Month: September 2022

Edinburgh Western Club’s doors opened early this morning to allow JRT, Sarah L and Bev to set up the clubhouse with post round baking delights courtesy of our talented members.

It was a fresh morning for golf with a north westerly strengthening breeze.  Nine tee times were booked for our Ladies Invitational and there was an infectious buzz around the Starter’s building, with some of our visitors never having played the course before. The format of the competition was Better Ball. Always a welcome sight was the bumper ‘help yourself’ pack of chocolates strategically placed on the first tee!

Maxi did announce to our playing partners that it is a great feat if you can get round the course with the same ball that you started with!

Closest to the pin in 2 at the 8th was won by Louise.

Closest to the pin at 17th was Sandra Stanton from Broomieknowe.

The Scratch prize was won by Sarah L and Caroline Steedman from Murrayfield with 75.

Runners Up were Sally and her partner, Mary Stark from Mortonhall with nett 68 and the winners were Louise and her partner Monica Boyle from Kingsknowe, also nett 68 bih.

Well done to all the winners!

A great day was had by all!

 

What an exciting finale to a fabulous year of Comiston Ladies Golf competitions!

Not only did we have our two great finalists playing today but we also had our September Stableford. Most played in the morning with four playing in the afternoon. The weather obliged and was great today bar a few minutes of rain for the afternoon group and the two finalists to contend with. Fortunately the rain didn’t last long and a beautiful double rainbow appeared in the sky.

Violet reported the crows were back on the course again extracting scorecards from golf bags, then realising their mistake returning for the cereal bars and ditching the scorecards! How fiendishly clever crows are!

There was a tie at the top of the leaderboard today. Both Tricia and Jaci scored 37 points. Tricia was out in the morning and had a birdie at the 7th and the 12th hole. Jaci played in the afternoon. Although it was lovely out on the course, the low sun caused some problems and it was a case of scouring the horizon for golf balls. Jaci birdied the 8th but lost out to Tricia on the back 9. Well done to both.

Jaci and Susan at the 17th.
Carol and Susan silhouetted at the 18th.

 

 

The club Championship final took place today with our worthy finalists, Louise and Anne.  Difficulty getting a mutually convenient date meant that it had to take place today which in turn meant it was a little difficult for supporters to come along and watch.  Nonetheless, a few of us made it out and caught up with the match on the 7th.

It seemed that Anne had got off to a good start and was 1 up standing on the 7th tee.  A birdie from Louise brought the match to all square.  Louise then hit her stride and after parring 8 and 9 and another birdie on 10, followed by par on 11, was 4 up.  The 12th was halved in pars and Anne was unable to convert a classy chip on 13th to win the hole, so Louise was still 4 up on the 14th tee.  Forays by Louise into the gorse on 14 and 16 and steady golf from Anne enabled Anne to pull back to 2 down going to 17.  With both players missing the green on 17, a stuffy up and down from Anne got her back to within 1 going up 18.  However 18, and the victory, went to Louise.

Well done to both on a competitive final, with several momentum swings, and a good fight back from Anne and congratulations, again, to our 2022 Champion, Louise.

This year's Autumn Outing took us to Pumpherston GC, Karina's home course.  Numbers were a little depleted as it was the same day that the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II took place.  As a mark of respect, those at the outing held a minute's silence on the 1st tee.

Those that came to play enjoyed perfect weather conditions and a course that was in great condition. We had 5 teams playing and the final pair had Mrs C. Allaway as their ghost partner.  Despite stories of bunker blues and watery ends for some balls, scores were of a high standard and with the best stableford score counting the winning trio were Louise, Jaci and Maggie with 49 points. Runners up were Sarah L, Kelly and Christine (secret weapon) with 43 points, BIH.

Sarah thanked Pumpherston for the tasty bacon rolls and coffee beforehand and soup and sandwiches afterwards. Big thanks also to Janet for all her hard work in the lead up to the outing (that she sadly couldn't make at the last minute).

