After playing golf for 65 years, it is not often that I see a coaching video which inspires me to try the advice but two such videos have come to my attention this year which are amongst the best I have ever seen and I have been trying these out with good results! Click on the links to view these. They are lengthy but well worth a concentrated look and storing them in your “Favourites!)

The two videos deal with the “Optimal Impact Position” and it is on YouTube entitled:-

IF YOU PLAY GOLF YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

and “Secrets of The Short Game” by Phil Mickelson which is on YouTube entitled:-

Phil Mickleson Secrets Of The Short Game-Part 1 FULL

Keep improving your game through the Winter! See PAIS and U14 Winter Series info below – 

From Kate Green 4th October 2023 – Hi there, just a quick reminder that our 2023/24 Performance Athletes in Sport (Golf) Squad and Winter Development Squads @ Loretto Academy closes for registrations this Friday 6^th of October.

Details also online:  Active East Lothian | 2023 PAiS Golf Performance and Winter Development Squads

I am also looking to try to pull together girls that are in P7 – S6 that either have a handicap or the ability to gain one. If you could let me know if you have any girls in this category at your club or ask them to contact me so I can gauge numbers that would be great.

The 2023/23 Junior Golf East Lothian (Schools) Order of Merit is underway.

This is open to any junior that lives in East Lothian and has an official handicap.

Secondary aged pupils are given priority and then if I have space I can include P7’s.

These competitions are a mixture of 9 and 18 holes and count towards handicap.

We have 32 booked in for Longniddry this Friday.

Details again online:  Active East Lothian | Junior Golf East Lothian Order of Merit

I am also running a series of Winter Stablefords for U14s with or without handicaps.

Flyer attached and below.

To book in families can just email me and let me know which they can attend.

Please see the attached from Kate Green.

Morning All. Please find below details of the 2023/24 Junior Golf East Lothian Order of Merit events. I run these events free of charge from September to May with the support of our local clubs. These events are open to juniors that attend high school in the first instance but primary aged juniors with handicaps can be accommodated if space allows. This information has been circulated to eligible juniors that I have on my register as well as to all high schools. If you can also share this information with your juniors as appropriate this will help raise the profile of these opportunities that will help to ensure that we don’t miss anyone that might like to play. There are a few dates that I’m still firming up venues for which I’ll update online in due course. We are looking for courses that have a measured 9 hole course for these dates which are in the depth of winter so any suggestions would be welcome. The pupils have to be able to get round 9 holes straight after school on a Friday so time is tight if we tee off at 1pm. Any questions just let me know. Best wishes, Kate

2023/24 Junior Golf East Lothian Order of Merit

Format:  Stableford (Handicap counting)

Criteria:  Players must have a handicap and live in East Lothian

Divisions:  Scratch and Handicap

Max handicap:  36

Price:  FREE

To enter email:  [email protected]

Closing date for entries:  1 week prior but please book further in advance if possible

Tee times from approx:  1330 – 1430

 2023/24 Order of Merit Events

1. Mon 18^th September @ Musselburgh GC (Monktonhall)
2. Fri 29th September @ Winterfield GC
3. Fri 6th October @  Longniddry GC
4. Fri 13^th October @ The Glen GC
5. Mon 23^rd October @ Royal Musselburgh GC
6. Fri 3^rd November @  Haddington GC (9 holes)
7. Fri 10th November @ Musselburgh Old (9 holes) TBC
8. Fri 1^st December @ NB Wee Course
9. Fri 12^th January @ Musselburgh Old (9 holes) TBC
10. Fri 26^th January @ Musselburgh Old (9 holes) TBC
11. Tues 13^th February @ North Berwick GC
12. Fri 1^st March @ Gifford GC (9 holes)
13. Fri 8^th March @ Gullane Golf Club
14. Fri 15^th March @ Kilspindie GC
15. Fri 22^nd March @ Craigielaw GC
16. Mon 6^th May Final @ Renaissance

These events are a great opportunity to play with golfers from across East Lothian on a variety of local courses free of charge. 

