So as the sun sets on SW19, and the Centre Court roof slides closed like the end credits of Camberwick Green, we can reflect on another memorable Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Once again the cream of the gents crop rose to the top with the old and new Gods of Grass matching up in the Final for the second year in a row. The World No 1, Novak Djokovic made his way through the early rounds like Neo from the Matrix taking out Mr Anderson and even blowing a Gasquet in the Semi couldn`t stop his progress to the Sunday showdown. Over in the other half of the draw no one, not even Oor Andy could stop Fed Ex delivering the goods all the way to another Centre Court climax. Roger Federer gave himself the chance to win a record breaking 8th title in his 10th final appearance. The first set went with serve and the first set tie breaker went with Serb, the second also went to a tie break but this time Roger Fed the crowd more excitement as he proved that the World No 1 couldn`t make this Swiss Roll over without a fight (or an Army) and ensured the glitterati would at the very least get a four set thriller. In the 3rd Djokovic showed he was Novaking down and by the 4th Roger realised he had Novaking chance! Regardless of the outcome these 2 Titans of Tennis put on another incredible masterclass of shot making and physical performance.
However over in the women`s final it was more a case of Men against Girls! As Serena Williams coasted her way to a 6th Wimbledon Championship over that other house hold name of women`s tennis, Gabrine Muguruza (Was that not the Greek burd with snakes for hair!?) Anyway, I`m sure she would`ve got hissed off having to put it in a hairband all the time! Wimbledon was probably the first high profile sporting event where equal pay was scrutinized. Both Djokovic and Williams have walked away with a cheque for £1.88 Million but when you look at the time on court for the whole Championship that means Serena`s hourly rate was £197,687 against Novaks poultry £130,555 P.H! Not to pick the scab of the old Sexual Equality scar too much but if it`s meant to be equal then I feel the Women should be playing 5 Set matches as well. It`s a bit like the Ladies Open Championship being played over 3 rounds and them getting the same money really isn`t it!?
The move to Sexual Equality brings me nicely to this week`s sporting spectacle. The Open Championship arrives back to its spiritual home and the home to the games governing body, The R&A. Who this year took the leap to invite Lady Members to join for the first time in their history. Apparently that wind of change has also blown the foostie aroma of stale blazers and bisto stained ties away! I heard one chap nearly choked trying to remove some soup he had spilled on his tie, but fortunate someone came to his aid using the Heinz Lick manoeuvre!!
And speaking of different gravy I`m sure the golfing elite are about to put on equally as impressive a show at St Andrew to what we`ve just witnessed at Wimbledon. Master McIlroy will unfortunately be just like the rest of us armchair fans this week so does that open the door wide for Jordan Spieth to continue his march to the Golfing Grand Slam!? There`s no questioning his form as he picked up yet another title by defending his John Deere Classic crown at the weekend. Some questioned his decision not to come over early and get more accustomed to Links golf like many of his other American counterparts have done.
Tiger Woods has already been prowling St Andrews Old Lady this weekend and fortunately for everyone concerned he didn`t go anywhere near Granny Clarks Wynd!! Over the Firth of Forth (which is quite a mouthful, and your just glad they stopped at four!!) the Scottish Open made a rare appearance in the Lothians, namely Gullane Links. And it was one of those acclimatising Americans who clearly got to grips with our gowf! Ricky Fowler, who has shown a liking for the links style of play before, put on a great finish to sneak the title from the smooth swinging Frenchman, Raphael Jacquelin. Another Yank, Matt Kuchar, also featured well finishing only 1 shot out of the lead so there is no question the Americans are coming in force and in form to The Open. So who from Europe will be putting up a fight?
Now the 1st Round Draw has been published those of you who took a flutter in my Open Championship Sweep can check out who you`ve got to root for. Check in the Pro Shop to see you have!
So hopefully you will be one of the lucky ones as the tournament unfolds, but regardless whether you`ve got a name in my Sweepstake or not you are all Open Championship Winners this week as I am putting on some Championship Specials.
For the Tournament Days of Thursday to Sunday you can take advantage of the following Promotions:
A FREE Shoe Bag With ANY Pair Of Shoes Purchased*
(*Selected Shoes Come with a Pre-Set Shoe Bag - Others Can Be Chosen By The Customer)
A FREE Umbrella OR HALF PRICE Holdall With ANY Golf Bag.
ANY Galvin Green Waterproof Suit - FOR ONLY £350
£10 OFF All Galvin Green Insula Tops.
**AND FOR THE SATURDAY & SUNDAY OF THE OPEN WEEKEND**
All Equipment Purchases that weekend will receive a Percentage Discount Voucher to the value of the Leaders Score to Par*
(*EG: Leading Score = 10 Under Par - You Purchase a Taylormade R15 Driver @ £299, you will receive a Voucher to use on another purchase for £30!)
