East Lothian Junior Golf League

Supporting junior golf in East Lothian, Scotland

Pinehurst 2023 trip completed!

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The following is a press report which was distributed  on the 6th March to all parties concerned about the recent trip to Pinehurst and has appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News here.

This photo below was taken outside one of the best Clubhouses in the world of golf, at Forest Creek Golf Club, where all the Players and Leaders enjoyed a courtesy round of golf. We were joined by one of the hosts for the day – JJ Jackson, on Dave’s left. A resident of Pinehurst, JJ is a Forest Creek and North Berwick member and is a long time supporter of our League.

“Dear Members of the Press, Sponsors, Scottish Golf managers, East Lothian Golf Club Managers and Convenors, East Lothian Juniors and Parents, and friends in Pinehurst, North Carolina, 20 Junior golfers from various East Lothian Clubs have recently arrived home safely after the East Lothian Junior Golf League’s annual 10 day trip to Pinehurst. All the Players are now raring to go in the upcoming 2023 season!

Attached is the group photo of the 20 Juniors involved, assembled by the 18th green at the famous Mid Pines course in Pinehurst North Carolina. Their names, from left to right, are back row:- Ava Simon, Struan Murdoch, Robbie Landles, Scott Porteous, Connor McCarthy, Adam Macdonald, Daniel Moos, Sean Gallacher, Adam Nichol, Harry Dunkinson, Andrew Irvine, Jackson Gray, Ben Churn, Evie McCallum, Ellie Bent, Molly Chapman. Front row, Tobin Witt, Jack Collingswood, Charlie Cuthbert, Ben Austin. The group were accompanied by 5 volunteers – all current or recent Junior Convenors in East Lothian, Shona Paton of Gifford, Gareth Jack of Longniddry, Steve Austin of Haddington, Helen and Stuart Findlay of Royal Musselburgh. They devoted most of their time to ensuring everything worked well on the trip for the biggest group of Juniors to ever go on one of these trips. However, they also enjoyed some excellent golfing experiences themselves. The trip was organised by the League’s Secretary and Treasurer, David Warren, of North Berwick Golf Club. David is an overseas member of Pine Needles and Mid Pines in Pinehurst, and his contacts there include some great friends who regularly host our Teams and provide excellent Southern hospitality! Some of them are overseas members of North Berwick and Tantallon Golf Clubs and are frequent visitors to the County. 
 
The Team enjoyed rounds at Mid Pines, Pine Needles, Forest Creek South, Pinehurst No 4, Pinehurst No. 8, and at Longleaf, which is the home of the US Kids Golf organisation, who are one of the League’s sponsors. The Juniors also played at the 9 hole Cradle course where Scott Porteous of Longniddry had a hole in one! They were accompanied by the short game coach at Pinehurst, Kelly Mitchum, a visitor to North Berwick in 2022, who recently had an “Ace” at the 90 yard 5th hole, which gives him an unbeatable course record eclectic score of 9,  having holed in one now at all 9 holes! Photo below.
 
 
Our Boys Team played a match against the Pinecrest School Boys Team over Pinehurst No. 4 which the local Team won narrowly 3.5 – 2.5 on a fourball better-ball format. The Girls were treated to a 2nd round over Pine Needles, the wonderful venue of several US Womens Open. 
 
All of our Players, representing “Scotland’s Golf Coast” competed in two “Winternational” events against a large field of Juniors from North and South Carolina and from elsewhere in the USA. Our Team Members Evie McCallum and Sean Gallacher finished 3rd in their respective sections and both won prizes.
 
Air fares, meals and a 3 night stay in the 5 star Carolina hotel were funded by the Players’ families. After those 3 nights, subsequent accommodation was provided for our party of 26, for 7 nights, in the beautiful village of Pinehurst, which was supplied free of charge by local families, either in their homes or in their rental properties. Local transport firms provided ground transport to the various venues. Excellent sit-in cooked breakfasts were enjoyed at two local establishments, and on many evenings, a restaurant in the area would be visited. 
 
The trip was subsidised by the League, through several donations from some kind sponsors and friends to whom we are extremely grateful. Another kind sponsor paid for the Team clothing supplied from a major golf apparel company. These generous donations to the League ensure that these trips can take place, and the League is extremely grateful to these donors.
 
League Players only get to go on these trips once, so plans are now being made for the February 2024 trip for which more Players will be invited to go, based on their ages, their frequency of appearances in League events, and on their golf handicaps. Some past and present Junior Convenors will also be invited to join the next trip.
 
It was a great pleasure to lead such a fine group of young Players, who didn’t know each other well at the start of the trip, but by the end of the trip, great fun and many new experiences were had, so many lasting friendships were formed. The Players truly had a “trip of a lifetime” and returned home with fresh views perhaps, on what is possible in this great game called Golf.

 

A pre-Pinehurst trip lunch was held at The Glen GC on Saturday the 28th January at which 53 people attended. The group comprised 19 of the 20 Players who are going, there being only one absentee due to another commitment. See photo below. This is the largest group to ever go on this annual trip, leaving on the 9th February. Players only get to go once on this trip of a lifetime! They will play 9 rounds in 9 days on some wonderful courses! All 6 Leaders and plenty of Parents made up the rest of the attendees, together with special guests, Catriona and Graeme Matthew.

