Our thanks are due to all concerned at Longniddry Golf Club for superb hospitality and course conditions today at our MD3. And thanks to our usual group of helpers! The scoring was good in tough conditions. 61 Players took part. The best 4 out of 6 scores counted for each Team. The winning Team were the East Lothian Girls for whom Molly Chapman scored a wonderful 47 points, 9 points ahead of Team mate Ava Simon in 2nd place with 38 points. Ben Austin of Haddington was 3rd, also on 38 points. The East Lothian Girls Team consisted of only 4 players, and with the help of Louise Martin and Evie McCallum, they totalled 155 points, 22 points ahead of Gullane and Craigielaw on 133. Gullane edged 2nd place on a count back with a 5th Player’s score of 29 to Craigielaw’s 28. In the scratch section, Sean Gallacher of Longniddry scored 32 points, with Alexander Yuill of Craigielaw on 30 points, and Harris Munro of West Links Bass on 29 points. The scores have been posted to WHS so any handicap adjustments will take place overnight. The EL Girls Spring Meeting took place simultaneously and Frances Hall will let us know who the winners were in that. The League table has been updated and Craigielaw moved to the top of the League! Prizes can be collected at the next MD4 at Gullane No.3. Players can now enter MDs 4 and 5, and our ELJGL Championships at Kilspindie through the Golf Genius App. The season long Orders of Merit have been updated. Copies of the top 25 in both the scratch and handicap sections can be seen below. Full versions can be seen on the Golf Genius App by going to the Member Portal and clicking on “Season Points.” Hudson Blair, Cameron Brown and Jack Collingswood lead the way in the net section. Jack leads the way in the scratch section and is 11 points ahead of Adam Nichol, but Sean Gallacher, from only two starts, both of which he won, is in 3rd place already. It is the best 6* from 10 scores that will count, so try to play in as many events as possible! * Subject to reviewing and reducing to 5 mid-season. The next 2 Match Days are at Gullane No.3 on the 15th May, and at Gifford on the 19th June. Please enter these, and our Championships at Kilspindie on the 15th August through the Golf Genius App if you are available. Cheers, Dave Warren.

Well done to the West Links Fidra Team who tallied up 157 points with their 4 best scores to win their 2nd MD in a row to stay top of the League! Craigielaw again came in 2nd with 150 points. Congratulations to Sean Gallacher, recent winner of the Lothians Junior Champion of Champions, who scored 36 gross points and to Connor McCarthy who scored 43 net points. League table updated. The OOMs have been updated – see OOMs “dropdown” on the menu bar. Jack Collingswood (Scratch) and Oscar Wilkinson (Handicap) are the current leaders. Many thanks to Dunbar for hosting all the Players and Volunteers, and for hosting a visiting Team from West Lancs Golf Club. Special thanks go to Gael Pollitt of the host Club who did the full stint of starter duties, and of course to Shona, Jack, Ric and Steve for all their help. And also to Hudson Blair’s Dad Pete who carried a radio round and helped to keep play moving. 

ENTRIES ARE ALSO OPEN ON GOLF GENIUS FOR MD3 AT LONGNIDDRY, MD4 AT GULLANE, AND FOR THE ELJGL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN AUGUST AT KILSPINDIE.

Thank you to the West Links Juniors for hosting the first Match Day of 2022 and to the North Berwick Golf Club for use of their Clubhouse. Assistance was given by our usual starter, John Anderson. Sue Warren, Jack Rogan and Steve Austin controlled the registration and scoring duties. Several parents helped by assisting groups to keep moving, and kept radio contact with the organisers, and this was much appreciated. There were 62 competitors on a tough cold windy day with the added issues of no preferred lies, and recently tined and dressed greens. However, there were some notable performances, particularly from 11 year  old Fraser Walters and his sister Stella, aged 9, who was playing her first full round of golf. Stella, playing with Molly Chapman, were the only two girls playing due to another Girls event, the East of Scotland Girls Spring Meeting at Longniddry. Stella, whose handicap is 21.4, playing as a reserve for Craigielaw, scored an excellent 28 Stableford points. The round played by Fraser though was truly exceptional. From the back tees, he scored a gross 72 for 45 points. Fraser had birdies at the 3rd, 6th, and 18th. His handicap of 6.9 has now been cut to 4.7. Photos of these Players are below.

