LATEST NEWS- 18th April – please familiarise yourself with the 20 “Must Know” Rules of Golf Changes. See this link to the page filed under “Rules” on the menu bar. The Orders of Merit (OOMs) will be counted using Players’ best 5 out of 10 results at MDs. Should there be a cancelled MD, then the OOMs will be decided on the best 5 results from 9 MDs. If there are only 8, or 7, MDs the OOMs will be decided on the best 4 results. We welcome Joanna Tait, who will now be helping Lynne Malcolm as an assistant Convenor at The Glen.
OLDER NEWS – 16th April – please see final list of our League events this year, which is now on the website home page in the right hand column, at the top. Our 4 MDs which were postponed have all been rearranged so the season, unusually, has a couple of events on weekdays in the School Holidays, and will finish later, with MD 10 at the West Links, at the very end of October.
OLDER NEWS – 23rd March -due to Covid and travel restriction, the start of the League season will now be delayed until Sunday the 13th June when the first Match-Day will be at Craigielaw. The preceding 4 Match-Days at West Links, Gullane, Dunbar and Longniddry will all be arranged for later in the season. The rescheduled dates are all on our Calendar on this website but some have optional dates and will need to be confirmed. A full fixture list, when finalised, will be sent to all Players registered with the League.
5th March – Dear Players, our first 2 Match Days which were scheduled to take place at North Berwick West Links on Sunday the 21st March, and at Gullane No. 2 on Sunday the 28th March, have both been postponed due to the present Covid situation. The Host Clubs and the League Secretary are discussing alternative dates later in the year. The website has been updated. We will wait and see what happens to 2 further Match Days scheduled for April. All Players registered with the League and on Golf Genius will have received an email alerting them to this news. Our Calendar, which can be seen on this website, now includes all East Lothian Junior Opens in July and August and enables Players and Parents to start planning their golf schedules in the hope that relaxations for travel and golf will happen. Dave Warren, League Secretary.
Dear Junior Golfer, I have sent an email to all Players/Parents in our database regarding the plans for the the oncoming season. Hopefully the message was received in your home and you are now aware of the content. I have also sent an email through Golf Genius to ensure that you all receive the same information. That message may have gone to you personal; email address as register with Golf Genius.
You are one of the 150+ Players in the records of the EL Junior Golf League (ELJGL) as current Junior Members of one of our 12 East Lothian (EL) Golf Clubs. If you are no longer a member of any EL Club, please let me know and I will update our records. But if you are still involved in our EL Clubs and the ELJGL, please put my email address [email protected], and the website eastlothianjuniorgolf.org.uk into your contacts and favourite websites list.
We look forward to seeing you all in 2021 at the many events run by the ELJGL. After a much reduced programme in 2020, we hope our 2021 fixtures will commence, on time, at the end of March. If not, we will try to re-arrange any fixtures which are affected. I have delayed until the 7th March, the opening of online registration on Golf Genius (GG) for the first 2 Match Days (MDs) on the 21st and 28th March at the West Links and Gullane No.2.
You can keep in touch with ELJGL news and developments, and see all of our fixtures and results. The Calendar on the website drop down is very useful in planning your own programme from all the many Junior golf competitions which are available across Scotland, the UK and abroad.
We are going to be using “Golf Genius (GG)” software to run the scoring and handicapping at all our Competitions this year. Players cannot compete in our events unless they are registered on GG and we now have 120+ golfers registered there. If you have not already registered on GG, please complete the registration process here. You will then receive an email from GG with a link to an account and a password and sign in details etc. If I have pre-registered you from your GDPR details, you will still have to access your details on GG and confirm your registration and get your password etc. There is advice on how to complete this on our website under the GG drop down on the menu bar. There is no cost to register. If you have registered already, please check and update your details there – email, phone etc, as that is how you, or your parent/guardian will be notified when Competitions are open for online entry, and you/they will also receive draws, results etc. The GG system will do almost everything regarding our ELJGL events including registration, tee times, pairings, scoring input on the GG phone App, live leaderboards, results, Orders of Merit positions and handicaps etc. I urge you to download the GG App on to your Smartphone if you have one. Scoring at MDs can be backed up by, or if required, done through the use of traditional scorecards for the venues. I believe I can deactivate the live Leaderboard, or you can opt out of it if you wish.