The Glen was a superb venue in a private dining room area, so I was able to tell all the group about the impending trip. The food was excellent too! Thanks are therefore due to the Glen F&B Manager Clint, and to the chefs and the waitresses Lauren and Claire. The Players and their East Lothian League Teams are: Andrew Irvine, Ben Churn, Jack Collingswood, Harry Dunkinson, Jackson Gray, Robbie Landles, and Connor McCarthy, all of West Links Juniors, Molly Chapman, Evie McCallum, Ellie Bent, and Ava Simon of East Lothian Girls, Ben Austin, Adam MacDonald, and Adam Nichol, all of Haddington, Charlie Cuthbert, Sean Gallacher, Scott Porteous, Tobin Witt and Daniel Moos of Longniddry, and Struan Murdoch of Musselburgh Toun.

The Leaders are Junior Convenors from our Clubs – Stuart and Helen Findlay of Royal Musselburgh, Steve Austin from Haddington, Shona Paton of Gifford, and Gareth Jack, formerly of Longniddry and now the Assistant Tournament Director in the Scottish Junior Team Championship, which is organised by our League. 

If our other League Players are thinking of going in future years, to be offered a spot, you have to turn out and support your Club regularly in our 10 League Match Days and in our other League events. 

There is an Instagram account using this hashtag #eljglpinehurst23 which is the official ELJGL account edited by Gareth Jack where he will be posting from. That way all our photographs will be pulled together in the same place for everyone to view. There is also a blog here, created by Shona Paton, so following all the news should be easy. Don’t forget to tell your parents so they can keep track of you! Gareth and Dave also pictured below with Catriona.

 

East Lothian Junior Golf League News

ELJGL 54 Hole Masters Strokeplay – Results!

The ELJGL 54 hole Masters Strokeplay concluded at Longniddry on Sunday the 5th July when the 3rd round was completed. The previous 2 rounds had been played at Haddington on the 29th June. The table below which has been submitted to WAGR, shows the scratch scores for all 22 Boys who completed the 3 rounds. It had been planned to hold an equivalent Girls event but there were insufficient entrants to meet the minimum required by the R&A. Congratulations to Caleb Pickett who will gain his first WAGR points by completing all 3 rounds in a total of 225, 15 over the total Par of 210. The scoring limit for the event to be acceptable to WAGR is a total of 18 over par for 3 rounds, which total both Seb Harvey and Daniel Hogg managed to better! 

 

Fun Four-ball at Muss. Old – Results!

Please see the results attached for the ELJGL Fun Four-ball at Musselburgh Old GC on Wednesday 1st July. A big thanks are due to our hosts Musselburgh Old Course Golf Club, and to Alan Tweedie, their Junior Convenor. There were 40 Players in 10 Teams based on an even handicap split. The scoring format was the best 2 net scores from the 4 Players in the Team on each hole, with an 85% handicap allowance for each Player. The winning team was captained by Cameron Brown, and included Aaron Muldowney, Sam Small, and Adam Orr. Cameron’s contribution was exceptional with 7 birdies and an eagle! Their total net score was 109, 27 under par!   A Team of Convenors also played 9 holes with the challenge that any team beating their score for their first 9 holes, would receive a marker for Muirfield, who of course are called the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and their origins started at the Musselburgh Links! Sadly, every one of the 9 Teams of Juniors bettered the Convenors score! Muirfield Markers will therefore be awarded at the next Match Day each Player attends. After the event, the Players were welcomed into the MOCGC Clubhouse where the League supplied sandwiches and drinks. The Players had a chance to see some history of the 6 Open Championships which were played at the course between 1874 to 1889. This link gives a flavour of the early history of golf, for which evidence suggests that golf was played on Musselburgh Links as early as 1672! Prize Vouchers for the leading 4 Teams and were issued at the event. Some outstanding vouchers will be issued at subsequent events. Dave Warren, Jt League Secretary. 07595 301425. 

 

 

 

 

MD7 at Haddington – Results!

Our thanks are due to all at Haddington Golf Club, especially to the GM Alan Mackay, who along with F&B Manager Lisa, made sure we were all welcome.  John Murdoch and I would like to thank our usual helpers, Chris Barker, Gordon Smith, Steve Walker and Shona Paton. In the Team event, in which the best 4 out of 6 net scores count, West Links Bass with 145 points, were 8 points ahead of 2nd placed Glen who were on 137. The scores have been posted to WHS, the Orders of Merit have been updated, and along with the Leaderboards, can be seen on your Golf Genius App. The League Table has been updated, and can be seen on the right hand side of this website. West Links Bass now are leaders by a few points from The Glen. Team and best individual scores are inserted below. All the leaderboards of every competition we organise, and the Orders of Merit standings, can be seen on the Golf Genius App.

