East Lothian Junior Golf League
Supporting junior golf in East Lothian, Scotland
Gareth Jack, former Junior Convenor at Longniddry, and now based in Fife, had a great score at The Old Course recently with a gross 65. See card below and the League branded golf ball he used! Gareth will be one of the Leaders on the trip to Pinehurst in February so the squad better be on their best form!
The League Secretary, Dave Warren, visited Morocco recently as a guest of the Moroccan Golf Federation, with the intention of exploring reciprocal opportunities for our League Juniors and the Moroccan Juniors. Dave flew from Edinburgh, after his aircraft was de-iced, and landed 4 hours later in Marrakech, Morocco, North Africa. After changing into shorts and polo shirt, he played the two excellent courses where the LET final Q school qualifying was to be held. A few days later Dave took the train to Rabat where the MGF is based. There is a strong commitment to golf in Morocco which now has 10,000 players and 50 golf courses. In Rabat, Dave met with Officials of the MGF at the Dar Es Salam Golf Club, where there are two 18 hole courses and a 9 hole course. Dave was shown the new facilities being built, which included a new, state of the art, Golf Academy, a massive driving range and extensive short game practice areas, and putting labs. This facility is possibly better than any to be found in Europe. This link takes you to a time-lapse video of the construction process involved in the Academy. The MGF will also be building accommodation for visiting performance squads, so there is a good chance that a small squad from East Lothian might get some winter training there. Dave watched some Junior coaching taking place,. He also played 3 times on the shorter 9 hole Green course, which was shaped by his son Ben a few years back. Ben also worked on the reconstruction of the Blue and Red courses, the latter of which has hosted the Moroccan Open, a European Tour event. Dave found that course was a bit difficult, having a slope rating of 155 from the back tees! Dave also had brief meeting with HRH Prince Moulay Rashid, who is the President of the MGF, and a very keen golfer.
Photos – The driving range, Dave with 3 Moroccan Juniors, the short game tee area, and the newly built Academy HQ.
Kate Green has just set up a new winter Competition for Players who attend East Lothian Schools. This event involves a lot of our present and future Players in the East Lothian Junior Golf League. This may be the first time that some of you play under the Foursomes format! It requires a totally different mindset to that required for individual golf. Good luck to all! Thanks Kate!
Kate also advises you all have a look over the rules of Foursomes and Match Play in advance of your match… any questions let Kate know and she will try to help!
– Foursomes (Also Known as Alternate Shot) (randa.org)
All players should download the R&A’s rules app on to their phones if they can as you can type questions into the app and hopefully find guidance if you need it: Rules of Golf App (randa.org)
Please see the following from Katy McNicoll and Kate Green – Golf Sixes Leagues A and B results.
League A had their final day at Wee Course. Their Match day 5 results and final league placings are below.
League B had their final match at Longniddry Gullane and Musselburgh have both qualified for the regional final.
The final placings can be seen on Scottish Golf’s website here. Well done to both Gullane and to Musselburgh, and good luck to both who will be playing in the Regional at Dundas Park Sunday 17th Sept.
. The Regional Final and National final are as follows:-
Golf Sixes Regional FinalDundas Park Golf Club – 17th of SeptemberGolf Sixes National FinalGleneagles – 1st of October
LEAGUE A Final Table
1st – Gullane 23 points
2nd – Glen 17.5 points
3rd – Craigielaw 15 points
4th – WLJ – 13 points
5th – East Lothian Virtual – 6 points
LEAGUE B Final Table
1st – Musselburgh 20 points
2nd – Royal Musselburgh 19 points
3rd – Haddington 15.5 points
4th – Longniddry 10 points
5th – Musselburgh Old GC 9.5 points
LEAGUE A Match day 5 results
Gullane 133
Glen 128
WLJ 127
East Lothian 126
Craigielaw 125
Nearest the pin winners
1st – Brodie (Craigielaw)
8th – Bella (East Lothian Virtual)
9th – Harry (Glen)
I had the pleasure of a game with at North Berwick with the new Scottish Mens’ Amateur Champion, Cameron Adam, whose home club is at Royal Burgess. Cameron is connected to East Lothian by being involved in the Watson Cup matches v. South Carolina in 2022, when Players from both East Lothian and Edinburgh Junior Leagues combined. For the full story of Cameron’s great win in the Scottish, see Martin Dempster’s reports here and here.
