East Lothian Junior Golf League

Supporting junior golf in East Lothian, Scotland

Lothians Championships – Sam Hall and Ryan Killorn!

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Sam Hall of Gullane GC, and a recent Junior in our League, pulled off a great win in the recent Lothians Mens Championships. Scoring etc can be seen at this link – 

The matchplay rounds for the Lothians Boys Championship have now been completed at the usual venue, the Braid Hills. Scoring can be seen at  this link. Ryan Killorn, of West Links Juniors, won his semi-final at the 20th after being 4 down, and reached the final. Ryan was 2 up after 11 holes against George Jackson when play was abandoned due to the weather. The remaining holes were played out at a later date. George fought back well to pip Ryan by 2&1. There is a report on the final and a photo here. Well played Ryan, one of the youngest ever finalists ever at age 13! (Our photo of Ryan was from a few years back!)

Juniors’ visit to Women’s Open!

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A group of Juniors were invited to take part in a visit to St. Andrews for the recent Women’s Open Championship, on the Saturday – the best day for weather out of the 4 Championship days. Some of the League’s regular Lady helpers were also invited as a thanks for their work during the season. Shona Paton, Jean Waddell and Sue Warren, accompanied me, and 8  Juniors on the trip. Another Girl member of the League, Daisy Black, was also there with her Mum. The 4 girls were Chloe Adam, Sofia Smith, Katie Mackenzie and Anna Zonova. The 4 Boys were Harris Munro, Rory Papakyriakou, Max Elgin and Archie Brownlee. The group travelled by train and bus to the “Home of Golf” and enjoyed seeing the world’s best golfers in action. The 4 Leaders were invited by VP Marc Eubanks, into the Rusacks Hotel, part of the Marine and Lawn Hotel Group, who are sponsors of the League, where they enjoyed some wonderful and deserved hospitality, and the amazing views of the course from the top floor. Anna and Katie were invited by R&A Members Gillian and David Kirkwood, to tour the R&A Trophy room to see the wonderful history on display there.

 

SJTC at Elderslie – Results!

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The Scottish Junior Team Championships have been organised by our League since 2017, and the 2023 event has now been held at Elderslie GC, near Paisley. Both West Links Junior Teams, Bass and Fidra, took part in the field of 20 Teams, each with 6 Players. All the scores, both Team and Individual, can be seen on the free Golf Genius App by signing in with the code JMTJYY. Below is a copy of the e-mail sent to the host Club, together with a photo of all the prizes, a photo of the winning Team Braehead with the donor of the Trophy Ian Howarth, past President of the SGU, and Douglas Ross, Captain of Elderslie, and lastly a list of winners and prizes. 

Dear Secretary Kelly, Captain Douglas and Junior Convenor Graham, and all the other Committee Members and Managers at Elderslie GC, thank you to ALL the members and staff (too many to mention individually) for hosting our 2023 SJTC event on Sunday the 24th September and making your excellent course available for the day, and for practice rounds. Please circulate our thanks to all those involved. 
 
Elderslie, as a Club, “raised the bar” to a level I have never experienced before at any Junior event in my 20 year involvement in such events!
 
Graham, the host Junior Convenor, rallied a huge number of volunteer members to assist on the day as Starters, Referees, Scorers, Ball-Spotters, etc etc. 
 
John and his Greens staff were magnificent as they worked tirelessly in the adverse conditions to ensure the course was set up and presented well, and continued to ensure that it remained playable throughout the very wet afternoon! 
 
Scott and Alistair in the excellent Pro Shop, kept things moving too, and provided range balls etc. 
 
The Food and Beverage Staff in the Clubhouse made the day a very special day for all the competitors involved by providing an excellent Junior-friendly and affordable menu. All the service and hospitality in the Clubhouse was friendly and superb. 
 
Thanks are also due to Kenny the “Tech Guy,” for the provision and set-up of an extra TV so our live leaderboards could be shown, albeit in direct competition with the Solheim Cup on the other TV!
 