They count towards handicap and are 9 or 18 holes depending on the light.

We use the East Lothian Junior Golf Order of Merit to select players for opportunities such as East Lothian performance squads and teams for opportunities offered to the council such as Pro Ams etc. 

To enter just [email protected] confirming:

–          Name

–          CDH Number

–          Current handicap

–          Home club

–          School

–          Date of Birth

–          Mobile contact number

You can enter all of the events as a block booking and let me know by the closing date (a week prior) if you can’t attend for any reason or you can enter each individually.

Kate Green, Golf Development Officer, East Lothian Council

Website:  Active East Lothian | Golf Development

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/JuniorGolfEastLothian

Instagram:  www.instagram.com/juniorgolfeastlothian

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. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thanks to all at The Glen for hosting our final MD for 2023. Although the West Links Bass Team had already clinched the League Championship before MD10, there was still a tense climax to the season, as 3 Teams battled for 2nd place in the League. The West Links Fidra Team were 5 points ahead of Kilspindie, and 7 ahead of Craigielaw before play commenced. The 4 Players from Craigielaw managed a great total of 160, taking the honours on the day, and they caught and tied the Fidra Team, as both had 75 League points for the season, which you can see in the League table in sidebar of this website. Under our rules on ties, the Team with the better stableford points total at the final MD are offered a place in the Scottish Junior Team Championship, so both West Links Bass and Craigielaw will be offered the chance to play in that event. If a third spot in the SJTC becomes available, then it might be offered to West Links Fidra. The Orders of Merit were decided on the day, and these results can be seen in another article on this website. The League Table has been updated. All scores have been uploaded to WHS.  Thanks also to our season long helpers, L-R in the photo below, yours truly, Sue Warren, Shona Paton, Steve Austin, and Ric Foulner. Our Starter John Anderson, Lynne Malcolm, and David Brady of The Glen also assisted during the day. Jack Rogan was sadly absent, as he was playing in an event in the North East. Jack is now going to live in Peterhead, so we will miss you Jack! Prizes for the 8 Players mentioned below will be given to them no later than the first event of next season! Most of the West Links Juniors Teams stayed for the presentation of the League Championship Trophy, which was attended by Graeme Stewart, the Captain of North Berwick Golf Club. The only Craigielaw Player who remained at the end was Michael Lothian, pictured far left. The others in the photo are all West Links Juniors, front L-R Oscar Wilkinson, Luke McLaughlin, Harvey Blair, Rory Papakyriakou, Hudson Blair. Back row L-R, Graeme Stewart, Ben Churn, Jack Collingswood, Rory McArdle, Andrew Irvine, Junior Convenor Ride Foulner, Harry Dunkinson, Harris Munro, David Li Ferguson and yours truly. The Team Strokeplay, and the League Championship trophies, are in the foreground together with other trophies the West Links Players won at the League’s individual Championships.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone at Musselburgh for hosting our 41 Players yesterday, and to our usual band of helpers and to Jenny Potter of Golf Genius of course! The Team and Individual scores from yesterday at Musselburgh GC can be seen on Golf Genius. Scores have been posted to WHS. The outstanding score on the day was the 47 points scored by Kole Henderson of Craigielaw! Kole’s handicap has now been reduced by 3.7 for which the rest of us are thankful! Craigielaw, with just 4 Players, still managed to win the Match Day. Michael Coulter had the best scratch points total with 35 points. Katie Mackenzie had the best score amongst the 6 Girls who played. The Girls results in their Autumn meeting, held in conjunction with the League’s MD, will be published soon.

