This is the overall total score for the 2022 Watson Cup Matches. The three scores in each match are the results of the front 9, back 9, and finally the 18 hole match. Congratulations to the South Carolina Team who won a closely fought contest by the score of 27 points to 24. Well done to the East Lothian and Edinburgh Team for putting up a good fight and several matches just turned against them otherwise the result could easily have been reversed! In each of the games, there was one point for winning each 9 holes, and one point for winning each 18 hole game. Thanks to Golf Genius for managing the complex scoring format! Photos will be published soon.

Here are the results of the singles at Gullane No. 2.

The draw for Day 3 at Gullane No.2 for the Singles is below. Here is a downloadable version. There are going to be some incredible matches! Come along and watch. Please do not use the Gullane Visitors Clubhouse. They do not have a passing trade licence so non-playing spectators will be asked to leave. Players etc are assembling instead at the Watchman Hotel near the Children’s Golf Course at 1100 at the latest. There is parking and a bag store there for the Players golf bags. They will all be given Goodie bag with food, as the matches start at 1215. Other Parents and supporters can take lunch in the Watchman from a menu, for £14. Good luck tomorrow to all the Players.

These are the results of the Foursomes at Muirfield on Wednesday.

This is the draw for Day 2 of the Watson Cup for the Foursomes at Muirfield. Here is a printable version. Would both Teams and Reserves, and Officials, please arrive in full blazer, shirt, tie and chinos. Please arrive at 1300 at the earliest. Leave Clubs at the East entrance and place kit, the one to be used is noted on the draw below, in the locker room. Then proceed through the outdoor route to the Club Room for lunch at 1345. Team photos outside Clubhouse. Warm up from 1430. First Tee at 1500. Photos from Royal Burgess will be added later.

These are the results of the Wednesday Four-Balls at Royal Burgess. Well done to the South Carolina Team for easing into a lead – 8.5 points to 3.5 points. But there are still 39 points to play for!

This is the draw for Day 1 of the Watson Cup. The two Captains, DJ Russell and Stephen Behr, have exchanged Team Sheets. Here is a printable version. These look like being tremendous matches! Timetable below:

The Timetable Day 1 for the Fourballs at Royal Burgess Players and Officials arrive no later than 1100. Dress code for Players and Captains is navy blazer, white shirt, Watson Cup tie, and the sand coloured chinos from Ralph Lauren. For Committee members it is navy blazer, white shirt, club tie of your choice, and grey trousers. For all other Parents and Siblings and Guests, dress code is optional, but casual wear must be smart, and excludes the wearing of jeans, football shirts, trainers and caps.

The Timetable Day 1 for the Fourballs at Royal Burgess Players and Officials – arrive in your blazers etc no later than 1100. Dress code for Players and Captains is navy blazer, white shirt, Watson Cup tie, and the sand coloured chinos from Ralph Lauren. For Committee members it is navy blazer, white shirt, club tie of your choice, and grey trousers. For all other Parents and Siblings and Guests, dress code is optional, but casual wear must be smart, and excludes the wearing of jeans, football shirts, trainers and caps.

The Vice Captain of Royal Burgess will welcome everybody, and make a short speech. All present will be asked to view a message from Tom Watson, after whom this event is named. 

These are the Team outfits which the East Lothian and Edinburgh Team and Reserves, and Team Captains, will be wearing at the three Matches in the Watson Cup. See photos below.

Day 1 at Royal Burgess – Green zip top, plain blue shirt, and white shorts.

Day 2 at Muirfield – White zip top, striped blue shirt, and blue shorts.

Day 3 at Gullane No. 2 – Pink zip top, white shirt, and blue shorts – again.  

Players and Captains should turn up at the host Clubs on the days of the 3 matches all wearing the sand coloured chinos, with navy blue blazers, white shirts and the Watson tie (Which is still to arrive!) The Captains’ kit includes Captains’ armbands.

Committee members should turn up wearing navy blue blazers and grey trousers, white shirt and Watson tie. Everyone should bring the correct golf kit for the day, and a suit bag in which their formal wear can be secured. Committee members have one set of kit from Murray Golf, courtesy of Brian O’Connor’s donation from North Capital. These will have to be worn at all 3 days.

The Watson Cup arrangements are being finalised now, and we hope that many of the Players in our League will attend to lend their support to our team! The event takesplace over Royal Burgess, Muirfield and Gullane No. 2, on the 5th, 6th and 7th July respectively. The times of Matches can be seen on our Calendar on this website.

If you ever had any doubt about the value of Team Golf to individuals, please watch this “No Laying Up” Youtube video of the Girls Team at Stanford University, which I think is absolutely astonishing, and demonstrates the power of great Team Spirit!  So our Watson Cup Team all have to be working for each other. You can be sure the Americans will be! 

Congratulations to the Team from the Glen who won Match Day No.4 at Gullane No.3 with a fine total of 155 points from their best 4 out of 6 scores. Craigielaw and Musselburgh Toun were close behind. Results listed below. The best of the day individual scores were by Cameron Brown of Musselburgh Toun with 44 net Stableford points and by Alexander Yuill of Craigielaw with 39 scratch points. Alexander carded a gross 4 under par round of 64 including 4 birdie 2s and a double bogey! Card reproduced below. Many thanks to Gullane Golf Club and to the helpers – Chief Scorer Jack Rogan, the Starter Joseph Cookson, Calum Yuill, and Gullane’s Asst/Pro Tom Bell who ensured that 63 Players all proceeded to the first tee in time. Thanks to all the Catering staff, and to Myles and the Pro Shop staff who all looked after the organisers through the day, and all the Parents and Convenors who helped. We were pleased to see Andrew’s parents Jackie and Eric Irvine, currently taking their annual holiday in the sunny part of Gullane’s wonderful new Clubhouse. Eric is currently resting from his contract as the stuntman  on the next Men in Black movie. (Photo below.)The League table has been updated and can be seen on our home page. Craigielaw consolidated their lead over Gullane and West Links Fidra. The OOMs have been updated and now show the top 50 players in both Scratch and Handicap. These can be seen on the drop down for Orders of Merit 2022 on the Home Page. Scores have been posted to WHS. The Leaderboard and all scores can be seen on the Golf Genius App. The remaining Match Days in 2022 and League Championships are all now open on Golf Genius for entry. A US Kids 8 iron was found and handed in to the Pro-shop. Any claimants?

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 [email protected] and [email protected] 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 [email protected]