My helpers on Scoring and Prizes display and distribution, Sue, Gareth and Michael, did an extraordinary job in getting all the scores on to the Golf Genius scoring and handicap system which had been expertly set-up in advance by Jenny Potter of Golf Genius. 
 
A representative of Scottish Golf had planned to attend, but a family emergency intervened. We hope they will attend this event next year.
 
Despite the very poor weather in the latter stages of the event, 119 Junior Golfers from 20 Clubs from all over Scotland completed the 18 holes! I was delighted that we could accommodate 2 teams of Juniors from the host Club. Thanks to ALL the Players, Convenors and Parents who braved the elements!
 
All the scores, both Team and Individual, can be seen on the free Golf Genius App by signing in with the code JMTJYY.
 
Thanks also to our friends at the R and A, who provided Open Championship merchandise as prizes. Mike, a special friend from the USA, acquired and delivered merchandise from US Masters and Augusta Womens Amateur Championship as prizes. Catriona Matthew, one of our Patrons, acquired merchandise from a US Womens Open and had signed caps etc for the Girls’ prizes. 
 
Thanks also to Ian Howarth, past President of the SGU, who was present again, and presented the trophy and medals to the winning Team Braehead GC, comprising 2 Girls and 4 Boys. They compete in the recently formed Forth Valley Junior Golf League. Team Photos below.
 
A strong Team from West Links Juniors, from my home Club of North Berwick, also competed, but caught the worst of the afternoon weather! However, they still won 4 of the 5 Boys’ Scratch prizes available! 
 
Braehead’s Junior Convenor Lyn Parsler, thanked all those involved on the day.
 
We now look forward to the next SJTC, which will be played at Panmure GC in Angus, also a wonderful links course! The date set is Sunday the 29th September 2024. We hope to see some of you again there. We are seeking a venue for 2025!
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Collingswood WAGR result!

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At the MD10 prize giving at The Glen, it was announced that Jack Collingswood had narrowly missed out on World Amateur Golf Ranking points for the first ever WAGR qualifying event held by the League. This is not the case. Due to a misunderstanding in the criteria for scoring for any WAGR events, Jack WILL get his first WAGR points for his 7 over par total over three rounds on tough courses and in testing conditions. See WAGR results for the event below, and well done to Joe and Alexander for also picking up more WAGR points! The full Mens and Womens rankings can be seen at wagr.com

Well done Jack! As it was Jack’s farewell to the Junior League, we presented him with an Old Course pin-flag which was scribed by both Ric Foulner and myself. Jack’s additional prize is a game over the Old Course with League associate Gareth Jack.  We took a photo of the flag before presenting it to Jack. See below. And I dug up a photo of Jack from the start of his golfing career! His record of over 80 appearances in League events is a record unlikely to ever be beaten! And he did the “Double Double” in 2023 and 2024, winning the Scratch Championship and Order of Merit in both years! 

 

 

League Championship 2024 decided!

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Attached in the sidebar of this website is the final League table for the 2024 ELJGL season. Congratulations to the West Links Fidra Team for winning the trophy which West Links Bass won last year.  In theory, the Fidra Team could have been caught by Haddington had they slipped up on the final Match Day, but the 11 points they received for being in 3rd place was more than enough to hold off Haddington, who had held a 3 point lead over West Links Bass. Bass made up 2 of those points, and were just pipped for 2nd spot! Ric Foulner has done a great job in guiding the 2 Teams to top 3 places again this year!  The League will give some prizes to Ric Foulner to distribute to the Fidra players.

Both West Links Fidra and Haddington, will be invited to attend the Scottish Junior Team Championship at Panmure GC on Sunday the 29th September. This is an event created by the League, and I have the pleasure of organising it for 20 Junior Club Teams from all over Scotland.

Attached is a photo of some of the Fidra players. L-R – Jamie Crawford, Rory Papakyriakou, Kyle Crawford (Reserve,) Robbie Landles, and Captain, Harris Munro.  Aedan Halliburton and Ben Harley played that day but were not available for the photo. The full squad of Players who competed for the Team or were reserves during the season included Murray and Rory Laird, Ben Churn, Jamison Sym, Ryan Killorn, Thomas Clark, and Connor McCarthy.

