My week away meant I missed a few local headlines.

Pittodrie played host to the Scotland v Holland International Friendly Match, apparently it was the first every sighting of a Dutch Cap in action down the Links!

Another local 'Little Bird' who's flown away from here is Eurythmics Annie Lennox who has been nominated to be inducted into the ROCK Hall Of Fame. I'm sure the synthesise-saturated New Wave group are either thinking 'Sweet Dreams are made of this' or 'WHY!?'

I have to admit, I found myself thinking the same thing last week (not about Eurythmics!) but more importantly how as a society we have managed to turn 1 day into an epidemic!?

I'm talking of course about 'BLACK FRIDAY'

An occasion that started as an opportunist 1 Day Marketing Strategy by some of the Big Companies in the USA to 'cash in' on their Thanksgiving Celebrations and Christmas build up has turned into a bloody fortnight frenzy! What next? Are the Boxing Day Sales going to go 12 Rounds!? Will there literally be 12 Days of Christmas!? Shall we just add a Hogmanay-Eve!? Halloweek!? Pancake 'You Choose'Day!?

Needless to say, I'm not ducking out of this, ahem, tradition, however, with the short days and grim 'Course Closing' Weather it's doomy and gloomy enough outside the Shop, so I'd rather not drag the blackness inside as well.

So, instead I've decided to brighten up your day a little with my own alternative to 'Black Friday'.

Guaranteed 20% OFF everything in store - FRIDAY 24th NOV – SUNDAY 3rd DEC

So come along and take advantage of my ‘SPECTRUM sale savings!’ You`ll be sure to find ‘Hot Deals’ for that ‘money you`ve been saving for a rainy day!’

We are guaranteeing you 20% OFF everything in-store, but when you bring your purchase to the till you will be able to ‘Dip For Discount’ which could see you receive up to an incredible 40% EXTRA discount! That’s right. The chance to get your shopping for HALF PRICE!

Simply choose a colour card from the Spectrum Of Saving and receive these additional discounts (on top of the 10% you are already receiving):

T&Cs:

Purchase must be £20 or Over. Does NOT Include Motocaddy and PowaKaddy FREE Bag Promotion, Ex Trial Equipment or Golf Balls and cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion. Full payment purchases only – no shop credit.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

One of the Seminar Sessions I felt was very product specific-focused, but I thought it was worth highlighting because it is very pertinent to us both was Motocaddy.

Motocaddy is a company I very much support as they make excellent trolleys and bags. They were also the driving force behind the trade-in initiative to encourage golfers to upgrade to the benefits of Lithium batteries. So, with 'trolleys', 'bags', 'lithium' and 'trade-in' in mind I want to really highlight and hammer home the unrivalled value I can offer to you - especially right now!

Last week I launched the 'FREE Golf Bag' with any Motocaddy Lithium trolley promotion.

But remember, I can also offer you a trade-in facility for your old trolley against this new one, saving you even more money!

But you might be one of the frustrated people sitting there thinking “I just bought a Lithium battery in Stuart's Battery Trade In, so that's no use to me!”

Well, I am also able to provide you a 'frame only' purchase, but unfortunately no FREE Bag! However, you can also still take advantage of my trolley Trade-In facility.

So you can keep your new Lithium Battery and save money on a new frame!

Santa Scramble

All this Christmas chat brings me nicely to an event that hopefully the weather wizards will allow us to run again after a great day last year. If all the planets align and we not only get the Course open for play, but the Winter League remains on schedule, then on Saturday 23rd December we intend to change the normal Pro Shop Sweep into a:

"SANTA SCRAMBLE" - Saturday, 23 December

This is going to be a Two Man Texas Scramble - £2 per person entry.

15 holes, 5 drives per person, 25% total handicap.

If you want to gain an advantage, here it is: I`m giving an extra shot on the individuals handicap to any golfer who plays in either a Christmas jumper or Santa hat. PLUS we`ve brought back the ‘Search For Santa’ Treasure Hunt. There will be a Chocolate Treat hidden somewhere on every hole. Whoever finds it, keeps it – But we will also have a Chocolate Santa lurking somewhere too. If you or your Team find it, take a ‘Santa Selfie’ and send it in. The Best Selfie will win the Chocolate Santa.

To play in this you just book as normal via the BRS a week in advance.

Hopefully this horrendous spell of weather will abate (Word of the Day!) and the course can get back on Fairways and Full Greens.

New &* Ex Trial Clubs: (Don`t let ‘Ex Trial’ put you off as virtually all of these Clubs have been protected throughout their use and are in ‘As New’ Condition).

TaylorMade M1 2017 Driver: New £359 Ex Trial £329
TaylorMade M2 2017 Driver: Ex Trial £249
TaylorMade M1 2016 Driver: New £199
Callaway XR16 Driver: New £199 Ex Trial £179
Callaway Fusion Driver: New £199 Ex Trial £179
Callaway GBB 16 Driver: New £159
PING G Series Drivers: Ex Trial £179

TaylorMade M1 2017 F/Way: New £199 Ex Trial £179
TaylorMade M2 2017 F/Way: Ex Trial £149
TaylorMade M1 2016 F/Way: New £129
Callaway XR16 F/Way: Ex Trial £129
PING G Series F/Way: Ex Trial £139

TaylorMade M1 2017 Rescue: New £149 Ex Trial £129
TaylorMade M2 2017 Rescue: Ex Trial £109
PING G Series Hybrid: Ex Trial £109
Titleist 816 Hybrid: Ex Trial £109

TaylorMade M1 2017 Irons (4-PW): Ex Trial £499 + FREE CART BAG*
Wilson C200 Irons (4-PW): Ex Trial £199
Wilson FG5 Irons (4-PW): Ex Trial £199
Titleist Vokey SM6 Wedges: Ex Trial £89 Minimal Use, Even Less Wear!

(*Save a further £30 if you add 2 more T/Made Pieces from the above list)

Your rules questions answered

Much like the Course we are going to take a break from the Rule School over the Winter Months, but it`s nice that we can finish for now with some ‘Rules Queries’ that have come from the Members. Thanks once again to our Resident Ref, Dave Fleming for taking the time to comprehensively answer and elaborate on them.

Click here to check them out.

What a finish to the season

Someone who definitely can afford to splash the cash this winter is Tommy Fleetwood. The pint-sized pony from Merseyside managed to hold on by his fingertips to clinch the Race To Dubai and top the Season Long Points list, but for a while on Sunday it didn`t look likely.

2nd placed Justin Rose looked in total control of both the Tournament and consequently the Race To Dubai Title. But out of nowhere he dropped 2 shots in 3 holes to slip back. He was overtaken by a marauding ‘El Toro’ in the shape of Jon Rahm who would go on to win the DP World Tour Championship.

And despite looking a tad ‘homeless’ it seems the only ‘Missed Cuts’ Tommy endured this year were his Barber Appointments! Hopefully now having earned a cool 5.5 million euro in 2017 Tommy can afford to get his ‘barnet’ trimmed and buy a razor!

What is looking good right now though is our Ryder Cup Rankings!

The Automatic Spots have some great young and fresh talent there and look like this:

While the experienced likes of Stenson, Westwood, Kaymer, McIlroy and Poulter and even former Ryder-Cuppers like Colsearts, Cabrera-Bello and Molinari plus Master Fleetwood are all tucked nicely inside the Top 30.

It`s going to be an exciting 9 Months and right now I feel a little more optimistic than I was a few months ago.