We had fine weather for a change, but the rough was very high so there was a scarcity of really good net scores, except for 8 year old Callum Laughtland who, playing for West Links Bass and in receipt of 24 shots, amassed 44 net Stableford points! His handicap has now been cut by 3 strokes! In the scratch section, Daniel Hogg playing for Gullane, with a gross 70, scored 37 points closely followed by Lewis Young on 36 scratch points. Callum therefore goes to the top of the Net Order of Merit with his 1st place finish, and Oliver Tate and Phebe Pickett, playing for West Links Bass and Fidra respectively, are close behind. Lewis Young of Craigielaw was next best in the net section with 38 points. Daniel now has 2 wins this season, and leads the scratch OOM by a margin of 24 points over Cameron Brown of Kilspindie. Prizewinners may collect their prizes at one of our next events.  

SLOW PLAY – Play was reasonably paced on Sunday at Haddington, but one group fell 30 minutes behind the match in front, thats maybe 3 holes! As all groups started their round 8 minutes after the group in front, groups should be finishing their rounds 8 minutes after the previous group has finished. If not, then the slower group are probably out of position, and in some cases, might be liable to penalties for slow play.  You must try to close the gap between you and the group in front.

BALL SEARCHING – Sometimes, when a ball is seen to disappear in deep rough, and a good shot with a provisional ball has been played, it might be better to accept that to continue with the provisional ball is the better option, and to not even search for the original ball. Even if you find your ball, it might take you 2 or 3 shots to advance your ball to a more playable position. So this is a judgement call whether you actually even start searching for a ball which, if found, will probably be unplayable. And you will undoubtedly delay the group behind, thus contributing to slow play!  Just take the penalty, and announce you are abandoning the search and continue with your provisional ball! Note – if you do find the original ball within 3 minutes of starting a search, and deem it to be unplayable, you are not allowed to continue with the provisional ball. 

NEXT EVENTS – We are back at Haddington on Monday the 29th June for our “Flagship” event – our Individual Championships at which there are many trophies and prizes up for grabs.  Entries close on Tuesday 23rd June at 6 pm. Please enter this, and any of our other events asap as there may have to be waiting lists for these events. The morning round in our Championships at Haddington is a qualifier for the Justin Rose Telegraph Golf Championship.

FOURBALL FUN DAY – The planned Match Day at Musselburgh on Wednesday the 1st July has been converted to a fun Fourball event starting about 1100. Please enter this if you can. 

MATCH DAYS 8, 9 AND 10. – Entries for all of these can now be made on the Golf Genius App 

Dave Warren Jt. League Secretary 07595 301425 djjwarren@me.com

MD6 at Winterfield – Results!

On Sunday 31st May, Winterfield GC successfully hosted their very first Match Day since rejoining the League. Their success was due to having so many willing volunteers from within their membership, particularly from Junior Convenors Scott Marjoribanks and Struan Macdonald, ball-spotter in chief, Nick Doggett, with further help provided by Musselburgh Old Convenor Alan Tweedie. When added to our regular Starter Chris Barker and “Shepherd” Iain Crawford, John Murdoch and I had ample help on hand. We hope this level of help from within Clubs is replicated at more of our events! The staff at Winterfield were also excellent in looking after us.   

Sadly, although there were 90 Players in the field, and 2 more awaiting spots in the draw, there were several late call offs, reducing the eventual field to only 84 entrants. Those calling off were courteous enough to let me know in advance but more notice is required in future please!

Turning to the actual golf now, the team scores and the best individual scores can be seen below or on the right hand column of this website, and on your Golf Genius App at the Leaderboard for MD6 at Winterfield. The League table can also be seen there in which West Links Bass and Craigielaw are now joint top. The Orders of Merit can be seen on the App under Season Points – Standings.

The leading Teams can be seen in the attachment, and in the best 4 scores from 6 format, West Links Bass emerged as winners with 141 points followed by Gullane with 135 points. The strong winds made scoring difficult, but one Player, Rory Mackenzie of Dunbar, scored an excellent 3 under par 64 to amass 37 scratch Stableford points to win by 2 points from Daniel Hogg of Gullane. In the net points category, Rory also led with 42 points, but cannot win more than one prize, so Oliver Tate of West Links Bass with 41 points picks up 1st net prize, with 2 very young Players 12 year old Laura Walker of Musselburgh with 40 points and 8 year old River Montgomery of The Glen with 38 points, taking 2nd and 3rd place. 

Our attention turns now to the next events MD7 at Haddington on Sunday June the 14th, followed by a visit for MD8 on Wednesday the 1st July to the other other recently rejoined member Club, Musselburgh Old, which venue has hosted 6 Open Championships. (Note – if any one ever asks you if you have played any Open Championship venues, then you can say you have!) Entries are open for both events, so get your names in quick! We are limited to 78 entrants at Musselburgh Old.

Our annual Championships are at Haddington on the Monday the 29th June. This event has 10 different trophies to be won for both Boys and Girls, in all age groups, plus prize vouchers, and merchandise from the Open Championship, US Masters etc. There may be a ballot for places in that event. Older Boys with low handicaps will be playing for World Ranking (WAGR) points there! Get your entries in asap for these events using your Golf Genius App. 

Dave Warren, Jt. League Secretary. 07595 301425

ELJGL: Older News

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