This photo shows more of the Players from the West Links Juniors who were present. 

 

 

 

MD10 at Glen GC – results!

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A day of testing wind welcomed Players at Glen East Links, for the final MD of the season! The season long Orders of Merit results can also be seen on this website. Please read them! The League title was decided and there is another article on this website about that. 

A big thanks to all the members at the The Glen East Links, and to the Secretary Tom McGinley and Donnie Justice the Starter, and to Clint and the Clubhouse staff, for hosting our final MD of the season! It is wonderful to have such a good course, and the excellent clubhouse facilities, for the climax to our season. Thanks to our usual helpers and parents too. 

There were 61 Players, and below is the table of results on the day. Players in green highlight are still to receive their prizes. The Leaderboard can be seen on your Golf Genius Apps.

Harry Black age 12, of The Glen, receiving 11 strokes, scooped first prize in the net with 43 points, from a gross score of 74! In a distant second place with 37 points was Ewan Stone. There was a 5 way tie for 3rd place including Harry’s sister Daisy. 

Joe Macpherson of Kilspindie, in his final event in the League, before leaving to go to college in the USA, won the scratch prize with a gross 3 over par 73, which amassed 33 Stableford points. Jack Collingswood, of West Links Bass, also in his final League event before seeking a college place in the USA, was pipped on count-back for 2nd spot by Fraser Walters of Craigielaw.

Players highlighted below still have to collect their prizes. The fixture list for next year will be published soon, so please make sure you can play in most of our events. They are free-to-enter events for Junior members of East Lothian Clubs.

Dave Warren 07595 301425

 

 

ELJGL OOM 2024 results!

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The attached table shows the final positions in the ELJGL Scratch and Net Orders Of Merit for 2024. Points are awarded for the best 6 finishing positions out of the 10 Match Days (MDs) we hold over 10 different courses in “Scotland’s Golf Coast.

These events are free to enter for Junior Members of Clubs in East Lothian so thanks to all our Member Clubs – Musselburgh, Royal Musselburgh, Longniddry, Kilspindie, Craigielaw, Gullane, North Berwick, Glen East Links, Haddington, Gifford and Dunbar.

For the 2nd year running Jack Collingswood of West Links Bass was the winner in the scratch OOM with 3 wins in 7 appearances out of the maximum 10. In his 6 counting events, Jack was never lower than tied 3rd. Remarkable consistency over 7 different courses! Good course management must be a strong feature in Jack’s game. Ben Austin of Haddington was only a few points behind Jack before MD10 but he couldn’t catch Jack. Fraser Walters of Craigielaw, with only 6 appearances in MDs, was in 3rd place with Kai Laing of Dunbar and Harris Munro of West Links Fidra filling 4th and 5th paces.  The top 4 Players all now play off + handicaps, with Harris on 1.0 but that is dropping fast!

Our 10 MDs on 10 different courses are good opportunities to reduce your handicaps as has been proved in the net OOM this year by our 13 year old winner, Archie Brownlee, of Haddington GC, who was one of only 5 Players who played in all 10 MDs this season! Archie started at MD1 with a handicap of 26.4 and after 3 early wins at MDs 2, 3 and 5, Archie’s handicap came tumbling down and now Archie is now playing off 9.3, a reduction of 17 strokes in one season! At MD10, Archie received 20 points for his T11 finish, and because his closest challenger 13 year old Rory Laird, only 5 points behind Archie from just 6 appearances was unable to play in MD10, Archie was able to relax and hang on to the top spot! Rory’s handicap has tumbled from 22.2 at MD3 to 12.8! Stella Walters of Craigielaw, aged 11, played in 8 MDs and had 6 top tens to take 3rd spot. Stella’s handicap had reduced from 7.1 at MD1 to 4.4 now, which must now make Stella one of the best U12 Players in the UK! Luke McLaughlin age 14 of West Links Bass, and Callum Martin age 12 of Gifford, were close behind in 4th and 5th spots. All these young players doing so well, is a good omen for the future of the League. 

