaf – Tough Luck, play it as it lies. If the same happens on the green, you MUST replay the shot otherwise you will be penalised! In my opinion, if they simply changed the wording to ‘MAY’ replay the shot then that would be fairer, No? If you know the rule you get another chance to fairly hole the putt, if you don`t know the rule then you are in fact penalising yourself 1 stroke anyway. If the ball is deflected into the hole then that is no different to a putt hitting a spike mark or blemish on the green and being re-directed back on line.

We are playing a game outdoors surrounded by nature and elements, you shouldn`t be penalised heavily if those factors influence your ball, you should be protected. The governing bodies finally saw sense over the ball being `accidentally` moved by the PLAYER on the green and removed the penalty but a ball being `unbelievably` moved by a leaf incurs potentially a 4 stroke punishment!? Meanwhile back in Tour-ville players are inexplicably getting FREE drops in hazards by claiming they want to play away from the flag to then play towards the flag after they receive the relief, FREE drops in Bunkers because they`ve dug their feet far enough down to hit the lining when their ball is in a dreadful lie, and worst of all, my biggest bug bear, not-anchoring-but-clearly-still-anchoring anchored putters!

Come on governing bodies, forget your 1” high drops and 20” relief distances, and start applying some common sense to the Rules.

In this week`s Rules School Section we have covered ‘Moveable & Immoveable Obstructions’ so to see Resident Ref`s detailed explanation and relief procedure simply click here.

Are you prepared?

So perhaps to protect yourself from those low flying leaves you should arm yourself with a new Beanie Hat or better still a padded Fleece Jacket! It just so happens that, thanks to those quiet weather stricken days, we have managed to merchandise our superb Autumn/Winter Range of products.

So why not pop in and check out our fantastic offerings from Under Armour, Galvin Green,adidas and ProQuip.