Before the game at North Berwick, Cameron was welcomed by Pro Martyn Huish, who was a Vice-Captain in the Watson Cup. Martyn, who was aware that Cameron had broken both Course records at Dornoch and Tain with rounds of 63 during the qualifying rounds for the Scottish Amateur, reminded Cameron that the course record at North Berwick was 63. OK then, that was the challenge for Cameron!
Cameron and I, both wearing our Watson Cup kit, played against another of my guests, a USGA Rules official and scratch Player, Bryan Lewis, and NB member Kerr Docherty. Handicap strokes had to be negotiated, and as Cameron was off +6, Bryan received 5 strokes, whilst Kerr and I each received 12 strokes. After a birdie 3 at the 1st hole, a visit to the beach on the 2nd hole brought Cameron an up-and-down par. A bogey appeared early in the round at hole 3, but with birdies at holes 5 and 9, Cameron had scored 34, 2 under par on the front 9. There was a gentle following wind for the back 9, so Cameron reached the par 5 11th with a drive and 8 iron, and then holed a chip from the edge of the green. Cameron’s drive over the hill to the 14th green led to an easy birdie but this was cancelled out by a 3 putt at the 15th on the slick downhill green. After 2 great birdies with putts from close range at the 16th and 17th, Cameron was asked how he was scoring. He said immediately that he needed an eagle 2 at the 18th to score 63 but his long iron tee shot, drilled low, ran off the back of the green. After a poor chip by his standards, Cameron holed a 20 footer for a birdie and a back 9 of 30. So his total was 64! Well done Cameron.
Cameron has now returned to Chicago where he attends Northwestern University. We wish him luck in his future golfing exploits. Dave Warren, League Secretary.
Photos below:- Cameron on the 1st Green just before his 1st birdie.
Cameron, Bryan and Dave with Martyn.
Cameron’s scores.
Cameron, with Dave, Kerr and Bryan.
The East of Scotland Girls Team recently defeated the West Girls by 6- 2 to win the Mhairi McKay Trophy at Cathkin Braes, in Glasgow. Well done to all the Team especially 3 of the Girls in our League, Ellie Bent, Louise Martin, and Katie Mackenzie who all won their matches. A report and the results can be seen here.
Abigail May beat Ava Graham 3 & 2
Erin Huskie lost to Neve Marshall 2 & 1
Carly McDonald beat Lucie Barclay 7 & 5
Katie Mackenzie beat Melissa Keay 3 & 2
Lara Douglas lost to Kate Dunne 1 hole
Lucy Fraser beat Mia McElwinay 6 & 5
Louise Martin beat Orla Moran 7 & 5
Ellie Bent beat Ellie McManus 7 & 5
This link will take you to the downloadable complete list of fixtures for our County kindly prepared by Kate Green. It contains many fixtures – the free-to-enter League events, Junior Opens, Wee Wonders, Stephen Gallacher events, Fun and Order of Merit competitions, etc. Players and Parents can fill their Calendars with the best value golf in the World for Juniors! Dave Warren. Jt. League Secretary.
Congratulations to Jack Collingswood who has finished as the top Scots player in the Scottish Boys Open Championship at Lundin GC in Fife. Jack was T12 after rounds of 78, 70, 70 and 73. Fergus Brown, James Wood and Cameron Mukherjee all finished in the top 20. The Scottish Boys Open and the Scottish Girls Open Championships, each had 144 contestants from many countries. The Boys played 72 holes at Lundin GC and the Girls played 54 holes at Longniddry. The contestants can be seen on the Scottish Golf website here for Boys and here for Girls. The full scores can also be followed at those links. Our League was well represented by 3 Girls and 16 Boys who currently play, or have played, in our League. 10 of the Boys made the 36 hole cut.
The first event of the year for JTS was held at Golspie and Royal Dornoch at the weekend. Some League Players were there competing, and the results can be seen here. We will keep this page refreshed after every JTS event. The rest of the JTS fixtures can be seen on our Calendar.
Congratulations to League Player James Wood who won the Scratch event at the recent Lothian Junior Champion of Champions event held at The Merchants GC in Edinburgh with a score of 66. Sean Gallacher and Alexander Yuill were 2nd and 3rd. Cameron Brown won the handicap prize with a net 63. The scoring can be seen on the Lothians website here.
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