Our latest newcomer, David Li Ferguson, was T3 on 33 scratch points on his first appearance in the League. The Orders of Merit have been updated and can be seen on the Golf Genius App under “Season points.” In the scratch OOM (best 6 out 10 scores), leader Jack Collingswood did not improve on his previous best 6 scores, so Harris Munro, with a T2 at Musselburgh, moved within 12 points of the lead. But Michael Coulter, who has played in just 5 events to date, if he has a good score in his next MD, his 6th, could easily catch both Jack and Harris! In the net OOM, Rory McArdle maintained his lead but Sam Ratcliffe edged closer and is only 11 points behind. Anna Zonova, Kate Thomson and Katie Mackenzie are fighting for the top Girls spot. All Players, especially those who are in contention in the OOMs, should consider entering our last 2 MDs at Gifford and The Glen on the 20th and 27th August, through the Golf Genius App. The League table has been updated and can be seen on this website. West Links Bass increased their lead over Kilspindie by one more point. With 2 places available for our Teams at the Scottish Junior Team Championship on the 24th September, the race for the top 2 spots is on! West Links Fidra, and Craigielaw, are both well in the chase too!

Results now updated below! Thanks to Longniddry GC for hosting all of our Players and for looking after us so well. Many thanks to our helpers, Peter Lowe, David Canavan and James Neil all from Longniddry, our Starter John Anderson, David Canavan and Steve Austin.  Thanks to the 47 Juniors who played and all the parents who attended and waited patiently for the prize givings. Only the main trophy winners in the Boys U18/16 received their prizes on the night, as much checking and writing out of vouchers needed to be done. Unclaimed prizes can be obtained at the next 3 Match Days, and Trophies will be engraved as soon as possible and then returned to you. 

Considering the numbers of Prizes on offer, it was disappointing to not have more Players. So please put the date for our Championships next year in your diary, – at Dunbar Golf Club on Thursday the 8th August 2024!

Prize list and scores all listed below. The U18/U16 Boys list has been shown in both Scratch and Net orders to assist readers. 

Dave Warren 07595 301425

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We amassed a lot of beautiful prizes, mostly Open Championship merchandise, kindly provided by the R&A, and which is worth a tidy £750! A list of these prizes and a photo now appears on our website here, along with the list of prize vouchers, which total £1400. This was also a qualifying event for the The Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship which can be accessed at telegraph.co.uk/juniorgolf  This event incorporated our annual Team Strokeplay event in which Clubs nominated a Team of 4 Players from whom the best 3 out of the 4 scores count. We have 3 Match Days left at Musselburgh, Gifford and The Glen, after which more prizes for the League winners, and the Scratch and Handicap Orders of Merit will be awarded. Check your OOM position on the App under season points – can you still get into a prize winning position? Dave Warren 07595 301425

 

The “flyer” for our annual ELJGL Championships is attached and the event is now open for entries using the Golf Genius App. The conditions of the competition and the age groups are all listed in the flyer. The a.m. round in our Championships will count as the qualifying round for the Justin Rose Telegraph Junior Golf Championship and for the annual ELJGL Team Strokeplay event. Junior Convenors will nominate their Strokeplay Team from the online entries received on Golf Genius. Teams of 4 will compete and the best 3 from 4 scratch scores will count towards the Team total. There will also be prizes for the best net Team and individual scores. Players can play for any Club in the League where they are members. They are not “Cup Tied” to the Team they play for in League Match Days. So please get your entries in for our Championship asap. There are some excellent prizes, and some winners will receive free tickets for the Walker Cup Matches at St. Andrews on the 2nd and 3rd September where the best Amateur Golfers from GB&I v. USA will play each other! 

 

Congratulations to our League Players, Grace Crawford, Evie McCallum, Fergus Brown, Brodie Cunningham, Jake Johnston and Aidan Lawson, who were selected for the Boys’ and Girls’ Teams for the Home Internationals which will take place at Lindrick in England from the 8th to the 10th August. The full squads for all Scottish Teams can be seen here. Oliver Mukherjee is in the Mens’ Squad. Oliver is currently competing in the USGA’s Junior Amateur Championship in Charleston, South Carolina but sadly missed the cut. Some Players in the League who were on one of our annual trips to Pinehurst, might remember Tommy Morrison, who played for the Pinecrest School against our Team. He is the tallest Junior golfer I have ever met, and that meeting was when Tommy was only 14 years old. See photos below! Tommy led the qualifiers and has progressed to the last 16. Tommy attends the University of Texas. 