Players played off different tees depending on their handicaps. There was a fault in the software due to the course rating and slope rating etc for the Blue Tees not having been updated from WHS. My fault! This led to Players off certain tees, mainly the white tees, being given extra handicap strokes, which meant that the scorers may have verbally told Players that they had more points than they actually had. I have had discussions with our software provider, Golf Genius, and they confirm that these Players actually received fewer handicap strokes than were indicated on their scorecards, but the individual and team scores and therefore this leaderboard, are now all correct. Craigielaw were not the winners on the day, it was West Links Fidra. I have spoken to both Convenors to explain. The Orders of Merit can be seen on this website under the drop down “League. The Match Day Prizes can be seen here. The Team and Individual scores were as follows:-

Dear all, welcome to the 2022 season of the East Lothian Junior Golf League (ELJGL.) This article repeats an email sent out to all players registered with us on Golf Genius. If you didn’t see it, please check your junk mail.

“You are all registered on Golf Genius (GG) already and if you have not yet confirmed your registration details on GG, please do so. You are able to sign up with GG here at this link using your login details, which takes you to our League’s Portal through GG for our events. I have now opened up Match Day 1 (MD1) at North Berwick West Links on Sunday the 20th March, so that you can register now. Tee times are from 0950 to 1430. We can accomodate up to 84 players at each MD. I will open up other MDs around 4 weeks prior to the date of the event. West Links North Berwick is now ranked No.35 in the world – see this well respected list on Golf Magazine. See how many of them you have played!

On this website, in the right hand side of the home page, you can see a full fixture list of our Match Days (MDs) x 10, our Championships, Team Strokeplay etc. These events are all free to enter. Under the dropdown for “Calendar” you can see a full list of Junior events at local, area, and national level so you can easily plan your schedule. Please check the website regularly for news, and add me, Dave Warren on djjwarren@gmail.com and djjwarren@me.com to your Contacts list to make sure messages do not go to your junk mailbox! Golf Genius at golfgenius.com is another Contact you should create. 

To take part in MDs, you must be a Junior member of one of the 12 East Lothian Clubs who are members of the League, and have an official WHS handicap. Both Winterfield and Musselburgh Old have been involved in the past and we hope they come back to our League in future. 

Our MDs are all Stableford competitions and are “Qualifying events” for handicap purposes. Each Club Team consists of 6 Players and the best 4 from 6 net Stableford scores count towards the Team total. The leading Club at the end of the season will win the League trophy, and be invited to take part in the Scottish Junior Team Championship at Stirling on the 25th September. There are individual scratch and handicap Orders of Merit running through the 10 Match Days. The most regular, and best Players in the OOMs, in which Players must take part in at least 6 out of 10 MDs, plus any strong performers in our annual Championships, will be invited on one of our annual subsidised trips for Juniors to Pinehurst every February. If a National event clashes with any MD and a Player is involved in that, an MD attendance credit of 5 points will be given, but no other OOM points will be allocated. Hardly any of our fixtures clash with National events this year, so we hope everyone can play in at least 6 MDs. At mid-season, this policy will be reviewed.

After you have registered for any MD, and the closing date is 7 days before each MD, your Junior Convenor will be in touch to tell you whether or not you are in the Team of 6 for that MD. If you are not in the Team for that MD, you can still take part as a reserve and compete for the individual scratch and handicap prizes on the day, and perhaps represent your Team at the next MD.

The Watson Cup in 2022 will be at Royal Burgess, Muirfield, and Gullane No.1 from 5-7 July, against a team of juniors from South Carolina. Our Team has been picked and all our Players have + handicaps. Please come along to support our League Players. We hope to have some special guests at this event!

In addition, in 2022, we will have a Team of 3 selected 18 year old Juniors in a Pro-Am at Muirfield in October. 

In 2024 the Watson Cup will be in South Carolina in the October schools week. In order to be selected for this, Players will have to participate in more than just a few League events in 2023 to 2024. The scratch OOM will also identify Players who could be selected.

Our League is very active but depends on your commitment and integrity in taking part fairly in our events. You will play some great courses, make many friends, compete for great trophies and prizes, and probably reduce your handicaps! Have a great season! And don’t forget to attend, or volunteer for, the Genesis Scottish Open at Renaissance 7-10 July, and/or the British Womens Open at Muirfield 4-7 August.  

If any Players need more info, please speak to your Club’s Junior Convenor, or give me a call on 07595 301425 or email me at djjwarren@gmail.com