Junior Convenors for all our 12 EL Teams have notified me of their squads for the 2021 season. Selection for a squad is often based on how well Players have supported that Club’s own Junior competitions. When you access your details on GG, you can see if you are “affiliated” to a Team for this season. If you don’t see any affiliation, but would like to play for your Club’s Team, please contact your Junior Convenor. Players who are affiliated to any squad this year, and are not selected as one of the 6 Players in each Team at any MD, may still be able to play at any of our 10 MDs as reserves, but only if so nominated by your Convenor. We should have up to 12 places open at each MD for nominated reserves which places we will allocate fairly. Reserves will still be able to compete in the Stableford events at MDs, and win prizes, and earn points in our Boys and Girls Scratch and Handicap Orders of Merit, for which there are other substantial prizes at the end of the season. Other Players, who have not been selected for the Club’s overall Team squad, and are also not nominated as a Reserve for any given MD, but who are registered with the ELJGL and with GG, and have applied through GG to play in any specific MD, may be invited to take part in that MD if there is space, after Players in Teams and any nominated reserves have been placed in the draw. Note – Your Convenor may contact you directly to arrange their Team for any given MD. If they tell you they are going to give me your name on the list of names for their Team for an MD, you will not need to enter that MD yourself. I will enter the names given to me. Then you will be notified by email through GG of the draw.
The annual ELJGL Boys and Girls Championships at Royal Musselburgh on the 6th August are open to any Junior who is a Member of any Club based in East Lothian and Players can enter themselves directly for this, through GG. There are Boys and Girls, and age group Championships. Older Boys play 36 holes. There is no entry fee. A ballot by handicap may be done in the event of over subscription. I’ll send out a notice to you by email through GG asking for entries. (So please register!)
You will know that the World Handicapping System WHS is now in place. The more you play, the more accurate your handicap will become. There are 10 opportunities to reduce your handicaps at our MDs using the Stableford format of play. For all Players, and particularly for our very low handicappers, the dreaded handicap increase of +0.1 for missing your Buffer Zone by only 1 shot or more has now gone. What counts from now on are your best 8 scores in your last 20 “acceptable scores.” So when you complete your next acceptable score, your 21st score, i.e. formerly the oldest score in your previous 20 scores, that score drops off your calculation, and the software works out your new handicap. So if you have just had a bad round, your best 8 scores may not have changed, and therefore your Handicap Index (HI) will most likely not change. And you can add unlimited “General Play” scores during social games at your own and at other Golf Clubs, to try and reduce your handicaps. The procedure for doing this will be available through your own Club’s website or through the Scottish Golf App.
The top 2 Teams in our 2021 League will be entered to play in the Scottish Junior Team Championships at Crail in Fife, on Sunday the 26th September, against other Teams from all over Scotland. We may also enter an all-Girls Team.
The ELJGL has 2 further great opportunities for our Players. We hope, subject to Covid, to select a number of Players to travel Pinehurst NC in February 2022 during the EL and Edinburgh School breaks, to compete in the “Winternational” events. The trip will include, we hope, games over the fabled Pinehurst No. 2, and Pine Needles, which are either Mens and Women’s US Open venues. On our most recent trip there, 12 Juniors played 10 rounds in 10 days on wonderful golf courses. See our website here for the results. Selection of Players for the next trip (which we hope will be partially subsidised) will depend on age, handicaps, and the frequency of participation, and measures of performance, by Players in our ELJGL events. If we cannot travel there in Feb 2022, we will endeavour to take an even bigger group in February 2023, provided that Players are still Juniors and are still in school education.
Finally, in July 2022, we are hoping, subject to Covid, to hold a scratch Match at some prestigious courses, against a Team from South Carolina, USA, playing for the Tom Watson Cup. Our Team for this was chosen in 2020 and although that fixture was postponed to 2021, the Team originally selected for 2020 will still be representing the ELJGL if they are available. But we may be looking for a couple of reserves. As the home Match is postponed again to 2022, we will then revisit Team selection. And we will look at potential Players for the away Match in South Carolina in either 2024. To be considered for selection for these Matches, our low handicap Players must be affiliated to a ELJGL Team, must have represented them in MDs, and will have to finish near the top of our Scratch Orders of Merit, or win our annual scratch Championships. Additional to these conditions, Players in EL Clubs with good performances in County, National or Stephen Gallagher Foundation WAGR events, may be also be considered for selection. The website here gives details of the first Watson Cup Match, which Tom Watson attended, and there is a more detailed report on the ELJGL website here.
So there is lots to play for in the ELJGL. Please ensure you are registered on GG here, and then enter and play in our events. Let’s hope for some good news on Covid and travel issues in time for the season to start!
Copied to all Junior Convenors in the League.
Cheers, Dave Warren
ELJGL Secretary. 07595 301425