GREAT SUCCESS FOR EAST LOTHIAN JUNIOR LEAGUE PLAYERS AT THE SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIPS! Congratulations to three of our League Players, Evie McCallum, Ellie Bent and Harry Bent. (Both Evie and Ellie were on the League’s most recent visit to Pinehurst in February 2023.) Please see below, screenshots of the draws in the three Scottish Junior Championships held last week to see the progress made by all three Players. In the Scottish Girls Championship at Cardrona GC, Evie led the qualifiers, then won all her matches to emerge victorious as the Champion. There were 16 qualifiers for the scratch Championship, and the next 16 Girls competed for the net Championship. The net section was won by Ellie who also won all her matches. Harry had a great run in the Boys Championship at Lanark GC, where he qualified in T5 place out of 32 qualifiers. Harry then won 4 matches to reach the semi-final where he lost narrowly by 1 down to an opponent who shot 5 birdies in the last 8 holes! The lower half of the draw for the Boys’ can be seen below.  And Evie’s Dad has sent me this photo of the two girls with his comment:- Thanks for all of your support Dave…couldn’t have done this without the East Lothian juniors programme!”  Thanks Niall!

 

LATEST NEWSFLASH SUNDAY P.M!  Evie McCallum has made the final of the Scottish Girls

Everyone can see the progress of both events at these links – Scottish Boys and Scottish Girls.  

EARLIER NEWS! Hayden Fowler, Joe MacPherson, Sam Mukherjee, Michael Coulter, Andrew Hendry, Fergus Brown, Jack Collingswood, Aidan Lawson, Corran Fraser, Ben Austin, Jake Johnston and Sean Gallacher were amongst the 64 qualifiers for the Matchplay stages. Sean Gallacher, after defeating the No. 1 seed, and Jack Collingswood, both reached the last 16. Sam Mukherjee, Fergus Brown, and Harry Bent have all reached the last 8. 

The Scottish Boys and Girls Championships are being held this week at Lanark and Cardrona respectively. We have many of our Players in the field at both events. The scoring in the Boys 36 hole qualifying can be seen here. Harry Bent was T5 and Hayden Fowler was T7 with a best of the day 6 under par 64! There are 17 Boys who play, or have played in our League, who are in the draw for the 64 qualifiers and the draw can be seen here. Good luck to them all! The Girls event will start on Friday. Out of only 41 in the field, there are 5 Girls playing who are connected to our League, including internationalists Grace Crawford and Evie McCallum. The draw is here.

A huge thanks to all at Dunbar GC for hosting the 37 Juniors who braved the 40 mph winds at Dunbar today. The course was in great condition. Our thanks are due to Dunbar’s Junior Convenor, Assistant Professional James Gill and the rest of the staff at Dunbar. As usual, Shona Paton and Ric Foulner assisted with the running of the event, and John Anderson was our excellent Starter, and our thanks are also due to all of them. The lower than usual turnout was partly due to many of our regular Juniors being employed at that other event down the road – the Scottish Open! This clash will be avoided in future years. The leading Team on the day was West Links Bass scoring 114 points, only 1 point more than Kilspindie.  The League table has been updated – see this website. The Bass Team move further ahead of their closest rivals, the Fidra and Kilspindie Teams. Well done to the leading Teams and the individual winners who are listed below. There was a 4-way tie in the Net scoring, so after count back, they all win a prize. The home Team’s Kai Laing won the scratch prize with a gross 76, equating to 31 points. Winners can collect their prizes at future MDs. The Orders of Merit have been updated and can be seen on your Golf Genius App under “Season Points. All scores have been posted to WHS so any handicap changes will be made overnight. Please register asap for our annual Championships at Longniddry, as well as for the final 3 Match Days.