Maybe these deals have come at the right time for our latest batch of Sweep Winners!?
Fortunately there were no weather interruptions this week as we had another busy week of Competitions.
RAINBOW TAXIS RD1, Wednesday 8th July `15
Division 1 (10 & BELOW)
1st: Michael Henderson = 75(6) - 69
1st Sweep: Johnny Montgomerie = 75(6) - 69
3rd: Clark Brechin = 70(+1) - 71
2nd: Dean Stewart = 81(9) - 72 ACB
3rd: Imran Sheikh = 81(9) - 72 ACB
Division 2 (11-15)
1st: Simon Jolly = 86(15) - 71
2nd: Dino Becci = 85(12) - 73 ACB
3rd: Duncan Livingstone = 86(13) - 73
Division 3 (16 & ABOVE)
1st: Duncan MacMillan = 90(18) - 72
2nd: Michael Tough = 91(18) - 73
3rd: Konrad Lister = 100(26) - 74
Photos left to right: Johnny Montgomerie, Dino Becci, Imran Sheikh, Simon Jolly & Clark Brechin
STROKEPLAY CHAMP RD2 & JULY MEDAL, Saturday 11th July `15
Division 1 (10 & BELOW)
1st: Lewis Shand = 67(1) - 66
2nd: Ian Cruickshank = 77(10) - 67
3rd: Keith Allan = 74(6) - 68
Division 2 (11-15)
1st: Stewart Clark = 80(15) - 65
2nd: Peter Jamieson = 82(15) - 67
3rd: Derek Rollo = 84(14) - 70
3rd Sweep: Duncan Livingstone = 83(12) - 71
Division 3 (16 & ABOVE)
1st: John Findlay = 89(20) - 69
1st Sweep: Andy Bruce = 87(18) - 69
2nd Sweep: Russell Prosser = 86(16) - 70
3rd Sweep: Keith MacGregor= 87(16) - 71
Photos left to right: Lewis Shand, Ian Cruickshank, Keith Allan, Stewart Clark, Peter Jamieson, John Findlay, Andy Bruce, Russell Prosser & Keith MacGregor
WELLTRAIN CALLAWAY TROPHY, Sunday 12th JULY `15
Division 1 (10 & BELOW)
1st: Jeff Christie = 38 Points
2nd: Imran Sheikh = 37 Points
3rd: Ian Logie = 37 ACB Points
Division 2 (11-15)
1st: George R Smith = 41 Points
2nd: Christopher Forbes = 39 Points
3rd: Lee Stewart = 37 Points
Division 3 (16 & ABOVE)
1st: Keith Pirie = 42 Points
2nd: Graham D Miller = 40 Points
3rd: John Morrison = 40 Points ACB
Photos left to right: Imran Sheikh, Ian Logie, Chris Forbes, Lee Stewart & Graham Miller
Some super scoring again this week and especially pleasing to see a number of my Pupils not only collecting Prize Money but many of them seeing the reward in their investment in the shape of their Handicaps tumbling. I was particularly pleased to see our Club Captain, Ian Cruickshank, put a great round together having had a series of lessons from me. Ian has taken on board my advice and put in the time to work on these things so it was nice to see him get just reward for his hard work. Sometimes improvements need tome to settle into something you can trust when the moment comes, it`s not always just a quick fix.
However now and again you get someone who can just take to the changes and instantly get the confidence back that they trust it. So as equally as pleasing as Ian`s result was the score returned of Imran Sheikh who following a Lesson during the week managed to reduce his playing handicap by a stroke after Sundays Competition.
All in last week 5 of my Pupils (Ian Cruickshank, Willie Wood, Craig Henderson, Russell Prosser & Imran Sheikh) all lowered their playing handicaps by a stroke. Whilst Johnny Montgomerie, Chris Forbes & Dino Becci all collected Prize Money! So when it comes to improvement and results, if you`re willing then I`m able!
Saturdays July Medal was also Event 7 of the Cappro Cup Qualifying. Check out the Top 4 Automatic Places in each Division at the moment below and for a Full List of Points Standings click here.
Last week's Junior Summer Camp went really well and despite Fridays rain nothing could dampen the kids spirits or enthusiasm (or maybe that was just the 5 day Sweets and fizzy juice binge kicking in!!?) There was great improvement by all the kids and I really hope to so more of them coming and playing regularly through their school holidays.
Well done to all the kids and parents for their co-operation during the week and a Special thank you to Terry Kennedy who did a fantastic job of organizing everything in the build up to the Camp and for his help and commitment during the week of activities.
On the back of its success I am intending on running a similar but smaller Golf School at the end of their holidays. Here's the info for the end of the holidays camp:
Junior Development Camp
Date: Monday 10th August - Friday 14th August
Time: Group 1 - 10-12 Group 2 - 12-2pm
A fun engaging week of Professional coaching for children aged 8-14 (or 9 hole handicap) to help develop their skills and get them excited about progressing further and for some kids getting ready for the 18 holes.