Thanks to all 121 Players who played in our MDs and other events this year with an average turnout of 61 at each MD, and we had 70 players at our annual Championships. These are record high turnouts for any season so far, since the League changed to its current format to Strokeplay, and introduced scratch and net Orders of Merit. The full OOM results can be seen on the Golf Genius App under “Season Standings Points.”

Well done to our winners! I will be e-mailing the winners with details of how to transmit the prize vouchers to you asap. If you are in the North Berwick area, let me know and you can collect your voucher from me.

Dave Warren 07595 301425

The winners! (L-R) Archie Brownlee and Jack Collingswood.

 

 

MD9 at Gifford – results!

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On a glorious day at Gifford GC, 48 Players took part in MD9 over a course in excellent condition. Thanks to all the management, staff and members of Gifford for making us so welcome, and special thanks to the usual helpers! The League table can be seen on the sidebar of this website. The strength in depth of the West Links Teams is evident as they were the only 2 Teams who were able to field full Teams of 6 Players. West Links Fidra increased their lead over Haddington to 8 points and look like firm favourites to land the League title next week. Kyle Crawford with 40 points, and Harris Munro with 35 points, led the way in the individual handicap and scratch scores. The Team Totals, and Individual scores, are on the scoresheet attached below. The individual prizewinners are noted below as well. Prizes can be collected at the next Match Day which is at The Glen on Sunday the 18th August. Please make sure you enter that event through the Golf Genius App if your Teams are in contention for the League, or you have a chance of reaching the top 5 in either of the Orders of Merit, which have been updated and can be seen on the Golf Genius App under the Orders of Merit section on the Golf Genius portal, where you can view “season standings.” You will see the scratch and handicap rankings there. Jack Collingswood will be hard to catch now but both Ben Austin and Kai Laing could do so! In the Handicap OOM, Archie Brownlee could easily be caught by any one of 6 Players! All scores have been submitted to WHS so handicaps will be updated overnight.

 

 

 

 

ELJGL Championships 2024 Results!

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There were 70 Competitors at Dunbar on Thursday the 8th of August for our “flagship” event. Our thanks are due to all at Dunbar for hosting this event on their superb course. Thanks too to our usual helpers, Sue, Shona, Jean, Chris, Steve, local Pro James Gill and various Parents!  

Below are the scores and list of vouchers and prizes. Trophies have been retained for engraving. Anyone not at the prize giving will receive your prizes when I see you next! Report to follow.

 

MD8 at Longniddry – Results!

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Thanks to Longniddry for hosting the League’s 8th Match Day today, and to our usual band of helpers! The course was in fine condition and the scoring was excellent. West Links Fidra topped the Team totals only 2 points ahead of Haddington and 7 points ahead of Gullane. West Links Fidra, after their 3rd win this season, now lead Haddington by 4 points with only 2 MDs left. Several other Teams still have a chance take the League title.

Rory Papakyriakou on 44 net Stableford points edged out Kate Thomson on 43 points. In the scratch section, Alexander Yuill, with a gross 68, scoring 36 points, led from Louise Martin who scored 35 points from a gross 74.  Prizes can be seen below. They will be issued at the next event on Thursday the 8th of August, at Dunbar, which are our annual Individual Championships. Please enter through Golf Genius if you can play. Included in that event will be the Individual Championships for Boys and Girls, and age group events. The event will incorporate the annual Team Strokeplay Championship, in which the best 3 out of 4 net and scratch scores will count. The League table has been updated which you can now see on the website  – eastlothianjuniorgolf.org.uk on the front page. All scores have been posted to WHS and handicaps will change overnight. The Orders of Merit have been updated and can be seen on the Golf Genius App under “Season Points, and Standings.” The climax of both scratch and net OOMs will be keenly contested. 

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