For the 3rd year running, a group of 12 young East Lothian Golfers representing the East Lothian Junior Golf League and “Scotland’s Golf Coast” have returned from a 10 day trip to Pinehurst, North Carolina. Their handicaps ranged from 1 to 15, and they competed against the best Junior Golfers in North Carolina in competitions called the “Winternationals” at the world famous Pinehurst resort.
Pinehurst No. 2 is a world-famous course which has hosted several Mens’ US Opens and a Ladies’ US Open. The Mens’ US Amateur was played over Pinehurst No 2 and No 4 in 2019, and Pine Needles will host another Ladies US Open in 2022. A Ryder Cup match has also been held on the No.2 course and the area is widely regarded as the “Home of Golf” in the USA. There are over 40 golf courses in the area.
The Team of 8 Boys and 4 Girls were invited to make this trip based on their ages, participation and performance in the East Lothian Junior Golf League during recent years. At the two weekends on the 7/8 and 14/15 of February, they stayed, due to a condition of entry to the “Winternationals” competitions, in the 5 star Carolina Hotel. The magnificent Hotel is within walking distance from the main Pinehurst Clubhouse, which serves 5 of the 9 Pinehurst resort courses.
The Team made it safely to Pinehurst at 2 a.m. on Friday after a 27 hour journey. The problem was known before we left Edinburgh as Heathrow was fogbound! However, we all managed to get booked on a later flight on a different route, taking in a stop at JFK New York. After very little sleep, the Players all had a superb breakfast at the Pinecrest Inn, and then had a practice round on the No 8 course. Meanwhile, Shona and David had a game over the prestigious No 2 course, with our good friends, JJ Jackson and Tim Andersen. We had the use of three vehicles for the week, including a jeep loaned by Eric and Linda Carrier. All Players played 10 rounds of golf in 10 days! Apart from 1 day when a deluge struck suddenly and temporarily suspended play, they enjoyed fine crisp mornings and wonderful warm weather considering the time of year.
The Group Leader was Dave Warren, Junior League Secretary. Shona Paton, Junior Convenor at Gifford GC, and David Canavan, Junior Convenor at Longniddry, were co-leaders and both contributed greatly to a successful tour and our Junior League and the Players owe them a huge vote of thanks for making the trip a success.
The photo is of the first breakfast at the Pinecrest Inn.
Then the team had a practice round over No. 8 course
Pictured below L-R with 2019 League Clubs in brackets are:- Back Row – Shona Paton (Gifford) Neil Canavan (Longniddry) Ryan Yuill (Craigielaw) Jamie Grainger (Haddington) Angus Mather (West Links) Carl Schmidt (Gullane) Calum Robinson (Gullane). Front Row – Grace Crawford (West Links) Freya Constable (Kilspindie) Annie Wilson (Castle Park) Natalie Fowler (Castle Park) Niall Holman (Haddington) Gregor Thomson (Craigielaw) and David Canavan (Longniddry)
During the visit, the Juniors played on these 7 courses and on “The Cradle” – which is 10 acres of fun golf, with the longest hole of the 9 holes being 127 yards. We need one of these in East Lothian!
The main golf competitions were called “The Winternationals” and results can be seen at these websites – http://www.juniorgolfpinehurst.com and eastlothianjuniorgolf.org.uk. The scoring in the event is always scratch – no handicaps are allowed. Boys are split into 2 age groups – Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior whilst all the Girls compete in the same age group.
In the first weekend, the Players played a practice round over Pinehurst No. 8 where they had their first experience of putting on greens very different to those they are used to! And the scores reflected this! On the 2 days of competition, very few of our Players adapted well to the conditions. Both Pinehurst No. 9 and No. 8 are par 72s. (Par for Ladies and Gents was always the same on the courses played.)
Calum Robinson (Handicap 1) of Gullane GC tied for 1st place with scores of 79 and 81. In the play-off at the par 5, 17th hole, against Justin Nagy, both players hit the green in 2 strokes and Calum skilfully holed a 4 foot putt for a birdie 4, after Justin had sadly three-putted. Meanwhile, Grace Crawford, the Scottish Girls U14’s Champion and the East Lothian Ladies County Champion, finished 3rd in the Girls event, against much older Players, with scores of 82 and 83. Lotte Fox, an English-born girl now living in North Carolina, played with Grace, and Lotte won by 8 strokes. See the first link above and click on “full recap” to see all the scores. Note the scores by the leading Players in the younger division! Over the same course!
On Sunday all the group moved out of the Hotel to stay as guests in the homes with three different sets of generous friends in Pinehurst – The Jacksons, McPhersons and the Carriers, and the latter kindly loaned us a large jeep, to add to our 2 hired 7-seater cars. Linda Carrier was away running the Challenge of 7 Marathons in 7 days in 7 Continents! Linda kindly sent us a photo of her in Antartica with a North Berwick Golf Club flag!
The 4 Girls below – L-R Freya Constable, Natalie Fowler, Annie Wilson and Grace Crawford who all had great fun at Mid Pines.
The programme for the 5 days of the week started on Monday with a social game with some of our hosts over Pine Needles, which has been the site of 3 previous US Womens’ Opens and which will again host that event in 2022. Mid Pines was the venue on Tuesday, for more social golf. Before that game, two former PGA Tour Pros Jim Nelford and Pat McGowan gave our Team a talk about their perspectives on the great game of golf.
