So while football teams the world over have been trying to emulate the ‘Tiki Taka’ blueprint of Barcelona`s greatness the Catalan giants have secretly been building towards the day when they could play like Stenhousemuir!!...in front of 12 Ball Boys, 7 seagulls and the odd crisp poke wafting among the rows of empty seats! Interesting Fact: The Attendance at the Nou Camp on Sunday was exactly the same number of Ryanair Pilots available that day!!!

Outside the Stadium the City was in lock down as peaceful protests were held in favour of the Catalan Independence Referendum, inside the Stadium the Nou Camp figures for Pie Sales & Bovril fell to an all-time low!

Interestingly on Saturday I was at an Anti-Independence gathering! Some people call them Weddings!! And I can confirm there were more people in attendance there than at the Barca game (or Stenhousemuir for that matter!)...thankfully we got more than a hot pie and Bovril at the Reception!!

It could well have been a Golf Club Function with the amount of Members in attendance as it was one of Portlethen GC`s very own ‘Loons’, Stephen Cook, that was signing his life away...in saying that something tells me that it won`t affect his golfing time in the slightest!! But those of you who know ‘Scuba’ well won`t be surprised to hear that he started his special day the only way he could…with a game of golf in the company of his ‘Best Men.’

Stephen & Sarah plucked some fabulous weather from what`s been a real mixed bag for their big day which made Norwood Hotel into an even better setting for their Reception.

I guess Aberdeen used up it`s ‘nice weather’ quota on the Saturday judging by the extreme shift in conditions through the night and into the next day so spare a thought for Keith Horne who must have been feeling a smidge ‘under the weather’ having eventually left the Wedding Celebrations at approximately 3am and was on the Tee playing his CR Associates Final in the humping rain and gale force winds at 9am!!

He either sobered up or hit the wall, because he managed to see a 3 Up advantage disappear faster than 50 Quid at the Norwood Bar, eventually losing on the 18th Green to Bob Inkster.

Their match was 1 of 4 Trophies being played on ‘Finals Day’

The other Singles match saw Nick Mackie & Derek McCann go head to head in the Cordiner Trophy Seniors Championship. Perhaps it was the conditions or perhaps it was the midweek Lesson that we had together, but Nick Mackie certainly produced the better form on the day, running out a comfortable winner.

The Doubles Trophies were also up for grabs, and in the Arthur Duthie Foursomes Billy Todd, who had hot footed it from the airport that morning to make his Tee Time, and partner Brian Dobson, took on defending Champs Scott Sinclair & Peter Griffiths. Todd & Dobson certainly didn`t show any signs of jetlag as they stormed ahead early on, but Sinclair & Griffiths showed why they have been so successful in this format over the last 2 years and clawed their way right back into the match. However, despite taking the contest right to the final hole Billy & Brian held on to take the victory by a 1 hole margin.

It was a similar story in the Murdoch Smith Fourball event which saw another pairing returning to the final for the 2nd year in a row! Ryan & Imran Sheikh made it 3 out of 4 finals in only 2 years! Standing in their way this year were Gary Pacitti Jnr & Jim Miller Jnr. The 3 out of 4 theme continued with the 3rd Final out of the 4 being played that day going all the way to the final green. Holding their nerve against the Sheikhs this time were Gary & Jim.

The same couldn`t be said for the Presidents Cup Match that was more one sided than Heather Mills at Hop-Scotch! Obviously I`m a biased European but at no point did I ever get the impression that this Match meant as much and could ever match the Ryder Cup! Perhaps the International Team collectively just aren`t as good/strong as when the Europeans pull together, or (ominously) maybe the Americans are assembling their strongest Team since the likes of the star studded squads of the Ryder Cup Teams of 79 & 81?

I certainly don`t think the attempts to be different from the Ryder Cup necessarily work. Stretching the match over 4 days, different numbers of pairings from session to session, the ‘Guess Who meets Battleships’ style of allocating the Pairings. Paul McGinley said it best, ‘These Matches are all about Strategy, which starts with the Captain!’...I guess I better get my thinking cap & game face on for the Cappro Cup then!?

The European Ryder Cup Qualifying is well underway now and quite a few players boosted their rankings at last weekend`s British Masters at Close House. I`ll be interested to see how the likes of Paul Dunne continue after his brilliant victory, thanks in no small part to his final round 61!

Many of these players will be making the short trip up to the Fife Coast to take part in the Dunhill Cup, I hope they`ve packed their Winter woollies!?

We have plenty of Winter Woollies to choose from in store now too with everything from Bobbles & Beanies to Thermals & Layering.

From Heat Products to one which I`m sure will be a Hot Product! On Wednesday I took delivery of the new TaylorMade P790 Fitting Components and they look fantastic in the flesh!

On Friday, 13 October myself and Portlethen Member, Dave Fleming, are making the trip to Gleneagles for a very Special Product Launch Fitting Event, that you were all invited to, where he will be Fitted for the new P790 Irons by one of their experienced TaylorMade Tour Truck Fitters. Check out how he got on in next week`s Newsletter.

I took them for a quick ‘skelp’ to see how they matched up to my current TaylorMade PSi Irons – At the time these were deemed by TaylorMade to be their most ‘forgiving’ and ‘fastest faced’ Players Iron in their range. The PSi an abbreviation of Players Slotted Iron which featured Face & Sole Speed Slots.

The new P790 has removed the Face Slots, replacing them with what they are calling ‘Speedfoam’ – A material that they are injecting inside the Clubhead to give the ultra-thin construction of the head some much needed support but also the ability for the face to flex – In other words Faster Ball Speeds. So I was curious to see if they could live up to the hype!

Here`s how they compared:

You`ll see from the Images below that remarkably I managed to hit the centre of the Clubface virtually every time (except the 1st attempt with the P790 which I almost Shanked!! So we`ll forget that one!) You`ll also notice that my Clubhead Speed and Launch angle were also virtually identical on all shots between both Clubs.

To Book a Fitting Appointment – Click Here.

I`m sure Dave is as excited as I am to pick up these new Irons.

Again, thanks go to our Resident Ref. Dave Fleming for putting together the comprehensive description of the Do`s & Don`ts – Click Here

Saturday was just a bog standard Medal but the nicer weather certainly brought about some above average scoring. Namely from Nick Mackie who, along with his Senior Championship victory on Sunday, had an excellent weekend! I wonder why?...read on!

Division 1
1 Nick Mackie 73(5) - 68
2 Scott Kranzke 78(8) - 70
3 Gary Scot Lloyd 78(8) - 70

Division 2
1 Alan Mitchell 83(13) - 70
2 Paul Singer 86(13) - 73
3 Adam Sinclair 84(11) - 73

Division 3
1 Mark Clubb 86(17) - 69
2 David Brooks 88(17) - 71
3 Ian Riach 91(18) - 73

You may have already deduced that behind Nick Mackie`s excellent achievements last weekend was the small matter of him coming for a Lesson Mid-Week.