Stuart Wilson

8th Hole

11th Hole

One thing that is definitely getting 'In to Shape' is the Golf Course. John G and his small Team are doing a great job and the weather is playing a huge part too. As frustrating as it is having beautiful sunny days and no chance to Golf the positives are that the Course will be tip-top when we do eventually get back out there.

Here is a quick update from John on activities last week:

"Again it's been a week of basic maintenance on the course keeping on top of growth etc. As you can see from the photos, the growth on the bushes is very spring like and encouraging for the rest of the course. Weather and conditions have been good, although overnight soil Temperatures are still dropping quite low from time to time with the frost to deal with in the early part of the day. Once that soil temp improves we'll really see the grass coverage improve, but at the moment we can see the seed beginning to come through on the greens is certain areas. This is a good sign we are very much coming into the growing season. More promising signs are that we are starting to see all sorts of different shades on the trees and definition on the fairways."

Deal or No Deal

It's a pity Money doesn't grow on trees, but hopefully this weeks 'Goodies' in my Deal or No Deal Offer will help you save some money.

It's easy, if you like anything on the list below simply Click the Link, state the 'Lot' you are bidding on and the Value you would like to offer (it can be as low or as high as you want!) - Then I'll let you know whether you've either got a 'DEAL or NO DEAL'

Lot 5: Under Armour Showdown SL Shoes – Black 10UK (Normal Price £110)

Lot 6: Galvin Green Marty Tour Shirt – Bluebird L / Ensign Blue M & XL / Orange M & L (Normal Price £60)

Lot 7: Galvin Green Dwight Insula – Ensign Blue M & L (Normal Price £115)

Lot 8: Motocaddy Dri Series Cart Bag – Black/Blue (Normal Price £219)

Click here to make a deal

UA Showdown Shoes

Lot 5: Under Armour Showdown SL Shoes – Black 10UK (Normal Price £110)

Galvin Green Marty Shirt

Lot 6: Galvin Green Marty Tour Shirt – Bluebird L (Normal Price £60)

Galvin Green Marty Shirt

Lot 6: Galvin Green Marty Tour Shirt – Ensign Blue M & XL (Normal Price £60)

Galvin Green Marty Shirt

Lot 6: Galvin Green Marty Tour Shirt – Orange M & L (Normal Price £60)

Galvin Green Dwight Insula

Lot 7: Galvin Green Dwight Insula – Ensign Blue M & L (Normal Price £115)

Motocaddy Dri Series Bag

Lot 8: Motocaddy Dri Series Cart Bag – Black/Blue (Normal Price £219)

125th Anniversary Quiz

At the Halfway stage of the Quiz so thought I`d give you the answers so far as well as this week`s series of Questions.

Section 1: Club & Course

1. These 125 Year celebrations suggest that the Club we know as Duddingston GC was established in 1895 – But in what Year were we officially named ‘Duddingston Golf Club’?

a) 1895

b) 1894

c) 1919 (1)

d) 1920

2. In 1895 what was the Subscription Cost to become a Member that year?

a) £18.95

b) 21 Shillings (1)

c) A Sack of Coal

d) 12 Shillings

3. The construction for the first version of the now Duddingston Golf Clubhouse back in 1895 was estimated at what value?

a) £1000

b) £1200 (1)

c) £12000

d) £2000

4. When the first layout of the Duddingston CG was opened what was the total Yardage of the Course?

a) 4624

b) 5410

c) 6466

d) 4822 (1)

5. Who Designed the original Duddingston Golf Club layout?

a) James Braid

b) Willie Park Jnr (1)

c) Stuart Smith

d) Tom Morris

6. 2 Holes on the Course have the shortest names. Can you give us the Hole Numbers, their Names and the common theme in those Names? (Point for Each)

A) 6 & 17 / Burn & Pond / Water (Out of 5)

7. One Hole at Duddingston shares its name with a song on the Classic Rock Album London Calling by The Clash! What is the Hole name & number?

a) High & Dry – 14th

b) Death or Glory – 4th (2)

c) Avenue – 9th

d) Temple – 13th

8. The Course now features 4 distinctly different Par 5 Holes. Form the White Tee Markers list these Holes in order of their Yardage from Longest to Shortest?

A) 8 / 17 / 1 / 4 (Out of 4)

9. We also have 4 demanding Par 3 Holes, but can you list them in order of difficulty as rated by their White Tee Stroke Index from most difficult to easiest?