On the Wednesday our Boys’ Team of 8 played against the local Pinecrest School team, over Pinehurst No. 2. If you are counting – the School had 2 reserves! They were playing for the Duncan McLean Quaich, a trophy donated in the memory of a young Gullane golfer who died in 2016 aged just 20. After heavy defeats in the two previous scratch matches in 2018 and 2019, handicap strokes were negotiated between School Coach Rich Wainwright and the League Secretary, to no avail! The Pinecrest Team included 4 boys with + handicaps! Our Boys were defeated 3 games to 1 in the four-ball better-ball format. In the top match, Calum Robinson (1) and Neil Canavan (5) played Jackson Van Paris (+5) and Jackson Bode (+3). Even with our Boys receiving 5 and 9 handicap strokes, they lost narrowly to the Pinecrest School pair who were 9 under par gross! Our saviours were Gregor Thomson and Angus Mather, who won their game at the last hole. Photo – Angus 2nd from left, Gregor far right.
All the Boys, then joined by our Girls, enjoyed a great night socialising with the American Team at a fun Pizza Restaurant owned by the Pinecrest School golf coach, Lynne Beechler, and her family.
The Schools golf season for Girls’ matches had not yet officially started, and as coaches would be sanctioned if they dared to breach that policy, so our Girls were unable to take part in that match. However, at the same time as the Boys Match v. Pinecrest, our 4 Girls and Shona had courtesy over Longleaf GC, the headquarters of the US Kids Golf organisation. We are very grateful to US Kids Golf, who are a main sponsor of our League, and in particular to the founder Dan Van Horn, and to VP Chris Vonderkall.
On Thursday, all the Players, Leaders and Hosts were given complimentary golf at Forest Creek, an exclusive, and wonderful course. This courtesy round was arranged by other benefactors – Tim Andersen and Pat Molamphy. After 2 to 3 holes, the heavens opened and we were forced off the course by flooded greens. However, after a snack provided by Pat, the Players braved another 9 holes and then tackled the exceptional play-off 19th hole – a long par 3 over water.
On Friday, all the Players and Coaches played a practice round on the Pinehurst No. 4 course. After that, all the Players went to the prestigious Duke University in Raleigh Durham, which has produced some famous Players through their College Golf programme. We had a quick tour of the golf Team’s facilities. Many thanks to Professional Rob Pilewski who set this up at Duke! That evening, all of the group were given tickets by a long-time, and generous, friend of our League, JJ Jackson, to go to the Carolina Hurricanes Ice Hockey Match v. New Jersey Devils. The home Team “The Canes” won 5 – 2. A short video of the highlights of the game is here. The Hurricanes wear black tops for home games.
Everything was building up nicely to the 2nd set of “Winternationals which involved rounds over the US Open course Pinehurst No. 2 on Saturday, followed on Sunday with a round over Pinehurst No. 4. Although the shotgun starts were put back in case of frost, the weather was fine.
The Players who finished best in our own Team – were again Calum Robinson and Grace Crawford. Calum scored a very impressive level par 72 on Pinehurst No. 2 and a solid 76 over the Par 72 Pinehurst No. 4. A full report with all the scores from that weekend can be seen here. Our Girls also featured with Grace Crawford just losing out to Lotte Fox again! Natalie Fowler was 7th, Freya Constable was 9th and Annie Wilson 10th.
Our thanks are due to Peter De Young, and Brian Fahey, the organisers of the Winternationals who put on great tournaments, and to Ben Bridgers the Director of Golf at Pinehurst and all the staff there who welcomed us to their facilities and made our stay a memorable experience. We hope to be sending another Team, (different Players every time) in February next year.
The whole trip would not have been possible without financial support from all the parents involved, from the volunteers leading the group, and from various sponsors, so we owe these parties all a big thanks. US Kids Golf, East Lothian Council, “Scotland’s Golf Coast,” Paul Salmon of PSL Flooring, Ken and Diane Campbell, and Russell Shepherd for the funds to kit out the Players and Leaders with Team golf bags, shirts and tops. The sourcing of the kit was managed by Martyn Huish, Golf Professional at North Berwick. We would also like to thank all the organisers and friends in the Pinehurst area who provided facilities and hospitality to the whole Team during their stay.
A farewell dinner was arranged on Saturday in the Pinehurst No.7 Clubhouse at which venue, the Players and Leaders were treated to a wonderful meal. The Parents of the Team Players contributed to presents for our hosts of lovely flowers, wine and decorative tiles, from the Seabird Centre at North Berwick. Menu below.
Below are the Boys who stayed with Nancy and JJ Jackson – L-R Neil Canavan, Angus Mather, Carl Schmidt and Calum Robinson.
Below are the Girls who stayed with Tom and Kathy McPherson. L-R Grace Crawford, Freya Constable, Annie Wilson, Shona Paton and Natalie Fowler.
And below are all the gang at the Jackson’s house for dinner.
The other pairings in the Schools match can be seen below. L-R in blue tops – Calum Robinson, Neil Canavan, Jamie Grainger, Niall Holman, Ryan Yuill, Carl Schmidt.
