Twelve East Lothian junior golfers from various Clubs in the County, comprising 4 girls and 8 boys, and their 3 Leaders, are about to embark on a wonderful trip to Pinehurst, North Carolina, where the Juniors will compete in International events in which they will represent their local Clubs, the East Lothian Junior Golf League, and “Scotland’s Golf Coast.”Between the 6th and the 16th of February the Juniors will play up to 10 rounds of golf in 10 days, visit an NHL Ice Hockey game, and visit the Campus at Duke University which has a superb golf scholarship program. Accommodation will be provided for the 15 strong group, partly in the 5 star Carolina Hotel in the Pinehurst Resort, and partly in the homes of three generous families who live in Pinehurst and who are also members of North Berwick Golf Club.The Juniors, who were offered the trip because they had played often and well in various League events, will compete against other Junior players from several States in the USA and golfers of other Nationalities, in two “Winternationals” events. They will be playing these firstly over Pinehurst No. 8 and No. 9, then on the 2nd weekend, they will play over No. 4 and the fabled Pinehurst No.2 – site of several Mens’ US Opens and a Ladies’ US Open. Other rounds have been arranged at Forest Creek Golf Club, and at Mid Pines and Pine Needles Golf Clubs, the latter of which has been the venue for 3 US Womens Opens and will host it again in 2022. The Juniors will also test themselves over a wonderful short course, called “The Cradle” which was recently added to the Pinehurst Resort by Gil Hanse, a world famous architect.In addition to all the Players having practice rounds on Pinehurst No 4 and No. 8, the Boys squad will play against a strong Team from the local Pinecrest High School over the No.2 course for a trophy donated by the League in memory of one of its former players Duncan McLean, who tragically died aged 20 in 2016. Duncan had once played in the US Kids World Finals in Pinehurst. The 4 Girls do not miss out as they will visit and play at the home of the US Kids Golf, which is located at Longleaf Golf Club. The US Kids European Championships are held in East Lothian every year over 5 local courses, with up to 650 competitors, and US Kids kindly sponsors our League with donations, which the League uses to subsidise these visits to Pinehurst, of which this is the 3rd in successive years, with future visits to come we hope. The Juniors only get to go on one trip each.The League offers a big thanks to the parents for funding the trip, and to North Berwick Golf Club for hosting the recent lunch for Players and Parents, and for providing a wonderful meal. Guests included the Provost of East Lothian John McMillan, representing the East Lothian Council who sponsor the annual League Championships. Also present was Bob Gunning representing Scotland’s Golf Coast. The photos below show the Team in their team shirts, with their East Lothian Clubs in brackets. Girls L-R, Freya Constable (Kilspindie), Natalie Fowler (Castle Park), Annie Wilson Castle Park), and Grace Crawford (Gullane and North Berwick.) Boys L-R Niall Holman (Haddington), Ryan Yuill (Craigielaw), Gregor Thomson (Craigielaw), Neil Canavan (Longniddry.) Back Row L-R Jamie Grainger (Haddington), Angus Mather (West Links), Carl Schmidt (Gullane), Calum Robinson Gullane.) The Leaders will be Shona Paton (Gifford) David Canavan (Longniddry) and Secretary Dave Warren. Slideshow below will be updated daily with photos from Pinehurst.
East Lothian Junior Golf League News
US Kids Golf results!
More news from the US Kids – Ryan Killorn finished 4th in the 11 year old section by scoring an impressive 72 round Craigielaw in the final round. Ryan had previously won Gullane’s U14s Club Championship Championship with a gross 66 round No.3! Photos below. Well done Ryan!
Five of East Lothian’s Clubs, The Glen, Longniddry, Craigielaw, Musselburgh and Royal Musselburgh played host to around 600 Juniors from all around the world, who were competing in the US Kids Golf European Championships. The week climaxed in a Match between all the winners and runners-up in the older age categories, for the Van Horn Cup. All the scores can be seen on the US Kids website here.
The draw for the Cup match, and photos can be seen below. Aidan Lawson was playing in the top match in the four ball format, and with partner Jack Conroy, finished 5 under par to score a point for their Team. Aidan’s Dad John was an excellent caddie, especially in the chilly conditions! The League Secretary later met up with the US Kids Golf founder, Dan Van Horn, and Director Chris Vonderkall, who have again kindly promised to make a donation to the League which will be used to subsidise the costs of our League’s next trip to Pinehurst. Thanks Dan and Chris!
Ryan with his trophy from the US Kids and his scorecard from the Gullane Championships showing his 66!
Golf Sixes 2022!
Lynne Malcolm has kindly sent the results of the second GolfSixes event, held at The Glen on Sunday 22/5 at Craigielaw. Gullane had the best total, followed by Craigielaw and The Glen who were tied for 2nd. The updated League Table will appear here after each event. The Glen remain in the lead after 2 events.
The new season of Golf Sixes is about to start. There are six Teams competing. The schedule is detailed below and all dates are on our Calendar on our website. The Sixes are an important part of keeping the League refreshed with new Players after they obtain handicaps. so they deserve our support. We already have some 8 and 9 year olds playing in League Matches. We will publish the Golf Sixes results and League Table on our website Katy McNicoll, a professional at The West Links, North Berwick, is organising this years events. Contact Katy at [email protected]
Match Day Information
Dear Players, please see the standard Match Day information for 2022 at this link.
Golf Genius App draws & scoring
Viewing the List of Entrants and Draws – On the App, go to the Match Day concerned and click on it. As Players enter events through the Golf Genius App, their names appear in the section marked “Member Portal.” If you click on that, you will then see “Tee Sheets” which is a place where any draws made for our Competitions are If the event is open for registration, then all the entrants are listed there. But if the event has not yet been opened for registration, you will see the message “No rounds available.” However, you can still see the “Tee Sheets” if you click on “Member Portal,” and then click on “Tee Sheets.” Once the draw has been made, then the Order of Play can be seen under Tee Sheets” in tee-time order, and also in alphabetical order.
Scoring – This link will take you to a very good and brief explanation in a YouTube video on how to record scores on the Golf Genius App in your group during your rounds in our League. Have a look at it and you will feel more confident about using the scoring App all the time. For the rest of the 2022 season however, we will continue to use scorecards but please “double up” by also using the App to practice using it. Next season it will be optional for group to use scorecards or keep the scores on the App.
Benefits from using the App –
One person in your group can record all the scores on the App while the other players are teeing off. This will save time and speed up play. You can view the leaderboard. At the scoring desk, all the entered scores can be seen and cross checked more easily and quickly. Arithmetic will be correct. Illegible figures on scorecards, and there shouldn’t be any, can be checked against the App.