‘The early bird catches the worm?’

Hmm, not today for the 8.30am group - JRT, Bev and Carol! Not only that but kind Tricia had left delicious ‘after golf’ treats for us all that we missed. Instead, JRT offered me an out of date Jammie Dodger from a packet that she had found in the biscuit locker!

For the first time in ages there was a wind out on the course and it was coming from a northerly direction so it felt chillier than usual. The sun was shining brightly but was low in the sky so following the golf balls proved tricky! Avoiding the long shadows on the putting green had us laughing, dancing about trying not to get in the way of putts. Never seen the professionals doing that!

Sarah L reported an interesting situation that occurred at the 4th hole. Karina hit 6 shots at the 4th but managed to record a 5 on her card! How could that happen?

She hit 3 shots off the tee but found her first ball. She took the ball back to the tee to play a fourth tee shot that was 3 off the tee, thinned the next shot to the back of the green and then sank a stonker of a putt for her 5!

So who did win the Medal Winners Medal today? That was Maxi! Well done Maxi!

Who won today’s medal? Our Captain, Sarah, won the Final Medal of 2022 with nett 72, including 3 birdies on her card, 3 shots ahead of Karina. This now means that Sarah has qualified for next year’s Medal Winners Medal. Great result Sarah!

 

 

 

 

The final of the MCLGA Champion of Champions took place at Royal Burgess on Sunday 11th September and was contested by Louise Fraser, representing Comiston and Jennifer Bryan, representing Harburn.  Louise was the Comiston champion in 2020 and this year the Champion of Champions was a busier field than normal with all the club champions from 2020 and also 2021 vying for the title.  Carol Brown, the Comiston champion in 2021, caddied for Louise which added a nice feeling of symmetry and completeness.

There was a good group of supporters, particularly from Comiston, including Captain Sarah L, and from Kingsknowe, Louise's home club.  Louise soon showed herself to be the dominant player and went 3 up after 3 holes and never really looked back, winning 5 and 4 after an impressive display of long-hitting off the tee, solid putting and latterly some fine scrambling to keep the pressure on Jennifer.

The presentation of the Antonio Vase took place in the Edinburgh Room of the Royal Burgess clubhouse and tea and biscuits were enjoyed by players and supporters before we all walked out to the main road to watch the motorcade with the Queen's coffin pass by.

Louise had wanted to win the Champion of Champions in 2020, in Comiston's centenary year but it was not to be.  However, this more than makes up for that and we are gratified that Louise chose to represent Comiston again in 2020 and this time went the whole way. Congratulations, Louise, Comiston is proud of you!

Another glorious day for golf for Comiston Ladies penultimate medal round. September seems to have come round so quickly.

The first group out this morning struggled to get the ball up to the hole for the first few holes. A four putt at the second after landing on the green needs to be forgotten quickly!

Coleen had an on course battle with a hired trolley and a lightweight bag that wouldn’t stay together. She eventually decided to ditch them both at the Wee Braids Starter’s hut and to continue walking round the course with her fellow golfers acting as a very useful ball spotter! Her usual trolley is on its way to Speyside where she hopes to be reunited with it soon!

Mandy birdied the 18th hole and won today’s medal with the bih from Fiona, who is today’s runner up. Well done to both of you!

After the golf, the majority of players went into the Braids United clubhouse and enjoyed a welcome and delicious lunch of Thai Curry, rice and naan bread followed by carrot cake or brambles and ice cream. Susan decided she needed the ice cream with her carrot cake to aid recovery from the chipping shanks! Most didn’t have the chipping shanks but still joined her with ice cream on their carrot cake!

Sarah decided to have her curry before her round and Elaine kindly joined her to mark her card. There was an outing consisting of 5 groups of Dutch guys who politely stepped aside, looking slightly bemused, to allow them to play through with Sarah informing them that she was playing in a competition and Elaine telling them that she was marking her card! Sarah and Elaine completed the round in an enviable 2 hours and 20 minutes!