A) 10 / 6 / 2 / 14 (Out of 4)

10. In Gaelic what does Duddingston mean?

a) Scenic Slopes

b) A Golf Balls Graveyard

c) A Good Walk Spoiled

d) Sunny Side Of The Hill (1)

Section 2: The Champions

11. What Year did Duddingston crown its first Club Champion?

a) 1895

b) 1896

c) 1904 (1)

d) 1905

12. Who has won the Club Championship the most times?

a) Ronnie Shade

b) Derrick Williams

c) Stuart Smith

d) GC Killey - 6 (1)

13. Ben Alexander became the 12th Champion to successfully defend their Title, but who has held the title of Club Champion for the longest period?

a) JC Rose

b) GC Killey (1925-29 Five consecutive Years as Champ)

c) JS Adams - 7 Years! Won in 1939 but no Championships were played due to the WWII until 1946! (1)

d) CL Wood

14. 5 Players have won both the Junior & Club Championships, but who was the last person to complete the double?

a) Derrick Williams

b) Gary Thomson

c) Gus Santana

d) Conor Scott (1)

15. What Year did Duddingston crown its first Ladies Champion?

a) 1995

b) 1996

c) 2000

d) 2006 (1)

16. Why was 2014 a first for the Ladies & Club Championship?

A) Both Trophies & Boards now feature the same name – D. Williams (1)

17. Who has won the most Senior Championships?

a) Mike Power

b) Ian Fraser

c) Hinton Bootland (1)

d) Keith Millar

18. Who was the Club Champion in Duddingston`s Centenary Year (1995)?

a) Stuart Smith

b) Brian Smith

c) Keith Millar (1)

d) Derrick Williams

19. Brian Smith holds the record for the Lowest 2 Round Total in Club Championship Qualifying history. What was his gross 36 Hole Total and his 2 Round Scores?

a) 131 (65/66)

b) 132 (67/65)

c) 132 (66/66) (2)

d) 133 (66/67)

20. What is the Name of the Club Championship Trophy?

a) Archibald Maitland Trophy

b) Archibald Hewitt Trophy (1)

c) Abercorn Estate Trophy

d) Edinburgh United Insurance Trophy

Section 3: 1895

Duddingston Golf Club was formed in 1895, so let`s test your historical general knowledge. The next 10 statements are facts from History, all you have to do is say whether they happened Earlier than, Later than or in 1895!

So mark down Earlier – Later or 1895!

21. 1st X-Ray Performed

22. The Eiffel Tower was opened on March 31st

23. Greenwich Mean Time, becomes the standard by which time around the world is set

24. Robert Baden Powell Starts the Boy Scouts movement

25. Hibs First Scottish Cup Win

26. First American Golf Club, The Foxburg Golf Club was opened

27. Playwright Oscar Wilde was found guilty gross indecency in London

28. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded

29. St Andrews hosted the 35th Open Championship

30. Thomas Edison’s company, Edison Electric Light Co. began commercially manufacturing ‘Light Bulbs’

It's quiz time

What a response to last week's quiz! Hopefully, you all enjoyed it and learnt a thing or two on the way.

For this week, you'll need to match the golfer with their nickname.

It starts relatively easy with a few that we think the majority of you will get, but there are certainly a few curveballs in there that you may have never heard of before!

Click the link below to take part and, remember, have fun!

take our quiz >

Weekly challenge

If you’re a fan of archery or darts then you’re going to love this week’s challenge. It’s one for you and the family to try, or even have a go with your golfing buddies (at your own homes, of course) and see who’s at the bottom of the leaderboard!

The set-up

Once again, you’re going to need to get creative for this one. We’ve used bamboo sticks from the garden to create our target area, but it can easily be done using golf clubs or ties too.

Set your hitting zone (the mat in our images) as far away as you feel comfortable with – we’d recommend starting at 5 to 7 yards – before grabbing yourself a wedge and some golf balls.

How to play

There are so many ways you can play this challenge. In our example above, we’ve given each zone on the archery board a score with the larger score for the smallest zone in the middle.

From here, set yourself a target – say 100 points. You then take it in turns to hit three balls and tally up your score based on where your ball ends. The first person to reach the target score wins!

message the team >

Golf at home

Do you find that you putt better when in a practice game compared to competitions? It’s a common problem for many golfers and often stems from the fear factor associated with missing a putt during a competitive round that simply isn’t there when knocking it around for fun.

The idea

It all comes down to confidence and our gauge as to how quick the greens are. If we can be certain that any missed putt will leave us no more than a foot or two from the hole, we needn’t have any fear about missing and three-putting will (hopefully) become a thing of the past!

The set-up

In the image above, you’ll see we’ve placed two tealight candles on the floor about a hole’s width apart followed by four coasters one-foot past the hole. This drill requires you to hole the putt (putting through the tealights) and get your ball to finish within the inside square of the coasters.

message the team >

Video of the Week

How similar are we as golfers? Give this video a watch and count how many of these you say on a regular basis. We bet you say a lot more than you might think!

I hope you have enjoyed this week's update.
We hope to see you soon
Stuart

Duddingston Golf Club
135 Duddingston Road W
Edinburgh
EH15 3QE

Phone: 0131 661 4301

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