Each day will consist of learning a new technical skill, fun warm up activities, skill tests and challenges.
£40 per person for the week.
Spaces are limited. To book please call the Professional Shop on 01224 782571 or email
kamranzeno1992@yahoo.co.uk
"All the Golfing Gossip from the Powder Room" by Aileen McVey The Pro Shops 1st Lady
Well I need to start with a huge thank you to everyone who has sponsored me last week. On Wednesday I wore my Cycling Jersey to help promote the Charity Cycle I`m doing and fortunately not many of you told me to `get on my bike` when I persuaded you to make a donation. So far I have smashed the £500 I was hoping to raise so thanks you all so much. I still have a few weeks left to continue my training which is going well and I am getting my distance up with every cycle. And not to be cheeky but my Sponsor Sheet and Charity Tin will still be in the shop for those weeks too!!
Maybe I was a little hasty a few weeks ago when I said the training was obviously affecting my golf…..turns out it was just my own inconsistency, because on Tuesday I had my lowest gross score ever as I broke the 100 barrier for the first time. I`m dead chuffed as now I`m down 3 strokes to 28 for the first time ever! Now the hard part is trying to play to it!!
Ladies Seasons Cup Rd 2, Tuesday 15th July `15
Silver
1st: Wendy Plevey = 86(14) - 72
2nd: Kathleen Johnston = 92(19) - 73
3rd: Heather McCabe = 94(16) - 78
Bronze
1st: Aileen McVey = 98(31) - 67
2nd: Julie Brimble = 99(29) - 70
3rd: Lena Dellanzo = 99(25) - 74
On Saturday it was the 3rd Round of the Ladies Championship.
Ladies Championship Rd3, Saturday 11th July `15
Silver
1st: Kathleen Johnston = 93(20) - 73
2nd: Wendy Plevey = 89(15) - 74
3rd: Angie Craig = 94(16) - 78
Bronze
1st: Alison Bruce = 100(21) - 79
2nd: Thyra Daun = 109(30) - 79
3rd: Sylvia Revell = 110(29) - 81
Photos left to right: Alison Bruce & Angie Craig, Aileen McVey & Julie Brimble, Thyra Daun & Sylvia Revell
Portlethen took their turn to host the Seniors Alliance Meeting this month which saw representatives from Brechin, Stonehaven and Forfar come and play alongside the Portlethen players in this Stableford event. The best score of the day was posted by J Terris from Brechin who pipped our own Alistair Fergus by a single point. Brechin had a good day visiting Portlethen as it was another of their men, J Whitecross who took 3rd place also on 41 Points. We had Bill Duff in 4th and many more of our Seniors were pretty duff after that too!
It`s literally all hands to the pump on the course these days as we have experienced the biggest volume of rain fall in July for over 10 years! Fortunately the course has stood up to it pretty well but it does cut into the Greenstaffs cutting and it`s never as good cutting soaking wet grass as it would be if the leaf were dry and standing proud. And whilst the weather throws the guys a few headaches sometimes so does the technology as there have been a couple of small malfunctions on the Turf Iron and Ball Collector which do slow up the job time efficiency.
There are some types of headaches that you hope would never happen to the Greenstaff and that is if they were ever to be struck by a golf ball!! I have heard from the guys that there have been quite a few instances where our golfers have decided it would be ok to fire these little spherical bullets down the fairways and to the greens when the staff are out doing their preparation. Ask yourself this, would you hit over a golfers head if they were only a few yards in front of you in the fairway? Would you hit into a green if there were still golfers putting? Hopefully the answer is no, so spare some thought for the Greenstaff as these guys are every bit as mortal as you and I.
I highlighted earlier some of the guys doing well from my instruction. But I just wanted to showcase one area of the game that can make a huge difference to your scores and how the correct advice can have instant improvement.
Malcolm Pert had a pitching lesson the other day because his options around the green were basically `putt it` or he had recently invested in a Chipper!! His issue was that despite his best efforts to he couldn`t get `under the ball` to get it in the air! I`ll let the pictures below (Before & After) tell the story but in a nutshell, like many, Malcolm thought he needed to get the club `under the ball` - As a consequence all he proceeded to do was try and scoop it up with the wrists and invariably thinned it as the sharp leading edge was attacking up on the ball. Once I explained that we needed to deliver the shaft down and most importantly forward then whatever loft (i.e. whatever club we have chosen) will put the ball in the air and create a trajectory that associated to that loft. To do this we have to make a movement that is a mini version of the full swing where the arms, club & body all keep moving TOGETHER! With a little help by tweaking the set up position, moving the handle/shaft forward slightly and shifting the weight forward and the ball position back the ability to contact the ball became much easier. Then it was just a case of `dialling in the distance`.
Before After
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